I have a related similar situation that probably doesn’t warrant a separate thread. I have a kid (S27) who has visited a particular very selective campus once already, and is going to be visiting that school for an athletic recruiting visit only 3 days after the AO for that school (that cares A LOT about demonstrated interest) is on campus. He is already missing a lot of school for several other similar athletic visits given his heavy AP course load. The AO for the school is coming during a core class that he will be missing twice already in the same week. Is it reasonable to come briefly, introduce himself, explain his situation and go back to class, or is that worse than not showing up at all? What is particularly bad about the situation is that if I look at my son’s school’s history in Naviance with applications at this school, our students have not been very successful at all. It would be nice to support the AO and show our school has viable candidates (he’s already passed a pre-read there). Sigh. This stuff is tough!
Yes. But if he is recruited, none of this matters. The coach will have it covered.
Your son has already demonstrated ample interest by going through the recruiting process. Also, the entire concept of demonstrated interest is to help the school determine whether or not a student will actually yield (attend if offered). At some point, your athlete will need to commit to the coach, and that is the ultimate demonstration of interest.
I wouldn’t do that - apart from anything else, there’s no guarantee he’s going to be able to quickly jump in front of others to say that and go. As with suggestions to the OP, I’d have him send an email to the AO saying he would have loved to meet but has a conflict, and he can mention his campus visits in that email too.
I don’t see it an issue - and by the way, some who attend these from the schools aren’t even the AOs for that area.
If kids are already going (to visit or join webinars), I don’t see this as an issue. In fact, yours isn’t the target. Those not applying or who don’t even have a list built are.
This is a sales pitch.
And some that come to your school may have one at an area hotel at night - alone or in combination with other schools - like a U Chicago, Vandy, Emory type thing.
We had a bunch of those in Nashville.
It won’t matter one way or the other if he applies as a recruited athlete with coach support.
I suppose it could matter if he applies without coach support. But having visited the school already and presumably taken a tour, I’m not sure what marginal benefit there’d be.
My kids did not go to any of the AO visits at their school for schools at which they were recruited.
Thanks @skieurope for separating the threads and for all the previous input- I didn’t mean to hijack things! I’ll clarify here since maybe it wasn’t clear when I posted in the other thread. I do understand that the coach’s support will make all other demonstrated interest irrelevant. I am asking more from the standpoint of the school. The counselor really seemed disappointed that S27 didn’t initially contact her about meeting with the AO. I can see the point of the counselor: here is a college that we haven’t had much luck with as a school (and who doesn’t come to our campus often) and here is a kid that might be a good candidate for ED who doesn’t want to (or doesn’t feel he needs to?) meet with the AO. How does that make us (the HS) look? I also don’t want this to create issues between S27 and the counselors (it is the “college counselor” not his personal counselor that arranges the AO visits).
Avademics come first. The student can always write the AO a note saying they are sorry to miss the visit due to a class conflict but will be on campus on XYZ date. The guidance counselor can be told that this email was sent if that would help.
Truth is, there is no greater expression of demonstrated interest than applying ED.
Everyone is doing what’s best for themselves, your son needs to put his interests first. Not the school’s.
While I think it is the responsibility of the student not to do something that would actively undermine the school (such as applying ED and then violating the agreement by withdrawing for other than financial reasons), I don’t think there is any reason your son should be going out of his way/spending his time on something that doesn’t work for him because the counselor thinks it will help the school. And I would hope the counselor is professional enough for this not to “cause issues” with someone they are supposed to be helping. Regardless whether he attends an AO meeting at the school or not, if he gets in that is what helps the school.
Of course! This school is one possible ED candidate. I’m not saying he is actually going to apply there ED or not.
- it was simply an example of something a student could do that would be bad for the school.
I suggest having your kid ask the coach whether it’s important to attend the AO visit. My kid spent three hours getting a personal tour at a top LAC this summer, where he was the top recruit for his sport. During the tour, the coach had him register the visit using a QR code and told him to do the same whenever he visited the school. For whatever reason, jumping through those hoops was still important even with the coach’s support. There is no reason not ask the question if the school is important.