<p>Sooo... let's say I'm an athlete with pretty decent grades and test scores with lots of extracurricular activities, volunteering, and interest in art (with a few awards and a plan to minor in it). I am looking at Ivies and other academically strong schools; However, my dream school is Yale - but the coach has only asked for pre-read information two months ago, and since then hasn't emailed or called. I even emailed her a few days ago with no response. I want to do ED there but I don't know if I can get in, and I don't want to lose my chance and spot with other colleges and coaches.</p>
<p>How can I tell other coaches interested in me that I only want to do RD? I don't have enough faith to know I can be accepted into Yale that I can put all my eggs into that basket. Can I OV with RD in mind? </p>
<p>I am the first one in my family to attend college in America and we have no idea how this athletic process works. Any advice, suggestions, and comments are welcome. Thank you so much!</p>
<p>Unless you are truly a superior academic match for Yale (I’m not sure what “decent” means), I would not go ED to Yale unless you have clear and open support from the Coach if there is any question you could not get into Yale on your own without any sports at all.</p>
<p>Are other coaches actually urging you to go Early right now to their schools? If so, it would occur to me to wonder why these coaches seem to have time to contact you, when Yale does not, though I think right now is still a little early by a week or two to come to any hard conclusions. By the first week of September, I’d look hard at who is in contact with me and who is not. Coaches everywhere are in contact with their very top recruits right now.</p>
<p>Yes, you can absolutely OV with RD in mind. The OV is where both the school and you have the chance to potentially change your mind from Early to Regular or from Regular to Early. It’s the final step towards determining whether you and the school are an Early “match” from both sides.</p>
<p>thank you for your response! Yes, I have cornell, uchicago, gtown, and other colleges scheduling OVs and asking about ED. However, Yale has had no response :(</p>
<p>Well, the good news is that if these schools are all contacting you - to me that sounds like you have very good grades and scores that would certainly qualify you to also be looking at Yale. </p>
<p>Have you thought about picking up the phone to actually call and tell the coach at Yale that you are being urged to schedule OVs at these other schools but that your current true ED choice is Yale? There is nothing wrong with simply saying that because of the inquiries from other schools it would really help if the Yale Coach could let you know where you stand in their recruiting plans. Good luck - it sounds like you have a bright future no matter what happens.</p>
<p>Minor point: Yale is EA not ED. Some Ivy recruits apply RD before the OV and change to EA or ED if a likely letter is offered.</p>
<p>EA probably doesn’t significantly increase your odds of getting admitted into a school without a hook. Unlike ED, where you are committing to a school, with EA you are simply receiving your answer early.</p>
<p>Would an Ivy really accept an RD application? I thought the school was looking for the “Your school is the only one I’m applying to early” type commitment before issuing an early likely. </p>
<p>As far as the other schools go, I think the simplest explanation (if it’s relevant to you) would be that you’re applying RD because you need to compare FA offers.</p>
<p>Recruited athletes do not need RD to compare FA offers - they are offered financial pre-read before EA/ED deadline. This may not be a good excuse.</p>
<p>classicalmama. At least one Ivy swim team requires a completed application to be submitted before the OV is scheduled and one or two more strongly encourage applications before the OV. Whether it is to show a certain level of interest before offering an OV or to facilitate a prompt admission’s decision, some schools want the app. in before the OV. Since far more recruits are offered OV’s than likely letters, it is common for athletes to apply RD and change the application to EA or ED when committing. </p>
<p>Many of the best recruits at one Ivy are being pursed by other Ivy’s. It is quite common to see the same athletes at several Ivy’s junior days and OV’s. Although applying EA or ED before the OV shows strong interest in a particular school, it would be awkward if the same school did not make an offer or if the recruit felt differently after the OV. If H ended up being a recruit’s top choice after the OV, she wouldn’t want the H coach to know that she applied EA to P and RD to H. It is much safer to apply RD to the schools that want apps. before the OV and change to EA or ED if an offer is made and accepted.</p>
<p>swimkid2130, many college coaches were at Junior and/or Senior Nationals earlier this month. The years we were there, at least one Yale coach was watching potential recruits and speaking with swimmers after their last events. It is possible that the Yale coaches are taking a few days off. On the other hand, I wouldn’t be surprised if several OV’s have already been offered and most of the rest will be offered before September.</p>
<p>hangNthere: Interesting stuff. The process has been very different for my kid at these schools, but different sport. Even so, I doubt the counselors at my kid’s school would allow swimmers to do this–I think they’d view it as frivolous apps. clogging up the Ivy pipeline, which they monitor very carefully. </p>
<p>This particular track (application before OV’s) seems like so much more work all around to me, for coaches, high school college counselors, students, and admissions offices, than the ED app. quickly following the happy OV. And I guess I don’t see how submitting an RD application signals more commitment than agreeing to an official visit, since students are far more limited by the number of OV’s they can take than by the number of RD apps they can submit. And wouldn’t it be less awkward all around to simply not apply EA or ED anywhere before assessing mutual interest at the OV? </p>
<p>Still, neither of us is making the rules here! All I can say is that this whole process gets curiouser and curiouser as I follow others’ journeys!</p>
<p>Same experience here. We are not swimming. None of the Ivys we are talking to requested submitted application as a pre-requisite for OV. They do request NCAA Clearinghouse ID.
