Crossposted (with minor edits for clarity) from the fencing-specific thread, but figured this question would benefit from more eyes/opinions/experiences.
Here’s my question:
At what point in the process is it prudent for a recruited athlete to tell non-family members/consiglieri where s/he is planning to go to college? And what do you tell people and who do you tell when?
For example, does an LL recipient make that info public the day s/he receives letter? (I don’t think they are supposed to, btw.) Do you wait for acceptance letter to arrive in Dec or can you say “I’ve/Kid has committed to the application process for Ivy A.” when someone asks — and you parents of elite athletes KNOW people ask, like all the time.
Unlike LLs, NLI signings can be a very public thing, so I’m assuming once the athlete is featured on high school website/local newspaper at his/her school’s signing day…the cat is out of the bag. But other than that, I am curious about what people feel are “best practices” when it comes to this sort of thing.
Fwiw, I think 2 weeks ago there was a big webcast release where a wrestler announced he was going to Princeton. And on one of the online lists that tracks recruits there are 16 Ivy recruits listed, out of I’m guessing around 40 total recruits they will take this year. Most of those were posted before an official likely letter.
Personally it would scare me to say anything before the likely letter. I’m curious how others respond to this.
My advice answer, as it is to most questions, is to ask the coach. I’m sure he/she will know what will ruffle feathers in admissions and what they are ok with. 2 of the Ivy schools have zero commits listed, which I’m guessing means they are asking their guys to wait.
This thread amuses me because in a couple of sports that I know well there are many kids who as early as 9th grade announce all over social media “I’m happy/proud/humbled to announce that I committed to [the application process] at XYZ Ivy.” And their parents, forever adorned in the school’s sweatshirts and hats, can’t wait to brag about their kid’s commitment to anyone they see. That’s a very common way to approach it and one that most coaches are used to and probably expect. That said, I bet those coaches prefer the more restrained families that only make the commitment public later in the process and without a proverbial megahorn.
As for the LL, I haven’t seen anything to suggest that they’re confidential, and I think that those who wait to announce a commitment until receipt of a LL have shown admirable and rare restraint.
There is no “correct” answer here, as it varies by school, sport, and family. Our rule of thumb was that once we had decided and it seemed very certain that the school had decided, we announced. That took place probably 3-4 months after the offer was made. This was not an Ivy though, so no LL to worry about. My D was ready for the process to be over and didn’t want to have to be approached by more coaches when she was mentally off the market.
ETA: My advice would be to announce when you are ready to stop shopping, whenever that is. You do most likely not want to go through the decommit process voluntarily, so if there is any doubt, keep quiet.
The Ivy commit waiting for a LL, it would be prudent to stay quiet until an actual LL is received. Since it is the actual application process they have to go through with an ultimate approval by the admissions committee. Although having a strong hook as an athletic recruit, the AO still has within their purview to deny the admission. I know that our child along with all the other recruited athlete friends still had to wait very anxiously until Oct 1 to see the status update on the school’s portal website. Despite the positive pre-read, there is still the college essay, letters of recommendation and school interview which can change things dramatically. This was strongly made aware to us from the coach, that there is no sure guarantee in this process.
Regarding announcing the receipt of the LL, our school guidance counselor told us to keep “silent” until the actual acceptance letter is received by everyone in mid December. This is out of respect to all the other students who many haven’t even begun the application yet, since it’s only the first month in the senior year, so that it will not put any undue stress on them. Since there are many Ivy hopefuls, when they find out that someone in their school has already been “accepted” to their choice Ivy school, many people mistakenly think their chance of being admitted to that school is further reduced. Therefore, understandably we are told to restrain ourselves in making the LL acceptance widely public until everyone else receives their decision results.
However, the word does get around that an LL has been received or your child is being recruited as an athlete. If anyone would approach us to ask, then there would be no reason to deny and just say yes, but waiting for the actual decision in mid December.
