<p>Hi. S'15 is a swimmer but not fast. At one D3 school visit this summer we set up a metting with the coach to talk about walking onto the team. The coach was very friendly and encouraging and told us that if S'15 wanted to come back during the school year, to contact him. S'15 decided to revisit and the coach set him up with a full recruiting visit schedule. He had lunch and dinner with swimmers, stayed overnight with a swimmer, watched a practice, and sat in on a class- all arranged by the coach. The coach at the end of the visit told S'15 to let him know when S'15 had made a decision about where he was applying. About a week after the visit, S'15 emailed the coach and told him he loved the visit and planned to apply ED and appreciated any support that the coach could give.
Since that email, we have heard nothing back from the coach (before then the coach responded quickly to all other emails). I am thinking that silence is also a response sometimes. Could the visit have gone badly and now S'15 shouldn't apply? It seems so odd that a D3 coach wouldn't say anything back to a student who intended to apply ED.<br>
what do you think?</p>
<p>Need to speak to coach. The admissions office wants applicants. Does the coach want son to apply ED? Coach may be deciding among many applicants.</p>
<p>Here’s my take based on what you’ve said. A big part of a D3 coach’s job is to build depth in the program, and part of that is to sell his program to potential students - even those that may not get support. By your own words, your son is not fast - so he may not be in a position to get coach support. When your son emailed the coach saying he planned to apply ED and would appreciate any support, coach may want your son to go ahead and apply and doesn’t want to dissuade him by saying - I can’t support you. Hence the silence.</p>
<p>Pure speculation on my part, of course.</p>
<p>Varska - and it might be as simple as that. We sort of decided to go for it by adding that sentence about support - figured it wouldn’t hurt to ask after all the attention that he got when he was there. But wouldn’t the coach just write back something non-commital like I’m glad you enjoyed the visit - good luck with the application.</p>
<p>Hi there–my D swims NESCAC and my S is a D3 swim recruit. Silence could mean anything, but with both my swimmers, it paid off to be persistent. Coaches are often disorganized or under a lot of stress to do multiple things in the same window of time. I cannot tell you how many times my S almost stopped emailing this or that coach who was not responding, and then suddenly got a friendly reply.</p>
<p>I think your S should apply ED wherever he wants and thinks he can get in. He always knew he wasn’t getting recruited by this coach but wanted to check out the school and hoped to walk on, right? If the visit had gone badly I would think your S would have felt it. I know, it’s stressful that the coach hasn’t replied. Here’s what I would recommend if it were my S (who is in the middle of all kinds of recruitment drama right now, so I’m talking from experience!)…if the silence is bothering your S to the point where he is wondering if something is wrong, he should pick up the phone and call. He should just be frank and say that he enjoyed his experience at the school, and support or not, he is planning to apply, and just wanted to connect with the coach and thank him personally for going out of his way when he isn’t a formal recruit.</p>
<p>I think the coach is either too busy to reply because he has to deal with his higher level recruits, or he is reserving comment until he has his roster set. There was one particular coach my S could not get in touch with–wouldn’t respond to email, was never in the office, etc. It turned out later that while my S was eventually offered some support, he did not make the cut to get full support, and the coach was still juggling his list and figuring out where everyone was, which is why he didn’t respond. My S got him on the phone and they hashed everything out. I think some coaches loathe email. I sympathize.</p>
<p>Is this your son’s first choice, with or without the swimming? Then apply ED. If he for sure wants swimming, then I’d apply RD and keep other swimming options in the mix. If all he wants is a walk on swimming chance, then this school stays in the mix and continue to contact the coach.</p>
<p>Agree with ^^^^. Curious whether coach said walk-ons will 1) be able to compete in meets; and 2) can be part of the travel team. Some of the swimmers on Ds team are finding out they can practice with the team, participate in alumni and intrasquad meets, but can’t participate in any other meets. Many of them have quit. Hope this has been communicated to your son and he is clear on his level of participation. Suggest that he continue to cast the net if it doesn’t meet his expectations.</p>
<p>My son is in that spot. Everything was great and it seemed like the coach wanted to call him soon (well, the coach said he would call my son SOON), but the D3 coach never called, my son sent multiple emails with no answer, and he is upset, he doesn’t want to call.</p>
<p>So probably applying ED to a D1 school, and hoping to get a chance to be seen in the spring by that coach again, or maybe walk on or end up playing club soccer there (if he gets in, a risk without the athletic bump).</p>
<p>IMHO, my son should at least reach out to the D3 coach and tell him “I wanted to apply ED to your school, but I’m running out of time to get in my ED application. Let me know if you are still interested in me as a recruit, because I need to apply ED elsewhere if not.”</p>
<p>I feel my son is like your son - that is, my son was like “YOUR SCHOOL IS MY TOP CHOICE” to the assistant coach, and he said he was planning to apply ED 1 or ED 2 there. Maybe the coach feels that he doesn’t need to recruit him any more?</p>
<p>But gee, at least a freaking line? Or are coaches so email adverse? Or are they building depth?</p>
<p>To make it clear, if the coach kept his promise and called my son, and said he should come visit, my son would go and meet with him and see if there was an offer, and drop the D1 school and apply ED there. The D1 school is Ivy, so more prestigious.</p>
<p>rhandco, that is awful. I really feel for your S. No kidding he doesn’t want to call. But if he REALLY likes the school he should call. I have seen so many situations where coaches went silent for weeks (or months) and then suddenly started to email or call again. I hope you can convince him to just make the call, because it will help him to feel good about his decisions if he can either cross off certain options or have a plan of action for the options he is focusing on.</p>
<p>Right now my S is suddenly talking to a coach who hasn’t responded to email or calls in forever. Last spring, another coach told him he wasn’t good enough, but then over the summer, suddenly invited him on an OV. And the reverse has happened also. The coach who called him July 1 eventually stopped responding to email. My S caught him on the phone and was told that he really wasn’t ranked highly enough for an OV (after a July 1 phone call and lots of email! Who knew?). Another coach who was super interested in June was suddenly not responding in August…again, my S caught him on the phone and was told he wasn’t ranked highly enough. Both those guys suggested he call them in October to see if their needs had changed, but my S had plenty of other options and hasn’t bothered. Still, if he hadn’t called, he’d still be in the dark. And if he hadn’t kept trying to get in touch with the first two guys, he wouldn’t be talking to them right now.</p>
<p>It’s such a crazy game those coaches are playing, trying to balance their roster with the academic standards of their schools, trying to figure out which athletes might get in on their own versus the ones who need the slot or the tip or whatever. I’m totally sick of all of this and really worried that this is taking so much time, my son won’t be done wtih the application by the deadline…</p>