Likely letter

I am currently a junior and if I contacted the Harvard coaches in the spring, and they were interested in me, what would happen next? When would I take an official visit and how would that work? And would I have to do a full application in order to see if I could get a likely letter? When would I receive the likely letter if I was rewarded with one?
I’m just trying to get more background knowledge in this subject as a whole.

I think it varies by sport. But the e-book “The Essential Guide to Ivy League Athletic Recruiting” is a great place to start…it gives an overview of one family’s experience (women’s track & field). I’m not affiliated with the writer/publisher at all, but did buy it early on and referred to it throughout our process — even though my daughter didn’t ultimately go Ivy route.

A few quick answers:

  • Official Visits for Ivy (and other D1 schools) start in the Fall of a prospect’s senior year of HS…you cannot take an OV to an Ivy/D1 school until the first day of class of your senior year of HS.
  • My understanding is that you do not have to submit full application to get the offer of an likely letter (meaning a coach is willing to use one of his/her recruiting slots on you)...but will have to go through a pre-read. For us, the pre-read elements needed were: Transcript, SAT/ACT Scores, Senior Year Schedule, and High School Profile.
  • The Ivy League uses an "Academic Index" (AI) to give prospects a score...coaches will have a minimum AI in mind (for individuals as well as collectively — though each school/sport might handle this in different ways)
  • AFAIK, to get LL, you DO have to submit a full application, which is generally done as soon as the school accepts applications. According to parent familiar with process (fencing), the first wave of LLs goes out mid-October.

Is it possible to have a Harvard or Stanford scholarship in-hand as a “commit” when you are a sophomore?

No

@sunnyschool Especially because Harvard does not give athletic or any kind of merit scholarships, only financial aid.

Actually, it depends on the sport. I personally know someone who committed to Stanford as a sophomore. He is now a freshman there. I know someone else who committed to Harvard as a freshman. He is now a senior in high school, with his acceptance in hand. Obviously,no athletic scholarship for the Harvard athlete, and I don’t know the details of the Stanford athlete’s award, but a non-headcount sport.

This was the question. IN HAND. Not possible. At Stanford the student would have to sign a NLI and be accepted. This can’t be done before Nov of senior year. Before that it is just a verbal commitment from the coach and the athlete.

At the Ivy, the ‘in hand’ is either the Likely Letter or acceptance to the school, neither which can be obtained before fall senior year. Ivy kids can ‘commit to the process’ earlier, but that doesn’t mean anything either.

There are lots of kids who commit earlier, and who announce it on social media, but they still have to be accepted to the school and they still can’t finalize it until they are seniors. Many in this position don’t feel comfortable announcing it while others are wearing the sweatshirts and telling everyone who will listen.

My daughter went through this. First, if Harvard is your first choice, don’t start there. Test the waters elsewhere. Depending on the sport, most schools will do a pre-read with admissions over the summer between junior and senior year. If admissions approves, the coach may have the athlete in for an official in for a visit and then apply early and at that point things are pretty clear for everyone. I view a likely letter as a me-too opportunity to participate in a signing session with the scholarship athletes, nothing more.

I think a likely letter is a lot more than that. It’s as close as you can get to an admissions letter before the ED notices come.

^^^I don’t disagree with that. But isn’t in the same category as the the NLI which is a contract between the school and the athlete.The likely letter is symbolic - it is non-binding so the athlete already knows where he/she stands with e college before it is given.

The only caveat I’d make to any assumptions is that commitments can be tied to coaches as much as a school. Assuming a coach will be at an Ivy / Stanford in 2 or 3 years is always risky.

My daughter has been saying a current senior has been “committed” to Brown for 3 years…and the acceptance is now in hand, so it does happen.

But what about the rule that coaches cannot talk to prospects before Junior year?
Are these “commits” coming out of showcases and/or athlete-initiated contact?

@sunnyschool I’ve also heard that non-academic coaches (i.e. club team coaches) will sometimes serve as intermediaries to work around the NCAA contact rules.

Camps.

I posted this elsewhere before…but a friend of mine from work has a son who’s a great kid. Good student, good person…very good soccer player. At a camp in the Southeast US one or two summers he impresses a coach who makes a (not so) subtle suggestion that “when you’re ready for college, I have a spot for you”. A few years go by, and by the time the player is looking at colleges the coach as moved on (my point above). The student contacts the coach at his new school to see if he’s still interested, and the coach says absolutely. Only change, the coach is at Stanford. First 2 years at Stanford…NCAA champs.

You never know. All from a year or two of soccer camp.

Are these soccer camps the kids sign up for on their own, or team camps? (ie, for soccer) @EyeVeee

Just one example…but there are thousands of them nationally (and internationally) each year. Different ages, different focuses, different levels. It’s the “big business” of college sports…without all of those nasty rules and regulations.

I have a former neighbor whose son has been going to Europe since he was 9 or 10 for camps of varying length (a week to upwards of a month in the summers). He and a parent go, and the rest of the family (1 parent, 2 kids) go on vacation elsewhere. No judgement on doing that…just putting it out there.

http://www.dukesoccercamp.com/program/day-camps

Every sport has them, but soccer is biggest I’m guessing.

Most soccer camps are for individuals. Most of the major college programs – D1, D2 and D3, run them, plus, there are for profit ones run by Nike, Adidas, and recruiting companies. Some camps offered by a college may only have coaches from that specific school, others “bundle” coaches from a range of programs.

There are hundreds of kids who give a verbal commitment to a school as sophomores,and both sides hold to those commitments so come NLI day, they formalize the deal and if the student has been accepted to the school, it’s more or less final. But either side can back out up to that day. There were football coaches pulling offers in early December this year,so kids who thought everything was set were scrambling for a new offer.

It just depends on your comfort leave if you want to announce as committed as a sophomore or wait until you have something in writing. You can’t get anything in writing til senior year.

How does a pre-read relate to a likely letter and how does SCEA factor in to all this if at all?

For Ivy league schools, a Likely Letter is predicated upon the student applying SCEA/ED. Yes there are some rare exceptions, but the OP should assume that the s/he is not one of them.

The pre-read will help the coach (and student) understand if the candidacy should continue to be pursued. The coach will use the pre-read information to do his/her ranking of candidates since s/he onlt has X slots that will result in a LL. The coach will communicate (some more straightforward than others) whether s/he will support the candidate in the admissions process.