<p>I have been checking out many posts on recruiting, and am still puzzled. With a highly selective DIII school, what does a support application mean with admissions? I have seen it said that it is no better than being in the general applicant pool.
I don't think these schools send likely letters, as they are not Ivey's. So, how strong is it to be supported through the admissions process?
Thanks</p>
<p>It means a lot. Assuming the athlete is otherwise a competitive applicant for the school, I think coach’s support almost seals the deal. For some schools (MIT and Caltech come to mind) this may be less true, but for others (Amherst, Haverford, Vassar, I believe) it will hold.</p>
<p>Good luck.</p>
<p>Can a coach “support” an application in RD or only in ED, or does it vary by school?</p>
<p>Everything I’ve been told by coaches or read somewhere about “D3 application support” has been related to ED. The coach is given a fixed number of slots at the beginning of the recruiting cycle. Admissions gives him some academic latitude during ED to fill those slots with their approval. All other recruited athletes would have to go RD, and walk-on.</p>
<p>What if the student is a reach at a highly selective school? 1820 SAT, 25 ACT, 4.0 GPA, 6 AP courses.
Do coaches have enough power to get him in likely?</p>
<p>My two cents…Depends. The worst word in the English language. It depends on the school, sport, and the level of athlete he/she is compared to the other student/athletes. Of all the stats you’ve listed above, the ACT concerns me the most. Coaches are going to push for a candidate they want. You have to give them a reason.</p>
<p>Here is a fantastic resource that is in another thread. It deals with highly selective NESCAC D3 school bands (and Ivy) to give you an idea. </p>
<p><a href=“http://www.roadtocollege.com/doc/Hockey/Academic_Index_and_NESCAC_Bands.ppt[/url]”>http://www.roadtocollege.com/doc/Hockey/Academic_Index_and_NESCAC_Bands.ppt</a></p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>I’ll add my two cents to Fenways… I agree with everything said… Also, supporting an application is different than using a pick in the highly selective D3 world… Using a pick tells admissions… I have to have their kid… supporting the application is I would like to have him… can you help me out. </p>
<p>For example, in football the coach only gets 14 picks, so they are used very selectively, but the coach can support the application of many more, but it is just that support, the ball is still in admissions court. It is much better to have the coach say he will use a pick on the applicant.</p>
<p>I have been told that in the NESCAC world, and other highly selective D3 schools that the coaches only have decent pull in the ED world. After that you are at the mercy of the RD pool unless something unusual happens.</p>
<p>For a kid on the edge, who may need help to get in, the coaches support in ED may make all the difference in the world, and usually does. It is nice to have any edge when there are so many applicants.</p>
<p>We have been told by certain NESCAC coaches that other (NESCAC) schools have incredible pull in certain sports (think of NESCAC’s with very successful records in particular sports). I am not certain about other selective LAC’s. My son is looking at one of these and we were told there are not “slots” and the coach is not given a specific number of athletes he is allowed to offer support to. He just lets admissions know what he needs for the team. He says he has “signifcant” pull in the ED1 round with less pull in ED2 and “not much at all” in RD. </p>
<p>To the OP: I would re-take the SAT or ACT. Those scores seem low in relation to your GPA. My son is just the opposite: 3.3 GPA and 2040 SAT, but his school is extremely rigorous with deflated grades, so it is not uncommon to see higher test scores with lower GPA’s. At our local public there are a lot of kids with very high GPA’s but not so high test scores. I think that is telling.</p>
<p>Yes, I believe each NESCAC can allot their tips/picks to whichever sports they choose to support but there needs to be parity between male and female athletes
In my son’s case, he was tipped for his “helmet” sport…his coach gets 6 tips/year (spread among the 3 bands) for this sport…my son also played a second sport for which the coach gets no tips/picks…</p>
<p>The coach of a UAA team told my daughter that she would support her for ED. My D will apply RD, which will lower her chances substantially. However, due to a generous severance package that I received this year, my d doesn’t have a chance of getting FA anywhere, so I thought she should apply to a number of schools known for merit aid. n Her SATs are in the middle of the range for UAA U., but her GPA is below the median because of her tough schedule and sports commitments. I hope her scores come up, so that her chance of getting merit aid comes up.</p>
<p>For NESCAC, each school has an agreed upon number of “slots”, which are based on a variety of factors including enrollment.The “slots” are divided among each sport. These students have to meet minimum standards-which are actually quite high at these selective schools-and the coach basically tells admissions to accept these students.</p>
<p>An example is that the Amherst coach told us he had 4 “slots” for 2014, and he wouldn’t give one to my S. He would give him a “tip”, which just means he tells admissions that he likes the applicant, but admissions can take it or leave it. He recommended my S retake his ACT(31) to be more competitive.</p>
