<p>Are the likely letters being sent on October 1st or will athletes be receiving them on October 1st? What is the range of time they are projected to be coming in?</p>
<p>They are sent starting October 1st.</p>
<p>My son was told “we have a spot on the team for you if you get admitted”, and asked for an academic read. Does this prompt the likely letter or should he ask the coach for it specifically?</p>
<p>This thread probably should be moved to the athletic forum.</p>
<p>OP - under Ivy league rules LLs can be issued beginning October 1. LLs are issued to recruited athletes after receiving a completed (essays, LOR, transcript, etc.) application. Every school has differences, but usually special admission committees review the completed athletic applications periodically beginning around October 1. The coach can keep you posted (through conversations with the prospective student/athlete) once the completed app is at admissions.</p>
<p>ddd - based upon the direct quote from the coach, your son is on his own in getting through admissions; he is not a recruited athlete. If he gets admitted (competing for a spot with all the rest of the applicants), he has a spot on the team. I would have your son (assuming Brown is his first choice) point blank ask the coach whether he is a recruted athlete for whom the coach will request a LL. </p>
<p>stemit - I didn’t realize that LLs were issued only after receipt of a completed application. How about the pre-read?<br>
My son sent his transcript and test scores in July, met with the coach in September and discussed test scores and GPA in that meeting. That night the coach requested official transcript, scores, etc again. S sent them, and then follwed up with an e-mail showing he’d completed his Brown App on 9/30. He’s heard nothing since.</p>
<p>We have no idea how many recruiting spots the fencing coach gets, but understand it’s a small number (perhaps 2-3). He’s looking for saber and foil fencers first, and my S is an epee fencer, so that’s not a good sign. However, S decided that Brown is his first choice, and he applied ED based on his love of the school. Yes, a LL would be wonderful, but not likely to happen. Looking at the Brown roster, If S is admitted to Brown, he should be able to fence for them. In the words of Tom Petty, the waiting is the hardest part. </p>
<p>Epeemom- recuiting in the Ivy League is a complicated dance.</p>
<p>Each school will set aside a certain number of places for recruited athletes. This number is further subdivided according to sport (and compliant, hopefully, with title IX). While there is a ceiling set by the Ivy League, schools can choose to reduce that number. In recent years, Brown and Yale have reduced the number of recruited athletes.</p>
<p>Coaches start making up lists with potential recruits. The lists are obviously much longer then the number of slots each coach has; some potential recruits will not make the academic hurdle, others will not make the the athletic hurdle, others will go elsewhere for a myriad of reasons. In some sports these lists begin to be constructed early in high school; other sports later.</p>
<p>Once the recruiting really begins (for some in the junior year; some perhaps earlier, most in their rising senior summer), the coach will ask for a pre-read. This is a good sign as athletically the student has remained on the coach’s list. The pre-read is a way to give the coach a feel for the strength of the academic records of the student. The pre-read is an entirely unofficial process; although it can look very official. There are no promises that are made based on a pre-read.</p>
<p>While pre-reads can be done very early, pre-reads can also be done late - but the effect is the same: no official action has been taken. Pre-reads are focussed on the objective components of the academic record (grades, scores), so “problems” which may emerge from a reading of a competed application do not appear (e.g., poor LOR, disciplinary record issues, etc).</p>
<p>Usually a prospective recruit has been through a pre-read before being invited on an official visit. (I believe an official transcript has been sent to the school before the OV can take place.) Being invited on an OV is a BIG deal. First, the coach has only a limited number of OVs to offer. Second, the recruit can only go on a limited number of D1 OVs. The number of OVs is controlled first by NCAA regulations, second by league rule, third by individual school issues (budget, priorities, etc.). </p>
<p>Anyone invited on an OV is a very viable potential recruit; the student is crawling towards the top of the recruit pyramid.</p>
<p>The OV is a highly regulated event. A recuit can be on campus for no more then 48 hours, etc. During the OV, the parents (if they went) can expect to meet with financial aid, admissions, and depending on the coach, do more. But, depending on exactly where on the coach’s list the athlete falls, an “offer” may or may not be forthcoming during the OV. </p>
<p>I put “offer” in quotes, because this is one of the complexities of the Ivy; the coach may"offer" but admissions is the gatekeeper. So a coach’s “offer” is really conditional on admissions receiving a full completed applications and admissions extending a real offer. (Families can get a rough feel for the chances by using the Athletic Index.) A rough rule of thumb: the better the athlete the more give in the academics (to a point). The converse, however, is not true: amazing academics does not make up for lesser athletics. A coach is all about winning and to win an athlete must compete. So, a coach just cares that the recruit can clear the academic hurdle; the coach doesn’t care if the hurdle was cleared with room to spare.</p>
<p>The real offer is conveyed via the coveted Likely Letter (roughly analogous to the D1 NLI). Athletes completed applications are reviewed by special committees set up for that purpose. These meetings are held frequently (perhaps weekly) beginning October 1. From the school’s perspective, it is competing against other potential suitors of your son, so the process needs to be specially tailored to athletes - who by this stage are beyond anxious (and their parents are way beyond that).</p>
<p>Absent a Likely Letter, the prospective athlete is competing against every other “non-hooked” applicant; no special committee, no special consideration, etc. When in doubt (as you should be by now), have your son call the coach and point blank ask if the coach will be requesting a LL on his behalf. If the answer is yes, get the expected timeline from the coach (reduces stress). If the answer is no, have a back up plan and move on it now (because if the answer is no, your son is not a recruited athlete). If someone isn’t a recruited athlete, however, it doesn’t mean he can’t make and compete for the team - it simply means that he’s on his own for admissions (no coach support or LL).</p>
<p>This is only a quick and dirty description; there are other twists and turns in the athlete’s path and I’m sure I skippped over some issues.</p>
<p>If any prospective athletes/parents have sports questions, I urge you to post those questions in the athletic forum - there is a wealth of knowledge there.</p>
<p>stemit - Thank you. I do visit the Athletic Recruits forum and agree that this post belongs there. It’s the most detailed explanation I’ve read so far. Thank you for taking the time to post it.</p>