<p>My son has verbally commited to an Ivy League school for football. They have seen his academic stats, film, and they have seen him in person at their camp. They offered immediately following the camp. I'm hesitant to tell the other coaches he has been in contact with that he committed because I am not sure how often a verbal commitment isn't adhered to by the school. Essentially my question is: If a school has seen academic stats, film, and my son in person and offered a spot on the team, is there any chance it won't work out for whatever reason?</p>
<p>others who have experience with football might have better advice -however until i had something in writing (national letter of intent from a D1 school or a likely letter from an Ivy) i would assume nothing is final --unfortunately my s had a “verbal” , turned down a different opportunity and ended up not getting into the ivy . we learned the very hard way.</p>
<p>Make certain that the coach says his application is being reviewed for a likely letter… until you get a likely letter in your hands, don’t tell other coaches that you’re committed somewhere. If it turns out that he doesn’t get a likely, he’ll need to look elsewhere. Even if the coaches say you’re good to go, it’s admissions that has the final say, and until they review his application, nothing is certain.</p>
<p>That being said, I’m not a football player and am not entirely familiar with football recruiting, but I am familiar with Ivy recruiting. At the very most, tell these other coaches that you’re waiting on a likely letter from choice A and would like to keep in touch in case it doesn’t work out. Otherwise, keep it fairly quiet until you have a likely.</p>
<p>Congrats to your son~ that’s exciting news! I am new to this recruiting process… so can’t offer expertise there. I’d likely keep it as close to the vest as posible for now, as suggested above. It’s very early in the game.
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<p>Every year at least one student athlete on CC doesn’t have the outcome they expected during recruiting. It’s possible that coaches are misleading, but more often I think students and their parents don’t completely understand what is being said by the coach. It’s easy to inflate a comment from “we’d like you to play for us” to “we guarantee you a spot on the team, and admission to our school.” Coaches would love to have lots of kids play for them, and must encourage lots of recruits in order to end up with some who can be admitted, and who will ultimately choose to play for them.</p>
<p>All the advice above is right on about waiting for the likely letter before shutting down communication with other coaches. I just wanted to point out there generally isn’t deception involved, just miscommunication.</p>
<p>The coach made it very clear that he was offering a spot on the team and would endorse my son’s app. How early can likely letters come?</p>
<p>We also have Ivy recruiting experience but not in football. So what I say is based on what we’ve seen personally and been told by Ivy coaches in our D’s sport.</p>
<p>First, what year is your son? Second, when you say they’ve seen his academic stats, is the “they” you refer to the coaches, or the coaches AND the admissions office? In other words, did he have a pre-read from admisssions? If so, I’d say you can be pretty confident in an eventual positive admissions result–more so if it’s a lower Ivy. But if it’s HYP, while you can still be reasonably confident, just know that sometimes the Admissions Office will see something in an athlete’s application they don’t like and so they say “no” despite the original green light they gave after the pre-read.</p>
<p>While a verbal commitment has virtually no worth in a program where admissions rules the roost (e.g., IVY league), your player has decided to embark down that path. The reason it has no worth is that it is a one way street running from the player to the school; the school has made no commitment to the player (the coach may have made a good faith commitment, but admissions are the gatekeepers in the Ivies). So, while the player has effectively taken himself off the market the school has not reciprocated. A verbal commitment is worth the morals of the player who has given it some players make multiple verbal commitments during their recruiting years whoever whispers sweet things in their ear last wins! Most other players adhere to their word.</p>
<p>The overwhelming majority of verbals do indeed get admitted; however there are those who do not. </p>
<p>To minimize your risks, this is what you need to get done ASAP: get the coaches commitment to seek a likely letter for your player. If you get that, BEGIN WORKING ON THE APPLICATION PROCESS NOW! A school will not issue a likely letter unless it has a totally completed application (note that schools will give you a pre-read which will tell you unofficially if you are likely to be admitted. The pre-read is more of a guide post and does not mean anything to admissions.) </p>
<p>Upon receiving the coachs commitment to seek a LL get MOVING. The application for the LL is sent through an admissions process set up specifically for athletes meaning it is done calendar wise before ED and before RD apps are being considered. Every facet of the app both your part and your hss part needs to be completed BEFORE THE APP IS SENT THROUGH THE PROCESS. For the hs, that means getting the rec letters and transcripts in and some hss move with glacial speed this early in the year (because they are geared up for regular and ED deadlines). For your player it means writing good essays (not great, but good). [While this point has been debated here, IMHO, the essays should be considered really important and the final product should reflect that fact.] If your player is like mine, getting him to focus on the essay(s) in the middle of summer may require some cajoling.</p>
<p>You should aim to submit your completed application ON THE FIRST DAY the school accepts applications from athletes [ask the caoch when that occurs]. The LL process can take up to a month so you can see that the earlier the better because if there is a glitch (like not getting a LL), you can reboot the recruiting process and still have a good chance of finding a perfect school.</p>
<p>Also, get you financial docs submitted nothing worse than getting a LL only to find that the financial aid you believe is available to the middle class is not quite what you had imagined.</p>
<p>Now, if the coach will not support a LL, move on! There is no point in waiting until RD time to find out you are far down the primrose path with no backup plan.</p>
<p>Great post stemit!</p>
<p>This may not need clarifying, but by “submit the application” we don’t mean to click the send button on the Common App, but rather, PRINT the completed Common App and supplement for the school and either mail or fax it to either the coach or to admissions or both, whichever the coach directs you to do, when he says you can do it. </p>
<p>You are not officially applying (and therefor limiting your options if it’s an ED or EASC).</p>
<p>After the preread, and receipt of the likely letter, you will click the send button on the Common Application.</p>
<p>For Harvard, D did indeed submit the Common Application online before Admissions sent her a LL. Other schools have a special envelope in which to put your paper application, and/or a special application marked with some identifier for athletes.</p>
<p>Stemit’s post is 100% spot on. IMO, the Ivy Likely Letter is a requirement to telling anyone of your son’s intentions or committment at this time. I suggest doing the pre-read/LL process ASAP if that is the school your son wants to go to. Until ADMISSIONS gives you the pre-read and LL, would I then discuss the committment to anyone.</p>
<p>Football Parent - I would just reiterate what the other experienced posters above have said. The only guarantee from the Ivy’s is a likely letter. This statement describing the coach’s position: “The coach made it very clear that he was offering a spot on the team and would endorse my son’s app” - doesn’t clearly say that admissions will be offering a likely letter. Having the coach’s endorsement is not the same thing unfortunately, as coaches often endorse and advocate for athletes who are not accepted by admissions. So I’d follow stemit’s advice above - pursue the likely letter as early as possible - I believe they cannot be offered until classes begin in the fall - and I would not close off other doors until you have the likely letter in hand. Best of luck in this exciting process!</p>
<p>FootballParent - it appears likely letters are issued as early as 10/1. I found an old post here, that sums up the process nicely:</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/yale-university/804816-quick-facts-about-likely-letters.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/yale-university/804816-quick-facts-about-likely-letters.html</a></p>
<p>Thanks for the clarification…
the printing vs click send</p>