<p>The coaches use all their slots on ED. They don’t want to waste their pull on someone who may or may not come.For example, if they need a catcher, they only want to use one spot up.</p>
<p>There is no likely letter, and no guarantee. Parents/athletes should ask for a “pre-read” or a “walk-thru” (where the coach brings the application down and asks for a blessing)before sending in that ED application. Some coaches are more forthcoming than others.</p>
<p>My S was recruited at several of the NESCACs last fall. It was fun, but stressful. One coach assured him he was in, then the night BEFORE my S sent in his application, called us to say he had made a mistake. We never knew the whole story, but my theory is some hotter prospect who didn’t get a LL showed up at the last minute.Luckily, my S hadn’t burned all his bridges and was able to get in at the other favorite school-it had been a toss-up anyway until then. He felt VERY betrayed, but it was a good lesson.</p>
<p>“There is no likely letter, and no guarantee”</p>
<p>Actually, for some D3 schools, likely letters are given out. It’s something new they are starting I suppose…</p>
<p>True about the slots, but one NESCAC coach told my son he would not be given a slot, but he would support his app (had to be A-band). We asked for specific stats needed and the coach told us it really varied from sport to sport and from year to year. (They had an A-band with a 3.1 GPA one year…from a strong private school). Another NESCAC coach told us that at their school (a top NESCAC), ALL of the supported athletes would be admitted as long as their stats were acceptable. He did not define acceptable, but he assured us that he had that pull. No idea if this is true, but another NESCAC coach told us that some of the NESCAC’s are known to “cheat” (not his exact word, but that was the insignuation) to get the athletes they needed and this was supported by admissions.</p>
<p>Jumper…which schools have you heard are giving likely letters?</p>
<p>Keylyme: PMed you</p>
<p>keylyme- I agree it depends on the sport, how much the team needs your specific athlete’s skill set, and of course, how much the athlete excels in his/her sport. One NESCAC coach told us he had used “extra slots” last year, so he was being held to his allotted number this year.</p>
<p>Thanks. Have retaken all tests hopefully better results. For a UAA school ED1, is supported a pretty likely admit? Also, do UAA scools issue likely letters?</p>
<p>Ask the coach-he should have some idea what percent of his/her supported athletes are accepted, and should certainly tell you. This is entirely with in your rights before making a commitment.</p>
<p>Our S was recruited by three Ivies. When he was forthcoming with his decision to apply ED to Brown, the other two Ivies lost interest. I guess they figured he would get in (unw GPA 3.95, w 4.4. 2310 SAT in one sitting, 5’s on 6 AP tests) and they wouldn’t waste anymore time. Unfortunately, my S was deferred in ED round and was left without Ivy options at that point. The coach was not as transparent as we thought he was—saying that my S was in his “top 5” but not sure how many tags he would get. 4 players ended up getting in, so I guess our S was #5. Lest we feel that we were the only ones betrayed, we have since talked to several other players who also felt they were led along by this coach and assumed they would get in. Depending on who else is in the pool, I am not sure that there isn’t some juggling around with where each recruit falls on the list, with coaches putting the least qualified recruits toward the top and more qualified further down.</p>
<p>I agree with OldBatesieDoc re. the pre read or early read of an application. Our S is now happily enrolled a DIII school where he applied ED 2. Having been once burned, was very assertive about asking what the coach would do for him. The coach took my son’s app to the admissions people and they basically said he had an A+ chance of getting in ED 2 but a B+ chance if he waited until RD. </p>
<p>In hindsight, we found out that some of the other ED applicants to Brown HAD received LL and we didn’t push for or ask about that. Don’t be afraid to ask the hard questions and be prepared to hear the real answers. It will save your family a lot of heart ache. That being said, everything seems to work out the way it should. My son’s team is doing phenomenally and he is thriving—I can’t say it would have worked out as well for him at Brown.</p>
<p>Calmama-thanks for sharing. We get a lot more positive posts where everything goes well, and I’ve been sometimes a lone voice for caution, clarity and back up plans. I think people are embarrassed when things don’t work out.</p>
<p>My s, as many of you habitual posters know, was very close to being totally mislead by a NESCAC coach, and I think my email to the assistant coach appealing to her as a mother to let us know if my S was REALLY as in as they had led him to believe the night before the ED deadline was what caused the famous phone call.</p>
<p>And again, THANK GOD he hadn’t burned all his bridges. He cried when I told him the news-the coach didn’t have the courtesy to speak to him personally-but was able to e-mail the Midd coach and get his ED app in in time.</p>
<p>Of course, we believe it worked out for the best as well…But it caused some bad feelings. My s never would have thought this highly selective NESCAC was a real possibility if it hadn’t been for the multiple repeated positive comments. Such as “I can pretty much pick all my team choices” etc etc etc.</p>
<p>If you don’t come from a school where athletic recruiting is common, have a savvy coach, or read these boards, it’s a jungle out there.</p>