My child is a highly recruited athlete in a non-revenue but very prestigious sport. She was told by an IVY that she has a slot(got the call last week from the coach that she was picked for one of the spots). The coach has submitted all her academic info for a pre-read- now waiting nervously. Coach said her transcripts were “excellent”, but had some slight concern about her ACT score, but was hopeful with the high English section, it would offset the relatively lower. for IVY, composite)
She met the AI (barely), in order to even be considered for acceptance. She would be the Band 1 pick, most likely. Now for the rest:
Attends a public school
GPA: 3.8 (weighted) 3.5 (UW)
ACT: 28 (29 superscore, but I know IVY’s don’t superscore)(35 in English, 30 reading and wants to major in a non math/science area) Probably Sociology
6 AP classes (AP scholar)
9 Honors classes
3 College Credit classes (dual college and high school credit- weighted like an AP class)
Our school does not rank and the SAT was not taken.
I would REALLY appreciate any thoughts- she is so nervous. Thanks for any input!
Congratulations on your daughter being picked for a slot. We never did Ivy recruiting, but here are my thoughts.
It is easy for me to say now (I was a wreck for all of mine), but the pre-read is what it is. It is either a positive or not.
Be grateful that you have a window into the thinking of admissions, it is quite a lot more than the non-recruited.
That said, the coach has given you a heads up that the ACT score could be an issue. If your kid loves this Ivy, I would have your child to take the remaining weeks of the summer to study, and retake the ACT in October. Have you ever graded a practice ACT test? I encourage you to do so. It was enlightening about the thin margin for error on the ACT. A test taker must be both fast and get the right answers. The kids who score at the average level probably do so because they are unable to finish. They can, however, get their speed up with practice. Your kid obviously does well in english, but math is an area for which studying correlates to improvement. Maybe spring for a tutor.
If you opt for a retake, talk to the coach, he or she may tell you the score that would put her over the top.
Don’t just hire ANY tutor. Spend the money for a test prep specialist who can raise the math score. They may not superscore officially, but a high math score next time will allow them to look at both sets of scores. You could also consider having her take the next SAT, which would still be in time for the early deadline for the application. If the pre-read is positive, that’s great news. If not, the coach is likely to tell you EXACTLY what they need to see. Good luck!!
Thanks for responding! This is all new to us and she goes to a public school where the average ACT is a 22, so her school doesn’t understand what the problem is. She knows she may have to retake the ACT (already taken it multiple times) or try the SAT. She is confused because the coach also told her a 1300 SAT would be okay, but when I look at the ACT equivalency, it comes out to a 27. And she has a 28 (29 superscore). I wish I had started her prepping earlier for the ACT, but I honestly didn’t know she was going to be an IVY recruit. She skyrocketed to the top of her sport in the last year, before that she was good, but not IVY level. I am keeping fingers crossed
Thank you!!! She is definitely interested in possibly trying the SAT if the pre read says she has to increase the score. The weird thing is that the coach said a 1300 SAT would be okay, which is the ACT equivalent of a 27 (and she had a 28). Are the schools more lenient with the SAT scoring, I wonder. I personally think the ACT is harder. This is a whole new learning experience for us. We are from the Midwest and she would be the only kid on the team from a public school, if she gets in.
It’s possible the coach isn’t up-to-date with the new concordance tables (only released about 4-5 weeks ago)… I am sending you a pm.
ETA: Also possible that her score would be okay on its own but that the coach needs it to be higher to raise the team average.
If you have a company like Inspirica near you, they will give you D 2 full practice tests to see what test will give her the best results. Obviously, start with the SAT. Or you can give her a timed test yourself. It must be timed. Hire a tutor if you can afford it, or use Khan Academy for free. We used Inspirica, because my D’s school recommended them and they were incredible. Very, very expensive, but D got good results. They did not waste time on material D already knew and focused on those areas whe would get the biggest bang for the buck. With my S, we did it on our own, but he and I worked well together. D worked better with a tutor.
Thank you! I really appreciate your advice. I think the SAT might be the way to go. She struggles with the science section and the time constraints of the ACT.
