@CTScoutmom I read this the exact same way. If the OP wished to do so, a letter to AD explaining the story might prevent the coach from doing this again. If a coach is trying to build his team by giving his/her slots to less deserving athletes, hoping the better ones make it through without assistance, then that is a game the AD should know about.
I’m not sure I would have passed on the ED2 option to other schools. Hind sight is always 20/20, but…
I do know from first hand experience that UChicago does issue likely letters for athletes, as recently as last year.
Thanks all, I have learned a lot from this thread as my D has been speaking with a Bowdoin coach. Parents and/or students can always ask to speak with admissions to gauge what a coach is saying. This happens all the time, and is appropriate. @BrianBoiler also raises the issues about likely letters…conceivably, a student could apply ED and make it clear if no likely letter is forthcoming, the ED app will be pulled. One could also apply RD, say send me a likely letter, and then turn app to ED.
Fwiw, different coaches at the same school may behave differently. There may be coaches who are crystal clear with their prospects while the coach with the office across the hall is not. From what we have seen, I would be most cautious with newer coaches who may have had a different relationship with admissions in their prior institution. Of course, every situation is unique and these stories highlight the need for caution everywhere , but be careful as well with how you extrapolate from these tales.
You can request or if you want to passively ask “Does [school name] issue likely letters? I’ve heard some DIII schools do.” If the coach hedges his response with “very rarely,” that is an answer that would push one to ask tougher follow-up questions. “How often do you tell students “your stats are so impressive that I’ll give your slot to another” and they don’t get accepted?” Coaches will usually be upfront with you.
The other thing, I really tried to let my son be the point of these conversations. He had to be the one to decide where he was going, I was there and when the coach wasn’t around, I coached him through the process, but at the end of the day, it was his process to lead.
@makemesmart If a school doesn’t normally do likely letters, not sure what would happen, but one can always ask. If the answer is no, I would make sure to talk with admissions to gauge what coach is saying. If one is asking for more reassurance and/or clarity, and the coach and/or admissions are unwilling to give it, it may be best to move on.
@Mwfan1921 your ED strategy really won’t work. You can’t conditionally apply ED1 to one school and ED1 to another school. Or at least your Guidance Department may need to be convinced that you can apply ED1 to two schools. You can say to the first choice school, send me a likely letter and I’ll apply ED1 before the ED1 deadline. Have a backup ready in case you don’t get a likely letter. But of course, do you also stipulate those conditions with your second choice?
My experience was pretty much, you get one ED1 bullet, my son used it on the school that was by far his first choice. We were not promised a likely letter, but when it arrived a week before the admissions deadline a lot of stress was relieved. We did have a pretty good safety strategy we were happy with if it fell through at Chicago.
It really is a pretty interesting “game theory” situation. You do get the benefit of the ED1 admissions boost, but you can only use it once. If you slip to RD, your chances are hurt, but you are in theory applying to a less selective university…
@BrianBoiler It is definitely game theory. I was in no way suggesting to double dip on ED1, GCs would never do that anyway, yes, one ED bullet only. But you could certainly pull your ED app (or change to RD) if the school isn’t giving you the reassurance you need (or a likely letter). You can also switch an RD app to ED (before ED deadline of course), if things did become more clear.
I think the key thing is “open and honest” discourse. It is very intimidating, especially at the DIII level when you are new to the whole thing. We pretty much took control of the process. We recruited programs more than they recruited us. There is a “stigma” about asking for something, i.e. a likely letter. I didn’t find CC before we started the process. We did however pay for the minimum level of membership on NCSA. Some people don’t like this service, but we found it very helpful especially at the DIII level. We got to talk to a person who had went through the process in my son’s sport.
When he reached out to his list of six target schools, he knew the questions to ask. But it was still awkward. One thing we found at the DIIIs, the really competitive T&F programs don’t really start looking at the next years class until the summer before your senior year in high school. We were contacted by a ton of mid level DIIIs but never by the top (both academically and athletically). My son wrote emails to each of the coaches at the schools to start the process. We found that this is most often the case. We actually had to pull answers from the school he wanted as first choice. To the point where he almost felt that the coach really wasn’t interested in him. We found out that it is just the coaches personality, and that once my son told him that he was going to apply ED1, the coach really delivered on his commitments.
