D has a couple of OV’s scheduled at Ivy’s, great AI and test scores (230 & 33 ACT). Highly-rated in sport (top 250 in her class - swimming). Chances of LL? Ideas on early decision or wait for the merit offers/athletic scholarships from the other schools to arrive?
When someone has been invited on an official visit to an Ivy, it means that the person has passed a pre-read by Admissions and has the requisite athletic talent the coach is looking for.
Whether the OV materializes into a likely letter depends on other things that it is hard for outsiders to assess, such as: decisions by other recruits, school’s assessment of OV, student-athlete’s assessment of OV, financial aid issues. So I will not do the chances thing.
As far as waiting for athletic scholarships or merit awards versus Ivy early decision with need-based aid, well I guess that depends on your financial situation. In any case, likely letters may go out as early as October 1. NLI signing period this year is November 11-18. Ivy early decision confirmations are usually mid-December.
So if it looks like an athletic scholarship plus merit award would be better than Ivy need-based aid, you could pull the Ivy application in early November, then apply to the non-Ivy and sign the NLI. If your conscience allows.
I am a big advocate of getting as much information as possible before making a decision, and in doing things one step at a time. Go on the OV’s. See which schools offer a likely. If your daughter is happy with one of the schools which offer, and the financial pre read is acceptable, then ask if the offer of support for a letter is contingent on an ED or EA app. Then reach out to other schools that are recruiting her and see what their timeline is. Until you get to the point where there has been an offer of support and a good financial read at a school your daughter likes, there is no point in trying to hash out all the permutations, imho.
Are LL always offered/discussed immediately after OV visit? Wouldn’t the coach wait till they had seen all their OV candidates?
I’m new to this and have a son going on OVa to ivys for rowing…
Nothing is “always” done in college sports recruiting.
If a recruit is the coach’s top prospect and the OV goes well, why wouldn’t an offer of a slot or an LL be made right away? If a recruit is in the middle of the pack, maybe the coach would wait.
Believe it or not, some slots are offered before the OV–usually in the case where the recruit has taken one or more unofficial visits-- and the OV is just a nice thing to do for the recruit.
@Dilbertfan, I agree with Ohiodad and Fenwaypark - at this point there are just too many moving parts to come up with a strategy. The fact that she has been invited on a couple OVs is obviously a good sign. Will a LL offer materialize? Nobody can say. It’s going to depend on the strength of the other available recruits and the needs of each program. Ditto with the scholarship offers - fully funded D1 women’s swimming has 14 to cover the swimmers and divers? Typical roster might divvy that up between 30 girls?
Some programs will offer the top girls in the country money and want other recruits to earn their way into a scholarship based on their performance once they’re there.
Take it a step at a time, see what offers come and, of course, where your daughter wants to go.
@tonymom, sometimes the coach will offer a LL at the conclusion of the OV, sometimes he’ll say he has X number of spots and has a few more recruits to see.
LL’s are often issued (at Ivy’s, at least) when a recruit is being actively pursued by a competing school that utilizes the early signing period for the NCAA. If the recruit is not in ‘danger’ of signing elsewhere, sometimes the admissions process will simply be followed with the coach supporting the athlete through admissions without the LL. The absence of an LL does not definitively indicate the coach’s level of interest in the athlete at every school. I have seen athletes recruited actively both with and without the use of a LL. As @fenwaypark indicated above, “Nothing is “always” done in college sports recruiting.”
While I have no data to support this assumption, based on different athletes we’ve spoken to I believe some of the Ivy’s tend to use the LL’s sparingly. If this is the case at the school you are considering, perhaps a different question to the coach would be, “Will you be supporting my application through the admissions process?” If the answer is “yes” the coach will want your daughter to apply in the early round. If she applies early action, your daughter can apply in the early round but does not need to formally accept until May 1st or so, which gives lots of time for other offers to come in. If the application process is early decision the decision to apply early is much more limiting.
Agree with @cantiger. Don’t get caught up in looking for specific language, or in trying to compare the process in one sport or at one school with another. In my son’s sport, all of the Ivys recruiting him offered likely letters, and all offered them in both the early and regular decision rounds. Also, most of the guys who ended up at his school had offers of likely letters before their OV. In other, smaller sports things seem to be done quite differently. The important thing is that there is only one sanctioned level of support an Ivy coach can lend to a prospect. For example, I personally would be very leery of a situation we see commonly on this board, where a coach says he is offering to support a prospect, but not seek a likely because the prospects academics are so strong a likely isn’t necessary. If your daughter is fortunate to be offered support by a coach in the Ivy, I would advise her to ask:
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will that support include a request for a likely letter?
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if so, under what terms? (ED only, ED or RD)
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if not, why?
When you have the answers to these questions, then you can begin to help your daughter find the best overall fit for her.
Thanks for everyone’s comments, daughter was offered support by coach, and he volunteered that a likely letter would be sent once application (ED) was received.
Congratulations!
On a side note, so much for the proscription against Ivy coaches giving probabilistic communications to recruits about admission I guess.
If the Compliance Dept ever checks on the coach and asks if he/she has given any probabilistic communications, I suppose the coach can just say, “Heck, no. I just give definite ones.”
I’m guessing that the coach’s wording isn’t exact He/she might say something like “Once you submit your EA application, you’ll hear from admissions about a likely letter within a week.” Easily translated by the recruit as “A likely letter is coming your way.”–and in the vast majority of cases, probably an accurate translation.