<p>I love this site and this is my first post after lots of useful lurking! So, S (sport=track) is being recruited by an Ivy that is his first choice (not an HYP) and heads there for his first official visit in a week or so. Coach has said that if S thinks its a fit they'll ask him to commit and apply ED and they'll go to admissions, say they're supporting his application and ask for a likely letter. All good. great, in fact. But the price is still steep, not prohibitive but definitely forbidding. And meanwhile, a very good Patriot League school has invited S to an official visit, as well. Question is, should we accept the Patriot League OV too and go there as well just to keep our options open even if S has already, the week before, commited to Ivy, just in case the LL doesn't come through or whatever else that could goes wrong? Or is that playing behind the Ivy coach's back etc.? Help!</p>
<p>For the Ivy, I don’t see a problem with exploring other options prior to receiving the Likely Letter. Your son owes it to himself to actively pursue all options until he has a sure thing. The Ivy coach will understand (if your son chooses to tell him).</p>
<p>For the Patriot school, it’s a little trickier. Does the coach understand that your son is waiting on a LL from his first choice? If the coach is offering to pay the cost of an OV with this knowledge, then there’s no problem, but I’d be concerned about the ethics of not disclosing the fallback status.</p>
<p>Trackdad1,</p>
<p>That is a lot of “ifs”. With “ifs” comes risk. I agree with Sherpa that your son owes it to himself to explore as many options until he commits (or receives a LL or Admission notification) depending on your comfort level. My son did an OV to a Patriot League school, and eventually commited and was accepted to an Ivy a few weeks later. We were late to Ivy recruiting so ED was our only path (no LL), however we kept in touch with several programs (some at their insistence) while the ED process played out. </p>
<p>I disagree with sherpa that it is unethical to disclose your Ivy situation with the Patriot League team. There is no way for you to know that everything the Ivy coach said will ever happen or could happen. It wouldn’t be the first time a coach misled a recruit or a recruit did not fully understand what a coach was saying. It is a house of cards with a lot of “ifs”, and risk. If the Patriot League coach asks about other OVs, I think it is fair to tell him/her about your interests and other OVs. But disclosing all the promises the Ivy coach is not your responsibility, and it doesn’t cross the ethics line IMHO to withhold that information. </p>
<p>This is the beauty of this site, you will get a lot of different perspectives and opinions.</p>
<p>I think you should come clean all around. Why? Because if you’re applying for FA (and it’s not clear that you are), that Ivy may offer more if your kid can demonstrate real interest from another school.</p>
<p>If your OV is just a week later than the first one I don’t see any reason why your son cannot tell the IVY coach he has another OV coming up in a week and would like to explore that option before committing. DO NOT commit to any coach unless you are certain. Did you read the thread about the kid who committed to more than one school? Bad scene.
Coaches understand desired athletes will have more than one option. In fact the other official visit might make your son more desirable in the IVY coaches eyes.</p>
<p>I’m in the camp of continuing with your recruiting efforts until the LL is in hand, or at least until the coach has submitted you and you’re very confident the LL will come through. The LL process can be full of little bumps, hiccups and delays so it’s a good possibility that he won’t have anything firm from the Ivy before his Patriot visit is scheduled.</p>
<p>As for how much to divulge to the Patriot coach, I’d treat it the same way you’d expect a coach to treat you. Answer a direct question honestly about how many OVs you’re taking and where they are on the list, but you don’t have to spill your guts with a lot of “ifs” and “hopefullys”.</p>
<p>classicalmom brings up a good point about possibly getting a better FA package if you have interest from another school. As far as I know, however, the policy (at Cornell and Dartmouth, at least) is to try and match FA offers from other Ivies, MIT, Duke and Stanford - so a Pat League school’s interest might not help your case financially.</p>
<p>Trackdad1,</p>
<p>For your situation I would suggest doing the following:</p>
<p>Ask the coach at the Ivy league to have admissions issue the LL shortly after October 1st. If the OV for your S first choice goes well and he does apply ED he should notify the Patriot league coach and see what he wants to do. He may cancel the OV , he may ask your S to come anyway, or he may want to delay the OV till mid October to see if the LL arrives. Until your S is admitted he should continue to keep in touch with other schools and keep them informed of his situation.</p>
<p>thank you all very much.</p>