Warning on Recruiting

<p>Last yr. my son was being heavily recruited by a prestigious eastern school only to be "left at the alter" in April. A guaranteed acceptance became a deferral. He had a very strong academic record with acceptable board scores. On the bright side, he is extremely happy at his current school, so things do in fact work out in the end. I was extremely disturbed however at the way the school and coach led him and us on. </p>

<p>I would just like to leave you with this. No matter what a coach says, treat it with a grain of salt. NOTHING is guaranteed until the acceptance letter arrives.</p>

<p>The coach part of your post....that raised the flag for me...it goes to show the coaches aren't looking out for the students, its the coaches wanting to field a team, stringing along players with all kinds of promises...ah, college sports, so fair</p>

<p>After my S was accepted at his ED school, he withdrew his applications at his other schools and, as a courtesy, emailed the coaches who had shown interest in him to thank them for their time. Several of the coaches replied and wished him well. The remaining coaches, who happened to be the ones that showered him with the most attention (weekly emails, letters, phone calls), he never heard from again. Go figure...</p>

<p>This link has been posted before, but any parent of a recruited athlete, especially those looking at Ivies, should read the article on recruiting on the jontreed.com website under coaching articles. </p>

<p>It is long........ he is opinionated......... and it is useful, IMHO.</p>

<p>shortcut to article</p>

<p><a href="http://www.johntreed.com/matsdad.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.johntreed.com/matsdad.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>S's hs coach has some good experience placing athletes and is a real straight-shooter. He emailed the coach of S's early favorite college (an Ivy) this week to make an initial contact. He received a wonderful, positive reponse. Coach had some interesting comments about the response. He said, "I like this _____ coach</p>

<p>1) he responded promptly
2) he didn't play the game suggesting how many fine runners he has in the pilepline and how hard it would be to shoe-horn (S) into <em>..etc
3) Some coaches take pot shots at runners who get away, especially if they have been doing poorly (in their sport). I think he simply liked _</em>
(former athlete from S's school who was heavily recruited by this school but chose another). "</p>

<p>If someone is applying to an elite academic institution as a recruited athlete, request a "likely letter" from the Admissions office via the coach. If the coach won't get it for you, the coach is telling you that you're not of great interest to him/her. We requested a "likely letter" for our daughter because we were entertaining scholarship offers from other schools during the early signing period. My daughter received the letter in early November of her senior year in high school and now she is currently a very happy student athlete at Brown.</p>

<p>It is NOT a coaches decision who gets accepted!!!! Sure - they can put in their preferences all they want - and some coaches are given definite numbers - like maybe 3 definites - but may have 6 preferences. The admit decision is up to the admissions crew - coaches have to cross their fingers and hope they get who they have gone to bat for. The adcom has their own agenda and can be very politically driven - and are the ONLY ones who can accept or reject any applicant - and each student considered must meet the standards of the particular school and division they are in - so the whole student is also considered - just as non-athletes.</p>

<p>Please stop blaming the coach if a kid does not get admitted - the final decision is out of his hands completely. Coaches DO NOT have the ability or authority to accept a student to the school!!!!!! Recruited athletes get accepted in various ways - and for those schools that notify students in early spring it is very difficult time for all involved - and for some it is devestating - not being accepted to the school of their 1st choice to play a sport. For the big D1 schools - especially the $$ maker ones - the athletes are recruited very differently - they are wined and dined - aggressively pursued as it is a VERY competitive situation - accepted to the school - and sign letter of intent long before many kids are even accepted at all.</p>

<p>Dealing with coaches and direct contact with them is great - and they do go to bat for the athletes they feel will really benefit their teams in lots of ways. BUT - please know that the final decision lies out of their hands.</p>

<p>
[quote]
and sign letter of intent long before many kids are even accepted at all

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Likely letters from the admissions office are sent to recruited athletes and letters of intent signed long before most kids submit their applications. Mid-October, in fact.</p>

<p>For the record (and not that anyone implied to the contrary) the Ivy League schools are not members of the National LEtter of Intent group or consortium.</p>

