I am being recruited by a Pomona College athletic team. The coach has submitted my stats for a pre-read. I don’t have the results of the pre-read yet, but I have a couple of questions about the pre-read process at Pomona.
Does the entire admissions committee review the athlete’s stats before making a decision as they would during the regular admissions season? Or, is there an athletic rep for each team that reviews the athlete’s stats / is there one athletic rep in admissions that does pre-reads?
Does the coach submit something with the athlete’s stats? (I read an article about how many elite LAC’s sports teams don’t accurately mirror the student body in terms of diversity. Supposedly, they are trying to fix this. However, in order for this to be fixed, wouldn’t admissions have to know someone’s ethnicity prior to the pre-read in order to make a decision? This leads me to believe that either the coach would have to inform admissions of the athlete’s ethnicity for the pre-read, or the coach submits some sort of form/extra info about the athlete that would provide this kind of information??-I could be totally off base assuming this, but I just don’t understand how they would know an athlete’s ethnicity before they fill out an actual application? If anyone has any hypotheses/insight on this, please shed some light. )
During the pre-read, do they take into account athletic ability? For example, if a student would be a very impactful athlete and has the same “mediocre” stats as a student that is a good athlete, but wouldn’t be as impactful, would they be more inclined to give a positive pre-read result to the impactful athlete? Does the coach make admissions aware of the athlete’s impact prior to the pre-read?
As far as results of the pre-read, is it always black and white- does admissions always say yes or no? Is it possible that they tell the coach something like "this student is only likely to be admitted if you use a slot for the athlete?"
I know that the pre-read is unofficial in all capacities, and a positive result does not at all guarantee admission. I’m just looking to gain more insight on the pre-read process. Thank you all in advance for your input!
I’m pretty sure I related my kid’s recruiting experience at Pomona on one of your threads last year, but I’ll try to focus on your current situation here. While a few minor things about the Pomona/Pitzer process have apparently changed since my kid went through it, I don’t think they would change my answer (I’d be happy to be corrected if someone has had a different experience in the past couple of years).
The entire admissions committee doesn’t even review the vast majority of final admissions decisions (most are made by sub-committees), let alone pre-reads. Pomona has gone back and forth between splitting up sports among different AOs and having a single “athletics liaison” on the committee, but either way the official pre-read is done by someone in admissions.
Good question. I know that the disconnect between the diversity of the P/P teams and the general student population has been noted by folks in the athletics dept., but I’m guessing the pre-read is purely an academic exercise. I could go a lot more into how Pomona goes about seeking a “diversity of perspectives” overall, but I’m not sure that has any bearing on what you should be doing or thinking at this point.
While I have seen a number of the Pomona AOs at games rooting for students they have admitted, at this point I’m guessing they’re sticking with evaluating academics and letting the coach decide whether you would fill a current need for her team.
In my kid’s case, the pre-read came back with a conditional “green light” predicated on test scores being brought up to be within Pomona’s “profile” (at that point it was the 25th percentile of the previous class’ score). Kiddo aced the ACT re-take and was subsequently told that an ED1 application “would be supported at the highest level.” I have no idea what’s communicated between admissions and the coach, but we were told by another parent that Kiddo received one of the two slots allotted for that sport.
I think what’s key at this point is that you should maintain a good line of communications with the coach - you’ll have to do that anyway if you’re going to play for her. If you completely filled out the recruiting form, she already has your transcripts and test scores, and having been at Pomona for about 5 years, she has a pretty good unofficial feel for your chances - and is now taking it to the next level to see if it’s worth supporting you in the fall. Whatever the result of the pre-read, ask her what it means and what it means you should do next. (Don’t worry, she’s been asked that more than a few times before).
Thank you for the information! So it seems that Pomona does in fact have slots. Do you know how those slots work, and what the different levels of support are at Pomona? What kind of stats are required for each of the thresholds / levels of support?
Well, remember that 1) we were told about slots by another parent, not a coach, and 2) it was about 6 years ago. Other than my kid being told that support required being within Pomona’s academic profile (top 10% of class, minimum 25th percentile on tests), I have no idea if Pomona uses academic bands like the NESCAC schools for different levels of support, or even if they have formal levels of support (i.e., “slot, tip, academic protect, soft support,” etc.). Again, these are the things you need to be discussing with the coach, particularly as you decide whether you are going to apply ED.
That’s interesting. My test scores fall in the upper 50th percentile, so those shouldn’t be a problem. However, my school doesn’t rank so I’m guessing they’ll just look at my transcript and decide from there. My communication with the coach has been very casual. The coach already invited me on an official visit and asked if I’d be willing to apply ED. I thought it was a little premature considering I hadn’t passed a pre-read yet, but the coach didn’t seem that concerned. I didn’t really know what to conclude from the coach’s nonchalant attitude, but I doubt it’s a bad sign.
If there is an academic threshold, it sounds like you’ve cleared it. When my kid helped with camps/hosting official visits, etc., the impression received was that ED did affect support (reportedly there were prospies who were told that they had been “green lighted” but applied RD and didn’t get in). It also sounds like you’ve opened up a good line of communication with the coach who, like I said, is familiar enough with the Pomona admissions situation to already have an un-official idea of whether or not your academics would be a concern. I don’t know if you have visited while classes are in session, but I would definitely take up her offer for an OV during that time. My kid was considering offers from several colleges, but visiting classes and spending the night with potential future teammates during her OV at Pomona definitely “sealed the deal” and applying ED became a no-brainer.
hey toosaucy I’m a recruit too! What sport do you play? The Pomona coach asked me if I wanted a pre read and we have been communicating for the past month, but I haven’t gotten a response in about a week so I’m not sure whether to message him again or not. I already submitted my pre read stats.