6 days ago the story was that she passed the pre-read and the coach was not being honest and straightforward.
But now…
… it turns out that she didn’t pass the pre-read after all, and admissions wants actual IB scores later? Also: can someone tell me the difference between “predicted and “expected” IB scores? Is that part of that issue here?
One scenario might be that the coach thought OP’s daughter would pass the pre-read and might have in years past, but the AO had a better picture of other international applicants for this year (through other coaches, other pre-reads). I can see where the coach just assumed it would be as it had been in other years that someone with her stats should pass the pre-read, or that there was a miscommunication in ‘should’ pass pre-read and ‘would’ pass. The school may be experiencing a higher number of applicants from the OP’s country than in prior years. I can see her getting in RD if some of those other internationals end up not applying, or not accepting a final offer. Also, if she does get the really high IB scores, the school may take more international students than normal.
While the purpose of this thread was to assist your family with shared experiences and information, this is also potentially a helpful resource to many other CC users.
After all the time people have spent trying to assist you, could you at least try and make this thread marginally helpful for others?
For example: Pre-Read.
I and some others simply don’t understand how your D could not pass a Pre-Read with a 1480 SAT and high IB scores. 44/45 predicted, and presumably high actuals.
So if it wasn’t truly a Pre-Read issue, we assume it was a coach “slot” issue. Can you please help clarify this for many of us here, and future users?
Were IB grades much lower than predicteds? Is this the issue?
The only schools we have seen request higher SATs are Williams and Amherst (1520+ “ideally”) if it was a lower-ranked recruit. Higher ranked recruits can get away with lower SATs, and Amherst actively engages in some DEI recruiting with different academic standards.
I think you owe this community better feedback, without of course revealing any info that could adversely affect your D24’s situation.
This thread should be a bit of a two-way street for the sake of current and future users.
The pre-read situation occurred at 2 different schools, so the comments can be confusing.
The final IB grades are distributed post exams at the end of senior year. Predicted IB scores are assigned by the junior/senior year subject teachers based on past and current performance. Initial predicted IB predicted scores are released at the end of junior year 9ut of 42. Final predicted scores are released in the fall of Senior year out of 45, in fact after most pre-reads have already been passed. 44/45 ranks in the top 1-2% of all global IB candidates. That’s why it was confusing to be withheld by AO upon review with IB expected 44/45 and 1480 SAT.
Others may pronounce that the reason D24 was turned down by these schools were her times rather than the pre-reads, but that contradicts what those head coaches wrote black on white. Anyway, water under the bridge unless some of their recruits suddenly vanish before submitting their ED applications, which would be highly unlikely.
D24 now has to decide whether to accept the only outstanding offer that stands, or proceed with her non-recruit college list.
How many offers did your daughter receive? How many official, admissions pre reads did she complete? How many offers has she formally turned down - told coach thank you but no thank you and to what schools?
7 pre-reads passed, 3 offers, 2 offers declined. 1 offer outstanding.
If she really wants to swim in college for sure, it is my opinion that accepting this offer is the only guaranteed way to go. But that is just me.
Perplexing that one would go through the gauntlet that is athletic recruiting, receive 3 offers from schools one is very interested in, yet not accept any offers and basically forget about college swimming.
I realize OP’s daughter still has one offer outstanding, but, since she hasn’t jumped on it, my prediction is above.
It’s not perplexing because her original list of swim schools was selected before visiting them, and the visits allowed her to form an opinion on the vibe of each school/town/coach she visited.
Fundamentally, choosing a college for her is principally about academics, and she’s deciding between committing as recruit to a very good school, and chancing a broader list of schools which she likes better, and where she could either walk-on or join club swimming programs. At the end, it is her decision, and every teenager is different.
Kids have to make that choice all the time and there is nothing wrong with it. Particularly since she is happy with her fall back options.
Respectfully, summer visits do not allow one to assess vibe. Vibe is what has when all the students are there and classes are in session.
Summer visits are valuable a lot of reasons, but not to figure out vibe.
We understand why visiting when school is in session is impossible for you, so simply stating that experiencing vibe isn’t an option anywhere for you.
A simple “Chance Me” thread could have cut to the heart of the matter a lot faster since I’m not sure how much anyone’s recruitment advice was really pivotal.
Argh…
Ok, it’s about “vibe”, because once she visited the schools she realized they weren’t what she was looking for.
But then, you say she is turning down these “three” schools because it is “principally about academics”?
You don’t need to visit schools in the summer to understand their academic compatibility. In fact, that wouldn’t help much at all.
So is it about vibe, or academic fit?
Some of us suspect it is about something else. And has nothing to do with swimming.
It seems more like “International Junior Targeting Highly Selective Colleges - What are the changes of her getting an ‘athletic hook’ to help with admissions?” would have been a better title to the thread. It seems like school prestige is most important?? (Which is ok - many feel that way!)
That is actually perfect (and nothing wrong with it)
once and for all, accept people for who they are and the decisions they make. It may not be your decision, it may not be the right decision, it may not be the most logical decision… but it will be her decision.
She didn’t turn down an offer from a school with a 10% admission rate because the school lacked academics/prestige/selectivity, but because of its vibe and the town it is in.
Her non-recruit college list includes schools that have a higher admit rate than the school recruiting her, and indeed schools with lower admit rates. Of course she would love to attend Stanford, but she’s also happy to attend McGill, and certainly not blindly pursuing prestige… Harvard/ Yale / Princeton / MIT aren’t on her list.
So, there is a difference between your use of the term “expected” IB scores and actual “predicted” IB scores. The “expected” scores seems to be your expectation, and it looks like some of the AOs didn’t necessarily have the same confidence because the final predicted scores aren’t out yet.
And given that they want to wait for actual test scores, maybe they don’t have as much confidence in the predictions from the school instructors’ assessments as they would from those of a more known domestic school from which they receive more applications.
there is no difference, 44 is her predicted score which is on an official transcript from a reputable school which consistently sends the majority of it’s students to highly selective schools across the world.
will update when her college destination is identified.
If the college is not very familiar with the school, this thought process would make sense to me, and a strong SAT might have been important here, in terms of giving confidence.
In my opinion, the OP’s daughter has a very strong SAT score. Nonetheless, even students with a strong score such as hers may benefit from matching themselves to academically suitable colleges at which they will have a realistic chance of admission.