In your opinion, do you think athletic recruits are in their own admissions category, or does the number of recruits taken from a particular high school impact the number of non-recruits in some way? D is applying ED to a rather small school and has recently found out that there are several other women who have been “promised” spots (I’m not sure exactly how it works, but according to one of the women, apparently the coach tells the kids that if they apply ED, the coach will endorse them for admission.) There are rarely this many applicants to this particular school in general, so I’m wondering if the athletes will edge out any opportunities for the non-athletes. Thanks for any input on this.
All admissions are from the admissions office. All the coach can to request special consideration for a very limited number of recruits (number varies by school and coach).
It’s really up to the school if they have a limit from a certain high school.
Based on putting two and two together from D1’s Div. 1 recruiting and now D2’s Div. III experience (just beginning) I suspect there’s a difference based on division. Since you say the school is small, I suspect it’s Div. I. If so, then yes, I think it could impact your D’s chances. At Div. I schools the athletes seem to be in a separate pool, whereas that is not my sense so far about the smaller schools.
What? Most D1 schools are the biggest schools, including flagships. D3 tend to be the smaller ones, like the LACs. The Ivys are d1, but have different rules than most D1 schools for admissions and dont award athletic scholarships. There are also the hybreds, like Hopkins, which is D3 for most sports, but D1 for lacrosse and do admissions differently for the d1 teams.
I assumed the OPs daughter is looking at a D3 school, with the classmates looking for admissions help, not scholarship money. If it is a D1 school (except the Ivys), the coach may have many more than 2 or three slots for recruits.
I am talking about D3 here, I think - no scholarship money and a promise from the coach. I was confused by the answers though - is this the situation where we should be more concerned or not?
For D3 schools, I would say that yes, it could impact your child. Small schools will take only so many - but it could be more than just a couple - students from one high school. If a small college does take several student-athletes from your daughter’s HS, it could make it harder for non-athletes to get in. I’ve seen this scenario happen at my children’s high school.
Are recruited D3 athletes always on the same schedule as an ED applicant? In other words, can a very good athlete decide not to go ED and still be recruited? I’m unclear as to whether a couple of the women my daughter mentioned (I guess she saw pictures of them on recruiting trips) are “shopping around” or if it would be too late for that at this stage of the game?
Sorry, I was tired when I posted above and meant to write that I was assuming the OP’s school was Div III, and therefore in my opinion that her admission could be impacted by that of athletes from the same high school.
From my experience, the majority of athletes going D3 would have things pinned down by now and would go ED. There are exceptions, of course.
@GossamerWings, my D isn’t an athlete, so I’m not an expert. But in the last round (class of '19) we know kids who were recruited D3 athletes who did go the ED route, and others who didn’t (they were still going to be playing their sport, but had a choice of a few great LACs where they were accepted). I don’t think it all happens the same way. At D’s school, there were multiple athletic recruits to the same Ivy and people thought that shut the door on the non-athletic kids, but in the end it didn’t (3 non-athletes were accepted to the same Ivy in the RD round).
If your D is a ‘yes’ at the school, it is unlikely they would turn her down b/c there is a girl from her school that is being supported by a coach. They are going to judge your D based on her own merits.
At some schools, the ‘help’ from the coach comes in the ED round, other schools allow the coach to give a list of names for the regular round too. Most coaches really want the recruits to go ED because in D3 schools, there is no commitment athletically and the coaches want to tie up the team as early as possible, thus the ’ apply early and you’ll get support’ bargain. All admission decisions are by the admissions office. A coach cannot get a student through admissions unless the student has the grades, but can give a little help to one who may be just outside the stats for that school.
But what’s to be done about it now? The ED apps have been submitted. If the apps are in from the athletes too, they are in. If the athletes are waiting until the regular round, then OP’s daughter will not be compared to them.
Thanks for the input on this everyone. Well @twoinanddone, of course there is nothing to be done about it but worry and speculate, but isn’t that what this board is for? 
If your D reads as a ‘yes’, it is unlikely that will turn to a no b/c there is a girl(s) applying from the same hs who is being recruited. She will be evaluated on her own merits.
A majority of athletes do go ED1 but some also go ED2, I posted an article about Haverford admissions/athletes yesterday and the data suggested (about 10 yrs old) that about half of the ED1 athletes at H were deferred.
At most schools, there is plenty of room for non-athletes in ED1
Good luck
“At most schools, there is plenty of room for non-athletes in ED1”
Perhaps, but lets not forget the ED round is also when faculty kids, alumni kids, DA’s, WOW’s and wealthy kids often apply and are accepted. Non hooked students who are in need of FA have a much smaller chance of acceptance then.
For colleges that are not need blind and have small endowments, a large # of early acceptances will go to academically qualified students who can pay full fare.
And your DD will be evaluated to the other applicants from her same school.
Recruited athletes are in a different category. After they sign their commitment letters, they go to that school in exchange for a full or partial scholarship. They don’t go through the regular admission process but they need to meet the minimum standards set by the school for academics and behavior. If they don’t (and this is usually part of the negotiations during the offer process) they generally won’t be offered by the athletic department.
Some schools have pretty rigorous academic standards for athletes - look at D1 schools like Michigan and Stanford - and you can see it yourself when you watch the post game interviews (e.g. Michigan’s QB is going to med school next year). That limits the pool for those schools. Other schools just follow the NCAA minimum standards.
For the most part, athletes do not affect the regular pool of students if they go to the same HS. To be fair, athletes are not ordinary students because they are asked to spend huge amounts of time at their sport, travel and miss classes, forgo internship opportunities over the summer and be full time college students as well. Most every minute of their days are occupied. If they are in particularly time consuming areas like the sciences or engineering (or occasionally grad school) it amazes me that they are able to graduate.
^^ Athletes DO go through the regular admissions process, although the schools can set the standards for those athletes as long as they meet the minimums set by the NCAA. The athletic departments determines how much athletic aid the student will be offered, but not whether they get into the school or into a specific major. Many school admissions dept require much more than the NCAA minimum. Michigan may have a smart QB, but there are plenty of other athletic admits who would not be there except for the athletic skill. Many D1 athletes are also top scholars and are admitted without special consideration.
But this discussion is about D3 schools, where there is no commitment letter for a scholarship. The athletes are in the same pool for admissions as everyone else (except that most apply ED so they are in the ED pool). The admissions office can decide to take a student with lower (within reason) stats who is an athlete, from Zambia, an URM, a legacy or any other reason to make the class well rounded.
There is a thread going on right now on the athletic page about whether ED athletes get notified earlier than other ED candidates. The consensus seems to be that no, the athletes find out at the same time as other ED applicants.
twoinanddone’s post represents my understanding as well.