The out-of-state school my son committed to does not have a fall early action/decision. There should not be an issue with admission since son will probably qualify for merit scholarship too with his grades and scores.However, since acceptances won’t be out until spring, I told my son he probably should apply to two in-state schools that have a Nov 1 deadline just in case the program was cut (unlikely) or he woke up next spring and decided he didnt want to play his sport anymore. It is a very low probability, but I would want him to be accepted to some other schools just in case. However, son’s ECs are basically his sport. Would admissions check with the coaches at the in state colleges because of that? He had offers from those schools; it might be awkward if admissions checked. He should be able to get in those other schools and get merit on his own. He won’t tell the coaches he is applying to those schools since he declined their offers; he wouldnt want to explain it is a backup plan in case he wanted to go to college without playing sports.Because he verbally committed early, he had no applications in process yet, but he had written his essay. Would admissions already have a folder on him because he was a recruited athlete? I hope coaches do not give that info to admissions until a recruit actually applies. I dont know if he could be denied or deferred as he would be a yield risk if they knew he had declined an offer. Some schools do not want to offer admissions to students if they think they will be turned down. He fits the profile of accepted students at those schools. He visited the schools unofficially several times so it is not like he would be tracked due to an official visit.
I think it is a good idea to have back up schools, but my daughter did not agree so only applied to the school she committed to. She knew that if something fell through, she’d have to take a gap year and she was okay with that.
There might be a file started at the schools he was recruited to. My daughter’s coach did that, and basically screwed everything up. When my daughter applied, she filled out an application using her full name, and the school couldn’t figure out that it was the same person. She was admitted under her application, but when things arrived at the school, they were often put in the other file (hs transcripts, updated ACT scores). It was just a mess.
I don’t think the school will check with the coach just because his application says he played basketball or soccer. I think they will just look at the application he submits.