<p>3togo is right. A coach is certainly looking for who can make the best contribution to the sport/team.
Just be careful not to become all consumed with this athletic recruiting process because it is a long and exhausting one with many ups and downs.</p>
<p>mayhew: sounds busy, we would have liked to have known what was going on with our d’s recruiting in October or February or even April. She finally told us the story and showed us the emails in May. it blew my mind:)</p>
<p>enjoy the ride…it’s pretty cool to have a kid that colleges proactively court!</p>
<p>“where she would be most comfortable if she didn’t play a sport”</p>
<p>for me this is kind of a duality, it is sound advice BUT my D wouldn’t be comfortable if she couldn’t “play” her sport. so she picked the coach and team first and the fact that the coach/team had a school attached to it, she didn’t mind that:)</p>
<p>Pacheight,
Since you are quoting from my post, I thought that I would respond. </p>
<p>I think that while it is possible on a logical basis to separate the “playing” part out, it is not always possible for a 17 or 18 year old or his or her parent to think purely this way and my daughter and I are no exception! It is a complicated process, filled with emotion and the “feel” that a kid gets when visiting the campus, spending time with the team and meeting with coaches. And we as parents actually don’t have any say in what the kid feels. (My older daughter’s refusal to get out of the car for a tour during one non-recruiting visit a few years ago because the road leading into campus was “industrial” stands out as one example of this!)
Thankfully in my daughter’s case the school where she felt that she would be most comfortable if she were unable to play (and in one of those rare instances when a strong-minded 17 year old and her parent actually agree on something, I felt the same way) is also the school with her favorite coach. I don’t think that it is always that easy and I also think that her comfort with the coach and team was a big part of it, though she had visited the school initially and liked it before she started being recruited. But I do think that we lucked out!</p>
<p>Had to smile about the industrial road story</p>
<p>a friend’s son–after traveling a long way to a school–got out of the car, looked up the street, then down the street,…said nope…Got in the car and was “done”…</p>
<p>ah teens…
and it is how they feel and what they sense —and hopefully we can help guide the “why.s” in that process too</p>
<p>Friend’s daughter signed to play D-I soccer with scholarship $$$. In late spring both the head coach and the assistant coach are gone. Later that spring, girl tears ACL in a scrimmage and has surgery. Unforeseen things happen. Life happens.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>With my oldest we had a 5-day 10 school trip planned … at 3 of the 10 schools we spent less than 1 minute on the campus and left … and instead we found other local schools to check out … and I was fine with the changes … my daughter was honing in on what she liked and was very consistant in her choices so I really didn’t have much of an argument. (we ended up visting or doing drive-bys at almost 20 school in the 5 days … and it really helped her shape her list … I know that sounds impossible but some schools (Haveford, Bryn Mawr, and Villonova … or UMass, Amherst, MHC, and Smith … are so close to each other it was crazy to not at least drive through/by the campus)</p>
<p>Regarding the VERY brief visits to certain schools (!), I actually appreciated that - though only after visiting several colleges … the 2nd college we saw (a huge state university) did nothing for my daughter and she refused to tour. I was frustrated, but by the time we visited our 23rd school, and once again, my daughter refused to tour a school after loathing the information session, I was actually quite relieved - no matter that we had travelled to this city specifically for this one school, and there were no other nearby colleges to swing by - instincts are a strong and valuable thing, and it is helpful to have clear cut “no’s”, just as it is so exciting to see them light up and shine when on the campus of a college they feel is a great fit :)</p>
<p>pacheights - thanks for your nice words! As you know, it is a great/bewildering/bizarre feeling to have such interest/pursuit by some really great schools - it seems crazy to have dream schools flattering/courting her (and yes, I KNOW this could end tomorrow with any injury, poor season, etc. - & we do have a whole list of Plan B schools!! Just living in the moment right now!) It is even more so as my daughter has only been in her sport for one season - just getting ready to enter her upcoming second season. She qualified for Div. 1 within her first few weeks of this sport - the whole thing is 100% surreal - a year ago, I would have laughed at the idea of any form of athletic recruiting being related to any member of my immediate family! Now she has more attention than her coach has ever seen. Wild.</p>
