<p>My S is a track and field athlete who has been generating interest from several D3 and D1 schools, including Dartmouth and Brown. He has not been asked to commit to either of them yet but he is scheduling official visits with them in the coming weeks. My understanding is that admissions from both Dartmouth and Brown have done a pre read and he is a good candidate (according to what the coaches have said). My S would be elated to go to either of these schools but I hear all this talk of a likely letter but my son has not been offered one yet. Is it too early to get one? Will he be offered one on the visit? Or is it too late? What would he need to do to get one? If he gets a likely, will he even get in? Sorry for all the questions!</p>
<p>Welcome to CC and the recruit’s corner!</p>
<p>In most cases, a recruit needs to ask for a likely letter. (Only the very tippy-top recruits will be offerred LLs without bringing up the topic.)</p>
<p>Likely letters are not officially mailed until October, and some as late as December. </p>
<p>If an athlete receives a likely letter he or she will be admitted unless something very drastic occurs (arrest, cheating, expulsion, huge drop in grades.) You can depend on the Ivy likely letters, despite the knawing doubt some parents have.</p>
<p>Congrats on the positive pre-reads and official visits scheduled- sounds like your son in on his way! (Do remember that the recruiting dance is subject to quick changes as athletes commit or change their minds–a coach’s “List” can change with the wind.)</p>
<p>What fauve said. The only thing I would add is that (with rare exceptions) the coach will want a definite commitment from your son that he will attend if he is put up for a likely letter. A lot of the process is based on trust and it’s important that the recruit honors his or her word, just as you would expect the coach to honor his.</p>
<p>There’s a ton of info on LL in the “Time to Commit” thread further down this page if you haven’t seen it already.</p>
<p>Damian, the only thing I’d add is that if he’s been discovered by a couple of Ivies, and is really interested in any of the others, it would be OK for him to contact coaches and let them know his athletic and academic stats. If he’s Ivy caliber, he can take the lead and draw attention to himself, rather than feeling like he must wait for coaches to find him. Congratulations. This will be fun!</p>
<p>As the parent, I am just as excited as my S is to hear that these schools are interested in him. His anxiety comes from the fact that he has his heart set on Brown and he was offered an official visit by them over the summer when he went for an unofficial and now he hasn’t heard from the coach yet and the weekends are filling up. So I guess my next question would just be if he should just call the coach he had been talking with or just stick it out and hope they call? He is looking to apply ED so he should go before the Nov 1 deadline.</p>
<p>Damian, I would encourage your S to contact the coach, reiterating his interest in Brown, and ask if it still seems likely that he might come up for an OV, explaining that his fall weekends are getting booked up and he doesn’t want to miss the opportunity to visit. Not hearing from the coach may not be a good sign, but it may also just be that the coach has gotten overwhelmed with the beginning of XC for his own team and hasn’t gotten the schedule for OV as well organized as he might have. Good luck!</p>
<p>^^^Great advice, Runners2. Damian, If your son was offered an OV and then heard nothing from the coach for a while, definitely have your son go ahead and call to confirm the OV invitation, “I continue to be extremely interested in Brown”, ask for a date to plan around, etc.
I also agree that it could be that the coach has been overwhelmed with immediate program concerns right now - start of school, etc. Definitely have your son follow up ASAP would be my advice!
Good luck!!</p>
<p>Brown has had a major shake up in the past two weeks. Call or email the HEAD coach.</p>
<p>@c’smom- I was wondering about that because the coach I previously had correspondance with is no longer listed on the coaches portion of the website. Hmm. I wonder what is going on.</p>
<p>My son is a hurdler and I just saw that the coach is still listed so JumpHigh I am sorry that that happened to you. My son has the coaches number so I think he is just going to call him directly.</p>
<p>i have a general question</p>
<p>if you visit a ivy league college coach about recruitment and chances of recruitment and grades is that considered and OV or does it need to be called an OV visit?
thank you.</p>
<p>and good luck to your son damian im interested in hearing the rest of this story as it plays out</p>
<p>If you, MAF3333, pay for the trip to talk to the coach and see the school, then it is an unofficial visit (you can make as many of those as you want.)</p>
<p>If the coach issues the invitation with the offer of paying costs, then it is an Official Visit, with specific guidelines about how many days, and when it can be scheduled (after the first day of senior year.)</p>
<p>Ditto the comment on the change in Brown’s coaching staff. Definitely call.</p>
<p>At what point is an official visit usually offered? I’m a rising senior with interest from Columbia and Penn and I’m really interested in both of the schools.</p>
<p>In our case, the OV offers came during the summer phone conversations with the actual visit taking place once the school year started.</p>