<p>Any recruited athletes out there? Does it help in the admission process? What is the sports culture like at Vassar?</p>
<p>Vassar students support their friends in athletics. They encourage them and attend the events. It is not a culture of the whole school going to the football game on Saturday (they don’t have a football team) but a positive culture and attitude about Vassar and accepting/supporting whatever people are passionate about. That could be sports or theater or music , etc. One of my son’s friend’s decided to play a sport he had never played ever - (in his junior year at Vassar). So risk taking is encouraged also. If you are interested in playing a sport at Vassar, definitely contact the coaches so they know you are applying.</p>
<p>My daughter was recruited to play a sport at Vassar and is there now and loves it. The process was very low key. It involved meeting with the coach and providing information about academics and sports achievements followed by an informal discussion prior to the Early Admission deadline. At least in our experience, the sense was that a student would need to be in the ballpark from an academic standpoint to be seriously considered as for admission regardless of one’s athletic prowess. If one were not in the ballpark academically for Vassar, there would be little hope. However, if one were in the running academically, then the athetic “hook” could help a lot because Vassar like all LACs wants a diverse student population that will keep its athletic programs vital and competitive. Hope this helps.</p>
<p>Thank you both. This is helpful. My daughter did an overnight with the track team and loved the team, the coach and the school. She’s in the ballpark academically so we have our fingers crossed.
ReallyOK - what sport does your daughter play?</p>
<p>Our D was a heavily recruited athlete at Vassar and received her rejection notice yesterday. Weekly phone calls and emails from the coach since August, a pre-read on her grades and SAT scores with an early nod from admissions, team overnight visit, and great ECs, SAT scores, and GPA (higher than what I’ve seen posted in many other accepted posts) didn’t help at all. The coach wasn’t even aware she was being rejected until late yesterday. We have no idea what happened. To say we are stunned and devastated would be an understatement.</p>
<p>cats4u (cool name by the way) what was your daughter’s stats? and was she accepted?</p>
<p>sometimes you just never know what and or why . Sounds very strange .
I hope that your daughter will not stay devestatte d for too long but rather use this as a learning experience. It was not meant to be for whatever reason. Their loss.<br>
She sounds as if she will have many other choices . The others will offfer all and even more than Vassar.</p>
<p>To the parent who private messaged me: I would be hesitant about any promises that Vassar coaches make about support during the admissions process. We found it not to be true, at least for the sport in which our D participated. We did find that coaches at the NESCAC schools were extremely supportive and helpful during the admissions process, our D got in where she applied. My gut feeling would be to go with a NESCAC school where the institutions themselves are more interested in athletics. In the end, things worked out very well for our D as she is participating in a DI sport at a major university and loving every minute of it! (I was unable to respond to your private message because I haven’t made 15 posts in this forum…)</p>
<p>Morav3, did your child apply ED? Both Vassar and Bates have offered my son “early reads” because of athletics, but have been clear this is about early decision application. He’s well in the ball park academically–scores, grades, etc…and a top athlete. We had kind of been led to believe that we could count on what they said at early read IF he applied ED.</p>
<p>^^
Morav’s daughter was a RD applicant. Per post #5, she received the rejection notice March 27th.</p>
<p>My D applied RD to Vassar as she was recruited at multiple schools and was unwilling to make a decision so early in the game. And, we have come to realize, it is a game. She got an early read from Vassar from admissions as well and the coach put heavy pressure on her to apply ED. I am not aware if the coach made any promise about only being able to help during the ED process. However, she applied RD to a NESCAC school and was accepted. The coaches at that institution were extremely helpful during the RD process. My D is a high performing student and athlete. Vassar missed out when they rejected her. But as I mentioned before, she is very happy where she is. Although it was a heart breaker at the time, things seem to have worked out for the best!</p>
<p>do you mind me asking where she eventually went?</p>
<p>It is helpful to look at athlete recruitment from the coach’s perspective. At one highly regarded LAC with which I am familiar, a coach can go to bat for a limited number of academically qualified, recruited student athletes with the admissions department and essentially secure a promise of an admission offer. The coach commits to the student athlete with an offer of admission, and in turn asks that the student reciprocate the commitment by applying ED. Personally, I feel this is reasonable, and I definitely understand why a coach would not want to waste his limited ability to sway decision making on an athlete who has applied to 10 schools and is noncommital.</p>
<p>I agree with CodyChesnutt. I will also say that coaches become less enthusiastic about athletes once they have filled their roster spots through the early decision process. I’ve had coaches at other schools tell me that very directly – that there are a limited number of openings for Position X on a team and that after those openings are filled, then the recruitment process for that year is over. It’s a bit like a game of musical chairs. I have one kid who is an athlete at Vassar and another who is an athlete at a NESCAC school and the recruiting processes were quite similar and being willing to go ED was key.</p>
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<p>Yup. The coaches were very clear with us. ED is what makes the difference. That’s when they can fight for you. That’s what the whole early read thing is all about. Now my son just needs to make a choice! Can anyone here talk about the sports life at Vassar? My son is being recruited by some top swimming school (and Vassar is the worst in the not-great Liberty League) but he is also a sensible, serious kid who would love to take a break from maniacal competition and explore other aspects of himself…and still swim. Hard decisions to make. Vassar really does seem like a special place.</p>
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<p>Yes recruited athletes must apply ED, preferably ED I. The coaches ask admissions to perform a pre-read and if given a green light the applicant would be admitted early decision, with no guarantees for regular decision.</p>
<p>Although we only saw the pool and our son is a lacrosse player, the opportunity to study at a top academic school like Vassar and participate in his sport is definitely worthwhile. Compare his options and swimming programs with the NESCAC schools as Vassar has more in common academically with those schools rather than the other Liberty League schools.</p>
<p>@Cody Chesnutt
Not every student has the financial ability/security to apply ED. There are many students who do not qualify for traditional financial aid and must therefore apply through the RD process so they can compare potential offers of merit scholarship.<br>
@ReallyOk
We happen to know that the Vassar coach filled not a single position through the ED process. Not one of the recruited athletes applied ED.</p>
<p>The good news is that my son is heavily recruited by Vassar and the pre-read came back as a sure thing, the bad news is that the school is less than 10 minutes from his house. He wanted Ivy - that did not work out. Now it looks like Vassar, Tufts, Swarthmore, or UChicago. He is doing an overnight this weekend with the baseball team and we are joking that if he gets scared he can call and we will pick him up - just like when he was 6 years old.</p>
<p>10 minutes away might be a little too close… Any thoughts on how the others compare to Vassar in academics and athletics?</p>
<p>We have a female friend who started playing rugby at Vassar after she was not accepted as a walk-on in volleyball. She has really enjoyed the sport and is now a senior applying to medical schools with very good prospects. She was admitted to Vassar with a full ride, via Questbridge.</p>
<p>We are only an hour away…and my daughter is 30 minutes away at Bard! It was actually seeing how my daughter handled being so close that convinced my son to look at Vassar…and then fall in love with it. She lives in the dorm, we treat her like she’s at college (she is) BUT she does bring kids home for dinner from time to time and we do pop in for lunch and coffee when we are in the neighborhood and for our family it’s really really nice. My son loved Bates almost as much as Vassar, but it is SO far away. </p>
<p>Also, re financial aid and ED…my own understanding is that Vassar is very generous with financial aid but that if you don’t get what you need, that is the one circumstance that is allowable for reneging on the ED agreement. Don’t take my word on that, but that is what I have heard.</p>