<p>My understanding of good quality LACs (usually D3) is that coaches have a list of players that they share with Admissions. Are you absolutely sure your son was #1 on the top of this list for his sport? Is it possible that another recruit was “1A” but had better academics? Does LAC#1 use the Ivy AI to rank potential student athletes? If so, he may have lost by a few points and they decided to wait list him not because of athletics but because of academics. His SAT scores are very, very good, but they don’t necessarily tell the whole story (essays, ECs, teacher referrals, SAT2s, hs rank in state/region, class rank, #AP classes, legacy, etc…) that admissions may be looking for. In most cases, it is totally up to Admissions (for Ivy and LACs) and most coaches will tell you this during the recruiting process. The fact that the coach spoke to the Admin and they will get back to you in a week is promising but also strange that it would take that long. If it was my son, I would ask him what school is next on his list, and begin pursuing them while waiting hear back from LAC #1 unless there is an NLI (D1 or D2) or something that has tied you to the school. Maybe it is an honest mistake on LAC#1’s part, and the coach meets with Admissions once a week for issues like this. I hope so, but at least you’d have your bases covered. Good luck!</p>
<p>In my opinion the coaches at MIT, Williams and WASHU don’t have a lot influence in the admissions process. The Ivies, all the coaches have a lot of influence. My D dream school is MIT. She is a great student and athlete, loves math and science. We will see how much the coach can help her when we receive the news on March 14th. Otherwise, she will go to her state school and we will save some money for grad school. Although, I would be more then happy to pay for her education at MIT :).</p>
<p>soccer92 – if the one coach who responded was encouraging, S definitely should follow up with him. For the others, I would wait to see what schools he gets into and then get in touch right away with the coaches at the schools he’s seriously considering, resubmitting his profile and DVD if he has one and asking about the procedure for trying out preseason as a walk-on. </p>
<p>Some NESCAC schools (e.g., Williams, Wesleyan, Bowdoin) have JV teams and a few players may be able to move up to Varsity after a year. If your S gets info re the ability to try out that leads him to prefer one school over another and he decides to go there, some of these schools have camps in the summer for HS players/recruits and the coach might offer him a spot if he shows well. S saw this happen at a NESCAC school camp he attended this summer. Of course, at that point, your S already would have committed to attend that school and there’s no guarantee he’d make the team.</p>
<p>So, although I think it’s good to stay on a coach’s radar screen, I don’t think your S needs to contact the non-responding coaches right now, other than by submitting the Common App Athletic Supplement and completing the school’s prospective-atrhlete questionnaire on line.</p>
<p>Good luck.</p>
<p>Feliz,
I know of a student who did get in early with MIT–I do think the ath part helped.</p>
<p>Good luck</p>
<p>Hey guys, say I’m recruited by MIT/Caltech for my sport (I’m definitely there athletically, it’s just a matter of playing in front of them). I know the general sentiment is that they do not hold recruiting weight, but can being recruited by them at least reinforce my app and possibly secure a spot in admissions given my academics? I have the CC-cliched straight-As and a 2400 and even though I’ve heard some pretty terrible recruiting stories about both schools I’m still wondering if the athletic boost is useless in all situations.</p>
<p>monstor344: If you get recruited by MIT/Caltech, you should have no problem with admissions at all, as far as I can imagine. Your top grades, perfect scores coupled with outstanding athletic talent would make you a highly desirable recruit - I am assuming the sport you play is a Div. III at MIT? Not all MIT sports are Div. III, and that does change things. Either way, if you are good enough athletically to get their attention, you are in good shape.</p>
<p>^^ about Caltech and a bump for athletes: I just spoke with a high school coach who is working with an athlete trying for Caltech. The HS coach is friends with the Caltech coach, and was quizing him about support in admissions. The coach went on a tear about how frustrating it is to have NO pull in admissions, and that they’d have to just wait and see. This student is qualified for admission but doesn’t have the <em>perfect</em> stats monster carries. The coach said he’d love to have the kid on the team, but can’t grease the skids.</p>
<p>Mayhew: Our experience is not that clear. My son has stats well within MIT range (although not 4.0/1600) with good recs, had clear support from a well established coach who asked him to apply early and for a commitment that he gave, and he was deferred. The coach did not seem surprised by the deferment. So, I’m sure it helps but its far from a sure thing.</p>
