NESCAC Athletic Recruiting

Good info.

And when they tell you to go TO it may not always make sense to you. DS had a 1540 SAT and was told to go TO by the Tufts coach. 1540 is above their 75 percentile according to the last CDS.

It was the only school where we heard this. JHU, CMU, MIT, other Nescacs and Ivys were all good with that score.

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She didnā€™t explain section scores to the coaches because she felt like it was telling them/questioning how they do their job. We also didnā€™t feel like specific questions about their plans seemed appropriate. I have to assume that if the coaches have to submit section scores to admissions as part of a pre-read when they submit an overall composite score for a recruit, they would know whether admissions should see them or not. As someone else said, the worry is that admissions canā€™t ā€œunseeā€ them once they do. Would love to hear othersā€™ experiences/thoughts on this.

We have no issue with DD going TO, though the score for your DS was quite high, so thatā€™s surprising! Was your DSā€™s score submitted as part of the pre-read and one of the outcomes was they said to go TO for ED?

I guess so. Coach had all academic info. Was offered a spot at the OV so the ā€˜pre-readā€™ already happened, though, I canā€™t recall any official pre-read process. Tufts wasnā€™t high enough on the list that we were hanging on their every word.

My D22 submitted scores to coaches, who advised her not to submit them via the portal to admissions for the pre reads. Her composite was above median but uneven. Her math SAT was significantly higher than her reading. In both instances, the coaches felt her lower reading score would not help even though she wants to be a STEM major and the total was above the median for the school.

Thatā€™s a long way of saying that the coach will likely provide advice before the pre read submission.

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That is interesting, that your daughter submitted directly to admissions, because I donā€™t think thatā€™s the case most of the time! The coaches for my daughter said the info. was going directly to them (the coaches) first. Both said their schools are TO, but D gave the coaches (as part of pre-read) her composite and section scores (I suppose she didnā€™t have to, but not sharing them felt like she was hiding terrible scores). She figures (HOPES) coaches would know by looking at them whether to submit them or not to admissions. She was confused because during prior conversations they said they needed a certain score, but then when D was given the directions to submit pre-read info, they gave her the choice of whether or not to submit them. How would she know? She decided to go ahead and submit since she reached that minimum target score. Hopefully theyā€™ll know whether or not to submit to AO with her other materials, which are strong.

weighted or unweighted?

The school doesnā€™t calculate weighted/unweighted; donā€™t know if Williams did. However, it was an extremely rigorous boarding school.

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Not a recruiting question, but since there appear to be several NESCAC athlete parents on here, I thought Iā€™d ask. It appears that this past year (Spring 2022), Fall NESCAC sports were allowed to practice with their coaches (with certain guidelines) in their off season for the first time. Everything we heard at that time from coaches appeared to suggest this was going to hold true moving forward, which we were quite happy about. I recently read something, however, which seemed to indicate that was a one off due to lost time from COVID and as of Fall 2022, itā€™s back to no coach-led practices allowed in the off season. Iā€™m sure there are differing opinions on this, though my D would very much like formal coach-led off-season practices (other high academic schools and the Ivies seem to manage). Does anyone know anything more? Thanks!

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Yes, it was apparently a one-off last year like you stated due to Covid and a shortened 2021 spring season. As far as Iā€™m aware, the NESCAC conference has always been like that (no formal fall practices for spring sports). I have not heard anything about that becoming a permanent change. I know this fall there were no formal, coach-led practices for spring sports.

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On the d3 soccer boards someone posted that the NCAA just passed a new rule that would allow something like 24 coach-led practices in the Spring starting in 2024. What the NESCAC will do is unknown.

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Who knows? Here is one take on it.

Yes, that is where I first read they werenā€™t continuing it after last year. Previously I had read an article from a Bowdoin coach stating how much they loved the change and addition of off-season coach-led practices, and what a difference they made. Additionally, on two of Dā€™s recruiting visits last Spring, it was talked about as a new change framed as ā€œWe are now allowed toā€¦ā€ -not framed as temporary at all, so it doesnā€™t sound like most NESCAC coaches anticipated the conference rolling it back again.

I was wondering what the recent NCAA changes were for D3, as thus far Iā€™ve only seen D1 and D2. Is that change an increase in off-season practices for D3 non-NESCAC programs? I have to imagine there would a lot of pushback from NESCAC coaches if other D3 schools can add additional off-season coach-led practices, while they can coach noneā€¦

Yes, I think previously d3 soccer could have 16 coach led practices.

I just found the NCAA proposal (2023-11) and it did just pass so D3 schools will be allowed to increase their days from 16 to 24, beginning 8/1 of this year. I am extremely curious how the NESCAC responds; I canā€™t imagine thereā€™s not going to be significant push back to expand their off-season to allow at least some coach-led practices. If the NCAA just put out this new rule, Iā€™m wondering if the NESCAC will have to vote how to proceed. Not trying to debate whatā€™s right or wrong, Iā€™m genuinely curious how it all worksā€¦
They also voted to pass another proposal which allows institutions to put public information on committed athletes (who have paid their deposit), beginning January 1 of their senior year, from May 1, effective immediately. Again, not sure if the NESCAC has their own rule on thisā€¦

I expect either or both the NESCAC exec committee and Presidents would have to vote to make this change. Not sure of the process either, but Iā€™m sure your Dā€™s coach knows. Hereā€™s the NESCAC website where they post policies, news, etc.

She has a zoom meeting with the coach next month with her commit group so she plans on asking.

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On the other hand, the NESCAC schools have been having capt led practices in the off season for many years and those have worked pretty well to compete in the conference and win championships against other schools who were allowed the 16 practices. It would not surprise me if the NESCAC remains the lone wolf.

The coaches can still give the athletes work out packages, lifting session guides. Some play another sport (lacrosse/field hockey, xcountry/track, even football/track) so they are staying in shape. And the coaches know who did the workouts, just like they know who did the summer workouts.

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