<p>I have verbally committed to an Ivy League school after the coach offered me a spot. He said that everything he has heard from admissions has been positive, but he also said that I will be going regular decision (instead of early) because of a requirement in admissions that not all athletes can go early. Therefore, I will not be receiving a likely letter until December. However, he did say that once admissions have reviewed my application they will give a "verbal likely" to my parents. </p>
<p>Is it possible for a coach to offer a spot without admissions approval? </p>
<p>Just wondering if anyone has experienced this before, and if there is any chance that something might go wrong?</p>
<p>It is possible for a coach to offer a spot without an approval for a Likely Letter from admissions, but I’m not sure why a coach would do that. Has the admissions office approved you for a Likely Letter? Even if will not come until December, if you are approved for one, then I think you are ok. I know that some Ivy League as well as some other top schools do recruit in both ED and RD rounds. I do believe the top recruits are offered Likely Letter in the ED round. That said, if the coach says that you have been approved for a Likely Letter, but you will not receive until December, I would feel pretty confident.</p>
<p>This looks clear as mud. It sounds like you’ve verbally committed to them. THey have verbally committed to you with conditions. I’ve not heard of that before. The logic escapes me why they can’t offer you a LL now with the understanding that you apply RD later. There is just too much risk here, and all the risk is yours.</p>
<p>As varska advises, it may be a good idea to keep yourself on the market. I would take it a step further and suggest my son/daughter make a lot of phone calls from coaches that had interest. This is a unique situation that I do not understand. Because I do not understand it, I would protect myself. In most situations, a verbal is “game over” . This definetly is not most situations.</p>
<p>Also, you may want to read this to clarify that only admissions can provide LL and admittance for recruited Ivy athletes.</p>
<p>There seems to be some confusion about the timing of Likely Letters. Some people say that they are only offerd after an application has been submitted, but others claim to have been given them prior to applying. This is what I found on the website:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Admissions Offices at each Ivy school may offer some athletic and other candidates a “likely” letter, which has the effect of a formal letter of admission provided the candidate continues to have a satisfactory secondary school experience. Coaches may initiate the requests for these letters, but only the office of admission can issue a"likely" letter.</p></li>
<li><p>Admissions decisions will be communicated only by official written notification from Admissions Offices, by notification in Early Action, Early Decision or “regular” processes, or by “likely letters” after October 1, which are confirmed by one of those notifications. No other indication of a possible positive admissions result is or should be considered reliable.</p></li>
<li><p>An Ivy coach may both inquire about a candidate’s level of commitment to an Ivy institution, or interest in attending that Ivy institution, and encourage that interest. However, a candidate may not be required to make a matriculation commitment, to withdraw other applications, or to refrain from visiting another institution, as a condition for receiving a “likely” letter, or an estimate of financial aid eligibility, or a coach’s support in the admissions process. In addition, coaches may not request that candidates not share estimates of financial aid eligibility with other schools.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>There is no indication of whether or not a Likely Letter is only issued after an application is submitted. Anybody know more about this?</p>
<p>In my D’s situation the complete ap, official transcripts, scores and essays had to be in the hands of the adcom at the time they had their LL meeting in November. I don’t know how else admissions could evaluate whether a recruit was qualified academically.</p>
<p>In D’s case, every Ivy coach explained that she would need to submit an application first before receiving a LL. She got a LL from a school that does not have ED, and she still got it earlier than December I believe. So to me it sounds like what they are doing is pushing off the timing of the submission until after the first round recruits have been looked at. I agree that this is risky–not so much because you may not ultimately get approved by admissions, but rather that the coach may fill his roster before December if his higher priority recruits all get approved. I’m not sure though. You might need to share what sport and gender this is, and then after that confer privately via PM with any posters who have experience with your particular school and sport.</p>
<p>I’d pursue your other options. If you have something else firmly in hand, at that point you could tell this coach you need to expedite the process if he wants you to honor your commitment.</p>
<p>^^ fishymom, Ivy rules are clear that the complete app must be in before a LL can be issued. I’m on my iPad now, so my cut and paste ability is limited, but I’ll post a link, etc. later.</p>
<p>First, because a likely letter has “the effect of a formal letter of admission,” you have to send in a formal application.
Second, it sounds to me like the coach wants to see what his/her yield is after the ED round (both in terms of which athletes actually committed and which athletes were admitted). There may be some on the list who are shaky candidates.
Can you find out where you are on the coach’s list and how many recruits s/he usually gets admitted?
The good news is that at this point, you can keep on talking to other coaches because you have no LL in hand and apparently no other offers.</p>
<p>“D. An institution may send a “likely” probabilistic communication
letter to a candidate (whether or not the applicant is a recruited
student-athlete) only if the applicant has submitted all of the
materials which the institution requires in order to make an
admissions decision.”</p>
<p>Just to clear things up, I have already sent in my formal application. I just wasn’t sure if, because I am going regular decision, the likely letter has to come in December instead of October.
Thanks for the help :)</p>