How soon after an official visit will my daughter find out she’s a recruit? Also, have the schools that invited her already decided that she clears the GPA, Coursework/transcript, and SAT hurdles for admission? She is a rising senior and has been talking to crew coaches for the past 9 months or so so they know her stats (e.g., GPA, SAT, 2000 Ergs) and the three coaches who’ve invited her have seen her at races or practice.
Getting an OV means she is a recruit, and the coaches are fairly serious about her. I assume she has already submitted her academic documents for pre-reads, at least to the OV schools? If so, it is a fair assumption that the pre-read was positive, but it’s best not to leave important things open to assumption, so she should ask the coaches.
Regarding timing, a coach could make an offer at the OV, or things could go down to the wire, or anything in between. It’s a domino effect as girls start committing. It is important for your D to find out where she falls in the list of recruits at each school…It is appropriate and necessary, for her to directly ask the coach this info, whether now or at the OV. She should be the one handling the coach communications…if and when money discussion happens, then parents often participate in those discussions.
Have her go into the OVs with a list of important factors that she can assess while on campus and meeting with the coaches/players, touring facilities, and attending the school’s admissions presentation/tour. Good luck.
Thanks. My daughter has compared notes with teammates from her 8 boat this summer. The other 7 are rising freshman so they went through the process last year. They told my daughter that the top schools (she has two Ivy OVs; and 2 others from D1 schools) WON’T tell her at the visit if she’s a recruit and that they are a bit coy when you ask where you stand. Her final OV (from Princeton) was just scheduled and she had to take the last slot because the 3 others contacted her first. If they make offers on the spot though you’d think it’d be in her interest to cancel or reschedule her first OV (which is with her last choice school). Thoughts?
Athletic recruiting can be quite the game, and the timing of the OVs and offers can be tricky indeed…I don’t know if any coaches will make an offer at the OV, but whenever coaches make an offer, some may want an answer quickly, while others may allow a week or two.
All your D can do is control what she can control…basically her behaviors, words, and actions. Thinking about what-if scenarios can be helpful, but can never fully prepare one when faced with a given decision.
I encourage her to keep the dialogue with the coaches going, continue asking where she stands in their list of recruits, and to also be honest with the coaches as to where their program stacks up on her list…meaning don’t tell the last choice school that it is at the top of her list. If a coach isn’t straight with her or really won’t engage in dialogue, she will have to decide how much of that to tolerate and whether she wants to be part of that coach’s program. Good luck.
Good advice so far. This might vary by sport, and certainly by coach, but in the sport I’m familiar with, track and field, most coaches understand that OVs are part of the process and they don’t try to short circuit that process. So a recruit can expect to have some time to take visits, assess offers, and then decide. Personally, I like having one of the top choices last if support is not certain prior to visits. That way the recruit can tell all the coaches she wants to finish her visits before deciding, and will reach a decision by a specific date after the last visit. Most coaches will accept that as long as the timeline is reasonable. They need time to move on to the second tier of candidates so the pressure is going to pick up the later it gets.
Whether or not an offer is made at the visit is going to depend on where the athlete sits in the recruiting pool and how the coaching staff usually handles things. I would expect top recruits to know at the visit or shortly after whether they’ll get support at the ivies. The next tier might have to wait until later in the process, after other athletes take visits and decide. And some won’t know until the last minute. For athletes in that top tier, coaches are more likely to be willing to wait for an answer.
It’s possible you’ll run into a coach that makes an early offer and pressures for a decision. I think that’s the exception more than the rule, and you’ll just have to figure out how to deal with it when or if it happens. I think more likely for a typical recruit is that the visits result in clarity about positioning (might have offers from a few, a few saying they won’t know for a few weeks) and the recruit can decide based on that. In your daughter’s case, if she gets through the Princeton visit and they aren’t giving her much clarity she’ll have to weigh whether to wait it out or decide on one of the others.