My D is a senior in high school and has narrowed her search down between Pomona and Williams. She is a water polo player with strong GPA and a 35 on her ACT. She definitely wants to play D3 and these are her top two choices. Both coaches have told her they will support her application if she applies ED, so she has to choose soon. She is leaning towards Pomona but likes Williams as well and would fit in well in either of these schools. Can anyone who has had a similar experience please let us know what kind of " pull" do Pomona and Williams coaches have in admissions? Assuming she doesn’t mess up with conduct or grades this fall term, and taking into account that she has a positive " pre-read" of her application by both schools admissions department, is there any chance she will still not get in?
I was under the impression that water polo is a club sport at Williams? At least it used to be? I could be wrong, but you might want to double check on that one…if that’s the case, I’m not sure how much pull a club coach would have at Williams, so I’d just tread carefully. Both great schools, though! 
Hi kjs 1992! I’m sorry, I forgot to clarify. My D is both a swimmer and a water polo player, she is good at both and while she has been able to do both sports simultaneously during her high school years, she can no longer do this at the College D3 level. Her swimming times in the 200 and 400 IM and 500 Free are good enough for D1 schools, and she has been contacted by some, but she definitely wants to stick to a small liberal arts college. She loves both sports equally and can comit to either one. She was contacted by Pomona coaching staff from water polo who saw her play at a Junior Olympics Championship in Southern California this past summer. Williams has invited her on the swimming recruitment trip, and by what my daughter tells me their team is very competitive and high up in the D3 swimming rankings. I hope this is true, and that my daughter is not confused and what they have is club swimming!! However, I don’t think so because she was invited to the trip ( I would imagine Club sports don’t go to these lengths!!) She has also been in contact with Williams swim coach via emails and phone calls for the past year or so. Apparently they are very interested in her and willing to support her application is she applies ED and swims for them. So, I’d like to know, how safe is this? How much of a pull do Williams athletic recruitment coaches have in the overall admissions process? Have there been cases where the coach supports the athlete, and the athlete has had an approved " pre read" of their application and they still don’t get in? Thank you.
Have you asked each coach about admissions outcomes for students with her stats? Something like, “how many of your recruits in the last 5 years with her academic record and athletic support were deferred or rejected?” Coach support means different things at different schools. Williams should be fairly predictable, given the NESCAC process. I hope someone who is specifically familiar with Pomona recruiting can contribute to the conversation.
Williams has alot of pull.
Williams has NCAA D3 swimming, but club water polo. Pomona-Pitzer (the two schools field joint teams) is NCAA D3 for both sports.
Williams appears to have a strong swimming program; women’s swimming was ranked #4 nationally in NCAA D3 last year. Pomona-Pitzer finished just outside the top 25.
http://www.ncaa.com/rankings/swimming-women/d3
There are relatively few NCAA water polo teams, so the NCAA treats it as an interdivisional sport, where schools of all levels compete together. So there is only one NCAA women’s water polo tournament, not separate tournaments for D1, D2, and D3.
Last year, Pomona-Pitzer made the NCAA tournament – and since there is no D3 tournament, it was the same tournament that schools like USC, UCLA, Michigan, and eventual champion Stanford played in. OK, Pomon-Pitzer didn’t advance past the first round, but it’s still cool. Williams is ineligible to participate in the tournament, since they don’t have NCAA water polo (neither do any of the other NESCACs).
http://www.ncaa.com/interactive-bracket/waterpolo-women/nc
Would she rather play water polo or swim? She should base her decision on that
@Amipi5 in that case, Steve has definite pull at Williams and I would take his word…he’s a class act. Congrats - sounds like she has 2 great options!
I don’t know anything about the recruiting practices at Pomona, but the coaches in the NESCAC are given slots. If your daughter has passed the pre-read at Williams and if the coach has said that he will support your daughter’s application, then the odds of being accepted (if she applies ED) are extremely high.
My son went through the recruiting process last year. As midwestmomofboys suggested in her post, my son asked the coach how many of his supported recruits had been accepted over the years. The coach told my son that 100% of his supported recruits had been accepted. My son applied ED last year and is now a freshman loving everything about Williams.
Good luck to your daughter.
My child was in the same position last year - received a positive pre-read from Pomona, was asked to apply ED and was accepted. However, this was for a different sport. I echo the previous posters who recommend that your D specifically ask the coach how many of his supported recruits from past years were accepted. The response to that question made my child comfortable enough to move forward with applying ED. Good luck to your daughter - it sounds like she has two wonderful options!
You have to explicitly ask if your D has a “slot” or a “tip”…with that ACT Kuster may not want to “waste” a slot on her. Also absolutely ask what percent of swimmers with your DDs level of support get in.