Does the math sub score meet the college readiness standard which is a 22? If not, that could be an issue at an Ivy. If she takes the ACT again, she should focus on the math questions she knows she can get right or thinks she has a good chance of doing so. Since she’s not aiming for a super high math score, no use wasting time on questions she can’t figure out. Let those go and spend time on those she can get right. Use the time on those questions and spend no time on the really tough ones. Now that’s not a strategy for someone aiming for a math score in the 30’s, but your D probably not going to achieve that anyway. So insuring she gets correct the questions on topics she knows how to do, will raise that score.
Her AI (roughly) based on the information you provided is a 208. That is quite low for an Ivy–but not an insurmountable problem for a top recruit. . Further there are no bands in Ivy recruiting with the exception of football I believe. The band system is NESCAC. I looked the concordance and an SAT of 1350/1380 is equivalent to a 28. The SAT is generally a harder test with more time per question. The ACT is much easier but fast. So the difficulty of each is based on different aspects of the test.
That is the same AI we came up with. The coach definitely mentioned “Bands”, so I assumed they use the band system. I always thought it was only football too. Her math is a 26, so hopefully that is “okay”. Thank you for your post!!
@midwesternmomof4 --interesting. I am sure that coaches use terminology of their own maybe to make distinctions for for the students/families. But–I dont know. I have not heard the band thing personally. Nonetheless. The AI can theoretically be as low as 176 (I believe that is the technical minimum). The Ivies differ of course from one another and the AI levels can shift from year to year based on the student body and team make ups. Good luck! I would have your daughter try a practice SAT and she how she does. More time may suit her.
Yes! I told her pray that the other recruits all have perfect 36 or 1600 scores!
For my kids when we went through the process, the coaches signaled a “30” ACT as what they would like to see to be “safe” with the AO. I am sure there are recruits with lower scores, but you then get into the rubric with what average the coach needs to hit for his/her team as I am pretty sure that certain teams, like football, get more leeway which has to be made up for by the other sports to hit the required average for all recruited athletes. Did your daughter take any SAT2’s because they can be used to calculate the AI. Also if your daughter got mostly 4/5’s on AP’s, I’d definitely send those scores to the coach so that he/she has additional ammo with the AO. Hopefully you won’t need any of this. Good luck!
They coach also said they would like to have seen a 30, but thought her 35 in English (she got that twice) and 30 in Reading would be sufficient with the major she likes. (Not math or science related at all). She did not take subject tests because they weren’t required for the college she likes. I am hopeful the team average is high enough to offset her 28. The coach also said they lost a top recruit and was going to have a little more leverage in saying that they need a strong team, and since a top recruit changed her mind, they can push a little more. What do you think? We come from a public school where the guidance counselor offers zero help and they think a 28 is great. Ugh.
It sounds like the coach is willing to go to bat for your daughter vs just putting in for a preread and see if the AO signs off on her. I do think having the high scores in English and Reading helps vs say 27’s across all subjects. However, you just don’t know what other options/cards the coach has. You might want to run some hypo’s on an AI calculator and have your daughter take some practice SAT 1’s and SAT 2’s, and see if she is more likely to raise her AI going one of those routes. If she will likely test well in SAT2 History and Literature because she is strong in those areas, it may be a better option.
Good advice. I told her maybe take the Literature and French SAT subject tests. Yes, the coach is definitely fighting for her. He said they are “doing everything they can” and “trust the process”, whatever that means.
She also offers some geographical and socioeconomic diversity on the team, for whatever that is worth. 
The 4 band system is football only in the Ivy. A similar system is used in basketball and men’s hockey afaik. That is by conference rule. Of course, a particular school’s athletic department may use that language when they are dividing up lower AI recruits among certain sports.
@midwesternmomof4 has the pre read request been submitted yet? My guess is that is gonna give you the best information, and I personally would wait until that comes back before deciding on next steps.
Yes, they submitted the pre-read Friday. Coach is hopeful we will have an answer in 1-3 weeks, he thinks more on the quicker side. They submit 5 pre-reads at a time (Men and Women both). He definitely said the team average was important. It’s interesting, because from what I seem to be seeing, the IVY’s are placing more emphasis on the ACT/SAT than they are on grades. Coach even said they got in a boy that had some C’s and D’s but a 1450 SAT. This school is her dream…
Standard test scores make up 2/3 of the AI, i.e. 160 out of the 240. If you take the SAT then very easy to translate, i.e. a 1450 SAT = 145 in the AI