<p>^ Researchmum, under former President Levin, the number of spots (LLs) for recruited athletes has been reduced. The LL process is still in place, though - a coach can identify recruits and if they meet the academic standards, will be issued a LL by admissions. Same as at any other Ivy, just not as many spots.</p>
<p>Varska, many thanks for this clarification; OP, please note.</p>
<p>Classicalmama,</p>
<p>Requiring the submission complete application prior to the OV for HYP make sense for several reasons. First it indicates strong interest by a recruit. Committing to an OV requires relatively little effort compared to completing the application. For swimming many of the recruits for HYP come from California and the South which makes the OV more expensive compared to some other Ivy League sports. For the athletes that the coach wants to make an offer to requiring a complete applications allows the coach to start the Likely Letter process without delay which benefit both the coach and the recruit. Swimming recruitment is very hectic at this time of year because Junior Nationals have just finished. Many swimmers had significant time drops and many National Age Group records were broken. This can add uncertainty to the recruitment process. Eliminating delayed or incomplete applications before the OV can reduce the uncertainty in the Likely Letter process which benefits everyone involved.</p>
<p>The burden on admissions should not be that great. It is not necessary for admissions to process all of the complete applications prior to the OV (although they can), just the pre -read. A very rough estimate would be 40 recruits per year attend the OVs for each school. Of these approximately 8-10 would accept an offer of a LL from a coach. For the remainder many would either apply to another Ivy or D3 school ED and those applications should not have to be processed.</p>
<p>Thanks for that explanation swimkidsdad. It does make sense, I suppose, that the complete application, with supplements, signals a greater level of commitment (though I’m wondering how all of that works out with September OV’s and schools just getting back into session.) I’m thinking out loud through the lens of a kid who is only allowed three OV’s by his high school–so committing to an OV is in many ways more serious than submitting an application, which they’re told to complete over the summer anyway.</p>
<p>Swimkid,</p>
<p>For your situation I would advise you to Email or phone the Yale coach first and find out how much support you can expect. Because they asked for your tests scores and transcripts I believe you deserve an honest answer about where you fit into their recruitment plans. If you do not receive an answer soon I would assume that you have little support from the coach and your chances for admission at Yale would be the same as a regular student applying SCEA.</p>
<p>Next I would try to finish the applications for all the schools you are interested in as soon as possible. I would also schedule your OVs as soon as possible and go to each with an open mind (remember you can only take 5 OV with D1 schools but you can take unlimited OVs with D3 schools). I would delay deciding about applying to Yale SCEA until after you have finished your OVs. After you finish your OVs you may find you like another school just as much as Yale and hopefully the coach at that school will offer his full support with admissions.</p>