Admission/FA Decisions Announcements on M10

dadof4kids
Sat, 06 Feb 2021 19:26:12 +0000

@Calliemomofgirls my happy place was exactly the same earlier today. Now that it’s a bit later here, substitute “sandwich” for “coffee” and I’m still there. I guess the dog is too big for a lap, so he’s snuggled against my leg.

I know I’m a tough judge. With S19, when his HS coach (soph year) found out he wanted to combine high academics with his sport, he suggested a couple schools to me for S that were in my opinion laughably out of reach athletically. One was a solid top 10 D1 program with top academics. I found out later from a mutual friend that S19’s club coach was telling people that exact top 10 program was where S19 would probably end up (stylistic and academic fit as well as ability), even before we had any contact with any coaches from there. When we did unofficial visits that summer, we didn’t even go there, because it felt like a waste of time, and our only contact was a courtesy acknowlegement from the coach that he got S’s email. Fast forward 2 years, we are sitting in the coach’s office and S is getting the hard sell for why he should commit to them 6 months earlier than he planned on making his decision, because the coach was trying to get him locked down.

Not telling that story to brag on him, more as an indictment of myself. If Patrick Mahomes was my son, I would probably say he’s doing ok but he needs to get a contract extension lined up because this can’t last. Not that I’m not intensely proud of all of my kids, including S18 who doesn’t do things appreciated by the CC crowd but is doing some great things in his own area. I am. But I am just always skeptical that the rest of the world will realize how great they are! And I’m out of my element here, which is probably why I’m so pessimistic.

What I found most interesting about your post is that you are telling me things I know but seem to forget. I’ve said the same thing on the college side (and given the same as career advice) many times. Heck, I even said it a couple of post ago when I described how we judge schools. There is a threshold you have to meet. Once it is met, academically I don’t really care (for our decision purposes) about the difference between Brooks and Andover. I see the difference, I just don’t care. The box is checked, I’m moving on to more important things.

D21 is a prime example of that. If you just look at her scores, you would expect her to be slightly below the median at Amherst. She was definitely not an academic recruit, and not an athletic recruit either despite that being one of her main EC’s, which if you read CC is a bad idea. But I think she checked the academically good enough box, and her overall package was interesting enough she probably got the nod over some other less interesting girl with 1600 and 36 on her first try.