<p>There is a website for more info on NLI for those who are dealing with those issues.</p>

<p>I don't think anyone blames the coach when a student isn't admitted. The blame on coaches is when they present themselves as having more influence than they actually do. No one faults a coach who is honest with a family.</p>

<p>Well reading a couple of the first posts - it seemed that the anger was directed right at the coaches - sure they want the best prospects - but again - the decision is not up to them. Until that acceptance is in hand - there are no guarantees at any school.</p>

<p>At some schools - tho few and far between - the coach does have alot of influence - but still..................</p>

<p>The coach can make promises, but it is also up to the student to be up front. Many students tell the coach 1 thing in terms of grades/sat's and then when the transcripts arrive it is a different story.
Even though it sounds the same, the grades are really different. For example the coach says that with a 1280 SAT he should be able to "pull you in". The recruit actually has a 1260, well thats not the same thing and the coach might not be able to do as promised cause 1280 was as low as he could go.</p>

<p>The Ivy league does send recruited athletes likely letters in mid-October. I know athletes that got them and accepted the offers.</p>

<p>I think Jeepmom's point is valid... The reason there is some misunderstanding here is that every school has it's own "recruiting culture," and then even within the same school each sport/coach is different.</p>

<p>If a coach really has the power to pick 3 "definites," and if you are one of them, that coach should be able to go to the admission office, tell them you are his top recruit & ask them to send you a likely letter.</p>

<p>However, there is no way in hell that they will use up one of these "definites" on a kid who has not applied ED. If applying RD, the athlete has not committed to attend the school. Why, then, should the coach be committed on his or her end?</p>

<p>When someone receives assurances from a coach, the coach is making those assurances as a representative of the university. In this regard, it is not unreasonable for someone to take them at their word. I am not naive and know how the process works. The point of my post was to warn recruits and their parents that in some instances the coach says things that are inaccurate or in the most egregious instances, are just lies. In the case of my kid, we were informed by email and by telephone that the coach had been in touch with the admissions office and that my kid "would be very happy in about 10 days". The email was sent during the third week of March.
I understand that things change, that there is some horse trading among the admissions committee until the end etc., but nevertheless our personal experience with this particular east coast so called elite university was extremely unpleasant.</p>

<p>eskimo:</p>

<p>did admissions sent any sort of likely letters to your son?
my DD has been recruited by several schools & coaches, no guarantees were made though. She did not get in her EA choice, but the others would appear promising.</p>

<p>What did the coach say about his email promising good news?</p>

<p>My S received a likely letter from the school he will be attending once he accepted the coaches offer to play there.</p>

<p>The relative honesty of coaches is probaly no greater or lesser than that of the general population. In my son's recruiting year we had 1 coach lie (Ivy), 2 coaches (a top east coast LAC and a top mid-west Med. size U.) tell him he was "in" without a likely letter and he was indeed admitted, and another coach (top west caost LAC) say he was "supporting" his application but it was an admission office call -- son was wait listed, then admitted (I know the coach fough hard for him off of the wait list because he felt totally "blindsided" by the admission decision.</p>

<p>My conclusion, the vast majority of coaches are honest and trustworthy, but if in doubt, get it in writing from admissions.</p>

<p>No, my kid did not receive a likely letter, but so what. In my mind, and I believe in the mind of most people, if a representative of a school makes a statement, that is unequivocal, it is not unreasonable for one to take it at face value. In law an agent with apparent authority can bind the principal.</p>

<p>We assumed that good news=acceptance. How could anyone reach a different conclusion?</p>

<p>We had a coach "strongly encourage" us to apply- no guarantees, but DD is one oothe top in the nation in her sport category and has the other necessary profile to fit in and was denied at a top 5 west coast school EA. The coach was blown away and bummed out, he never promised us anything and was dismayed at his lack of pull.</p>

<p>There must be some really artsy anti-sport people who work in admissions and enjoy messing with coaches' heads! :rolleyes:</p>

<p>We have two rolling admissions, one likely letter, one likley email from a coach, and two with coaches working, but we will not knwo more until March 31st/April 1! It will be interesting to see how it all plays out.</p>