Bates v Bowdoin v Colby

dezama
Fri, 11 Jan 2013 00:25:14 +0000

Jamoboo,


Yes. And soccer helped her gain leverage a notch above where she would have been competitive without it. I’d peg her current U-18 team at about where yours is.
You will find people who love each of the top schools in Maine in different ways. They are different delicious flavors of ice cream. The key here is loving Maine.
All of the schools are hard to get into. Soccer helps with leverage. It helps you to stand out among all your age-group peers who apply. You still need the grades and scores (look at the median range of grades and scores to see where you fit), and if you have those, use your soccer that you’ve worked so hard on all these years. You only get the leverage if the coach is pushing or nudging for you. So get to their overnight clinics so they’ll get to know you. They won’t all click with you and you might not like some of them. Life is like that. Don’t worry about this. Just play your best; you never know who is watching. Get to the Amherst clinic for sure. Check out Dartmouth’s clinics too. Bowdoin may have a good one again. A bunch of coaches and assistants attend and work these from a variety of schools. (And they know each other and talk to each other!)
You’re doing everything right. Visit the schools, all of them, and form your own opinions. You’ll know what you like. Be observant. Meet students. Ask questions. Spend time driving around the towns and eat at a local happening spot in each. Keep writing to the coaches (always be literate and proofread!). Email to endeavor to get an appointment or drop by to say hello when you visit the school. Meeting the assistant coaches at this point is good too. Assistants help with a lot of the recruiting, depending on the school. Assistants often become head coaches. Send a school profile if you haven’t yet. Send test scores and grades proactively if they are strong. Update your player-athlete profile and resend it when you have a substantive update. Emphasize your desire for strong academics and state why you like their school.
Wheaton in Norton, Mass is what I had in mind. The coach is awesome. Email him. Visit. It’ll be on your way to Maine. You might find you really like this school. The acceptance rates are higher, I believe, because it’s off the radar and fewer people apply. The faculty is great. People don’t apply there unless they’ve visited. People don’t visit Wheaton unless the school counselor or the parents (or grandmothers) know about it from some personal experience. Check out Wheaton’s alumnae list. It is impressive. Just because snarky NYC kids haven’t heard of something doesn’t mean it isn’t wonderful. (Just had to add that…our school is full of these types. What’s Davidson? Who’s ever heard of Pomona? Is that a community college? And on and on…) Downside is that they don’t have hockey…yet. If Wheaton adds hockey (and we hear they’re thinking about it), it’ll be the next hot school.


Aim for high academics and have a highish-safety in the works. Visit a lot but only focus on schools you would truly be willing to attend. The worst they can do is say no. This is not a problem. Someone else will say yes.