Hi all,
I apologize for the very general (fairly ignorant) question posed here, but this is my first go-round with college admissions for a child, and we’re definitely novices at athletic recruitment.
My daughter is a rising senior and a swimmer. We really never thought she’d be swimming in college until her times all started dropping drastically this past year, and she realized that 1), she could swim for D3s (and possibly some lower level D1s), and 2) she really really enjoys swimming, and it’s extremely important to her.
So she filled out some recruitment questionnaires this year, had some D3 coaches express interest, and even met with several (NESCAC) on college tours this past spring.
She received an email last week asking to set up a phone call for later today with a swim coach from one of the schools she visited, and a potential first choice. Are they calling just to see about her level of interest in the school? I know they said to touch base in June re interest levels and final grades, etc, for the pre-read process. I would assume this phone call would be short and sweet and to that point, right?
Any suggestions as to questions she should make sure she asks? She is a strong athletic candidate for this school’s team (would have one of the top times in one event, and very competitive in a couple of others). She is also academically a very good candidate for this school – very high GPA (4.0 unweighted, 4.7 weighted) and pretty good test scores (2150 SAT1) – so I’m not sure the coach would “waste” an athletic slot on her with admissions. But I know how many good academic candidates get turned down by these top schools, so some influence by the swim coach would be helpful.
She can start with a general question about how she should expect the recruiting process to unfold. It sounds like this coach is serious and I would expect a pre-read would be done in July and a recruiting trip setup in late summer to take place early in the fall. The coach is going to want to gauge your daughter’s interest and so it makes sense to let the coach know that this school is a potential first choice. You’re probably right that this phone call can be short, but your daughter should ask any questions she has. If she doesn’t have any others at this time, then that’s fine.
It’s probable your daughter will receive interest for other schools and she should try to remain in contact with those coaches of schools she is interested in. Once your daughter has a clearer idea of where she wants to go - could be after recruiting trips in the fall or even later this summer - then she should let the coach know. In most cases this whole process is fun and enlightening. Good luck to your daughter!
Thank you for the info, GrudeMonk. Much appreciated. I feel like we’re floundering cluelessly a bit (I was never a great athlete), so it’s nice to be able to come to a forum like this for answers.
I do hope it will be a little fun for her. I know she was excited that the coach’s level of interest in her was pretty high at this school, which coincidentally (and nicely!) is one of her top choices at this time. They had said something about a recruiting trip in the fall when she met with the coach in April – I will have her make sure she understands the process before the phone call concludes.
Query: if an athlete seemingly has the stats to get into the school without assistance, do the coaches still exert some influence with admission on their behalf? I’m sure the coaches know that many qualified students still get turned down at these highly selective colleges, so I hope they still hold some sway with admissions. The coach told her in April that she would be one of their top recruits. But we don’t know how many other swimmers might have been told the same thing….
How exciting for her! The coach would not waste his time if he were not interested- I am sure she is an attractive candidate with her times and great academic stats. Like GrudeMonk said, she should ask about how the whole process will go. There is also nothing wrong with asking where she stands on his radar- where is she in his ranking of recruits. She can ask if he expects her to apply ED. If this is really her #1 school, than that is not a problem, but if she is not sure, she might want to keep her options open. However, we found that when my son decided not to apply ED to a school that expressed serious interest (not swimming) the coach immediately lost interest.
Definitely have her keep in touch with other coaches. Since D3 can’t offer scholarships, there is nothing really binding as far as “recruiting” goes. There is nothing to stop her from continuing to look at other schools while she talks to this school. If finances are a consideration, be sure to look at the Net Price Calculator on the college site to see what her COA might be and also look at their scholarship page to see what she might qualify for. That is something that the Coach may be able to address also if she becomes serious about this school.
I posted before I saw your response Mom. How much pull the coach has depends on the school. Many D3’s will not adjust their admission requirements for athletes, but in your D’s case, it sounds like her stats are good enough that all the Coach might have to do is let admissions know that he wants her for his team. It would be different if her stats were borderline but that is not the case here. That is definintely something that she can ask the Coach also, and something that will come up when they do a pre-read.
