<p>Hi everyone, I'm trying to find the thread where someone explains the order in which apps get submitted in September and then switched from RD to EA after receiving the LL offer. Does anyone else remember this thread, or possibly can someone refresh my memory on these steps? I'm trying to advise my s on when essays and apps should be completed and submitted, and I recall that one can submit first and change to EA after the LL is sorted out. Not sure this will be relevant for him but want to have the timeline straight. Thanks!</p>
<p>Here was my daughter’s experience (Yale): App is submitted by September 30, at which time coach completes his/her submission to the admissions office stating his/her support of the application. Within a week coach receives an email from admissions that the LL has been approved. Generally about a week later the letter is received. In my daughter’s case her application was submitted as SCEA from the outset, and I believe that was the case for all her fellow recruits with “slots.” I’ve heard tale on CC of the switching from RD to EA but I don’t know if that in fact happens or if the Admissions Office would actually be willing to review in early October an application that is not in fact an EA application. In my daughter’s case, the feedback from the admissions pre-read, discussions with and assurances from the coach, and the coach’s track record, all made us confident things would be totally fine, as in fact they turned out to be.</p>
<p>Thanks so much for your input! Yes, I had the same concern–that the app needs to be scea from the beginning–but I’ve seen several threads explicitly stating that one can change the app from RD to SCEA, and also that one can have several applications submitted and then subsequently withdraw them when the acceptance letter is received.</p>
<p>I am fantasizing that he could possibly have his top several apps done and submitted in early September, supplemental essays and all, so that if things didn’t work out, it would be a smooth segue into plan B or C or whatever.</p>
<p>Gearing up for a busy spring and summer!</p>
<h1>LivesinHobbiton</h1>
<p>Last fall when kid1 was being recruited we had heard that ‘the switch’ was possible. We had asked a coach about it in July while on an unofficial visit. The coach said that you can do that - submit RD, get LL, switch to EA. However, when it came down to the commitment in October, the head coach would only request the LL if my kid submitted SCEA. My kid had offers from 4 Ivies and coach of his #1 obviously did not want to take a chance that kid would change mind and the LL would be wasted.
So it’s a good idea in theory but I wonder how many coaches would commit (request) a LL if the recruit does not commit to only apply at the one school?</p>
<p>Female HPY swimming recruits are asked (required) to submit applications before official visits. A recruit interested in all three would generally submit RD applications to each. Once a LL is offered and accepted, the recruit changes her application to SCEA and a LL is issued. </p>
<p>Other sports at these schools do not normally require applications before OV’s. </p>
<p>This is so helpful! I knew that this was being done, and yet people were also saying that individual coaches discouraged it. I just wanted to understand the timeline better. It makes sense that any recruit who is asked to submit applications before visits is going to submit RD apps. It also makes sense that not all coaches/teams/sports ask for this–no wonder I was getting confused.</p>
<p>I thought NESCAC recruiting was stressful because of the unknowns, but actually I’m finding the Ivy options kind of nerve wracking as well.</p>
<p>Thanks so much to all of you!</p>
<p>It is a stressful, harrowing ride with lots of ups and downs. When you emerge out the other end you’ll recall it fondly, but you’ll also smile knowingly when the your parent friends of non-recruits tell you how easy you had it because of your child’s athletic “hook.” Best of luck.</p>
<p>I thought EA was not binding, so why wouldn’t a student submit all of the apps EA (or are some ED and binding therefore)?</p>
<p>I was told at one point that if you want a pre-read at the Ivy my son is targetting, he has to apply ED, that admissions won’t look at it even with a coach recommendation if it is RD. Something to do with acceptance rates of ED being higher, and putting the athletes in with the legacies as those with “a hook”.</p>
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<p>Harvard, Yale, and, Princeton are Single Choice Early Action, which means that you can only apply early to one, but yes, they are not binding.</p>
<p>Hi our experience to Yale was after we’d done all OVs, the application SCEA was only to there. Only THEN the LL comes and applicant athletic recruit can firmly relax from ongoing worry (inlcuding the onoing recruitment process) about getting a slot. You can only apply SCEA to one HYP place and you could in theory apply at the same time RD to other places- but both athletes and coaches usually want to know asap (depending on which sport many/most spots are filled EA with maybe a few spots held for RD then a few for “walk-ons”). The coach in many sports is usually going to bat for the recruit, acceptance/ enrollment is, well for us anyway, was done as soon as the formal letter came for actual EA. </p>
<p>There was quite a bit on this topic (switching from RD to ED after LL received) a couple of years ago and parents and athletes found it a very helpful strategy to retain their one ED chance. However, we learned from experience this past Fall that this is not possible after the Common App overall in 2013. Until last year, one used to be able to go back into the application and switch a checked box from RD to ED. My son attempted to do this in November, at his coach’s request - but was unable to. Customer service at Common App confirmed that it was not possible after we sent multiple help requests about this while trying to switch it. We ended up having to create a pseudo application to another school just to get to the ED or RD prompt, then we printed out an ED agreement which we then sent to the college via the high school guidance office. The good news is, it all worked out and he was accepted ED at the college of his choice! Good luck to your son! PM me with questions if you’d like </p>
