My child is only interested in applying to Nobles and Greenough. Students is a 3 sport athlete, Grades are As and maybe a B here or there. Would be applying for grade 7. I know for college admissions students athletes should email coaches film and updates etc. Is this something that is done for prep school too?
Yes, it is common for prep schools to recruit athletes.
I am not sure at this age though.
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Nobles is in the ISL. ISL schools are not allowed to recruit. But, when applying most kids email and talk to coaches. Your daughter is applying to 7th grade and 7th grade school are definitely looking for academics as it is hard to rank students for athletic abilities in 6th/7th grade. I recommend also looking at Milton Academy as they are the same level at academics but slightly better at athletics. I will be going to an ISL and this is what I did during the admission process so please feel free to ask any questions.
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Where did you hear that ISL schools cannot recruit? That was not our experience at all.
I canât agree that Milton is better at athletics than Nobles.
ISL schools definitely recruit. If coaches want you, they will call, email and meet in person. They will also travel to tournaments to watch you play.
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I was an athlete in the process. During my process the schools told me that they do not recruit. The coaches can vouch for the athlete. For me it was zooms, in person meeting, video clips, highlight, etc.
I am not sure all the recruiting rules exactly but I believe ISL coaches can have sway in admissions decisions, which is probably what OP was really getting at, given their timeline. Are you saying coaches have no admissions input in ISL? Not sure about proactive recruiting tactics thoughâŠ
They absolutely do. In addition to regular check-ins with us, coaches also spoke with my sonâs current coaches multiple times from October till March. In January a few coaches reached out to reconfirm our interests in their schools and programs. Once we gave the confirmation, they said they would put his name in their short list and submit to the admissions office. Once we received multiple acceptances on 3/10, emails and calls became more frequent until April 8 after we notified the schools whether heâs going or not. For the only school he was waitlisted, the head coach stayed in touch and told us to give him some time so that he could continue advocating for him.
Maybe by certain definition, these actions are not called ârecruitingâ?
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that was my understanding tooâŠ
Iâd bet what they mean is that the coaches donât go out in search of players to bring in as opposed to coaches courting interested potential applicants.
But I know of coaches (not ISL) who have told athletes they are interested in, not to say to admissions âthe xxxx sport coach wants me to attend this schoolâ because their admissions office doesnât like to hear that.
At the two ISL schools my daughter applied to coaches (one school slightly more than the other) seemed to have active input into the admissions process including saying they provide Admissions with a list of their top choices and that my daughter would be at the top of it. They were in regular contact up until the blackout period (warned us ahead of that), coming to watch games, encouraging her to attend their games, repeatedly reaching out by phone and email, connecting her with players, and asking where else she was applying and what was her top choice. I guess Iâm not sure what recruiting looks like because I thought that was it.
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@SkierGirl49 - Sent you a very lengthy PM, but our experience was similar to MaineMom (except for the blackout period which I didnât know about!). I think in a nutshell, they can encourage you to apply, help as best they can with the admissions process and advocate on the back-end for you, but ultimately cannot make any guarantees for admittance. A coach at Nobles said it best to our son: âAs much as I want you here, even as my top choice, there will be a cross-country coach, a girls basketball coach, a crew coach, etc. that also has a list of kids they want. You could be a candidate for college recruiting in this sport, but there may be kids who are recruitable in two sports. Youâll also be competing against re-classes.â Perhaps it is easier getting into 7th or 9th grade (their biggest admittance years), but he was only one of five kids accepted (not a reclass) for 10th grade and I know at least three (including him) are male athletes based on meeting families at accepted student events (though I truly think it was more his academics than athletics that got him in, tbh 
).
Was this for grade 7 or do ou think it is more of a high school thing?
was this for gade 7?
Many of the top boarding schools and private schools will recruit athletes. The level of support provided by the coach varies considerably. The helmet sports generally have more pull, but again this varies.
My son applied to boarding schools for grade 9. He reached out to coaches and sent videos. Several coaches showed interest, and said they would advocate for him. I donât think coaches have dedicated âslotsâ like they do for college sports, but it can certainly help. I donât think my son would have been admitted to the top boarding schools without athletic support.
It was for repeat 9th
Heâs an 8th grader now and will enter as a freshman this fall.