Make sure she has had an actual pre-read and it is positive. Do all this BEFORE you send the ED application.
The Williams swim team is a powerhouse that usually wins the NESCACs. It’s a great school.
However, you absolutely need to have a serious, no holds barred and explicit conversation with the coach.
I don’t know for sure whether Pomona has “slots” per se, but the coaches can definitely have some pull. I’ve heard the WP coach has a good reputation in recruiting communications, so yeah, have a frank discussion with him about your daughter’s chances. And, I know of 2 WWP players who got in last year ED1 after positive pre-reads.
Pomona gives a lot of pull to coaches as well- it has upped the significance of athletics in these last few years. Check out this thread for a recent perspective: http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/pomona-college/1534366-athletic-recruitment-at-pomona-p1.html Seems like everyone who said they got a positive pre-read were admitted early.
Has your D visited both schools? Done OV’s at each? We have visited both, very different feel at each. Both are incredible academic schools, but one is in the middle of no where (Williams) in New England and other is in a small town and part of a college consortium all within a short walk of one another outside of LA. I don’t know about Williams, but do know of a soccer kid who got a positive pre-read at Pomona but was rejected on his ED1 app. Definitely ask those questions others have mentioned. These schools are very different she needs to visit.
So, my information is from a few years ago. However, a Pomona coach told me that he had no where near the pull of a NESCAC coach. That may have changed. One way to check is to look at how many other recruits are recipients of the initial recruiting email. Again, this was a few years ago, and I realize that there are services that allow mass emails without letting the recipient know the identity of other recruits. However, I remember being taken at the time with the number of recruits the Pomona coach was corresponding with. My takeaway was that admissions was so difficult that the Pomona coach cast a very large net. I was never given the impression that there would be a recruiting boost. Rather than boosting a somewhat lower than average applicant, the Pomona coach would push a kid to apply to Pitzer.
Your daughter sounds very well-qualified. Both Pomona and Williams are amazing schools.
But because Pomona and Williams have such strong academic and D3 athletic programs, they are super-popular and get to pick from a deep pool of very well-qualified applicants. So I understand your concerns.
A couple of thoughts come to mind from my recent experience with my son.
First, has your daughter done an overnight visit at either or both schools yet?
The OV’s clarified a lot for my son about the teams, the social life, academics, culture/atmosphere, coaches, etc. It can be tough to make time for the OV’s, especially if your daughter has matches/meets this Fall, but it is well worth the time and effort. My son changed his mind about his preferences after the OV’s. I would highly recommend your daughter make the effort to do an OV at both Pomona and Williams if those are her top choices.
Second, after you get the pre-read, the coach will be able to give you a good sense of your daughter’s likelihood of admission, and can be specific about how his/her support impacts the admissions process. My son found the coaches to be pretty open, direct and transparent about both the process and his likelihood of admission. Both Pomona and Williams have a straightforward process that the coach will be able to explain.
From our recent experience, if Kuster (Williams) commits and asks the student to apply ED, you should be good. That was the process for our DS, and it went smoothly from start to finish. During the recruiting process with Pomona, the swim coach used the words “likely letter” with us. Son loved the school, but, in the end, almost entirely because of Pomona’s great distance from us, he did not pursue. But, historically, Pomona Admissions has a reputation for not being quite as reliable with coach support. If the athletic programs are doing likely letters now – which, aside from the coach’s comment to us, I have no reason to believe they are – then that would certainly change the equation. Be sure to ask.
The OP has likely already made a choice between Williams and Pomona, but I thought I should write about our very positive experience with both schools for anyone reading this forum. Both are excellent schools - it would be hard to go wrong between those two. The coaches at both schools were professional, friendly, direct, open and honest about the recruiting and admissions process. Like other NESCAC schools, Williams has a formal system of “tips” and “slots.” Pomona has a similar system though they don’t use those exact same terms. Our experience is the coach will be very direct and honest with you about the pull he/she has and the likelihood of admission. In the end my son decided to move forward with Pomona - as he felt a strong personal fit with the team, enjoyed the kids and professors he met on his overnight, and he wanted to stay on the West Coast. Good luck to you!
@SkiDad17 good info, thanks. I had the impression that coach support for Pomona (and hmc) wasn’t nearly as reliable as Nescac and others. Sounds like coaches there have more pull than I thought, or at least are honest about what they can accomplish. That’s great news for West Coast student athletes looking for strong LAC with strong sports and no snow.
@SkiDad17 thank you for sharing your s’ Positive experiences, it is very helpful. Could you explain to me the meaning of “tips” when you mentioned about williams’ system of recruiting? My S is a sophomore, a good swimmer and a strong student.