<p>*should be common app OVERHAUL not overall 
</p>
<p>Thanks carolinab, that is great info! I guess it isn’t possible to do the RD-SCEA switch anymore. I am researching all this info ahead of time–had not thought my kid would be interested in any Ivies but two coaches emailed him out of the blue, asking for grades/scores/etc. and I was caught off guard. I thought we were headed to Div. 3/NESCAC like my D was…and that was a totally different set of stressors. I think I need to draw a diagram, or a mind map, or something…lots of “if-then” situations! Thanks for the PM offer, I will definitely take you up on that after I clear out my box, I think I’ve run out of space because of the last kid’s recruitment saga!</p>
<p>Although the process may vary by school, in the instances I am aware of applicants contacted the school directly to make the change to EA. Understandably, schools would like applicants to apply ED or EA and some make the process quite easy. In the instances that I am aware of, all it took was an email to the appropriate person in admissions.</p>
<p>Since athletic recruiting is anecdotal, I provided a link to Stanford’s process for changing an application from RD to SCEA.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.stanford.edu/dept/uga/application/decision_process/regular.html”>http://www.stanford.edu/dept/uga/application/decision_process/regular.html</a></p>
<p>Okay, I’m understanding it better now…the switch possibility exists but with the individual school’s admissions office and it’s dependent on how that school wants to handle its recruiting, since HYP swimming seems to want the apps in advance and you can’t do an early action app to all three.</p>
<p>Ouch, my head hurts. #-o </p>
<p>Came home from practice to find really nice handwritten note from one of the coaches. I think my son is still in disbelief that this “really” means anything and is still going to cast a wide net. But it’s kind of fun, and I don’t want to let anything like a missed deadline or administrative snafu get in the way.</p>
<p>The other five IVYs don’t ask for applications before the OVs. Based on conversations with coaches, I believe that admissions at HPY takes longer to review an app than some of the other IVYs. Having everything in advance shortens the total time between an accepted offer and an admissions decision. Coaches have told us that recruits were lost to other teams because another coach needed an answer more quickly than admissions at a H, P or Y could give an answer. </p>
<p>My children were fortunate because they were very strong students. Once they got over the athletic hurdle, the wait for an answer didn’t seem so long.</p>
<p>Very few coaches send out handwritten notes. Your son should be pleased. Best of luck. </p>
<p>I think this is sports specific and not Ivy specific. My daughter submitted her app to Yale on September 30 and received through the coach less than ten days later that the LL had been approved for issuance (would have been sooner except for all the Common App glitches this year) and the actual letter was received days later. There was no delay because it was Yale or any sense that Yale needed longer than another of the non-HYP Ivies to make a decision. This was our experience. The experience of others may differ. </p>
<p>LivesinHob, After reading the other replies, I realize I may have misunderstood your question. Just to clarify, I was talking about changing the application from RD to ED at the Common App level, not at the level of the college admissions office. Our son completed his Ivy app before (about two weeks) the ED deadline, but submitted it with the common app box checked “RD”, as his coach was waiting for an ED spot “OK” from admissions. Once the coach got the ED ok, he asked my son to go back into the common app and switch the checked box to ED. His athletes had done this in previous years, but the new common app didn’t allow for it. Once we realized it, and notified the admissions dept of his request to change it, and faxed the paper copy of the “ED agreement” from the high school guidance office, there was no problem. Luckily he wasn’t doing this on the eve of the ED deadline, because it did take a few days of figuring out. I hope I didn’t add to the confusion :)</p>
<p>Hi carolinab, thanks for the clarification! It is interesting that there appear to be two ways to change from RD to ED. I wonder why your son’s Ivy didn’t just make an internal change, as others appear to have done? Must be something specific to that school, do you think? Actually, now that I think about it, an internal change would not include the guidance counselor signature, hmm.</p>
<p>My daughter applied ED to a NESCAC school two years ago and there were still paper options then. Maybe that’s the issue–that the PDF is no longer readily accessible online.</p>
<p>I really appreciate all the thought going into everyone’s replies.</p>
<p>I should have added that the change from RD to EA should involve two steps, an email to the athletic liaison in admissions and a note to the guidance counselor. Because apps for three schools needed to submitted before the start of senior year, my daughter needed to get teacher and guidance recommendations during the summer. Once she had gotten over the hurdle of getting the support of her high school for an August app., the actual change to EA seemed easy. </p>