Recruited Athlete Questions

Prep School Admissions
1

My child applied as a repeat 11th grader to six schools, some where a coach reached out unsolicited and others where my child initiated contact but was well received. We visited all six schools and met the coaches in person, most of whom subsequently reached out to given athletic references for their insights.

Now that applications are in, several coaches have circled back to my kid to set up calls this week, and we easily see “Where do we rank?” as a key question. It’s fair as they decide who to support; fortunately my kid has academic credentials a la grades/scores/ECs which fall in line with competitive applicants. But we know admissions is a numbers game overall, plus that a coach wants to direct any admissions influence toward athletes they believe have a high chance of matriculating at the school.

How are these coach conversation best handled from our end? All six schools are legitimate contenders, as we carefully pared the list, but without an actual admissions decision or financial aid info it’s difficult to rank. (We did apply for FA, but based on the formulas don’t qualify for much.) Say it winds up a choice between two schools which are both close on other metrics, aid may tip the scale. Or, how recruiting overall shakes out could factor in… a school could land three others at the same position as our child, who isn’t afraid of competition, but that scenario provides less clarity on where they fit in the mix. Or does a coach get great players in other key positions which strengthen a program? We won’t know such data points or have a full picture of any options until March 10.

We don’t want to play games by claiming a school is top of our list when none currently has that distinction, but nor do we want to accidentally seem unenthusiastic and have that limit options. By “we” I mean my kid, as these will be conversations between them and the coach. The only topic I said should be directed to us as parents is financial aid. Speaking of money, I haven’t felt comfortable asking anyone, but question whether schools can or do offer financial packages beyond a family’s formulaic calculated amount, to applicants such as artists, athletes, etc., as incentive.

I also assume coaches talk, and either overtly hear or get a decent sense of specific schools an athlete is considering. Logically, at least to me, they’d share info or try to discern where one kid may be likely to go, allowing coaches at other schools to make different recruits higher priorities.

If you’ve read this far, thank you for listening. Any and all feedback, insight or thoughts are appreciated.

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With college recruiting, which is analogous, i would say the reply should be “your school is one of my top choices”. Your child doesn’t have a preference? Could your child say something like " your school is one of my top two choices, and I would be thrilled to go to your school." They aren’t promising to attend.

It is highly unlikely that the coach is recruiting a bunch of other players, there isn’t that much athletic recruiting going on at most schools. The exception might be if the school is a national powerhouse in that sport.

I don’t believe there are athletic scholarships, but some (few) schools offer small merit scholarships.

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If it’s truly the case, he can say you have decided to wait to see where you have offers of admission before ranking because you don’t want to be feeling disappointed when you have great options. But if there are a few that have risen to the top, the advice above is on target “there are 3 that really interest me and you are one of them.”

But he can also say he is happy to have this opportunity to learn more about the team. Find out about what interests you… off season training, club teams, college recruiting, trainers, requirement to play another sport, pre-training in summer, travel time, missing classes for games, how players are developed, etc. If you are local and it works with timing, can he come watch a practice?

Some schools may have a small pool for merit scholarships, which tend to be small but a way to say “we really want you here” and which are given to admissions to use as they see fit. This is not FA. Whether the athletic department has any say in how the funds are used is another question.

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Thank you. This is very helpful, on all fronts.

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He only applied to four schools. Am I wrong in thinking coaches talk amongst themselves, so may know the other schools he’s considering?

I do like stating we’re waiting to see how admissions plays out. Each school has something about it with a specific appeal, so that may be the way to guide the conversation.

I found an old thread about athletic recruiting, which mentioned some hockey recruits were offered very generous FA. I have no way of knowing whether that was a function of need, or an enticement. We also aren’t a hockey family, so that sport may be its own animal at certain schools where it’s a big deal.

Thank you for the help… much appreciated.

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6

You will find that many families who receive FA, which is based on need, who also have an athlete who was recruited will refer to those funds - wrongly - as a scholarship.

This is especially true at the college level. While the kid “jumped the line” and was admitted because he was an athlete at a D3 NESCAC, for example, and because the family qualified for FA doesn’t make the aid an athletic scholarship.

Given the cost of BS and that more families tend to qualify for it than college FA, I would guess the same confusion happens at this level.

I know near me, there are private schools that recruit from club teams and most of their families could not afford BS without FA, so the way these get intertwined makes sense.

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7

You didn’t say which sport. But it sounds like a team based sport (soccer, football, basketball, etc). My son went thru the BS recruiting process before entering in 9th grade.

