Yeah, basically what @stencils said :). Would add NYU, Tufts, Wellesley, Haverford, Vassar. Also consider UCSD. It’s Div 1, great school. My daughter did not like it, so refused to apply (have no idea why, my husband and I loved it…). Oh well.
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For those whose 2024 (or earlier) fencer applied REA or SCEA or ED and received a likely letter, can you comment on the timing of the letter, email or call?
Likely letters generally are the domain of the ivies, they normally get sent in October. I believe that in order to receive a likely letter the applicant needs to submit their complete application so sometimes recruited athletes may not get a likely if their application is not in within the timeframe. For my fencer, they applied to an academically select D1 in early October and received their letter of admission at the end of October. A little unexpected since it was early round so expected to have to wait until Mid December but very welcome nonetheless. GL!
The admission committees that send likely letters will probably start meeting next week (first week of October). Each Ivy handles thing differently, and these committees don’t necessarily meet every week. As stated above, they will only send likely letters to those who have sent in their application.
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Likely letter for Ivy League, page 2, item 2 Early Evaluation:
Fall 2021 Ivy Joint Statement
NLI Signing Dates
Prospective Student-Athletes Signing 2021-22 and Enrolling 2022-23
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Thank you for the insights @GlobalFencingMom, @Mwfan1921, and @Trudy2018. My fencer committed a year ago and submitted the application a few weeks ago. Our household will breathe more easily with a likely letter in hand.
Just to add a note of caution and to hopefully preempt any unnecessary angst, it is possible to not receive the likely letter until significantly later. My child was one of the top recruits in his year, applied early to his first choice, but did not receive his likely letter until November, just prior to Thanksgiving.
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Just another point of view.
Our coach suggested getting in the complete application as soon as possible (by Sept 15th) so we would be eligible for the 1st wave of likely letters (Oct 1st). The reason for this was because if anything went wrong, there would still be time to apply to another school EA or ED.
While this may seem like a “belt and suspenders” approach, we appreciated the sensitivity.
Obviously different sports have different timelines, but for fencing and other winter sports, there seems to be an early window. I know other sports that do not benefit from the first LL wave (Oct 1).
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Thank you @BrooklynRye for sharing your experience and keeping us calm.
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It’s probably too late for this year’s class, but my son’s likely letter was held up because his recommendations weren’t submitted until the very last minute. He did a good job to get his application in early, but it wasn’t looked at until everything came in. If you want a likely letter, let your LOR writers know their letter will be critical path.
I think there is enough nuance to this to warrant further discussion.
Our fencer was not nearly as sought after as @brooklynrye’s, and as it was our first time thru the process, we were nervous (and there wasn’t a great thread on CC like there is now).
By getting your full application in early, the fencer puts him/herself in position to be evaluated in the first few waves of LL admissions meetings. As per Ivy League rules, the first wave of LL’s can be sent out on October 1st which means getting your full application in by September 15th. most HS counselors and teachers will not be ready this early so it requires some work on the part of the student and/or parents to put this in motion.
The problem with waiting for the LL to be sent at a later date (such as November) is that if there is any sort of problem with admission to the school that promised the letter, you may have missed your EA/ED window at another school that may have had interest in your fencer. As most athletic recruiting is completed in the Early process, no one wants to be unaccepted by January of senior year.
While the promise of a LL rarely does not work out, the process is not perfect and every year there are issues (which never get discussed on CC), so I think early execution is always best if your fencer is sure where he/she wants to go.
By having the top commits receive their LLs early, it helps speed up the inevitable falling of the dominos for the rest of the recruiting season.
Just my $.02
My kid received his LL oct 21 the year he applied. Timing of LL depends on when the app is fully completed, as noted above, and when that permits it to get to an AdCom mtg.
Ideally LL will arrive early enough to avoid having to start on other applications just in case. For example, mid-November or later LL might forces a decision given UC applications due end of November.
I’ll add my usual disclaimer as the dad of a non-Ivy D1 fencer. Likely Letters are only the domain of Ivies and few other low admission rate elite schools. So outside of that realm, the admissions/recruitment process will look different than what’s described above.
If you are applying to a big D1 sports scholarship school and have a commit from the coach as a recruit, ask the coach what the process is at the school. The coach will likely still want you to apply EA/ED.
Outside of the top 10 fencing programs, D1 coaches and D3 coaches have varying levels of ability to put their finger on the scale of the admission process, and if you are concerned about admission to the school of your choice, you should ask each coach up-front if they have pull in the process and what that looks like. Note there are some elite/selective D3 schools, such as JHU and MIT.
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Hi everyone,
Question for Div 3 fencers/parents: how many competitions per season usually happen at Div 3 schools? My D just got her schedule, and we were kind of taken aback by how light on competitions it is. Trying to figure out if it’s the case at other D3 schools.
This year seems lighter than in past for S. I think COVID is still having an effect.
Yeah, looks light. Ours has 5 competitions this season. Is that consistent with other schools?
I think it’s a bit on the light side, but as @Momma2018 said, maybe that’s still COVID issues?
Almost every college uses the same web platform for their NCAA sports website. If you click through to the “Fencing” page for your school, then click “Schedule”, there’s usually an option to see a decade or more of past years’ schedules, so it would be easy to see how this year compares with normal pre-covid years like 2019-2020 and 2018-2019.
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Just got the likely letter today. My fencer committed to an Ivy a year ago in October after unofficial preread, followed by the official one this past July, and then submitted the app before 9/15. Long journey but finally paid off.
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Many thanks to some of the senior members who helped me along the way: @BrooklynRye @helmut @smileymomma. Your help was very timely and insightful. What a great forum.
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Outstanding and congratulations to your fencer!
Forgot to provide an update. My fencer received the likely notification on October 1. Still celebrating!
Huge thank you to those that launched and continue to contribute to this amazing thread longer after your fencers have matriculated.
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