I don’t disagree with anything that you say here, but I do also agree with @Bronc that college athletes learn a lot through the process and have a lot to contribute. I think we’ve all seen comments here on CC implying that recruited athletes are somehow getting a free (or discounted) pass. In my case, I was involved in recruiting and hiring junior lawyers for many years, and if I saw serious athletics on a resume, it would always catch my attention, as it was my experience that young people who’d been through the ringer of college sports have learned discipline and resilience, and those characteristics are very helpful in adult life. My own son was both a college athlete and a theater kid, and I can see clearly how he’s benefited from both, no matter how tough it was at times.
I would be concerned about the lack of communication from the coach. I also don’t see anything wrong with applying EA if available or RD to see how it plays out.
And I agree with everything you state here. But as I pointed out, learning to deal gracefully with rejection, being part of a team where sometimes you’re a star and sometimes you’re sidelined-- is not exclusive to college athletics. And the “preferred employee” premise is sometimes used to explain why the hiring cohort looks remarkably the same year after year. “We tried to find a Latina who would be a good cultural fit but we couldn’t”-- or “Asian men just aren’t interested in working in private wealth management”. eek. I’ve heard it for decades. And I’m not talking some DEI quota- in a client serving business, it helps to have members of the team who are actually representative of those clients.
In my control group of 1…this is what my daughter experienced. Her interviews focused on her sport, her being a captain for 2 years, her awards. They didn’t have to ask many questions about her academics or work experience as that was on her resume and they’d all taken those same classes, may have even known some of her professors, understood what an award or honor meant. They didn’t know much about lacrosse so it gave them something to talk about. There are only so many ways to say “I got an A in Calc.”
Did her classmates who weren’t athletes also get interviews? Sure, and they had to come up with their own activities that made them stand out. A friend was on the jet car team, and president of the MechE society, and pres of her sorority, etc etc. Another was in ROTC. All ways to show leadership, teamwork, multi-tasking skills.
And it didn’t hurt for the interview that my daughter is female and Asian - although I’m not sure there is a shortage of Asian engineers for the DEI statistics. Nothing on her resume indicated she was Asian so if the firms were looking for DEI hires, she probably wouldn’t have passed the sorting of resumes stage.
I brought up workplace skills because recruiting required my son, as a teenager, to do many of the things people later do in a job search: reach out to strangers, present his work, assess interest, follow up and cope with rejection. I wasn’t arguing that athletes are inherently better employees or should be preferred over anyone else. My point was that a lot of work and uncertainty can sit behind an athletic ED admission, and that the process itself may teach some useful skills.
I do think the recruiting process builds skills early on that are helpful in future career development- internship search, job search, and filtering offers.
Definitely agree it isn’t the cakewalk it can appear to be from the outside, and requires hard choices earlier than would otherwise be the case. Ideally it’s worth it for most, and for those who end up committing early it can make for a much more relaxed winter and spring of senior year.
unfortunately the coach did not respond so yes she will apply but we are not expecting much. We are getting the app fee waived.
This doesn’t sound to me like an athlete that is being recruited for the team, unless there’s more to it than the little bit you’ve shared
yes I agree. But would you still apply if you might be interested in the school anyway if there are no supp essays and then reach out again.
another school showed strong interest and my daughter met with the coaches and myself so we do know the difference but the school is mainly in state kids and not the best fit in our view for academics.
Sure. I just wouldn’t assume I have a spot on the team or that the coach is supporting the app if they haven’t confirmed either of those things.
It sounds like you have a good understanding of the process. I would apply to the first school, have your daughter let the coach know she applied, and update the coach if she is admitted RD. I would also consider continuing the process with the second school. Their offer may help you gauge your daughter’s level as a recruit.
the second school is willing to give a partial scholarship based on merit and is a pretty highly regarded school for her sport and ranked in the top 50 in 3 but we are more focused on post graduate outcomes. We visited the second school in August and it was ok but my D was not overly impressed. Yet they want her to come back but my D just is not into the school. Sure she can be on the team but if the overall academic program does not seem great then I am not sure what the point is.
There is also a 3rd school that asked for a transcript and told her to apply ED for the best chance. But they did not officially make an offer.We met with the coach. They did say to keep sending film. The transcript was only sent 10 days ago. After sending the transcript the only follow up was apply ED and keep sending film. What does she ask next - or does she just apply ED and hope. This school is her top choice. Any advice appreciated.
There is then another school that my D spoke to a while ago. Do you think as a Senior it is too late to go to individual ID camps as a senior in early October. This school may be a middle ground.
I would never recommend an ED application without knowing if you’d be able to be on the team. If accepted, you would be bound to attend that school and possibly not be able to even be on the roster. Unless she is 100% willing to give up the athletic piece at this school, do not apply ED. If she gets some sort of commitment from the coach that she’d have a spot if admitted, then an ED application would be ok if it’s her top choice and affordable.
She should ask if the coach will be supporting her application and if so, at what level and what is typically the outcome with that level of support? Simply put, how heavy is his thumb on the scale?
If the answer is that he’s not supporting the application, she should ask whether she would have a roster spot if she gets in on her own and/or what is involved in getting a roster spot.
Your D may need to decide if she wants to go to this school enough that she would be happy to attend not playing her sport. Many of my kid’s teammates – with roster offers from non-top choice schools – did in fact make this decision. A few picked less favored schools where they could play. A very lucky few ended up as recruits at their top choice school.
Most kids who are recruits are very good players who have been playing most of their lives. It is hard for them to imagine not playing. Yet many kids who are on college teams do not keep playing for 4 years. It may be that they don’t get the playing time they want or that they get hurt, but many also realize that there are other things they want to do with the time they are putting into their sport. It’s hard to be at a school with a wealth of opportunities and not have the time for them. This is all to say that your D may want to think about this scenario as well.
Are there any other schools? With the additional information that you have given I would consider your kid a legit recruit. The coach from school three should be able to answer if they are supporting your daughter through the process or if she gets in on her own she will have a spot on the team.
I’d contact the third school coach directly and ask about the process. Do they have the ability to support recruits through admission, and are they offering that. If not and she’s admitted on her own does she have a spot on the team. I wouldn’t apply ED as an athlete unless it came with coach support; if it was my first choice without athletics in the picture, then maybe.
She should ask coaches directly about the recruiting process, can they offer support, when do they make those decisions. It’s not entirely clear from your posts if these are schools where it matters.
If your kids SAT went up on the last Sept test would you send an email to the coach with this information. Maybe along with more highlight video. Is this relevant for a top academic school if your kid may be on the bubble and previously had an SAT slightly lower than the median but is now above the median.
would you send this?
Yes, I’d update all coaches with academic (and athletic) updates like that. It isn’t clear to me that academic stats were the issue in your daughter’s case though. Usually if the athletic fit is there you’d get an indication from the coach that the academic stats need to improve if that’s an issue.
yes but she is dealing with several schools. I mentioned the main 3 but there are a few others that just say keep in contact send video.
Then I’d ask every one of those coaches about their recruiting process and timeline. Do they support athletes through admissions and when do they start making those decisions? If these are schools where admission isn’t an issue, what is their process for allocating roster spots?
You might want to start a new thread here with a comprehensive explanation of the situation, what you’ve done so far and what the status is. There are folks here with quite a bit of experience who can help out if they know the big picture.
“Keep us updated” at this stage is generally a way of saying “we don’t want to say no to you but you are pretty far down our list of options” in my experience. But that depends a lot on her history with the coaches and what they’re actually saying.