<p>Yeah, I think that I'm just gonna ask him straight up exactly where I stand. Although this is going to create a rather uncomfortable situation.</p>
<p>meateater, your stats are outstanding, then factor in the athletic recruiting aspect... well, need i say more? :)</p>
<p>Does anybody know anything about likely letters? Like, do you have to get a likely letter to get help from a coach? EG, if I don't get a likely letter can I assume that I'm not getting much help, or are they reserved for top recruits?</p>
<p>Likely letters are the Ivy League's answer to DI recruits who are weighing scholarship options. The protocol and timing varies from sport to sport. </p>
<p>Ivy recruits with scholarship offers at other DI schools are squeezed between a rock and a hard place. Coaches don't want to hold scholarships open until Ivy admissions decisions come in (even December ED/EA decisions) because while the coach is holding a spot for his #1 recruit, #2, #3, and #4 get tired of waiting and commit elsewhere. Then, if #1 does get into the Ivy and turns down the scholarship in late December, the coach has to go back into a much diminished recruiting pool. </p>
<p>So--with the help of the coach, I believe--the recruit submits his/her credentials to the Ivy early for a pre-read. If everything looks good, admissions will provide a likely letter. These are reliable as long as the recruit holds up his/her end of the bargain academically. Now the recruit can either accept the scholarship or turn it down, feeling confident that he is turning it down in favor of the Ivy, not just the dream of the Ivy.</p>
<p>As far as how this works with your sport and whether this is something that you could ask for, you'd have to ask the coach. Even if you are not in posession of an athletic scholarship offer, if you are going to apply ED to Princeton, you are forfeiting your right to apply ED elsewhere. That's a significant commitment from you and you have the right, I believe, to at least ask the coach how likely this commitment from you will result in a commitment from Princeton.</p>
<p>Thanks for the reply. I think I am just going to ask the coach flat out what his committment to ME is and try to get an early read on my app.</p>