<p>Please help me to advise my son. He is surprised by how little effort Amherst is putting into its recruiting, at least compared to the 4 other NESCAC schools to which he has been accepted. I can’t tell if he’s right or if he’s just letting his ego get the best of him. Except for Amherst, every school has:</p>
<ul>
<li>sent at least one letter from a faculty member, expressing enthusiasm for his expressed interest in their major program;</li>
<li>had at least one student call to congratulate, answer questions, and offer to help arrange a night’s stay on campus;</li>
<li>sent at least one congratulatory/informational letter to the parents;</li>
<li>had the coach call to congratulate and offer to answer questions (my kid is not a recruitable athlete but he seems to have merited a friendly call…the Amherst coach hasn’t even bothered to respond to two emails and one voicemail message).</li>
</ul>
<p>Prior to the decision letters, Amherst ranked #1 or #2 on his list. He’s not nearly as certain about this, any more. Is anyone else having a similar reaction? Do you think any of this should matter in his choice?</p>
<p>Jaykoblives: That is one, perfectly reasonable way to interpret what I said. (Frankly, I have wondered the same thing.) Shall I take it, therefore, that your advice would be to tell him to get over himself and that not one of the observations I listed should be interpreted as an indication of how welcoming or smug one college community is compared to another?</p>
<p>Amherst is the #1 LAC is the country. You said your son is “not a recruitable athlete”…if so, then why bother being recruited is my question? He got into an excellent college, a college that many others would love to be able to attend (athlete or not). I agree…tell him to suck it up, show some humility and then decide which college is the best fit for him. Amherst doesn’t have to recruit someone if they have already accepted him/her (especially if they are not a recruitable athelete)…the Amherst repuation speaks for itself.</p>
<p>My son is going to Amherst in the fall…not as an athlete (he plays no sports), but as a student. Maybe your son should be encouarged to view it in the academics arena versus the athletic one.</p>
<p>OP - maybe Amherst doesn’t feel that it needs to convince your son to attend. Why the hard sell when your product speaks for itself? Maybe Amherst isn’t being smug, but being humble. They don’t have to tout their good qualities. Understatement sometimes makes a better statement, don’t you think? </p>
<p>Sometimes a whisper is louder than an shout.</p>
<p>I agree with this … and it might also be a great fit for a kid who is similar … while for other kids maybe a school that is more out there and being aggressive is a better fit. I do not think recruited accepted students is inherently good or bad … but it does reveal something about the school … and it might be something the student likes (or not).</p>
<p>Thanks to you all. This is very instructive.</p>
<p>Note to rjm1120: My son is also going to Amherst as a student. He needs no encouragement to view it, as you suggest, “in the academics arena.” He just also happens to have a sport that he loves and is hoping to pursue as an avocation. Does it seem wrong to you that he reached out to the coach to ask whether there might be room on the team for someone with his less-than-star-quality skill level? Does it seem right to you that the coach would permit the Amherst reputation to speak for itself rather than return his call?</p>
<p>As we both know email and postings some times misconstrue the message. Your OP made it seem to me that your son was viewing strictly from an atheltic standpoint and wondering (albeit maybe to himself)…what is wrong that they are not calling me? I with She’s on Her way…maybe they don’t feel your son needs convincing. </p>
<p>I have no issues with someone being a recruited athelte or one who wishes to pursue his or her sport on any level. Of course one hopes there is room on a team for many types of abilities, and I don’t disagree that the polite thing would be for the coach to return the call or email…that being said, Amherst recruits alot of its atheltes (check out the face book apeg for Amherst 2013…out of 160 kids on there at least 80% of ED were recruited for their sport). If this coach is not interested in speaking with your son, then it’s his loss.</p>
<p>HOPDad, I think using the term “recruiting” in your OP was a little confusing. It’s a word so often associated with sports, but I think you meant (aside from your questions about the coach contact) that your son doesn’t feel like he’s being encouraged to choose Amherst from all his other acceptances.</p>
<p>That could be. It may be just a difference in institutional style as other posters have said. Personally, I wouldn’t weigh it into deliberations about where to matriculate, because it’s such a minor issue in the grand scheme of things. Amherst, in real day-to-day life, is anything but “smug.” It’s a very friendly, warm place where the students are well-supported in every way.</p>
<p>That said, the lack of contact may be meaningful to your son, and if it is then that’s just how it is. Nothing wrong with that either. I would add that it’s pretty early after acceptances and there may be letters yet to come. I don’t know. (My son, a freshman there now, applied ED, so our process was different than RD.)</p>
