Ok so I want to know my chances at one of the “Little 3” NESCAC schools. I have talked to the coach and he said he will support my application and I am his top recruit. I don’t play a helmet sport, but right away I will be near the top of the conference athletically. I have a 3.3 GPA, but I go to one of the best boarding schools in the country (Think Exeter, Andover, Choate). 1420 SAT and URM. Going through a pre-read right now, but coach said everything looks good. I am worried about my GPA. What band do you think I am in? A,B, or C? I want to apply ED, but I also don’t want to get rejected. Advice???
If you have a successful pre-read, it sounds like you are in. It would be a good idea to ask the coach if he has ever had his #1 recruit, with a successful pre-read and his full support, not be accepted. That should give you assurance.
I think the bands are more of an Ivy thing and that the NESCAC schools are a little looser in how they categorize recruits, but I could be wrong on that.
The only thing you can do now is wait for the pre-read results. If positive, and the coach gives you a slot/full support, you are highly likely to be admitted when you apply ED… but there is always uncertainty until you receive your acceptance.
Agree with the above, if the pre-read is positive ask coach the likelihood of being accepted ED, and if anyone in a similar situation has ever not been accepted. Admissions may also ask to see your first quarter grades. Good luck.
The NESCAC institution will also look at your transcript within the lens of your high school, knowing that your school may not weight GPAs and take into account the rigor of your school.
I know you want to know the thoughts of others who have been through it before, but my advice is to stay calm and await the results of the preread. It won’t take much longer.
I would say that with a 3.3, you probably are a B or C band with any of the little three, but who really cares what I think. It is up to the coach and adcom. Please understand that even with a positive preread, things can happen – there are no guarantees. If you do get a positive preread, just thank your lucky stars that you have more of a sense of where you will land for college than the non-athletes. You should be grateful for that.
@godfatherdon
It sounds like you are coming out of a top school where the GPA’s are lower. Your SAT is good for an athlete. I think as long as your rigor in your schedule is strong, you are good! URM status helps too.
Best of luck!!
Ask the coach what a pre-read approval means. At most schools, it means you will be admitted. At a few schools (Haverford is notorious) it means you are okay to be accepted - but so are many many other applicants and they don’t take them all, even if the coaches want them.
Just be sure you know what an ‘okay’ on the preread means.
Tough to say without knowing the sport and the school. I would say gpa is not the challenge given probable academic prestige/reputation of your school, but the SAT may be borderline. As Little 3 coach (non helmet) told my kid, “a 1440 is a great score, but avg applicant here is 1520”. And avg applicant SAT is not the common data set for “enrolled” students, which is typically 40-50 points lower than avg applicant given these three are standard ivy safeties. And tennis/golf/crew/x-country are smart kids sports which generally carry higher standards as opposed to football/wrestling/lax. Lastly, being the “top recruit” can’t be underestimated, likely good flexibility regardless of sport.
NESCAC generally use bands. Ivies use AI, except for football where they use bands (not quite sure about men’s basketball, lacrosse and ice hockey). Agree with the above that if you get a positive preread, ask coach his success rate for kids with your characteristics (top recruit, academic record). The point of the bands is that a coach is limited to certain slots by band, the lower the band, the lower the slots. If he is using his full support/slot for you and you have a positive preread, and you apply ED, chances are very likely that it is almost certain you will get in unless you screw up 1st semester, submit a dreadful app or otherwise do something incredibly stupid. Do check with the coach though as schools may be different. For my S in baseball, the coaches were saying over 90%+ with full support and ED, although he was an A band recruit.
Since my DS20 (swimmer) is going through the exact process right now, the scenario I could see that might make your situation a bit unpredictable is some D1/ivy looking athletes decide to play it safe and apply to your top choice, who have better stats athletically (they become the top recruits so to speak) and/or academically. Will you do OV there? Do you have contacts with other schools/coaches? And finally, maintain or better yet improve your senior year GPA. Good luck.
Two good comments above. Certainly might not be the case here, but if you sent in pre read package prior to June 30th, the coach may be working down his priority list. We heard back within a day from one Nescac where he was high on coach’s list, and late July where he was lower down. Always a reason for the delay, but truth is coach’s need to field best possible team of admissible kids with selective and finite influence at his disposal. So not hearing by this point may not be a bad thing, but it most certainly is not a good thing. Knowing the sport would help provide more guidance…
NESCACs coaches can’t send materials received from recruits to admissions until July 1. I am not sure I would read much into the timing right now…it’s not even August. Coaches and admissions people take vacations and there are a lot of pre-reads across all the sports…it can be over 100 depending on how wide coaches cast their nets.
With that said, I don’t think it would be inappropriate for OP (not the parent) to follow up with the coach and ask if the pre-read results are in…I might wait until Aug 1 to send that communication.
Just curious, which schools in the NESCAC are considered “little 3”
And by extension there are “big 3”? In my mind, all NESCAC schools are pretty small in size. Thanks.
The little 3 are Williams, Amherst and Wesleyan…it’s kind of a dated term (like Public Ivies), not really used all that much…origination stories do differ, probably related to football. Big 3 = HYP.
^The Little Three use the term among themselves pretty regularly, (e.g., pretty much any time one of them wins a game against the other two.) Its origins date from the early days of collegiate football when the eastern college games were closely followed by the New York and Boston papers. Amherst, Williams, Wesleyan and to some extent - Bowdoin - were the smallest of the tradition-bound, all-male colleges that participated in round-robin play.
As noted above, definitely ask the Coach his track record with supported students with successful pre-reads being admitted. I know for football the NESCAC has specific slots and if supported with a successful pre-read you will be admitted.
Heard from last of our Nescac coach this am, and pre read was positive! Some question on course selection for senior year, but more of a clarification than issue. So our time line for 3 Nescac (non helmet) pre read feedback was one early July, one mid July, and one this am. Coach today apologized for delay but indicated it was from some turnover in Admissions and not based on my kid’s place in pecking order. So relieved!! Was getting anxious as would have been a wreck if this spilled over into August. Now time to get crackin on the essays lol.
If you have a successful pre-read, does that mean you have an offer or the offer a separate decision that the coach makes? I heard a NESCAC coach say they were waiting until late August or Labor Day before making offers. Or that they were trying to, so as not to pressure the kids.
^ an offer is different from a pre read. The pre read is a communication from admissions to the coach about likelihood of admission. An ‘offer’ (as usually used with respect to selective schools) is a commitment from the coach to the athlete to support the application during the admissions process.
Full commitment from 2 of coaches comes after fall OV, but both are providing positive indications. Other one coach said we “can wrap this up now”, which is not our preference.