Has she been invited to do an unofficial or official fall visit to meet the team, stay overnight, eat in the dining hall, attend a class, etc? I think most here would agree that would be the next step in the process. I know it would be difficult given the international travel, but worthwhile if it leads to offers.
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Aren’t athletes normally committing before official visits, or using official visits to decide between 2+ programs that are recruiting him/her with passed pre-read & coach support?
Depends on the sport as some time lines are earlier, but offers are sometimes made at the end of the visit when you have your sit down with the coach at the end of the visit. Just one example of how it works, I’m sure others can chime in.
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A green light on the pre-read is indicative of acceptance if the student receives full coach support thru the admissions process…it is not indicative of acceptance as an unhooked applicant. The pre-read step comes before the coach decides which student-athletes to offer slots too (more students receive pre-reads than receive slots).
OP’s D doesn’t have any verbal offers from coaches yet (nor do many other students at the NESCACs, while some other schools might be done recruiting).
Many athletes at D3 schools verbally commit without an unofficial/official visit. Not many D3 coaches have official visit budgets.
ETA: At some of these schools, the coaches have been contacted by and/or initiated contact with over 1,000 potential 2024 recruits in the last two years. Getting this many pre-reads is an accomplishment, even if an offer doesn’t happen…it means OP’s D was making appropriate contacts in her journey.
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Did this just happen again?
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So no real change - same three pre reads passed as earlier up in the thread and when you say 9 waiting to be confirmed, who are you waiting to confirm. Did coach submit all documents to admissions or are you waiting to confirm with the coach that the documents your daughter sent will actually be used for a pre read?
Why would a coach do a pre read for a recruit they know is too slow to help the team?
Sounds like you have three positive pre reads. Time to determine if your daughter would be willing to verbally commit to any of those and determine if coach is making an offer.
Are you willing to name those three? Based on earlier discussions are those still Franklin Marshall, Grinnell and McGill or others?
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I’m no expert on athletic recruiting…but I’m sure coaches want to have all their ducks lined up…as they don’t know if their top choices will accept their offers. In some cases, they might need to make offers to slower swimmers to fill their team. Or not…
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But coaches don’t have unlimited pre read slots. I honestly find it hard to believe that a coach would submit a summer pre read for a recruit who they weren’t confident could help their team. Sure you want some depth, but usually even your #8 recruit is someone who could help your team….
But I am no expert, just a parent who recently went through this process at similar schools and all coaches who submitted daughter to admissions communicated to her she was #1 or #2 at her position within their recruiting class prior to daughter submitting documents - usually at this point in the process things get much clearer
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To be confirmed that they are happening?
What are the walk-on possibilities for the 9 programs if no offers are made by coaches?
That was not my son’s experience. He was invited for an official visit after my son reached out to the coach and the coach saw him play at a showcase. Before arriving for the official visit, my son provided his transcript and test scores. At the end of the official visit, the coach made clear he wanted my son and then went over the pre-read process, i.e., he explained what materials my son needed to submit, when the coach expected to receive a response from admissions, and when league rules would allow the coach to make an offer.
Of course, the process can vary from sport to sport and college to college. Good luck.
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Definite variability in the process by school, sport, and coach…and even by a given program from year to year.
The timing of things changed when OVs could happen in junior year (before pre-reads at some schools/conferences). Things will change again now that OVs are unlimited.
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When one gets an offer for a slot, the correct response before any other questions is “thank you. I am very excited about this. How long do I have to give you my decision?”
After that It should be sufficient to ask “have all of your recruits with similar support been accepted?” If there is a previous recruit who was not accepted, the coach most likely could not comment on why due to privacy issues.
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In my kid’s sport, the OV slways came before the offer. It was a two-way evaluation-- athlete getting to know school and team and team getting to know athlete. If the feeling was that the athlete wouldn’t gel with the team, there was no offer. I have no idea how often that happens but appreciate that these students spend a lot of time with each other, so adding someone to the mix who is an irritant is highly disruptive. It may also matter more in sports where a great team dynamic is essentially to great play.
I have been wondering if the OP has been using the term pre-read as submission of materials to the admissions committee (rather than submission of materials to coach, who also has a sense of what will fly.) While schools engage in pre-reads to support athletic recruiting - and coaches can submit more than they’ll ultimately offer - the admissions committees don’t want to take on more of these than they need to, and the ones that pass only pass with the condition that they have coach support. Im trying to figure out why a coach would do this for an athlete who’s not going to make the athletic cut.
Of course, hoping OP’s D gets some good news soon.
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@MassMom321 @GKmom23 @gardenstategal
whilst there are differences between schools/sports/coach, your experience was different mainly because your kid was wanted early, top 1-2 for that position/event/coach etc.
D24 is pretty good at identifying the difference, and promptly saw that her discussions weren’t going anywhere with several coaches of schools that were too fast. The coaches were sometimes very direct, other times their email reaction time was clearly lengthy. Some coaches took her on a school tour even though she had zero chance of being recruited (Tufts), others were clinical by including very clear timesheets (JHU, Chicago, Dartmouth, Williams), others the email chain just died (Washington St Louis, Swarthmore). In some instance, she also talks to swimmers who are either swimming for a specific college team, or are being recruited by a specific coach. All in all, her assessment is purely based on feel, rather than a coach telling her which position she is on his/her list. She met coaches/asst coaches who were actively looking for faster swimmers at California swim meets this July, and the meet itself was very fast, so that’s another way she formed her opinion.
… those are the data points support her assessment of 2-4 teams being too fast to recruit her in the end.
D24 expects all her NESCAC pre-reads to be completed mostly this week. Within 2-3 weeks, she hopes to be able to collect all the coaches feedback/zoom calls (coach/swimmers), and have a clearer idea whether/where she can swim in 2024.
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@LurkerJoe your response/questions are the most genuine and will be her natural response. D24 also heard of nightmare scenarios and wants to be sure she gets all the facts and hopefully isn’t the one getting rejected after thinking she’s completed her journey (pre-read/coach support/ED)
I believe somewhere on this thread, swim parents stated that for D3 selective schools, a coach may have 50 kids for pre-reads yet only have half a dozen slots.
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I think it is presumed that McGill is too fast. Not on the table at all for swimming. Sorry, I didn’t mean to do separate posts for the reply!
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Just to be clear - my daughter was not a top recruit, she had many nos and had to really work her list to make it work. She had physical limitations (5’5 GK) and we had financial limitations. She was told no, had to tell schools no because of lack of acadmeic and/or financial fit, she had to research schools she had never heard of when coaches reached out (like the school she will be attending in 8 days)but by the end of summer before senior year the picture should become much clearer and much less left to student or parent feel or interpretation and much more direct communication from coaches. This is why I am surprised that she would be presented for formal pre reads at schools she is to slow for. If a coach submits all documents for a formal admissions pre read they are clearly interested in that athlete attending the school and being on their team - so if she has been presented for a formal pre read she shouldn’t assume she is too slow.
For all D1s and highly selective D3s by this point, regardless of sport, the funnel is significantly more narrow then even a few months ago. Coaches don’t want to waste their time or the recruits time.
Again I wish you nothing but the best of luck for your daughter and truly hope she loves one of the three schools that seem to love her back
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Best of luck to her. I know these are stressful times for parents and swimmers. She’ll find her place.
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We had the opposite experience. After narrowing things down and letting some schools know they weren’t in her top 3, my D23 had three offers to choose from that she was serious about and would have committed to. And while the coaches had wanted to wrap up their recruiting class by early August, they held their slots for her and allowed her to OV in early September after school was in session.
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