Thanks for the replies so far. To clarify, I mean the general public…not coaches (high school or college) or family. Like the parents of teammates/classmates, people you tend to see at every showcase, etc.
I assume that if a kid commits to School A, that s/he will tell School B and School C that s/he has decided to proceed with School A/“another school”.
This question was prompted in part because at a recent national event, I got more than a few inquiries from fellow parents where 7D2 is going. I was very vague in my replies, because I think it’s a little premature to disclose things, personally.
Perhaps it’s helpful to clarify the “whos” that I can envision:
- School College Counselor: [I'll answer this one: Tell them right away which school you have committed to, so they can help you send in any necessary documents.]
- Kid's Close Friends
- Kid's Classmates (not close)
- Fellow athletes that you see at showcases/national meets
- Parents in sport you are close to
- Parents in sport you are NOT close to
I guess if your daughter hasn’t received any concrete acceptance assurance from the school, whether Ivy or others, I would also be staying relative vague with my replies as well. Since until the acceptance letter or LL is received, nothing is for certain. But for those athletes with LL already received this past two weeks, don’t see any reason if asked why they shouldn’t reply with “yes, I’ll be going to XYZ Ivy next year”.
My son released his commitment before receiving his likely letter, which is pretty common in my experience. Now, he had already passed the preread and knew there were no issues, had stats at the 75% for his school, etc. In fact, when he called his coach to commit, one of the things he was told was what to say to the media. So I think it is kind of expected, at least in sports that generate some media attention.
Ivy schools are very in to the “agreed to commit to the admission process” language, I think because they don’t want to tick off the admissions department. Unfortunately, nobody in the media cares whether Ivy admissions people get perturbed at coaches. In fact, in the local story reporting my son’s commitment contained a quote for him with the approved language, but the headline was “ohiokid picks Princeton”. It was kinda funny actually, although it scared him a bit because he thought the coach would be irked. He didn’t care at all, of course.
Like pretty much every other topic, my opinion on this stuff is kind of a sliding scale. Commitments made in freshmen or sophomore year should be viewed as kind of nebulous for most kids, because there are still a lot of dominoes that have to fall before the end of the road. This is particularly true in the Ivy, because there are academic as well as athletic issues still to be determined. On the other hand, commitments made toward the end of junior summer, after the first round of pre reads in the Ivy, and as crucially in the current recruiting cycle where the athletic issues are clearer, I think those commitments are pretty solid and I wouldn’t have any issue with publicizing it.
BTW, upstream, when I compared NLI vs. LL…I meant that no one besides the recipient really knows about the LL (in the sense that the email/portal change in status/snail mail goes ONLY to the recipient). So it’s their choice who to tell what and when…right?
FWIW, I agree with the advice above from noanswers (similar advice from superdomestique on the fencing-specific thread) about waiting until Dec. date when non-athletes are getting ED notification. Or the early NLI window, if the school is a non-Ivy.
In our neck of the woods, the way too early crowing seemed to be limited to Lax, and in those instances either parents or coaches - rarely the kid. While it seemed to work out most of the time, the occasional backpedaling story was always a kick - guess those days are over now that all sports have shifted to at least summer of junior year.
It seems odd to me to wait until December if the decision had been made and likely letter received. I would think that after coaches and close friends are told, the word is out. One friend tells another, tells another, and pretty soon everyone knows. I’m not sure what is accomplished by not just making an announcement.
I don’t think it has an impact on non athlete applicants, but if you think it does wouldn’t you rather know that Harvard had already taken 3 kids from your school so you can ED to Yale instead?
It’s up to you. I don’t think it is fair to ask kids to wait because other kids might not have their acceptances. The kids who are in should get to celebrate. The GC’s should encourage those kids to get their apps in and tell them that an acceptance by an athlete does not mean their chances are less. Now it may mean their chances are less in some of the categories SevenDad listed, like for others in the same sport he sees at tournaments. If Harvard has accepted his child, that is one less spot on the team for the others in that event but nothing is going to change if announcements are made on the LL. The recruit is going to that school and it may mean that another student isn’t.
