<p>We are in the position of being too poor to be rich and too rich to be poor (we earn what we have with very hard work, but we make enough to have too much for standard aid package), so we have skipped aid application. We felt smug that our 3 children were spaced more than 4 years apart so we could spread out tuition, only to find out that we would have gotten a break on tuition if they had been in college at same time. So we will just suck it up, and have her apply for some local aid/scholarships from our home town, not part of college-provided aid. My husband says he is very proud he has opportunity to work to send her to Ivy school.<br>
Her English teacher let her get out of her assignments this fall to work on essay (she is making them up now, as we speak) so she could get that application in immediately. It was sitting on Adcom desk in perfect shape when they opened for business Oct 1. We actually shot for mid Sept, which was good she did it early because of glitches. It took us at least a week of fine tuning to deal with new common app form and other little things. When you --the parent --fill out your part of ED contract, which you will have to do with minor child, commonapp will send you an email confirming you really sent this inâI missed it in my inbox, we were traveling and it looks like innocuous spam email --and it derailed and delayed everything for about a week because guidance counselor cannot send in their part re ED until yoursâ is final which means ED part is not âINâ, all from my not responding to this little innocuous email.
D had to try out about 4 different subjects before hitting on one for essay and boy was I dubiousâas in is this a joke, with her chosen subject? But it gave insight into how she thinks and this is what they want. Context and authenticity. Also, one other hint----she has had some very flattering press. She âwith gun to her headâshe does not like to bragâincluded links to a couple of articles about her in the addendum section of the commonapp and I think that must have helped give a flattering pic of her, not to mention written by professional writer. Hope this helps. Getting this all in early was a giant Pain in the A*******, but it sure worked in the end.</p>
<p>Charger: One other thing, she was strongly advised not to write her main essay on athletics</p>
<p>His main essay is going to be about a camp he started in his sport for middle school children and how he had to market, staff, and head coach the camp. It is has been very successful and he had to co partner with his club to offer this camp for free. The topic of his essay is about how budget cuts have eliminated extracurricular activities in the school and how he developed an after school activity to help the students in our area. It doesnât deal with his sport directly, but how coaching and being a mentor has been huge for him and members of the community. His supplemental essay had nothing to do with sports, but how his mentally â â â â â â â â cousin has influenced his life.</p>
<p>Sounds good. I would emphasize the inner processes he went through doing it, more than the outer success or facts. I think giving glimpse of the inner workings of their minds is so important. These schools have seen everything. Refugees from Somalia to kids in inner cities, nothing impresses them, and the worstââmy summer vacationââeach more spectacular than the last. The biggest turnoff and most pathetic thing I heard re essays was from this earnest very nice family that desperately wanted their kid to go to Amherst, so the took family trip to Africa for 6 weeks so D would have something eyecatching to write college essay about. How completely inauthentic. If I told you my kidâs essays they would shoot meâand all their friends would ID me which would mean they would kill me and tell me to get a life. But one of them was a detail of everyday life we all use/do, and he had visited Siberia and all over, and it became metaphor for experiences of his life, but it was pretty graphic, he did not mention the metaphor part per seâI told him 23 year old males better read his essaysâof course, it got him in all over the place. This was after he threw his highly polished beautiful essay in the trash.</p>
<p>Other thing is the ivies really like kids who work, and your sonâs project certainly sounds like real work âcreative, his project. Good luck to you as parent, and your son too. He sounds like a remarkable young man. Do you have any press or school notices or whatever that describe the program? I think I mentioned D included (because we forced her) some stuff in the "extra materials " box on the common app. I thought it really improved her app, of courseâwho knows. Gave an outside looking in view of her and her achievements and context of them.
The early app is really an advantage, no matter where your son decides he really wants to go. Nice chatting. This was my last and third child to help wind way thru college app process. Big change now !</p>
<p>Nothing in the press, but the adult coach who headed the program who teaches at a private high school sent in a 3rd letter of rec stating how the program wouldnât have been successful without him, blah blah blah. He also does have a job as well. This first trimester has been a chore as heâs going to have missed a week of school out of the first twelve due to his visits. He will have his application in to the school by the end of this week and they donât have early decision. But the coach knows that he most likely will be getting LOIâs from at least a couple other schools and he wants to make sure he has his likely letter. It is my first choice for my son, but he has to come to realize that. I think once he visits again next week by himself he will come to that decision. Itâs an unbelieveable opportunity.</p>
<p>My Dâs choice was influenced to some degree by her hs coaches, and her English teacher, and her older friends who went there who were âcoolâ, as well as her realization from peers that the school she decided on was pretty special. One day I told her what a great opportunity it was, and that just about canned the whole thing. It had to be her choice, not mine, or she would have nothing to do with it. Peer opinion was pretty big factor (I thinkâshe doesnât keep me in the loop on choices). Also she had heard some truly dumb unfounded rumors that athletes could get in with really low test scores âit didnât matter that I told her that was a completely unsubstantiated pipe dream, it had to be 3rd party who told her that, and in fact it was her English teacher who disabused of her of that notion, and then the college coach who was pretty specific about the scores she needed. That was big motivator. Good luck.</p>
<p>Thank you all for this wonderful discussion, tutorial, and shared experiences. It has been invaluable (as was Chris Lincolnâs book).</p>
