Do coaches have any pull for Regular Decision applicants? Q on attending recruiting camp also

Dunboyne
Mon, 02 Jun 2014 01:34:38 +0000

Coaches can influence RDs, but it depends on what their roster looks like at that time, and it depends on how much a coach wants your D for the team, at that time. So the later she leaves it, the more “luck” is involved.

What is your D trying to gain by playing college tennis? Does she enjoy it so much that she can’t envision not having it in her college life? It doesn’t sound like this is the case, as her academic interests are clearly taking priority over tournament play. Or is she viewing tennis as a hook into a “better” school, but you’re worried that applying RD will diminish the hook?

If the latter is the case, then it’s arguably more sensible for her to target a few (ideal) schools with the idea of applying earlier. After all, she’s a 3 Star and might not be in great demand at many of the best NESCAC tennis schools for RD. She’d have more success with RD at schools with lower ranked tennis programs (Rochester, Swat). But as you say, applying earlier is not in the cards because she’s considering the accelerated MD programs. So I guess the issue for you is whether the advantages of an accelerated MD program (cost, guarantee of med school admission) trump the advantage of possibly getting into a higher ranked school using tennis as a hook. You need to debate that and be clear about it before it gets much later.

There are other advantages with RD, though, regarding cost. RD allows you to compare Fin Aid offers from various schools, so that might be a necessity for your family.

The DTS camps are not “necessary”. Again, it depends on what you’re trying to accomplish. It would be more valuable if your D had already targeted a few schools and could show those coaches what she has to offer (tennis-wise and commitment-wise). But now, she’d be going into it blind, largely unprepared, hoping that the right schools are interested in her. You’d probably get more mileage if you invested some of the money (for the camp) into producing a recruiting video to show her skills at her best, target a handful of choice schools, then show the coaches how enthusiastic she is about their schools. You could accomplish that either ED or RD, but again, your odds likely go up ED.

So let me ask you: How important is it for her, and your family, to apply to the accelerated MD programs? How certain is she that she wants to be an MD? And as discussed earlier, what does she want out of college tennis? Her tennis recruiting options largely depend on those things. And I might add, a med school aspirant has to be particularly careful about playing a sport because of the potential drop in GPA.

Also, what do you mean by “premed programs”? I get confused when that term is used because it sounds like the person is seeking actual premed majors, when in fact, if you look at the success of premed majors on the MCAT, “premed” leaves a lot to be desired. It’s more advisable to take a different (more rigorous) academic path into med school, especially for a student with great quantitative scores.