I would still write the AD at Bowdoin on the OPs experience. I’d include a link to this tread as well. This isn’t going to help Bowdoin’s chances with future athletes if they read this thread.
“The other thing, I really tried to let my son be the point of these conversations. He had to be the one to decide where he was going, I was there and when the coach wasn’t around, I coached him through the process, but at the end of the day, it was his process to lead.”
I think this is a really good point. My H and I were in the background offering advice (all received from these forums since the high school coaches were clueless), but our kids were the ones who spoke with the coaches and determined their application strategies.
Also, you don’t always have to apply ED in order to receive a likely letter at a D3 school. My kid was given a likely letter at the conclusion of the pre-read with the only requirement that an official app had to be submitted once the application for the class opened, it did not matter whether ED or RD was chosen.
@BrianBoiler
We will be actively contacting the coaches to get the ball rolling too. What is NCSA membership for? Is it in addition to NCAA clearing house? @shuttlebus
It is very interesting to know that you could apply RD. Would you mind sharing your DC’s school that this happened?
Google “NCSA” It is a service that PSA (Potential Student Athletes) can subscribe to that does many things, but the important one for us was the quarterly calls with an actual athletic recruiting expert that would help us through the process. Some people don’t like the idea of paying someone a couple hundred dollars, but for us it was worth it. It actually saved us money in the long run by setting our expectations at realistic levels. In track and field, recruiting is pretty straight forward, they do a good job of matching up times with schools.
My take on Bowdoin, is that compared to many other selective D3 schools, the coaches there have much less influence or pull with admissions. If you are a slotted recruit and pass the pre read, you may end up okay, but if you are a tip, you have to essentially get in on your own, and being a tip adds nothing to your application. Admissions is calling the shots there.
What I was getting at was that I think some schools (and it sounds like Bowdoin may be one) have a bit of a disconnect between admissions and athletics. While coaches can get academically qualified kids in they need to use a slot and are gambling on getting students like @Lifelesson3’s daughter on whom they don’t. At other schools there’s more of an ongoing conversation so that coaches can avoid losing a kid whom they assumed would be admitted on academics alone.
I remember hearing from someone in advancement at a NESCAC (which will go unnamed) that the school had previously operated under the conditions I described above (disconnected). The school had made a conscious decision to have better coordination between coaches and admissions so that admissions had a clearer picture of the needs of individual teams and the coaches had a better idea of what they could expect in terms of admission for the players they were hoping to get. The goal was to do a better and fairer job of filling holes in the teams while allowing the coaches to have greater clarity with prospective players.
It’s all still a delicate dance, particularly because in the end the admissions decisions are made by admissions and coaches cannot guarantee a spot to a player no matter how much they may want them.
“Haverford is another school where athletes think they are in but end up not getting admitted.”
Yep. I have read accounts of other’s experiences with Haverford on this site. When my kid was going through the process, very direct questions were asked, and the Haverford coach was very upfront about how much support/influence he had with admissions. His answers were much different than those of other coaches at other schools.
The key point about D3 is that every school is different, and the recruit needs to ask very direct questions and listen very carefully to the answers.
For what it’s worth, we had a very good experience with Bowdoin athletics. They were clear about where our student stood in the process and it worked out in the end. I think the OP is also saying the communication was good and there was no misleading, but one shouldn’t let wishful thinking get in the way of hearing a message that a student merely has soft support in the process. I suspect Bowdoin may also have had to recalibrate last year with the huge jump in applications. It is a great school.
We also had a very good experience with Bowdoin athletics. Admissions underestimated the number of applications for the Class of 2022 as well as the number of admits that would choose Bowdoin over other options. It’s a very large class, and 52% of them are women. Tough year to be smart, female, and wanting to attend Bowdoin. In other years, a tip may have been enough. This year, full support may have been the difference maker. It is important to ask the uncomfortable questions of coaches. In our experience, they will tell you exactly what you can expect of them and the admissions process. It is even more important to listen. There are students with perfect scores and grades who are denied at Bowdoin, Amherst, Williams, Hamilton, Middlebury, and Tufts every year. These schools are not safeties for anyone. The OP’s daughter wanted to go to Bowdoin and she rolled the dice on ED1 with clearly communicated soft support. As a top student, why not go for it? No fault here on either her part or Bowdoin’s. Good luck this fall!