<p>OMG 23 schools! My S stopped after 7, said that was enough, he had his safety, and spent the rest of the semester getting his grades back up-those recruiting weekends are KILLER on the homework. The happy ending-went ED1 at Midd, and is in, so he made the right decision. He is only D3 recruitable in his sport, so athletic scholarships were not a factor, and we figured we’d get the same aid package from most of his choices.</p>
<p>CONGRATULATIONS on the ED acceptance to Middlebury - what a great school, and what a huge relief to have this all behind you!!!<br>
We are fully aware that 23 schools was/is totally excessive, but my daughter and I did have a lot of fun with the whole thing - might sound crazy, but true! We also gave equal time to colleges where her sport would be a part of her experience there, and to colleges that don’t have her sport beyond club level (in case she is injured, everything falls apart, etc. = solid Plan B 
)
Again, I am so happy for you to have such a great resolution - your son must be so excited! A good friend of mine was a Middlebury lacrosse recruit (300 years ago of course) and he had the best experience of his life being an athlete there.</p>
<p>The recruiting package my S got from Princeton, stated they would have 200 interested recruits, of those 200 only 75 would have SAT’s of 2000 or better, ACT’s of 30 or better, at least 700 on SAT II’s. Then erg times would further narrow the field to 50. Of those 25 would be invited to visit campus. This came awhile ago so. I hope I am remembering correctly. He met their criteria but refused to follow up, too close to his Boarding School. Harvard and Yale weren’t so clear but still declined to recruit him. They told him to apply they would take him as a walk on barring any unforseen issues, injuries etc…Not a revenue sport!</p>
<p>^^i thought rowing was like a religion in the Ivy’s. And they heavily recruit world wide for top rowers</p>
<p>Ivies certainly do recruit heavily for crew from the very top international levels. Erg times allow precise ranking of strength.</p>
<p>They recruit HW rowers in greater numbers then LW rowers.</p>
<p>I would gather that for each sport
build/ht/wt etc really matters as well as times because they are looking for future not past results…
meaning a kid can have decent times/goals etc and yet if at the collegiate level the runners/players etc are alot bigger/taller/heavier that the “star” in hs won’t be so competitive…</p>
<p>between that (the genes) and all of the academics
certainly the student-athlete, college apps etc is MORE complicated, not less…
not sure why there is so much bitterness from kids (and parents) who post things on the boards about how easy these athletes have things…</p>
<p>…a mile in another’s shoes (or cleets perhaps) ;o) ?</p>
<p>All I know is my S trains or has practice all 3 seasons. That is about 2 hours a day, competes Fall and Spring, works out all summer, I am talking about getting up to row his single scull all summer at 6:00am before work and the gym or cycling after work. He has class 6 days a week, he takes a very tough course load. He’s team captain, plus a couple of other leadership positions at his school. Athletes don’t have it easy!</p>
<p>anothercrazymom</p>
<p>so how has that worked for your student as far as gpa/sat etc…have you found what the coach told you to be pretty accurate? Have all of theschools sent that kind of package? Thats pretty neat. I realize your student was in a particular sport but perhaps some of it translates to us.</p>
<p>Look forward to hearing more ;O)</p>
<p>fogfog his SAT is 2250, 800CR 760M 690W
SAT II’s 770 US History 750 Bio 730 Math1
GPA is only 3.3 (he claims it’s low because of 4 years of Chinese)
5’s on his AP"s<br>
No other school was as transparent as Princeton even on official visits, he didn’t love all the schools, including the ones that liked him. Still trying to work it out.</p>
<p>Amherst told my S he needed a 32 on the ACT “to be competitive” He had a 31 and was NOT going to retake…GPA unweighted 4.0+ in IB, top 5%(unranked)
SAT2s sunk him for Williams-680/630/640-didn’t take them early enough to take them again.He is NOT a good standardized test taker, and would NOT do a prep course…
Didn’t need them for Midd, thank God!!!
Thanks, Mayhew, it is SUCH a relief to have it over with. We all are thrilled.Hope your D ends up where she wants to go.</p>
<p>My S loves standardized tests, the day to day classroom stuff could be better! His school strongly urged SAT II’s at the end of sophmore year. He took 2 and got over 700 so just took one more end of junior year and was done. I honestly think for athletes William and Amherst are have tougher requirements then the ivies, no real proof just anecdotes.</p>