<p>Just wanted to provide an update on Kiddoâs situation. She loved her official visit to her preferred school and was told then by the coach that she was one of her top recruits. Coach, however, was unsure whether sheâd have one or two sponsorships to offer. Coach said sheâd be calling after the second official visit weekend. Promptly thereafter, Coach called and told Kiddo she was her top recruit and coach was willing to sponsor her, but had to have a meeting with the larger sportâs coach. Coach just called last night to tell Kiddo that she was her top recruit, she has one sponsorship, and Kiddo is it!</p>
<p>Coach told Kiddo that her sponsorship is not a guarantee of admission, then backtracked and said that with Kiddoâs AI, academic profile, and her sponsorship, âactually, yes, it is pretty much a guaranteeâ. Coach said sheâd be flabbergasted if Kiddo wasnât accepted. So, she welcomed Kiddo to the team for next year. Kiddo is flying high!! But did have the presence of mind (as I mercilessly drilled into her based upon this thread) to ask for a âlikely letterâ. Coach said sheâd heard of those, but had never asked for one and had never seen one given. She promised to go ask. </p>
<p>Perhaps this sport is so small that Likely Letters simply arenât used. ???</p>
<p>I know everyone cautions (and rightly so) not to count this admission chicken before the egg hatches (Dec. 15), but I guess weâve done all we can as best we can to maximize her chances for admission to this school. Itâs the only school she wants despite every effort on my part to get her to consider/accept alternatives. </p>
<p>So, if a Likely Letter materializes, great! If it doesnât, I guess her chances are as good as they get for Dec. 15th and weâll just have to live with it. If it all crashes down, well, sheâll go to the State flagship university and can always transfer.</p>
<p>You all have been extremely helpful and I greatly appreciate every bit of wisdom, strategy, experience, and knowledge offered here. Thanks!</p>
<p>Treemaven - thatâs great news! Congrats to your kiddo 
My D had (is having) pretty much a parallel experience at a highly selective LAC. Absolutely loved her visit: the college, the coach, the team. Sheâs waiting anxiously for ED answers on 12/15, but the coach was extremely positive - same kind of comments about âtop recruitâ and very strong application. I think we should all pat ourselves on the back for getting our kids to this point!</p>
<p>To treemaven and FauxNom: Congrats to your kiddos. My D did not believe me when she slogged through all the prep for filing application by mid Sept that she would be glad. Nowâshe tried to get a friend to go out and do stuff and they turned her down and saidâyouâre already in, I have to go work on common app . . . .
Re Likelies: Coach for my sonâs LAC (one of top LACs) bemoans fact he cannot offer LLâs, unlike Ivies , and says he has lost some great prospects because of it. Ivies, of course, have a formal agreement among the 8 schools governing issuance of LLs.</p>
<p>My son just got a call from a coach at one of the smaller colleges in the east.
He told my son that he the coach had gotten the okay from Admissions to assure him of a place at the college. He must submit the ED1 app and finish the process but that he is in.
My son is Student Council Pres, and has many extra currics. 3.8 unweighted GPA and plays an instrument well. The school is not his top choice maybe his 2nd or 3rd but given their interest in his sport and his not so great SAT 2000 and not great math, we think we should take it gladly.
Does anyone have experience with this sort of assurance?</p>
<p>rugbymom,
My first question to you and your son is:
If he wasnât playing his sport, would he want/be happy at this college? If the answer is yes, consider the ED admission. If no, (he only wants the college to play his sport), then this isnât the college for him.</p>
<p>I agree with ShesOnHerWay.
Are his top three choices reach, match or safeties for him? If he says no to this, does he stand a good chance of not getting in to any of his top three? I know, I know, if you knew the answer to that, this would be easyâŠ</p>
<p>I donât share the conventional wisdom on this point. To me (assuming that S is truly committed to pursuing his sport in college) the first question is does he like the coach? If not, donât do it.</p>
<p>EMM1, from the sound of RugbyMomâs post, her son is interested in small, eastern LACs. The emphasis at these schools is really academics not sports. These are not D1 powerhouses. These are colleges where sports makes a more rounded student body; the student is truly a student-athlete, not an athlete-student. Yes, there is a difference.</p>
<p>Her son would need to feel like he fits with the school, the student population and the academic climate, first and foremost. Coaches at these school emphasize academics as well. While liking the coach is important and may make the final difference in which school to choose (also the team personality), if he is not happy with the academics and would not choose this school without the sport, the school isnât for him.</p>
<ol>
<li> Although I know from your other posts that your daughter will be attending Amherst, you seem to be under a misconception about the nature of DIII sports at such schools. S attends a very highly selective DIII school which is not known as an athletic powerhouse (at least not in his sport). No its not DI, but during the school year he practices six days per week, at least 2 hours per day. Moreover, athletes generally have a quite different experience than nonathletes at his school; they have a separate culture and hang out together. The coach is easily the most important adult in his life.<br></li>
</ol>
<p>That having been said, coaches do leave. Its happened to himâtwiceâafter heâd committed but before the season started. The first time greatly diminished the quality of his PG experience at prep school, while after a rough first season, its worked out for the best at college. BUT</p>
<p>The idea of fit is vastly overrated. You can get a good idea of the prestige of a school. You can also sometimes accurately predict that you donât want to go somewhere (an antiintellectual good olâ boy wouldnât be happy at Reed, and I certainly wouldnât recommend that a gay atheist attend BYU). But beyond that, in general, the nature of a personâs nonathletic experience at a college is determined by so many unknown and unknowable variables that trying to make an ex ante prediction of the quality of that experience is impossible.</p>
<p>By trying to get a sense of the coach and the program, at least you can make a judgment based on something real, and (notwithstanding the experience of my son) is pretty likely to be lasting. So I say, prestige issues aside, go with the coach.</p>