Penn RD applicant & possible athlete??

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Pennsylvania
1

My daughter applied regular decision to Penn.

I should add that she was recruited by another Division 1 University when she was 15 to play a sport but at the beginning of her senior year, had a change of heart and realized that this college was not a good academic fit for her at all (it was open admissions University, she wants to study premed and knows that her chances of getting into med school if she attends the school she committed to are very slim).

So here we are in September of her Senior year, weeks before she signs her NLI and she decides to now apply to Penn and a few other schools. She applies regular decision because we have no clue if we can afford the tuition if she were to get in and can’t say yes without knowing what the sticker price would be.

Her GPA unweighted is a 3.97, weighted is a 4.37.

She has 6 dual enrollment classes, 5 AP classes, very challenging coursework- not one blow off class.
National Honors Society etc.
Lots of volunteering her entering high school career (that’s just the type of kid she is- she was never thinking IVY).

Her ACT composite is a 28
She is a URM (Puerto Rican)
Non-Legacy

After she applied, she contacted the coach for the sport she was initially recruited for by the other University and introduced herself and said in short, hey I know this is a long shot but I’m applying to Penn, explained why, & said if I get in I plan to try and walk on and sent the coach some video.

Coach sends an email back asking for some information (ACT, birthdate) & tells her that her application has been referred to their admissions liaison, that they have their fingers crossed, & the Office of Admissions will notify her.

Obviously, I am not a legacy and we have no clue how IVY admissions work let alone for athletics. Trust me, she is fully aware that her ACT is on the low end. She never took practice tests or did tutoring because IVY wasn’t what she was thinking when she comitted at age 15. She’s always been super smart and as a mom, I’ve always supported her and I’m glad she’s made this decision and is looking at life after college since most female athletes don’t go pro in their sports.

Any insight into this process would be super helpful!!! I googled and found his board

2

All Ivies admit sports recruits in the early round. The reference from the coach will certainly help her. With the URM status and good GPAs, EC. She has good chance of getting in. Good Luck!

3

Thanks @f2000sa! we were not expecting a decision in the early round since she applied RD. She looked on the portal and her app still says RD. I guess we will find out soon.

4

@f2000sa today was decision day for those in the early round and she did not get a decision today- her portal is still the same- regular decision.

5

Has the time when decisions are online passed? If that is the case and she gets no decision I’d suggest that your D touch base with the coach next week – she can re-affirm her interest and maybe get a sense of where things stand.

6

She is applying to regular decision. Not early decision. The result should not come today.

7

Couple of questions:

Is this a varsity sport at UPenn or club level?
Did the coach say he was going to offer her a “spot” or “support”? These are two different things
Did your D have a discussion with the coach? If yes how far down the list was your D on the recruiting list?
What other schools is she looking at? Has she contacted the coaches at these other schools? What did they say?

8

@sgopal2 it is a Varsity sport. She had no contact with the coach until AFTER she applied to Penn and already submitted her application through the common application regular decision process. I know this is very unconventional especially since she was already a D1 commit to a public school but had a change of heart.

After she applied she sent an introductory email indicating her reasons for applying to Penn, explained that she was a D1 commit, that she knew her chances her slim but she always dreamed of going to Penn and really wanted to give herself the best opportunities after college. The college coach emailed her asking her for her ACT score, unweighted GPA, unofficial transcripts and date of birth. After she submitted that, (her coursework was really challenging on her transcript- college classes for dual credit since freshman year) the coach contacted her and said her application would be turned over to their admissions liason.

She followed up with the coach a few weeks later so this was probably November- and the coach explained that from this point forward, she would hear from any admissions decision from the admissions office. It’s my understanding that the coach told admission that she was someone that could help their team and that she is at the top of the list. Feel free to message me for other details but I don’t want to put too much on here.

9

@Jenn1976, what is your question, then? If I understand correctly, I’d think all that’s left now is to wait for admissions to make their decision–it sounds like she’s done all she could.

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@sgopal2 she also applied to a few other top schools, one in our home town of St Louis, two other IVY’s, two public schools OOS with good pre med programs Miami of Ohio & Ohio State, & still has the option at the OOS public school to play softball though although I think it’s highly at this point. She has received a few admissions at this point with decent financial aid packages (leaving total cost of attendance at less than 9k).