<p>As far as the coach goes, I think it really depends on the coach. Some are really good about responding to emails, calls, etc. Others are not so good. If getting that assurance from the coach that there’s a place for you son on the team is an important part of his deliberations (as I can well-imagine it might be) then I’d just hang-in for a little longer. The coach may be indisposed by some personal issue right now, or who-knows-what. Your son has left messages, so he’s done his part. If you don’t hear back in the next few weeks while you’re deciding… then you’ll just have to decide without that factor. Maybe assume it means there’s not a place on the team for your son (?) And then if that’s a determining factor, so be it.</p>
<p>'rentof2: This is very useful and wise advice. I’m going to pretend I thought of it when I pass it on to my son! (And thanks for explaining to me the confusion I created by using the word “recruiting”. Just goes to show you how little I know about college athletics and admissions!)</p>
<p>rjm1120: Many thanks for your gracious reply.</p>
<p>I have felt similarly…what’s the word…disappointed by the amount of contact that I’ve had from Amherst. I would not expect them to be begging me to come, by any means, but it would be nice if they made some effort to help admitted students get the information that they need. However, I’m planning to attend the overnight Open House next week, so hopefully I can resolve my questions and concerns then!</p>
<p>That’s very weird because they sent me more things than any other college that I was accepted too. I received a congratulatory email from a current student, a congratulatory email from an admissions officer, a phone call and email from both a math and bio professor as well as an alumni and was given an early write acceptance about a month ago. For me, they are making it extremely difficult to turn down. I found Amherst to be the hardest recruiting school along with Swarthmore.</p>
<p>Hmm…That’s interesting, PKWsurf21. Perhaps the amount of contact depends more on how badly the school wants the applicant–obviously, since you received an early write, you must be a very strong candidate. I have had similar “hard recruiting” from Smith, where I’ve been offered a STRIDE scholarship. Needless to say, the applicant pool for Smith is a bit less competitive than Amherst’s.</p>
<p>It’s also possible those contacts just come earlier for students with Early Writes… since they know earlier, aafter all. Who really knows. But any student who is accepted is a lucky person. At the very least they get to decide whether to attend or not. There are many, many people who would LOVE to have that option!</p>
<p>OP, please don’t take it personally. The amount of contact seems pretty random. My D got in as a Questbridge match last year, so she was notified 2 weeks before ED even came out. We got her official acceptance letter from Katie Fretwell, but other than that, I’m not sure we got anything until the late spring/summer. That being said, D had her acceptance, she didn’t need any stroking. On the other hand, your son has been getting courted by 4 other NESAC schools. They might not know that he got into Amherst, but they might suspect it, and are hoping to woo him. As other posters have noted I would not take lack of contact as a slight to your son. Congratulations to him, and may he make the best choice (GO LORD JEFFS) for him.</p>
<p>My daughter is a student there who plays a sport and had a totally different experience with the sport coach, and she is not among the best players. Amherst is an incredible place, and the academic and internship opportunitities are second to none. If it is really important to your son to be acknowledged as special by the admission’s staff, etc., then maybe he should consider a LAC in which he will be among the smartest, or a great athlete. At Amherst the students are with equally bright, athletic and creative peers and he’ll have to get used to that. I don’t mean to imply anything here.</p>
<p>What’s important to me is what happens after my child matriculates, not that which happens during his decision process. If your son wants to talk to a student, join in the student conversation that occurs in mid April for admitted students. Call the Admissions office and ask if they can arrange a call with the coach. He has to learn to be independent and reach out to those he wants to notice him.</p>
<p>Let’s face it–not all NESCAC schools are equal. I’m quite sure that some are hungry for students in this environment and worried about what their yield will be.</p>
<p>That said, if playing a particular sport is important to your son and he’s gotten more encouraging feedback from the coaches at other schools about the possibility of being on the team, well I think that’s a perfectly valid point of differentiation. All other things being equal, why wouldn’t a kid go to a school where he seems to have a better opportunity to pursue a serious outside interest?</p>
<p>At one of the meetings I attended where Dr. Marx spoke, he said that Early Write applicants are contacted by a member of the faculty, the letter has a personal message, etc. The faculty member that contacted DD was Dr. Marx himself! Accepted Students’ Weekend is the time for all the kids to get info so they can make their decision.</p>