hi all!
So basically I have a phone call with a cross country coach from Pomona-Pitzer in 1.5 hours. I have no idea what to expect. Its a D3 school but very academically selective and its athletics are pretty good too, at least for D3. Can someone with some experience with phone calls and stuff help me out? This is my very first phone call with a coach and I am nervous to say the least.
Thanks in advance!!!
My kid’s experience was in another D3 sport but I would imagine the coach wants to learn more about your academic and athletic portfolio and gauge whether you are a decent kid that they would want on their team.
So think about some questions you have about the team and training that couldn’t be answered from reading the team website – for instance, summer training expectations, whether team members tend to choose to live together, whether team members participate in study abroad opportunities, whether there are engineering/pre-med majors (if either area is of interest), or how STEM majors manage labs and practice, if you are interested in STEM. Be prepared to answer questions about your training, meets, improvement, why you want to run D3 etc. Consider the conversation as an opportunity to explore whether you and the school are a potentially good fit.
It does get easier!
You can ask how many coaches there are, how he breaks up the team for practices, does he encourage cross training with swimming, lifting. Ask how teammates handle missing classes for meets (or do they miss a lot ot classes for meets).
I doubt you’ll get to half of these questions. Time slips away.
TAKE NOTES!
Since your timing is getting a little down to the wire, ask the coach where he is in the recruiting process. Find out what a typical week of training in season and out of season looks like. Relax…it will go great!!
Remember, tonight is just the first part of getting to know more about the Pomona-Pitzer Track and X-Country Teams, and it’s an opportunity to be able to share a little more about yourself as (1) a student, (2) an athlete, and (3) a person - most importantly be yourself.
Don’t worry, the Coach will start the conversation and then it will flow from there.
Speak clearly, be polite, and show your enthusiasm for the school. It helps if the coach likes you! Good luck.
This may be too late, but as jumpermom said, find out where the coaches stand in recruiting next years class. And good luck.
@jumpermom, there is no off-season for distance runners, at least in the NE as they go from XC to Indoor Track to Outdoor Track.
thanks all!!
the phone call went pretty good! She told me to send her my academic info so she could pass it to the admissions people. I forgot what it was called that they were gonna do with it, but she said that the admissions people would look at my info and tell her straight up if I would be accepted or not… not sure if thats a good thing but fingers crossed!
That is a great thing! It is called an admissions pre-read and it is the one step in the recruiting process.
Great news - gook luck!
@Chembiodad Yes, I realize that, but training does change throughout the season.
@jumpermom, I guess at some schools. My DD’s team doesn’t seem to make many training program changes with morning lifting 3-4 days a week and afternoon running/lifting 6 days week through all three seasons. They do take 2-4 weeks off between XC (depending on whether a runner is a top-7 in which case its 2 weeks) and Winter Indoor, and then another 2-4 weeks from Winter Indoor to Spring Outdoor (once again depending on whether running in Regionals/Nationals).
@happywaffles One point I would like to make is that for most schools, the academic pre-read done by the admissions liaison will give a green light, yellow or red. Green means your grades and test scores are all within acceptable range for being admitted, red means they aren’t good enough for you to be accepted. Passing the pre-read doesn’t mean you are accepted straight up. It just means you will likely get admitted, but still will need to go through the admissions process by submitting your application, LoR, essays, etc. But with the support of the coach, you will have a much better chance of being admitted than someone with your similiar academic profile who isn’t being supported.
Good luck.
@noanswers @Chembiodad @twoinanddone @jumpermom @mamom and everyone else in this thread; Pitzer is such an academically vigorous and selective school. I’m afraid that the pre-read results won’t be good. I have a 34 ACT, 4.06 W, 3.63 UW. Though I do have a rising trend in my grades. I don’t know if I should email the Pomona-Pitzer coach and try to explain my grades? I had a hard time adjusting to high school (I know, lame excuse), but most importantly in early sophomore year I developed anorexia and my life was just a whirlpool of self hatred and disgust, and I couldn’t focus on academics due to the lack of food. Also even when I started recovering I had a lot of doctors appointments and stuff and though physically I getting a lot better, mentally its still super difficult. Which is basically why my sophomore grades are absolute s***. It carried over to early junior year too, but since then my grades have been pretty good, averaging a 4.67 weighted every semester.
I think your grades are fine. If there is an upward trend, they will see it.
@happywaffles, did the Pitzer coach tell you how quickly the pre-read would be done as it sounds like the coach is excited to have you on the team? At this post, I think it’s better to wait to see the response from admissions as demonstrating an upward trend will definitely help.
Also, I think discussing that type of health issue at this point might be a concern for the coach; I think it would be better to be able to show the coach over time that you are successfully working through it, and if you feel like it’s important for the coach to know you could comfortably do that after you are admitted and on the team.
I know it’s an issue that many athletes have had to overcome, so maybe others have insight based on similar experiences.
I think your grades and test score is fine. Send them in asap. I would wait and see how the preread comes out. At this point you will probably have to apply ED2. Best to You!
@happywaffles you probably know this, but “good enough” to be admitted on your own, and “good enough” to be admitted when a coach wants you on a team are 2 completely different things. I am more familiar with Ivy and NESCAC, but I am pretty sure the coach has at least some pull at this school (maybe even slots, I don’t know). The numbers you need for the pre-read are most likely not nearly as high as you would need to have a good chance for admission on your own. I know that my son is being given numbers to hit that are below the 25th percentile numbers at a few of the schools he is looking at. 3.6 with an upward trend and 34 is still pretty good. I would guess that you will be fine.
I agree that discussing the anorexia has more downside than upside. Your grades are fine, but if the coach isn’t confident you can handle the pressure of being a college athlete then he/she may decide you aren’t worth the risk. No reason to throw up a red flag at this point in the process, especially since it sounds like you have put it behind you.
@Chembiodad she didn’t tell me when the preread would be done. she also didn’t ask me for my ACT or SAT score, but I emailed her asking about that while attaching my transcript and school profile and she hasn’t replied yet, so we’ll see!