It’s always flattering to hear that and no doubt the coach is advocating for you. A lot of the most competitive schools want to know if you’re going to accept if they admit you/offer a strong FA package. This is so their school can maintain an impressive acceptance rate and also so they can court another top recruit and advocate for her with admissions and offer her a strong package if they’re not your top choice. Unfortunately it’s a bit of a chess game for you and them because they only have so much influence and with a limited number of athletes and they don’t want to waste that on a recruit that they don’t think will accept. So you need to discuss with your parents your thoughts and then respond appropriately or have them respond.
Both of our athletes were waitlisted at a few schools they wouldn’t commit to saying they were the #1 choice (they were unsure and wanted to be honest, so said “top 3 or top 5”, but then some of the coaches followed up to find out based on where they were accepted what they were thinking. In those cases we got the sense that they could get them off the waitlist and help negotiate FA if we said our child would accept. In both cases they had a top choice accept them.
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You’re holding out to hear from other schools on M10? Or are your schools releasing before M10? It’s hard to tell a school you’d make them #1 if they can match your best FA package if you don’t know what they will be. Every school will be different with what they determine your parents can afford (and whether that is truly affordable for your parents is a conversation they will determine). But waiting to “see” without continuing the conversation or hemming and hawing because you aren’t sure, may make them turn their attention away this close to M10 to focus on someone else who does rank them #1. Keep the conversation moving along (as much as the coaches move it) and have your parents involved in these days leading up to decisions…and possibly even after if your #1 isn’t as affordable as your #3.
Thank you for the advice. It is really difficult to handle this. I think the coaches should not have asked these kind of questions.
They most certainly should be asking these questions. They ask these questions because it is their job to field their team and keep it winning. You don’t like to waste time on things you don’t feel worthwhile or don’t hold your interest, do you? Coaches don’t have time for that either. If a player they are interested in shows them continued interest, they will do what they can to keep that student engaged. But if the student isn’t thinking it is the school for them and unengaged, they will move on to someone who can fill their team out.
For some students a key component is being able to afford school and aid comes into play, the more a school pays, the less a family has to. The minute money/aid was involved your parents should have been brought in to the conversation. Something from your posts tells me you have avoided this important piece to the puzzle the entire time. Coaches talk about aid because they know it is an important aspect in many students’ ability to attend BS. Sometimes it comes down to an aid package being the difference between 2 or 3 schools for a student, just like when a school is comparing 2 or 3 students and they decide to look at comparing these students’ SSAT scores or their GPA as a deciding factor on which single one to choose. Everyone has decisions to make in short periods of time, there is little time to waste. You’ve asked many questions about money on many threads but these are discussions you should be having with your family. The adults are going to be the ones deciding what they can afford. The longer you waste not addressing your money concerns with your parents, the more you could be losing your dream based on the financial aspect of BS. Schools have 8 days to finalize their list (if they are an M10), talk to your parents about this now, you have already lost valuable time with coaches and schools by not having your parents talk financials when money is brought into the conversation. It is difficult for you to handle this, because you should not be the one handling it. But you are the applicant and you are the athlete. The conversations started between coach and student athlete.
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NEPSAC football is becoming like Junior Hockey.
In brief, if a kid plays high school hockey and wants to play college hockey then his best bet is to play Junior Hockey (USHL, NAHL which are for 18-20 year olds. ) first before moving on to college.
NEPSAC football is exploding in talent largely cause the top football schools are actively recruiting players some even on a national basis. Then you have the success of post graduates (hence the comparison to Junior Hockey) wisely able to take advantage of an additional season to sharpen their skills and boost their academic credentials.
Look for NEPSAC basketball to gain in national reputation as well if it hasn’t already.
Regarding hockey, that applies to boys. It is not the same for girls’ hockey. While some may take a gap year (more common now as the covid backlog clears) and play an extra year of U19, most girls will go straight to college to play.
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