<p>Ryan</a> Hitchcock Heads to Yale in 2014</p>
<p>Basically talks about a high school sophomore being offered a hockey scholarship at Yale. Interestingly, (or not) no quotes from anyone representing Yale. I think club coaches need to be a bit more circumspect about releasing this sort of stuff.</p>
<p>NCAA would not permit anyone from Yale making any sort of comment about it until the kid has signed.</p>
<p>In volleyball, it’s not unusual at all. We actually know an exceptionally strong player that verbally committed to Texas in 8th grade. (Now a rising Senior and all still in place.) All clubs announce the commitments prominently on their website as it is great marketing for the club. Not saying that I agree or disagree, just that it happens all the time. </p>
<p>I hear a lot of people on this forum saying verbals mean nothing, but my experience in the last 6 years in volleyball, they actually mean quite a lot. Not saying you don’t ever see kids change or coaches pull them, but it’s been a very small percentage. It hurts the reputation of both the player and coach if they change their decision, so there’s usually a good reason. If there’s a coaching change, all bets are off. And of course all are contingent on meeting the academic requirements.</p>
<p>Junior year is currently the most common commitment year in volleyball - the club season (where all recruiting takes place) runs in the spring/early summer, so most players and coaches want to have decisions made before that late in their senior year. The trend is definitely shifting more towards sophomore year for the top players/top programs, though.</p>
<p>And I believe Mom2010 is exactly right - the school cannot announce until the signing date, senior year.</p>
<p>Ivy is a whole lot different than other D1s. First, no athletic scholarship, so that part of the article is BS, second nobody gets in unless they meet the academic index requirements. To imply any sort of meaningful commitment before tests have been taken is wrong.</p>
<p>In my opinion, too many club coaches want to promote their programs so they are quick to issue press releases saying “this freshman or this sophomore has committed to Yale or Princeton.” It won’t make the papers if the kid gets denied because he scored a 22 on the ACT. And worse, it just perpetuates the false notion that athletic coaches can make an admissions decision. Again, this is specific to the Ivies.</p>
<p>Good point about scholarship for sure. My D was recruited by a couple of Ivies and Patriot League schools during her sophomore year and they did first check her PSAT scores (she had taken them both Freshman and Sophomore year) and other academic benchmarks to ensure that she was at least on track to their standards. And I have heard that, while you still have to meet a “standard” for the Ivies, being a top athletic recruit leap frogs you over other applicants with similar or higher stats. </p>
<p>Clubs absolutely use this info for promotional purposes, and it really works with parents, so it will likely not change. It would be interesting to know how many Ivy commitments are lost due to failure to meet the academic standard - that statistic would tell you how cautious they are in identifying kids with the best odds of getting in. I would actually assume they are very cautious, but definitely don’t really know.</p>
<p>Also, just thinking about the fact that it’s kind of unfair to blame just the club for the situation, since Yale is the one making the offer.</p>
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<p>Well that’s the thing, squidge. Since No one from the college is ever quoted in these articles, we don’t really know what sort of dialogue has taken place. If the Yale coach said, “we’d love to have you play for us - keep your grades up, do well on your tests and I’ll do everything I can to get you in”, does that mean he made an offer?</p>
<p>True, we don’t know since no college can comment until signing - but I would be very surprised if it was not a true verbal commitment. I am assuming hockey is no different than our sport in that “everyone knows everyone” - meaning if a club coach is running around saying a verbal commitment was offered when it wasn’t, their rep with college coaches will be badly damaged - so a reputable club has a whole lot to lose by issuing a formal press release that is not accurate. I did a little searching just out of curiosity, and just in the past few months out of this same hockey league, 3 EIGHTH graders have verbally committed to Boston College (2) and Northeastern. Obviously those are not Ivies, but the trend is there.</p>
<p>Well, now you’ve got me curious, so just looking at the list of top hockey recruits, and there’s already at least 8 2014 Ivy League commits - 2 Yale, 2 Cornell, 2 Harvard and a Dartmouth. Lots of 2015 & 2016’s as well, although I didn’t see any Ivies. Definitely an interesting trend…</p>
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That’s the other thing, no NLI or ‘signing’ in the Ivies.</p>
<p>I’ll tell you this, a club coach might lose face if word gets around that his verbal commits are just sweet nothings, but an Ivy coach would lose his job if word got around to administration that he was promising kids admission.</p>
<p>A verbal offer is NEVER a promise of admission - at any school. Ivy or otherwise. Even after signing an NLI it’s still up to the PSA to get admitted. So there’s no assumption that any of these kids were promised admissions.</p>
<p>Here’s something from the Ivy League guide:
“Admissions decisions will be communicated only by official written notification from Admissions Offices, by notification in Early Action, Early Decision or “regular” processes, or by “likely letters” after October 1, which are confirmed by one of those notifications. No other indication of a possible positive admissions result is or should be considered reliable.”</p>
<p>In my opinion, the club coach is the one with the most to gain by overselling a verbal.</p>
<p>I won’t even read the article becuase the title is ridiculous…</p>
<p>Athletes at Yale do not “sign”. Period.</p>
<p>Athletes must have the academic stats to pass admissions first. Always.
There is a lot of myth out there–and speaking as a parent of an ivy athlete at Yale, I can tell you the truth.
So coaches bring a list of students–with their transcripts through Jr yr, ACT/SAT, SAT2etc and resume.
Admissions gives a green light whether they are admissable.
Coaches decided if they get an official visit.
Verbals mean nothing. Especially with sophmores. There is far too much ahead…including classes, burnout, injuries, test scores and competition…
And there is no money, no “free ride/full ride” at an ivy. All fin aid is done based on a kid’s ability to pay (parent’s tax returns…and business returns if they own one)</p>
<p>Good info, fogfog, always good to get the first-hand scoop.</p>
<p>Dan, a verbal commitment is NOT a promise of admission nor was it stated to be in that article. The article stated that the young man received a verbal offer from and made a verbal commitment to the hockey coach of Yale. Nothing suspicious in the article at all. </p>
<p>Now, we could debate the pros and cons of verbals, and there’s a lot of both. Certainly the earlier the verbal, the more the situation can go south.</p>
<p>Fogfog, would you agree that, assuming the recruit HAS the test scores and grades, being a recruited athlete is a big advantage in the admissions process?</p>
<p>And yes, after re-reading the article, the wording “the SCHOLARSHIP offer was accepted” is indeed ridiculous and misleading.</p>
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<p>…except the part that said “The scholarship offer was verbally accepted this past weekend…”</p>
<p>I agree on that part!</p>
<p>I have a problem with articles like this, for they misrepresent the process and mislead the reader. Fogfog nailed it; there is no signing, NLI, or scholarship ever and, most importantly, no realistic prospect of acceptance until test scores and junior grades are in.</p>
<p>Like fogfog, I know the process and the rules. One of my kids had a preliminary discussion with a HYP coach as a sophomore, and he attends that school as a student athlete today, but the idea that coaches offer anything at all beyond encouragement to HS sophomores is preposterous.</p>
<p>Agreed, Sherpa. I also have firsthand experience in Ivy recruiting and articles like this are worse than worthless. I’d love to know exactly what the Yale hockey coach ‘offered’ to the kid.</p>