He did get some phone calls from coaches to gauge interest. Note that coaches in the Ten Schools Organization generally don’t talk to recruits right before admissions decisions come out (Mar 10). So don’t take this as a sign of disinterest.

Generally the best way to handle this is to have your child state that he would be thrilled to attend if offered admission. Don’t give any hints on relative rank.

The coaches submit a ranked order list to admissions, and that is taken into account during committee deliberations.

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8

Did your son fill out a profile at the NCAA eligibility center?

Also note that repeating a year of high school will cause your son to reclassify. I don’t believe this will result in losing a year of college eligibility but check the NCAA website to be sure.

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We had already looked into that, as we aren’t in an area where reclassification is allowed so not many people here even believed it could be done. To maintain full NCAA eligibility, all the core requirements must be met in the first four years of high school… you don’t get that extra year to repeat a failed grade, or spread out tougher academic requirements. I think this is where kids who reclassify for academic reasons can get snagged unexpectedly.

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My son was a recruited athlete and when the coaches asked him if their school was his first choice he replied it was one of his top choices since he had three schools he was seriously considering. One of the schools also had admissions do a pre-read for him and said they would only do that if it was one of his top choice schools. He was applying for 9th.

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My son went through the process last year.
“One of my top choices” is a good safe answer. You do want to get a sense of where your child fits in their plans (I.e “we think they will contribute right away” though presumably if they are being recruited for grade 11 they will expect them to have an immediate impact. While most schools say aid is need based I have heard from others that “funds” are available for recruits. As you get closer the feedback from the coaches you are looking for is the application is “reading well”.

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12

What is the significance of “reading well”? It certainly sounds like a positive but I wonder if it may mean more? Could you elaborate ? Our child has heard that phrase used so am very curious . Thanks !

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It’s a positive indication that they have a shot at admission (not a guarantee by any means, but they have had some positive feedback). There are aspects of the application that are resonating with admissions committee.

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In my opinion, “reading well” is a stronger statement than having “a shot” at admission (but as poster above noted, not guaranteed). To be clear though, we didn’t get the “reading well” feedback for all of the schools my son was accepted to - in one case the coach was an admissions officer so he was tightlipped about giving direct feedback, though he did reach out to us a few times before M10.

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Fair. I just didn’t want to overstate anything or give the poster the impression it was a lock, so I stated it that way.

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Two current BS recruited athletes—different sports, but both could offer at least one second sport they could contribute to at the varsity level which is always helpful. Both were strong students but one stronger on paper. The different sport, different years of applying, differences in what might be an ideal school created almost two almost completely different school lists. Coaches varied in asking how their school ranked. We understood this with the HADES schools in theory since the coaches have even more limitations in advocating for students, but our one child was turned off by the schools where the coaches were asking this in their first conversation. His standard response was “you’re one of my top choices”. Like most kids, he needed more information before committing to a school for 3 years, especially because we were looking during the Covid years. Most coaches arranged for calls with current players, etc. but both of ours needed the revisit to make a final decision. As far as FA it varied—a few schools offered barely any and some much more than we’d asked for. Part of that is how much they want/need your student athlete and how much they see them as a community member beyond the athletics. We encouraged our children to ignore the FA offerings initially but it did play a part in their final decisions and it provided a gentler let down to some coaches they really liked. But we also had conversations with coaches on how long they planned to stay with the program, how they saw the child contributing initially and throughout their time at the school, etc. Thankfully at least for one of our children, the best FA offering was from one of their top choices. Good luck!

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Two coaches wrote to me that I’m on their #1 list, what could make me to put them on my top list? I told them I like their school a lot but worry about if my family can afford the tuition. Then they asked if their school would match FA from any schools, would I put them on top? I’m still waiting for the whole packages from other schools and really do not know how to answer. Any advice on the proper answer?

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18

I think when finances enter the discussion, it’s appropriate for parents to be involved. Especially for boarding school!

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19

This is a conversation for your parents. The good news, it sounds like they want you!

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20

Yes you need your parents involved to deal with the money.

You need to figure out which school is your top school and be honest with the coaches - if possible. If not possible to pick your top you may have to say “you’re in my top three” or something like that.

Coaches that are not your top choice may tell admissions that you are not as important anymore. (I know for a fact that some coaches rank importance and their #1 will be the athlete they think/know will say yes to the school if accepted). You may still get into the other schools.