I also could not understand this discussion about submitting RD then changing to EA/RD. I guess some coaches want applications done so that they could get access to letters of recommendation and all other personal info and make sure recruits did not do a poor job on essays. Can they actually see the application and discuss submitted application with admissions?</p>
<p>Each Ivy is different and I can’t speak for all of them. A condition of the OV at an HYP was a completed application. We submitted ours on 9/12. We spoke with coach and said we’d apply RD and upon receiving a LL, change to SCEA. Our only condition was a quick answer, either way, in early October (only admissions can say yes or no) and LLs can’t be issued before 10/1. This way, if this school wasn’t “the one”, we’d still have time to work on other apps. We were not asked to submit in advance of OV at other Ivies. We then scheduled as many OVs as possible before 10/1 to make an educated decision. Fortunately, the OV at the HYP went well and LL came through in early October.</p>
<p>classicalmama: As you pointed out, we don’t make the rules. If a female swimmer wants to swim at H,P or Y and each of these schools encourages or requires an application before the OV, it seems prudent to do as requested. </p>
<p>CCDD14: Have family at an HPY in another sport and it was a “one and done” application after the OV. With a user name of “swimkid2130” and a reference to a Yale coach as a she, I assumed the OP was referring to the Yale women’s asst. coach. Both the men’s and women’s head coaches are male and unless I am mistaken the only female asst. swim coach at Yale coaches the women’s team.</p>
<p>HPY generally have a more difficult and lengthy admission’s process than some of the other Ivys. If one of the other Ivys makes an offer with a limited time to respond, it is very difficult for a HPY to respond with an offer before the recruit needs to make a decision. Having the appl. submitted in advance gives admissions (but rarely, if ever, the coach) an opportunity to review the candidate in advance. Since at least some other sports at HPY don’t make the same demands, I am not sure why swimmers need to submit apps. before the OV. </p>
<p>Thanksforsharing: Only HPY wanted apps. before OV. The other Ivys only wanted enough info for the pre-read. I believe the LL took about a week once an offer was made and accepted.</p>
<p>Right–what’s odd is that these same Ivies seem to get the same results from admissions by doing academic pre-reads before OV’s–they’re able to make offers and/or let the athletes know where they stand in relation to the other athletes invited on OV’s. I guess I’m just surprised that admissions would want the bother of reading those full applications before OV’s for one sport when they do simpler pre-reads for others. Maybe it has something to do with how many likelies vs. OV’s are available for swimming. And, I agree–makes sense to do what’s requested!</p>
<p>All eight Ivys do pre-reads for swimming as they do for other sports. The only difference is that HPY also request or require full apps before OVs. I don’t know if the completed applications are actually read by admissions before an agreement between a coach and athlete is reached. Still, having a completed app. in place eliminates the wait for the recruit to complete and submit the supplement and for guidance to forward recommendations and transcripts. I am merely pointing out what is expected by these three schools and not advocating for or against apps before OVs.</p>
<p>Yes. HYP swimming require complete common app submission before OV. Actually, Stanford takes a step further, the student athletes have to submit a complete app (paper based before common app went live) AND be officially accepted by the admissions before they can come to the OV.</p>
<p>Swimkid, I am not sure if my research is current on this point, so you might want to look into this a bit more deeply yourself. My intel is that “recruiting” at Yale is different to that at other colleges in that the Yale Coaches have very little (if any at all) sway with their Admissions team. I definitely read a lot about this here on CC, and there were also links to other published reports on how this stance was hurting Yale Athletics. I seem to remember reading that this applied to all sports.</p>
<p>I also got the impression that the Coaches really did want to help but that their hands were practically tied.</p>
<p>As such, if you were mine, I would urge you to tread carefully even if you had Coach reassurances. Quite a few people have said they did what T4S did, and that seems the most practical way out of this kind of dilema. Good Luck though, and I hope it works out great for you and that you end up there anyway.</p>