My child was recruited to a school where she’s a legacy as well. The coach was thrilled upon learning her legacy status. I was really surprised- I thought it didn’t matter at all.
My guess is that it signaled the coach that my daughter is serious about this particular school.
That said I don’t really know how much or if it helped her admission.
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A number of friends had kids who were recruited athletes at their alma mater.
This is just a guess, but admissions might be happy to have a kid they are being told to take (by the coach) also fill a bucket they are guided to fill as well. It’s not unlike a coach recruiting a URM. The intersection of these "desirable " characteristics is helpful.
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I’m not sure about NESCAC but at Ivies a coach can often use the legacy status to get a recruit admitted, thereby saving a slot for a non-legacy recruit. I know of several cases where this happened.
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My D22 was VERY much involved in the process herself; she kept detailed notes so she’d keep track of all the interactions with the coaches. During the process, we’re invited to Zoom calls with the coaches. But I did notice the coaches are able to be quite specific regarding test scores & GPA’s. I felt that some of the coaches were a little inpatient with her timeline. She definitely waited it out till quite late in the cycle before she’s made her decision, but she had 2 of the top 3 NESCAC schools on her offer list and ended up with her dream school which is a T10 outside of NESCAC. I’d honestly think a SAT equal of an ACT score of 34 would be enough for NESCAC; although my D22 did retake the ACT bcuz she thought it was not enough for her in securing a ‘Likely Letter’ for her dream school.
I don’t think a 34 is needed for most NESCACs if you are getting coach support.
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Agree! Nothing like a 34 is needed. I know someone who got into Williams with a 3.4 gpa with support from the men’s soccer coach.
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Maybe that’s why the coaches were all surprised when my D22 decided to retake the ACT for an even better score. But then D22 has not taken any AP STEM classes except AP Calc A/B.
That’s interesting. My daughter is at Ivy as well.
In her case, I don’t think the coach was able to ‘save’ her slot because she’s a legacy. When my daughter was considering gap year, she was told that if she takes a gap year the coach will lose one slot from the following year so please let her know asap (note: there was never a pressure not to take a gap year- the athletics at ivies were cancelled that year)
My son’s GPA was 3.6, but the NESCAC coaches guaranteed there would be no problem getting him in without submitting test scores.
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Question about submitting test scores for pre-read. D just submitted all materials to schools for pre-reads. Two of the NESCACs asked for test scores (and section breakdowns) if the recruit wanted to submit them. In separate conversations with both coaches (in the past) both said they were looking for a specific score but could also go TO if need be. D got the specific score mentioned that was needed on the ACT (though in the lower range for the school in general) so submitted to coaches as part of the pre-read. Now I’m second guessing it. Should she have just not submitted it? D’s thinking is that coach and likely AO would want to see she meets the minimum standards at least and then they could always tell her to go TO for actual ED application. Both coaches said her transcript, grades, rigor, senior courses look great. I just want to be sure that the test score wouldn’t hurt her pre-read? Does that make sense?
Our son is going to Middlebury and was TO as a recruit. I think the coach decides on whether to submit the scores or not. The coach is currently determining where your daughter fits in the recruit class they are looking at and how many recruits he can use a slot or give academic support. For example, they have limited slots where they can get some help for your recruit and then the balance of the class has to actually get in on their own. So they are juggling their athletic needs by position, academics and available slots they can use. If your daughter gets a slot, then the scores and being TO become much less relevant if her grades are good. So do not worry, the coach, in my opinion is deciding on who and what to submit. In our situation, our son shared on his scores, and coach said we are going TO. (ha!) his grades and course load were within the range. We also got signals our son was high on his list so it became apparent to us he was using a slot on him. Hope this helps.
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I agree with the above. Share everything with the coach and the coach will decide how best to package things for admissions.
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Agreed. And if the coach does submit scores for the pre-read, at many schools the AO will tell the coach whether or not the student-athlete should submit it with the actual application, or go TO. No harm, no foul.
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That’s what we’re thinking/hoping. In others’ experiences do schools/coaches typically want ACT section scores? Maybe that also determines whether they should submit it? I find the whole process fascinating and it obviously varies from school to school, so just trying to get a better sense of process.
Yes, coach has signaled she’s high on list. We figured she’d go TO, that’s why we were surprised with request for score and breakdown of section scores. Congrats to your son!
IME section scores are typically required as part of pre-read materials.
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Thanks! Our son led with the SAT so I cannot read into the request for scores by ACT section. I would not read into it too much. All info is good info for the coach to determine his strategy on what he wants to send over to the AO and who he wants to offer support to. Feel free to shoot any other questions as you get through the process. We found the whole process to be very excited and this forum/thread helped us a lot to understand how things work, particularly in the NESCAC.
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Section scores can be important if an applicant is submitting test scores. A composite score can hide lopsided scores. But, a student excelling in, say, math can help a school’s common data set scores which breaks the ACT down into sections. An admissions office may be looking for that higher score in a particular section.
That said, if a composite score helps hide a true deficiency, you may only want to submit the composite.
Yes, that makes sense. That’s why I would have preferred she just submit just the composite, but D didn’t have a choice; she was asked to submit section scores if she submitted a test score. For one of the schools she submitted just the composite score and the coach immediately reached out said her things looked great, but please send the section scores. She (and we) felt if she never submitted a test score it would look like she was hiding a bad score. We figured coach/AO would just tell us if we should go TO for actual application. Are you saying AO might be looking if section scores may be valuable but if not, then they will tell coach to have student not submit test scores at all when/if applying? I guess my biggest question is, if athlete gives ACT score (decent) to coach with section breakdown (uneven), is it ever a bad thing if school is TO and all other things good (grades, transcript, courses, rigor, etc.)?
I think it is OK to explain to coach that your D’s ACT section score is uneven and ask if coach still wants D to submit these section scores. Coach will then decide how to shine best light for your D.
My kid had a similar situation but not exactly. Coach asked kid to submit another set of SAT score in order to improve the superscore, even though the other SAT score was uneven. At the end, we just figured the coach will do what’s best to get my kid in.