Thanks for your support. She filed her ED application to her dream school, understanding that admission probabilities are what they are, and she’s taking a low percentage bet. In the meantime, she filed her Canadian applications, which do not require essays, and provide her with two very high probability of acceptance, including one which could potentially include a swimming team spot. Next up are the UC application submissions by October month end.
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Thanks for your support. She filed her ED application to her dream school, understanding that admission probabilities are what they are, and she’s taking a low percentage bet. In the meantime, she filed her Canadian applications, which do not require essays, and provide her with two very high probability of acceptance, including one which could potentially include a swimming team spot. Next up are the UC application submissions, which will close the 2023 chapter of her journey. If necessary, her next two deadlines will be ED2 & RD
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This is new information. How long has she had a “dream school”?
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And a dream school that does not involve “varsity swimming.”
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She’s applying ED to a school she visited, likes a lot, and views as a better academic & location fit, but where the varsity program is too fast for her (she can compete in club swimming). we debated for a long time between the certainty of an excellent school with a great academic program in her intended field of study and the ability to continue to compete at D3 with a great coach. her analysis was poised, measured, and certainly influenced by the fact that she very much liked her Canadian backup options. She’ll see what AOs decide in December.
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@NiVo Hopefully, the admissions (either ED or Canadian) will work out to lessen the sting of the “failure” of not swimming varsity. (note: failure is not my word, but the OP’s)
Thanks for the update.
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The Canadian admissions are not committal, almost purely based on academic achievement/grades, with no essays: this renders their decision highly predictable, which is in fact what they seek. The McGill coach stated clearly that D24’s selection into varsity team would be confirmed/denied in January 2024.
We don’t expect any substantial update until acceptance decisions are released in December.
December would also be a great time to visit Montreal and Toronto to see how much she likes those places in weather that will be typical for much of the academic year.
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It’s not a “failure”, if she is the one who left viable possibilities in the breach.
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This is the quote that was being referenced:
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I’m totally confused. That quote is 1800 posts ago. What has everyone been discussing since last March?
I think everyone was discussing how limiting acceptable options to schools with less than a 20% acceptance rate for prestige purposes but also which had slower swim programs where she could be recruited, didn’t provide many—if any—viable choices.
Maybe “failure” has been redefined now. But the working assumption for everyone generous enough to provide advice on the thread for months is that it was being defined as stated.
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Thank you. Now, I remember. She wanted to get into a school that was hard to get into and the slower the times, the easier the college was to get into. Thus, confirming that age-old axiom, “I would never join a club that would have me as a member.”
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I think op’s journey is quite common. My older child played a club sport where a decent number of local kids wind up in highly academic D1 programs. But for the others, they start looking at lower d1, then moved down to the NESACs, and after that doesn’t pan out, move on to either a d2 or d3 they never would have considered but for athletics or abandon their efforts to be an athletic recruit. It’s a very typical progression.
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Typically, do they wind up with Stanford as their ED choice?
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I also agree that OP’s kid’s progression is not that unusual. It was also my kid’s path. He had multiple top academic D3 “offers” in hand but rather take the bird in hand and play ball, he opted to REA at an Ivy with no coach support after OV’s because he wanted to attend a larger research university. For him the risk/reward was worth it.
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I disagree. From “top academic D3” to Ivy research u is a progression. From Low match D3 to Stanford is a Hail Mary pass.
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I get your overall point, but Stanford doesn’t offer ED. The ED Hail Mary is a different school.
Some kids just want to shoot their shot. Since swimming didn’t work out, why not go for the big time? I don’t have a kid who’s an athlete but I do have one who shot for Stanford and made it, so understand the desire to reach for the dream. I don’t understand the snark for OP, maybe other than maybe stringing people along for all this time and perhaps lack of transparency. My sense is that many Stanford legacies apply. It’s still a long shot, but one worth taking for many. Edited: “perceived” lack of transparency (?)
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