Coaches at different schools exert different amounts of influence. In most cases, however, the coach can help one or more athletes get accepted if the athlete receives a positive pre-read from admissions. That’s a good question to ask the coach, though. Something like, how many athletes did you help get admitted last year? Are there different levels of assistance? In most cases with the coach’s support and a positive pre-read the athlete will be admitted close to 100% of the time. For other schools admissions still holds the power and the coach can only improve the chances of getting admitted. The coach should explain how it works at the school he or she works for.
The coaches want to help those athletes who want to attend that school. Right now they are casting a wide net and know that most athletes they want will actually end up at another school. That’s why I think it’s important to be honest with the coach and let the coach know if and when that school is the one your daughter wants to attend.
It’s great you are getting attention right now from this one coach, but your daughter should remain open-minded about the other schools on her list. If there are other schools on the list that are also great for her potentially, then let the coaches of those schools know how interested she is. It’s possible she’ll have more than one school that shows interest and she’ll have a choice. That didn’t happen with either of my kids though. Once they decided late in the summer they talked to the coach and were told how they were going to be supported for admission. It worked out great in both cases.
I will recommend she asks the coach about how much support she can expect through the admission process. I know that we were told they “expect” recruits to apply ED. All the same, I have counseled her not to do so unless she is positive it is her number one choice. I’m hoping a couple of recruiting trips will help her figure out where she belongs.
She did just send off a follow up email to another NESCAC coach whom she met with previously (and one of her other current “top” choices). He had encouraged her to follow up with him this summer, and she’s hoping to get a recruiting trip at his school too. She would not be as much of a “star” at this school, but would be a solid, strong swimmer for them. I have also encouraged her to cast her net wide to any school she is possibly interested in and could swim at (some Patriot league, etc), and send off recruiting forms and questionnaires. I know how seductive it can be for a student to know a coach actively wants them and is recruiting them, and I want to make sure that, when she makes her final decisions about colleges, it is based on what is best for her, and not which college recruited her the most aggressively.
I know the NESCAC coaches all just wanted her SATs to be above 2100, so she’s fine in that regard.
Thanks all for the advice. It helps calm the nerves about what is an “unknown” process for us. A close friend of hers is being heavily recruited by the top Ivys (and is a phenomenal swimmer - close to an Olympic trial cut), so we can’t really compare the recruiting process with her (like comparing apples to oranges).
Thanks all! Turned out the phone conversation was short and sweet: they want her transcript and most recent scores sent, so that the admissions committee can do a pre-read. The coach did set forth the timeline of what will occur in the recruiting process which was helpful, and told her approximately where her times and academic stats placed her in terms of the team and admissions.
I strongly recommend you read through the whole “What to expect on July 1st” thread here on CC. It has a wealth of great information about swim recruiting, lists of questions to ask, and lessons learned. My daughter is a rising senior and that thread has been hugely helpful. Good luck and congratulations to your daughter!
Thank you for the suggestion! I will look for it.
@Momtothreegirls – First, congratulations on having such an accomplished and hard-working daughter. Clearly the work ethic and time management skills that these scholar–swimmers develop will serve them for a lifetime.
We’re also embarking on this adventure with our S16. @Hastomen123 gave you great advice regarding the ‘July 1st’ thread. It’s a long thread, but there’s lots of good stuff there. Here’s a link to one page of the thread that I bookmarked a while ago – Check out post #208, which lists a lot of good questions to ask a swim coach (of course some of the questions may not apply, like financial aid, etc.):
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/athletic-recruits/1656109-july-1st-expectations-swimming-p14.html
Best of luck as July 1 is rapidly approaching.
Very helpful – thanks! I started the thread last night but only made it a handful of pages in…. Will continue later, but that’s a great list.
That July 1st-- expectations thread was so helpful. I read the whole thing a few months ago and it was so informative and interesting to see how things turned out months later. Maybe those of us who are going through it this year should start another thread for this July 1st.