I can go online and see at least 6 girls and 6 boys who have committed to the Ivies for lacrosse, and their names have been on the lists for 2 years, out there in the public. Will they be embarrassed if they do not get a LL? Up to them to decide that. Many have reasons they change their commitments - following a coach, want a higher ranked team, want to be a starter. One guy I know did commit to Princeton and then changed to Army. I really believe it was where he wanted to go and not that he couldn’t have gotten in to Princeton. It’s up to them to ‘announce’ it by providing their names. Most of the schools will not list students on these lists until the NLI is signed, but the student, parents, coaches all put the names out there. Many choose not to post until they do sign NLI/receive LL, but no one thinks it’s wrong to post early either.
For the elite D3s, I say wait until you have the acceptance in hand. The NESCAC website is pretty clear that the admission decision can only be made by admissions. It provides:
“All admissions decisions are rendered and delivered in writing by the admissions office only. Any communication regarding the status of admissions decisions conveyed by non-admissions personnel should be considered preliminary, unofficial, and subject to change.”
It adds:
“It is important to remember that this is a college admission process with an athletic component, not an athletic recruiting process that comes with the opportunity to attend college. NESCAC coaches actively identify and recruit student-athletes and act as advocates for them; but no coach at any NESCAC college has the authority to offer, promise, or otherwise guarantee a spot in the incoming class to any recruited student-athlete.”
Middlebury College is more direct. The Middlebury Campus paper explained that admissions is aware of “Instances have occurred where students in the recruitment process have claimed a ‘commitment’ to the College similar to those allowed at Division 1 institutions. As a matter of protocol and process . . . Admissions will track down these claims to correct them when they see them.”
“wouldn’t you rather know that Harvard had
already taken 3 kids from your school so you
can ED to Yale instead?”
I think it’s this kind of thinling of other students the GC of the school doesn’t want the recruited athlete who received their LL on Oct 1 to make a public announcement. Although an officially recruited athlete who receives an LL isn’t using up an admission spot of general admission, it is the common misunderstanding that they’ve taken up a spot and other non athlete student’s chance of admission has been reduced. This may potentially steer them away fron applying ED to their choice school.
@noanswers, any thoughts as to why certain sports and associated recruiting websites seem to spend a lot of time tracking lists of self proclaimed commits and others like football will only track top choices until an NLI is signed?
This is really no different than any school, except that Middlebury seems to care. All admissions decisions are made by the admissions offices. Is admissions less likely to be a problem for the average recruit at Ohio State or ASU? Sure, but even those schools have recruits that are rejected by the admissions office. They’ve announced to their family and classmates they are attending, may have even signed an NLI, and they are rejected academically.
^ there is an entire industry built around football and basketball recruiting, including a seasonal weekly show on ESPN. There are several web sites that track recruits in those sports over multiple years. Early offers and commitments happen in both, at least outside the Ivy and the service academies, especially with basketball. It’s just that very little attention is paid to commits that are more than one cycle behind, because a not insubstantial number of commits made prior to the junior year cycle change.
I imagine that for the blue chip football and basketball recruits, ego plays a big role in when they commit (often at the NLI signing day). I imagine they enjoy the attention, including being on national TV, that they get by keeping the world in suspense until the last minute. There is none of that in Olympic sports, so the kid who got the offer in 9th grade really holds out a long time if he/she verbally commits at the beginning of junior year. Almost nobody in some sports waits that long. There’s no benefit to waiting that long – plus the spot and scholarship $ may go to somebody else. So they end the process by announcing a verbal commitment fairly early in their high school careers. Would probably be different if millions of people were eagerly awaiting their announcement.
@turnandrake, will be interesting to see what happens to the lax recruiting website and showcase cottage industries now that the July Junior Year rule has been imposed - I think it hits both hard IMHO.