I recently showed intrest in Choate Rosemary Hall and I stated the I played Football. The Football coach emailed me later that afternoon, and it seemed like a spam. However, if I was a star athlete at my perticular sport (which I’m not), would the coaches push the application officers for my acceptance. Also, given I’m not of high value to the coaches, will me saying I play this sport help me in the application process at all or will they not care.
If you were a star athlete, and if you had the academic credentials (both of which are bigs “ifs”) then a coach may have sway with admissions, but the amount of sway will vary by school.
It won’t help you and it won’t hurt you. Then it’s just like any other EC.
My son applied to Choate and had the same experience (different sport). If you go for the interview, the football coach will probably be called into the admissions office to have a quick chat with you.
Now whether or not the coach is interested in you is another matter entirely. This depends on your level of skill, and the coach’s needs for next year. Even if you are not a star player, it doesn’t hurt to speak to the coach. They realize that 8th grade students mature considerably over 4 years. You could still turn into a star player, and need to convince the coach of that.
Coaches do have some pull with admissions. Your stats have to be up to par though (grades, SSATs). They are always looking for smart athletic kids. The TSAO schools have a policy that they cannot proactively approach a student-athlete. Instead the coaches must wait until they are contacted first by the student. Let me see if I can find the article where I read that.
If you are really interested then “Like” the Facebook page of the team, and continue to keep in contact with the coach. Send tapes if you have them.
Football is an important sport to schools, for cultural reasons. It is getting harder to find kids whose parents will allow them to play football.
I think all schools with football teams will be interested in a football player, especially one with previous experience.