<p>I was accepted at a highly ranked school through non-binding early action. My question is, can I tell this to a coach at an Ivy League school, if I remind the coach that the Ivy is still my first choice? Or would this seem inappropriate?
My fear is that the coach would either say "she already got into ___, so if I don't support her she still has somewhere great to go", or look upon it as unnecessary information. Any advice would be appreciated!</p>
<p>I don’t really have the credentials to respond to this, but why tell the Ivy coach about the other school unless they ask or you previously mentioned it? Couldn’t you find some other pretext to talk to the Ivy coach- maybe find a way of saying “my winter track season is going well so far. Oh and by the way your school is still by far my first choice”</p>
<p>It’s not really relevant from the coach’s perspective. Unless, of course, the school to which you were accepted is a rival :-)</p>
<p>trackgirl928,</p>
<p>I’ll assume you applied/will apply to the Ivy RD. HYP doesn’t do ED, so it is presumably one of those schools. There are going to be other athletes in the same situation that will be put into the general applicant pool with an acceptance rate somewhere around 7-8%. Personally, I don’ think you have anything to lose but you must handle carefully. Some recruited athletes will have the coaches support, and some will have already received Likely Letters. I commend you for getting into a great school that is your second choice…your stategy has worked in that regard. However, only they (HYP) know where you are on their recruited athlete depth list. Their job is to get the best athlete for their team through the admissions process. The big question becomes…are you one of the best athlete they can get through admissions? </p>
<p>If you have a dialogue and relationship built up with the coach then I think you can approach the topic with the coach…although delicately. I would start off by reminding the coach XYZ is your #1 choice, and you really want to go there. Recap your athletic and academic qualifications. Then ask the coach if they will support you through admissions. Depending on the answer and how they answer it, I would then ask for a LL. If they ask you why you are requesting a LL, this could be where you bring up the other school if you think it will help you. If you don’t think it will help, don’t bring it up.</p>
<p>If you don’t have a relationship built up with the coach then I think it is going to be real difficult unless you can somehow get their attention. A phone call and follow up email would be where I would start, but I wouldn’t have great expectations going into it. If you are a highly recruited athlete then I like your chances more.</p>
<p>Good luck.</p>
<p>First, the coach isn’t less likely to support you because you have another good place to go to (they don’t feel sorry if you have no place to go to). On the contrary, if s/he wants you, it’s a bargaining chip with admissions if it’s a peer institution and, even better, a rival school.
Are you in any kind of contact with the coach?</p>
<p>I would only mention it if the ivy coach asks about your other options, or where they stand in your decision making. I wouldn’t feel comfortable going out of my way to tell the ivy coach I was accepted to school X, unless you’re committing to X.</p>
<p>From a negotiation perspective, I would be tempted to tell the coach about the other admission. They know they compete against one another for recruits, you would merely be making that competition tangible. Moreover, if you say "“I got into school A, but would rather come to your school,” that is a clear signal of your commitment and interest. And it might give him ammo to go to admissions and fight for you.</p>
<p>I don’t see the downside.</p>