While the Harvard case was brought under Title VI as a discrimination case brought on behalf of Asian Americans, the ruling being sought is that any race conscious admissions policy is prohibited by Title VI. The whole point behind Blum’s suit is to deny affirmative action benefits to URM’s to create more room for everyone else, including Whites. Listening to both oral arguments, IMO, it is more likely that the majority will rule against race conscious admissions for both publics and privates and not distinguish between the two. I also don’t see how they could even fabricate a ruling in the Harvard case that only applies to Asian Americans vs the entire system of race conscious admissions.
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I think that in the UNC case there is a good argument that race can be considered to balance the acceptances from remote areas of the state, that the state has a duty to serve all its residents, and some of those residents are minorities. Other states like Texas have argued that they need to admit students from all areas of the states, and the court has upheld it even if it means minorities will lower stats will be admitted over whites. Maybe they’ll find there are other ways NC can maintain the balance from rural, under served areas, but they also may find that the current system works.
I don’t think athletics will come into it. If the supreme court decisions come out in June they aren’t going to change recruiting admission decisions for this year. The schools may have to make changes to the ED group in December or the RD in March, but the change from July 1 or Aug 1 won’t matter. If they can no longer consider race, they can’t but the recruiting class has pretty much been formed by July 1 (and maybe much earlier).
It won’t effect the class entering in this Fall as admission decisions have already been made, but I do think it might affect recruits for the HS class of 2024. Admissions decisions are made by the AO in the NESCAC so coaches never had the power to bind the school. I don’t know, but it could be, that a URM athlete in the past may have only needed say a 24 ACT to make the minimum hurdle vs 27 for other athletes. The AO may feel constrained to in effect allow a double boost if the case is decided against Harvard and UNC, although it is probably easier to justify an athletic admit with much lower stats based on athletics alone.
Can’t they (don’t they?) do this simply by accepting kids from those areas?
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Yes, we got the same message regarding a different sport. My understanding is that the delay to August is due to the pending Supreme Court case regarding holistic admissions. The admissions officers at NESCACs want time to assess any impact of that decision. So, we’ll just hold our breaths for an extra month!!
We’ve now been told by 2 different NESCAC coaches that Aug 1 is the earliest students will hear results, but it’s not the first day the AOs will be reviewing the data. So, it seems it’s realistically a delay of a couple of weeks, but not even a full month, in the process.
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We heard they can submit as of 7/15 with results starting 8/1
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This seems to indicate that many experienced
NESCAC coaches will likely continue to declare strong support commitment early before the completion of their pre-reads
I don’t know exactly what you mean by ‘declare strong support commitment’, but it is highly unlikely a coach is going to verbally offer a spot/slot/full support before the pre-read results come back (in NESCAC that’s technically against conference ‘rules’).
Getting a pre-read obviously shows the coach is interested in the athlete, but as you know not all the athletes getting pre-reads or passing pre-reads will ultimately get a slot/spot/full coach support thru the admissions process.
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don’t know how broadly this rule of thumb applies, but heard of couple NESCAC coaches building pre-read lists of 40-50 athletes for 6-8 spots/year. This translates into a 12-20% conversation rate. Is this a consistent rule of thumb across NESCAC schools/ sports?
No.
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what would be a more common general estimate of # of pre-reads > # of passed pre reads > 6 swimmers?
Sounds high for the average sport with only 4-6 supported spots. More likely that high of a level is for football. Just looking at Williams’ athletic page, there are 30 varsity sports. I can’t conceive that the AO would do 1,200 to 1,500 pre reads. The numbers are more likely a function of historical “yields” for the coaches. Also sports with specialized positions may have higher numbers because now the yield is by position, e.g. a coach may be actively recruiting 5+ goalies for their soccer team, plus X for forwards, Y for midfielders, Z for defenders, especially if it is not a first choice school for soccer.
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Our experience for D’s sport, multiple NESCAC coaches told her they were taking 10-20 through pre-read. Her top choice (as pre-read date grew closer) told her they’d call her with an offer ON 7/1 (8/1 this year) if pre-read went through.
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I believe you are basing these stats on my post about what the Men’s soccer coach at Middlebury told parents.
There really is little point in trying to come up with a conversion rate. It is wasted effort. First of all it’s sport-dependent. The numbers aren’t the same for each team.
If you are the coach’s #1 recruit, your conversion rate will be 100%. If the coach tells you it is between you and another player, your rate would be 50%. If you are at the bottom of the preread pool, your chances might be 5%. Everyone doesn’t have an equal 20% chance.
I know uncertainty is anxiety making, and this is a hugely uncertain time. But aside from your daughter speaking with a coach and learning new information, there’s pretty much nothing you as a parent can do to alleviate the uncertainty. I am sorry! I vividly remember telling my spouse “I need a drink” when the recruiting roller coaster took a dip.
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The most common scenario (pretty much the same across all coaches) was 10-20 through pre-read for 5-6 roster spots. Again, our experience in D’s sport.
For our daughter, she sought clarity with the question, “Where am I on your list?”- Note, this did not always yield the clarity she (and we!) desired. Her top choice point blank told her she was their #1 recruit so knowing this did help. Her second choice repeatedly said “A top recruit” which is much less vague and not terribly helpful, though still good info. in that she was likely not their #1 or #2 pick. She also asked coaches (when they mentioned they would be submitting her for a pre-read) when she could expect to hear.
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Similar experience for my D23 (in soccer). For example, she was told by one school that she was their top recruit for position X (and eventually ended up committing there). But that ranking was complicated by the fact that soccer prioritizes recruiting forwards and goalkeepers first, and other positions get filled in later. So even a top recruit at a given position might only be in the top 5 or 6 as far as overall coach priority.
Swimming is probably similar. Certainly, swimmers who can have immediate impact—top 2 or so in current roster and/or conference championship placing in more than one event, and who can make the ‘A’ team in multiple relay events—will be priorities. And it may be that a coach is only looking at bringing in one swimmer in the current recruiting cycle in a particular speciality like freestyle sprints or butterfly. So even though they may be looking for 5-6 commits total, it’s very limited for specific roles/strokes.
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Very accurate. This should be pinned somewhere for soccer recruiting. Forwards, in particular, are like crack to coaches. So much so that they’ll often bring in a true mid-fielder (and even a holding mid) and try and make them a forward if they’ve shown scoring potential. IDK why they do this. Mid-fielders score all the time, but just as importantly, they’re responsible for how many chances you’ll get.
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Expected IB grades released to secure admission to McGill for D24 with recruit/walk-on spot.
D24 will focus on US recruiting at her best match programs which further narrows the field of target schools.
She’s scheduled to meet couple coaches at schools (Tufts, CMC) which are probably too fast for the coach to give her a spot, yet remain keen to meet with her. Does it mean they would consider giving her a tip in the normal application process?