fauve

Ivy admissions can read the appplication as soon as it is submitted, and supported by the coach.

An Ivy early commitment is just verbal. National Letters of Intent have a wide range of signing dates depending on the sport. Google 'date for letter of intent' and you can see it.

pacheight

^^ correct, except they are NCAA rules, not Ivy rules. Technically you can commit and be "signed" or LL anytime after July 1st for a rising senior. I witnessed at college coach "sign" (it was verbal in the moment...paper work followed) an athlete on July 5th. Applications, the official, money, etc all followed...but that athlete is now attending the university as a recruited and partially scholarship athlete! The "deal" was struck in July.

keylyme

^^Yup! Our personal experience (as well as teammates of both son and daughter).

fauve

The Ivies have an agreement that the first day likely letters are officially sent is October 1.

The other comments in my previous post were in respose to mayhew's questions about Ivy reads.

mayhew

This is all supports the advice to get college applications as ready as they can be early in the summer, so they are complete for any requested "early reads".

riverrunner

mayhew, academic letters of rec are probably not terribly high on the list for athletic recruits. However, make sure your daughter understands that one, and possibly two of her current or recent teachers in core subjects will be needed to write letters in support of her application. If the timing works out, and teachers are open to it, you might ask them to commit to writing the letters over the summer, to be ready to go in September or early October. Waiting until school starts to approach teachers for letters that may be needed in just a few weeks can create unnecessary stress on everyone. Each school has a different process for requesting these letters. It's just another piece you could get figured out this year, so you can move quickly when you need to.

mayhew

Good advice, Riverrunner, thank you. Just the other day, D and I were talking about which teachers she would ask to write the required rec letters - it sounds as if it is a good idea to ask the teachers early. Then, at least they can be thinking about them over the summer, and be ready and prepared to formalize them when needed. The biggest upside of it all will be for D to enter senior year with almost all the hard application work done (essays, etc.)

sportm

I've been reading the various posts on athletic recruitment and have a funny story to relate. D is being recruited by a highly competitive DIII LAC. Prior to doing her official visit in October, she received an email from the coach telling her to let him know when she applied and he would give her a tip. We assumed that meant, he would give her a tip about how to fill out the application or a specific person to send it to. During her official visit, D asked the coach what the tip was and he gave her a puzzled look and explained that he could advocate for certain recruits and that she was one of the few he was willing to do that for. After returning home, I read on this site that a "tip" appears to be similar to a "slot". We knew about slots from other recruiting trips, but had not heard of a tip. She asked him if he had slots and he told her no that he could advocate for certain players, but could not guarantee admission. Does anyone have a sense of how much weight a tip carries at a school that doesn't have slots? D applied ED, has over a 4.0 at a private prep school, plays at an elite level in her sport, has ECs, but test scores are at the low end for this school. D seems completely sure she will get in, I am less so.

MaineLonghorn

sportm, I don't know the answer to your question, but I had to smile at your daughter's certainty. That's how DS is - he's sure that his running, grades, and test scores are going to guarantee him a spot into any school he applies to, and I keep warning him that I don't think he will get in everywhere! It will be interesting, whatever happens.

keylyme

Depending on which prep school she attends, her chances could be very good. Does your school have a "relationship" with the school in question. Generally a gpa that high from a prep school is extrememly rare because these schools are so rigorous, so low test scores could just be indicative of test anxiety.

OldbatesieDoc

Sportm-be careful- a tip is not as good as a slot-it seems to me that it means that your child has to be as good as most accepted students in every other way, but the coach tells the admitting office he would like to have her. Then admissions decides if they agree.
Our S was heavily recruited for a "soft" sport by several LACs and based on what we were told after determined questioning, he was not good enough at 2 schools from his standardized test scores to be sure to get in with a "tip", and the coach would not give him a "slot". One coach wanted him to retake his 31 ACT, and after he got 690/640/640 on his SAT2s, a second coach who had still encouraged him to apply ED, admitted he wasn't sure he would get in after some grilling from me. He has a 95 average in IB at our HS, and stellar recs and ECs.
So just make sure your D doesn't burn all her bridges.

EMM1

sportm:

I'm assuming that you are talking about a NESCAC school. Having gone through the process, my understanding is that each coach will have influence on the admissions process ("tips") for a set number of players. However a) each of the players still has to meet specific academic standards and b) those standards will vary depending on where the players is on the coach's list.

Against that background, as Oldbatsie suggests, you need to pin the coach down on the likelihood that your child will be admitted with the coach's support.

fogfog

Wow
OldbatesieDoc's story...

shows how kids can be great candidates but getting the bottom line from a coach can be difficult.

a friend's student is signing with a great school---not an ivy..though the student had 2 ivies who pursued and made offers...
in the end the student and parents like the coach of another school and felt that the one ivy was very cagey about status of aid, playability etc...

a complicated system for sure

pacheight

OP (monstor): To be signed (LL or LOI) onto a good baseball team you should be on the radar of multiple college coaches now. If this is not the case talk to your coach and see what he thinks. Next summer when ball players start committing/signing, it's just the announcement. The relationships and recruiting or deal making for the baseball recruiting class of 2011 starts now. And goes into high gear in January and February.

pacheight

also, one point not stressed enough on these boards, your HS or junior club coach relationship with college coaches is very important. Often a junior coach recommendation (phone call) to an Ivy coach is the 1st and most important step in a recruiting process. Talk to your coach and find out if he knows the Ivy coaches you're interested in.