My son has applied to some prep schools as a day student. I would welcome any comments about his chances. Here’s a little about him. Going to 11th, recruited athlete in soccer, ODP player and played at regionals, has played with some elite teams at the club level, won championship as a freshman in high school, won multiple league championships, played internationally at the academy level. GPA is 3.8 weighted. Speaks a foreign language fluently. ISEE scores were 7,6,5,5. Very active in community service. He applied to Exeter, Andover, Milton, Deerfield, Groton, Brooks, Concord, and middlesex.
What are his chances?
Also are the schools allowed to give financial aid based on athletics?
No financial aid based on athletics. Only if you qualify for FA. If he is recruited at these schools is he on their list of supported students? That’s all that matters . His ISEE scores are a little low for many of these schools
Thanks - I thought that even as a recruited athlete you still have to have all the other essentials like good grades good test scores and EC. Is this wrong? Also not all the schools are recruiting him but 3 of them are.
As an athlete does it better his chances even though his test scores are on the low side?
If you are a truly recruited athlete then the other ECs are really not in play. The sport is the talent/differentiator. Yes you need grades and scores that are acceptable for the school in question but given the demands of a serious athlete the grades and scores have some flexibility. The child still needs to be able to manage the work with some degree of success. Yes as an athlete his chances are aided but not guaranteed… If he is recruited yes but unrecruited not so much-- he will have to get in as a student.
I do think grades and scores matter, even for an athlete, although athletes don’t need to be 4.0/98% kids. Coming in at 11th grade is more challenging than coming in as a 9th or 10th grader. The workload ramps up quite a bit in 11th grade and on top of the increased workload are other things like standardized testing and the college process time commitments. Most boarding school kids will tell you that 11th grade is their toughest year. Yes, schools want talented athletes but they also want students to come in and be successful academically. No one wants to see a kid struggle and risk failure, especially at the crucial stage of 11th grade. So, yes, I do believe the schools will weigh grades and test scores pretty seriously.
Not being very familiar with ISEE scoring, I looked at the percentiles and your son’s scores are definitely on the lower side for many of the schools on his list (less so for Brooks). Has he taken the PSAT yet? Your son’s GPA seems very solid. GPA needs to be looked at in the context of the academic rigor of the current school setting. How easy or difficult is your son’s current school? Boarding schools will be familiar with this and will consider your son’s grades in that context.
It’s a great list of schools you have there with some wonderful coaches amongst the schools you have listed. I predict he will have at least a few acceptances to choose from but might have difficulty getting into a few as well.
I’m trying to figure out where you might live that would make being a day student at both Exeter and Milton workable, however.
Thanks for the reply. I think you are totally right - grades and test scores do matter. We don’t live in MA yet but we are moving there. So wherever we get accepted is here we will live we are in California which a lot of people say has one of the best ODPs. Out of my son’s list, 3 coaches have called him. Some of the varsity players called him as well telling him about their school and telling him about their teams.
Any thoughts on not too tough academics as I don’t want him to fail but with a good soccer program? My favorites (not my son’s though) are Milton, Lawrence (just added) Brooks and maybe Concord.
You mentioned you think he may get some acceptances and some declines which I think is also accurate - can you share your thoughts on possible accepts and why you think that is? Also please comment on the academic and athletics if you have this info.
@SoccerMom2018, Of the schools on your short list Lawrence will be the most supportive, Milton or Concord the toughest. In terms of the strength of the soccer teams I’d put them at Milton-Lawrence-Brooks-Concord, though none of the teams are dogs. The first 3 schools are in the Independent School League. Concord is in the Eastern Independent League, which has some smaller, and in some cases weaker schools in terms of athletics. They also play a few out of league games against ISL teams. Milton had a particularly successful season this year, going undefeated in the ISL. Here are the ISL standings. http://www.isleague.org/g5-bin/client.cgi?G5genie=45&cwellOnly=1&school_id=&G5button=47&G5button=47&name_2236_2_2192_73=Fall%202015%20Boys%20Varsity%20Soccer
Concord Academy has a reputation for being a more artsy, creative school than some of the schools on your list, but that does not mean that it’s not tough academically. It’s quite rigorous, and I’ve known a few kids who haven’t made it through. Lawrence would be considered the weakest academically, but it has a wide range of student-some who end up at Ivies, some who end up at what folks here would consider 3rd rate schools. If your son will be a day student you’ll want to be aware of the day/boarder student mixes. CA, Lawrence and Milton are roughly 50-50. Brooks, Andover, Exeter, Deerfield, Middlesex and Groton are heavier on boarding. Some students don’t mind being a day student at a primarily boarding school but some feel a bit left out or end up spending all their time on campus. You may have to be prepared to drive to campus at 10 PM on a regular basis.
I’d guess that your son’s chances will be decent at the schools at which he is being recruited even if his academics are below average. I’ve known some of these schools to stretch quite a bit for students with great athletic talent.
I’ve had kids at two of the schools on your list and know a lot of families with kids at others, so feel free to PM me. I can also comment on communities/commutes which you might want to target for the various schools and alternative transportation (bus or train) options.
Ultimately, make sure your kid goes to one of the revisit/accepted student days at all of the schools your kid is accepted to. This will provide the chance for some more interaction with the players/coaches, and the general environment of the school. Above where any team is ranked should be your personal ranking of where your kid feels he will be successful both athletically and academically.
I think it is not widely known that school do provide FA for sports. My friend’s son won a top competition in MA and suddenly he had 3 full scholarships to choose from. His parents make about $300k a year and live in a wealthy community between 495 and 95. The family never applied for FA.
Wow that’s pretty incredible - I thought FA related to athletics is now allowed in the prep schools unless it happens to be needs based. It is even more surprising to hear they never applied for FA.
Parents do not typically hear about sports scholarships because they are masked as a financial need or merit but they exist at all levels of sports and all organizations that have them. Parents of kids that are sports rock stars are presented these opportunities all the time. And another family that I know in soccer was presented with about $10k of scholarships to share among 3 kids (who were 8) to play for a soccer club that wanted to dominate. And with these 3 kids – they did dominate which resulted in many kids looking to join the club and pay full price.
The process for DS has been very interesting and definitely educational. We decided to narrow down the school list. I don’t know about you but we felt it was a hardship to get all the recommendations from schools. Not all the teachers were accommodating. We had an initial 6 then added. So ultimately we didn’t complete the process for many of the schools.
For all who commented on my chance question - thank you. You were spot on - DS got accepted to 5 and wait listed in 2. Funny enough the 2 WLs are the least exciting from my perspective. From a soccer perspective, the WLs are in the middle maybe 5 and 6 rankings, so I was a bit surprised. The really good soccer programs want him, the bottom of the list also wants him, in fact they have been recruiting hard. It’s the middle of the road ones that don’t seem passionate. Any insight on that?
I now know what an athletic hook can do in terms of admissions, and it’s truly a differentiator. Similar to having a special musical talent, or a special skill!
Now that we have 5 to choose from, we are utterly confused! CC has been such a great resource.
Anyone interested to know more can PM me, especially if you have a soccer athlete who is applying next year. I’m happy to share our experience.
We are thrilled with the outcome, needless to say!
Your experience was very helpful to me because we are thinking about athletic admission for my son.
My boy plans to apply next year to private school and he is playing soccer.
Though he plays at club soccer, his team is not that strong.
May I ask how your son get contacted by varsity team players or coaches from boarding school though you live in California?
Because my son loves to play soccer, what should I do for my son to increase the chance of recruiting ? Does he have to go strong club team ? (The reason why we stay in current club team is due to my convenience of driving.)
Our town is very close from three schools that your sons applied.