Hi I just have to vent here because we had the unfortunate experience of being wooed by a coach to a school that my son was thinking of applying to. He called my son often, almost weekly. Chatting on all sudjects encouraging him to apply ( not my sons first choice btw). A few weeks ago we received a letter from him via email on school letterhead stating how it would be great to have him on the team that they are like family and that he would be in touch soon.
Well we considered it a done deal he was in. We received the notice that he had been Waitlisted from Admissions?!? Do these two departments not talk to each other? This was unfair to my son and
totally misleading. We have gotten accepted to more selective schools than this one. Sorry just needed to put this out there that it’s not right to manipulate students.
Sorry. I thought most athletes were recruited in the ED process. The coach should have make it clear that his/her sway with admissions was limited and that joining the team was contingent on being accepted into the school but I guess he/she was too busy selling the program. I’d say if your S has a better option and a preferred school then just move on. If this school was his top choice he could contact the coach, ask what happened, and inquire about the odds of getting in off of the waitlist.
My S runs XCountry so this coach was following him through the season. Watching his stats. Not all athletes are recruited through ED. We are moving on. You are right he should have made it clear that he had limited pull with Admissions. We just feel played.
Sorry that your son had to go through this. It was unfair to your family. Athletic recruiting often has a lot of factors. My daughter was being recruited, but we were fortunate that we had experienced HS counselors and coaches, who kept telling her that the coaches weren’t “admissions nor financial aid people” and that the first thing she had to do was to be admitted.
Coaches always have to go through admissions. If you didn’t have a pre-read, and didn’t receive a likely letter (issued by some of the more elite schools) then nothing is final until you get that admissions letter. “We’d love to have you on the team” is not the same as “You’re on the team AND admitted to the school.” The coach can’t write that second one.
This happens in some sports and by some coaches more than others. Haverford seems to have a review system that disappoints a lot of applicants, with admissions telling a lot of kids they are qualified, which they are, but then the coach only has enough pull for 2-3 per year and the rest have to be admitted with the general applicant pool.
There are also mistakes (like a student who wasn’t properly 'tagged ’ at UChicago). When the family contacted the coach and after the student wrote a letter of renewed interest, he was off the wait list in a couple of days.
But generally, if the student doesn’t apply ED, doesn’t get a pre read, and no likely letter, it means there’s no guarantee whatsoever.
@Olympia2 Sounds like there was a lack of communication and maybe a lack of understanding of the process. Tough to respond here because we do not know what school or even what type of school (e.g., Ivy, NESCAC, D1, D3). As noted, generally the quid pro quo is applying ED because then the coach and school know you will attend. Given your statement that this school was not your son’s first choice, why would the coach waste one of his precious slots on someone who likely would choose another school? I cannot imagine a XC coach gets more than a few slots each year. A coach cannot survive with his admitted recruits going to other schools. Though not all athletes are recruited through ED, if the school is a highly selective one that is the way it is generally done.
Just agreeing that sounds like there were unspoken assumptions happening in this communication – at most D3 (and D1s would have NLI etc process) schools, recruits apply ED in order to get support in admissions. At the RD round, a coach is looking to pick up uncommitted athletes and persuade them to come, but rarely has any “pull” in admissions. An RD applicant who is being wooed by a coach/program would do well to ask specific questions – “are you supporting me in admissions, how many students with my stats who you support in RD are admitted/rejected/waitlisted etc.” It sounds like this coach was trying to work the pipeline, and while absolutely disappointing to be waitlisted, this illustrates the importance of asking specific questions. Glad to know this student has other good options which sounds like he prefers.
I do believe that when the dust settles everything will work out well for your son. Many recruits have experienced coaches who promise the world but cannot (or do not want to) produce it. Even a public school counselor who knew little about athletic recruiting told me not to trust what the coaches say. It is always wise to have one or more backup plans in place, as it appears you have for your son.
As @Midwestmomofboys, @twoinanddone and the other posters note, there is never any admission guarantee and the best way to increase the odds of admission are: 1) get a pre-read; 2) apply ED; and 3) ask the coach direct and difficult questions about where your kid is on the list and chances for admission. The coach should not just submit a pre-read to admissions, but also tell you what admissions has said about the pre-read.
Look at this from a coach’s perspective, however. A hypothetical coach (not saying this is what happened to your son) wants a recruit and spends significant time on him. That probably means that a coach will be disappointed if the recruit is not admitted. However, the recruit does not apply ED. That act, by itself, signals to the coach that the recruit is lukewarm about the school, which it sounds like your son was. If the coach has put the athlete on his recruit list for admission in November, and the recruit does not apply until January, that also sends a message to admissions that the recruit has not committed to attending the school.
I do believe that, as MidwestMom suggests, the coach was working the pipeline, and at some schools could help get your son off of the wait list, but he would really need to commit to attending.
Thanks everyone. We are moving on. I do wish our guidance counselor had informed us that this was not necessarily an admit. She might not have known. The odd thing is that my son probably will be attending the “other” school in this state so they can wave hi at Xcountry meets.
Glad you are moving on, but advise you not to hold a grudge against this coach. Accept it as a misunderstanding. This coach could change scholols–to your school! The sports/coaching world is small.
@twoinanddone
^^^^what she said! The collegiate coaching world is a small and they often “talk”.
Glad your son found a spot at a different school! Unfortunately, we found that while our kids HS counselors were excellent when it came to the academic part of college applications and admissions, they were not very knowledgeable when it came to specialties such as sports or arts. Our DS2 was recruited for soccer, but we did the research and leg work when it came to finding the best fit academically that had a team he could play for, including all contact, and familiarizing ourselves with all of the rules and details regarding the recruitment process. It is a daunting process and can be overwhelming, but as a result we understood that there are no guarantees unless there is something in writing. We went through a similar process with our DD2 who wanted to major in Musical Theater. The process is completely different than a normal application process, and counselors did not have a clue as to how to start and what to look for. We found the best resource out there was to find families who had been through it before and to pick their brains. A great resource was while my son was at a recruitment “camp” I found several parents with older kids who had already been recruited; some were very forthcoming about the whole process and gave me a lot of information that proved to be very valuable. Best of luck to your son!!!
My daughter stayed instate, and is in a fairly small (5 teams, growing to 7 next year) conference. At the playoffs last year, the coach of the 5th team (not playing) was a guest commentator. She was wonderful and knowledgeable, but she knew EVERYTHING about the instate players. She knew who had been All Americans in high school, knew which players had played on championship teams, knew one of our players had been D1 but transferred after a year, knew the current records and who was a starter and who was contributing.It was great listening to her. I was sort of sad that we hadn’t looked at her school, but academically it just wasn’t right for D.
On the other hand, D really doesn’t like one of the other conference coaches who sort of dismissed us at the tour/meeting. We keep that on the down low, but D always puts in extra effort in those games to show that coach what she missed when she snubbed us.