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@connections I didn’t know if because she was an athlete- she would hear something ahead of time from the admissions office prior to the March date- I’m very confused with how all of this works! I’ve had people message me and tell me that if she is truly recruited, she will get a likely letter from the admissions office since they already have her completed application. I don’t know if this is true or not. I have also heard that regardless if you apply regular or early, all atheletic supported (whatever that means lol) applications are reviewed in the early round. l

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@Jenn1976, it depends on the sport she is recruited for. My S was a recruit and did not have a likely letter. But you said the coach said from this point forward, she would hear from admissions. I’m pretty sure that’s because of rules of no contact. I would have said for her to ask the coach if she would get a likely letter, but she can’t ask now since he said not to contact; truly, just sit tight. She’ll hear RD.

It is not true that all athletic supports are reviewed early.

The only way she should contact the coach is if she gets another athletic acceptance elsewhere. At that point she should inform the coach, reiterating her interest that UPenn is her top choice (if it is).

Btw, total cost of attendance at less than $9K is more than a ‘decent’ financial aid package. Just saying! :slight_smile:

13

It sounds like several things are happening:

  1. The Upenn coach reviewed your D’s grades and transcript and found them to be competitive. This is good.
  2. He then forwarded on the information to the admissions liaison. This is also good.

However we have no way of knowing how much support he is throwing behind your D’s application. The level of support within the Ivy league can be summarized as follows

Highest level of support: academic pre-read, financial aid pre-read, official visit, followed by likely letter
Medium level of support: some of the above, but no likely letter
Lowest level of support: a note goes into the admissions file from the coach saying that he would like to have your D

Now all Ivy coaches are bound to have their athletes academic index (AI) within 1 standard deviation of the school’s population mean. The coach probably already gave out his likely letters for the year. It sounds like he is worried that some of the kids on his likely letter list may not work out (usually due to AI). The coach and the admissions liaison then go down the list sequentially in order. It gets a little more complicated for teams with designated positions (like football, lax, etc), because then each position will have its own little mini-list.

Now here is what I would recommend:

  1. Have your D send an email to the coach and ask when is a good time she can call him and catch up.
  2. The coach is probably more likely to divulge information over the phone instead of via email. Have a list of questions your daughter can ask. In particular ask very direct questions about how far down the list she is, how much support the coach is giving, and what % of kids in similar situations in the past were accepted.
  3. Calculate your D’s academic index and post here. See how this compares to the Penn average AI. The higher the AI the better the chances of your D getting some decent support from the coach
14

@sgopal2, good advice, but the OP stated: “She followed up with the coach a few weeks later so this was probably November- and the coach explained that from this point forward, she would hear from any admissions decision from the admissions office.”

This sounds to me like the coach is asking for no contact. OP, could you clarify? Because if the coach isn’t asking for no contact, then the easiest thing by far is to have your D call him and ask the questions.

15

@connections. That’s just standard coach speak for ‘Don’t ask about admissions decisions from me. Only the admissions office can do so’. Avoids the coaches making commitments that they can’t keep.

Definitely sounds like the coach is interested. But by how much? Only the coach can say.

16

@sgopal2, well, in my S’s case, the coach said a similar thing, and it meant no contact. I think in retrospect though that my son could have contacted the coach. The coach couldn’t contact him though after a certain point.

17

@connections I wasn’t aware there was a blackout period with Ivy League coaches. Could you please elaborate?

18

Thank you @connections and @sgopal2. So I read the email correspondences and I don’t get the impression that the coach doesn’t want my daughter to contact her but it’s more like she cannot give her any feedback on weather or not she can will get admitted. I looked through the emails and the coach has always responded within an hour to her.

I pulled up a few academic index calculators I found on line. My daughter never took the SAT so I don’t really know if I’m doing the formula correctly. One calculator had her AI at 209 another had it at 211. I think the discrepancy might be because one also asked for class rank? (The higher index?) I was not able to find out any academic index for any female sports - it seems like there’s some stuff out there on football and basketball for men but nothing for women’s sports. Is there an AI for non athletes? (A Penn Average? I’m sorry I am so new to all of this) iI don’t want to say the sport out of respect for her, the school & the team

19

Use this AI calculator:

http://www.tier1athletics.org/2012/10/01/academic-index-calculator-2016/

Regarding the Upenn average AI: not sure where to look. But you can try first by looking at the Penn common data set.

209-211 AI is on the high side. This is good. Some coaches recruit a few players who are on the high end to offset one or more players who are on the low end. The average AI of each incoming team should be within one SD of the university AI. HOpefully the coach is using your daughter to bring up the average. This is all good news.

Next step is to have an honest discussion with the coach.

20

If you can contact the coach, the simplest thing by far is to have your daughter pick up the phone and call the coach and ask him the questions.