<p>Re Caltech: I think coach can have <em>some</em> influence, as in maybe make the kid stand out a bit from the crowd, but not much more than that.</p>
<p>ihs, on top of that, isn’t Caltech D1 in your son’s sport? I’d think the coach ought to have some pull there.</p>
<p>We have had some recruiting contact with MIT (Div. 1 sport) and it has been made quite clear that the coach has real pull with admissions and also with financial aid.</p>
<p>ihs76: That must have been very disappointing and discouraging to have been deferred after all the encouragement from the coach, applying early, etc. If this is a Div. 1 sport, as monstor344 thinks, then I would be absolutely furious. In that case, the coach should have known beforehand whether or not your child’s application would get through early admissions due to pre-reads, etc., and should have been upfront about the chances.</p>
<p>monstor: I don’t think Caltech is D1 in <em>any</em> sport 
If you meant MIT, no, its not. Isn’t crew the only D1 sport at MIT?</p>
<p>Mayhew: Son spent last weekend at a tournament where the coach and some members from a T20 school were competing (we’d met the coach before and he’d recruited him) and he liked the team members so he’s good going there if that’s how it works out in RD. This coach has lot more pull and son would be quite competitive academically. And we’re from a middle of nowhere state. BTW, I didn’t think MIT did pre-reads.</p>
<p>I don’t know about other sports at MIT, but yes, crew is Div. 1 there.</p>
<p>ihs76: Very happy that your son has a good feel about T20 team he spent time with. I know that “all is well that ends well”, but still annoyed for your sake about encouraging but ultimately useless coach!!</p>
<p>mayhew: my impression is that many of the recruited athletes at MIT this year (including some that seemed to have been ‘highly’ recruited) were deferred. I’ll be curious to see how many of these students get admitted RD. I think they’re expecting <10% acceptance rate for RD, so maybe the coaches pull will raise that to 20% 
and thereby be ‘useful.’</p>
<p>I know of a UAA school where a student was deferred EA, but did receive a ‘Likely Letter’ regarding his admission for RD after the coach talked with admission. I know that Likely Letters are very rare at the DIII level for the top schools (I did not even know they existed until I saw it with my own eyes) but this just goes to show there is still hope and a decent chance.</p>
<p>KafkaDream: Wow, that is really interesting. I have never heard of a Div. III “Likely Letter”, and I imagine that every parent of a prospective Div. III athlete is going to be very interested in that!!! Particularly after being deferred EA.</p>
<p>ihs76: That is really interesting about the high percentage of “highly” recruited athletes being deferred - particularly since MIT must know they risk losing their coveted recruit to somewhere else that can guarantee something. That would take a lot of the “thrill” out of all the coach’s promising talk, etc. However, getting in RD would definitely take the sting out of it :)</p>
<p>After speaking with the coach at a top LAC Div 111 where my s is being recruited it looks very iffy for him since he was deferred ED1 and put in the regular pool. I would love a “likely letter” from this school since it is his first choice. If I knew the odds were favorable of him being accepted RD, I would say let’s wait it out. His only problem was a first quarter grade in one class. However, will they look at all his credentials all over again in the RD pool? too much pressure. Perhaps he should just go EDII with the other LAC school who recruited him. He did like it there as well…</p>
<p>misswan: I am sure they would look at all his credentials again in the RD pool - of course i don’t know for sure, but I really cannot imagine they wouldn’t. </p>
<p>If he really liked LAC #2 as well, and it is a good fit academically and athletically, AND they will get him in EDII, I would definitely take that!! Only if the LAC is comparable - but how nice it would be to have this over with, end the stress, and the nervousness about unknown decision of RD of LAC #1…</p>
<p>mayhew: Yes, I think we are leaning the way of EDII in LAC#2. It is definitely comparable and we were told that the apps in school #1 are up by more than 2,000 from last year. The competition is fierce and the pressure is too much.</p>
<p>Mayhew</p>
<p>Did MIT request an early pre-read? </p>
<p>Any insight there is great</p>
<p>re MIT
I do know of an EA candidate who got in–had done an official visit. Don’t know if that candidate had a pre-read…
I know of another EA candidate who got deferred --which rocked the sr class beause of thats candidate’s academic prowess</p>
<p>@fogfog, ihs76, Mayhew
D applied EA to MIT. Got deferred. Did a 2 days visit, stayed with the team (she loved the team!), went to classes, and stay in the dorms. She is the number #1 recruit according to the coach. I am also very curious to see if she will get in RD. Good luck!</p>