Ethics of Athletic Commitments

Parents Forum
1

<p>D is a recruited athlete looking at several prominent EA Ivies. She has the scores and grades to be competitive in the pool without her athletic tip (although, as we know, this is by no means a sure bet). She is still not 100% convinced regarding her top choice. Her choices are to:</p>

<li><p>Apply EA without coach support</p></li>
<li><p>Apply EA with coach support (“on the list”)</p></li>
<li><p>Request a likely letter </p></li>
</ol>

<p>Clearly, if she requests a likely letter she is making a commitment to matriculate. If she applies with no coach support she has no commitment.</p>

<p>What about if she applies with coach support? Is she ethically committed to attend the school, or can she change her mind later?</p>

2

<p>Yes, she is ethically committed to go if the coach supports her. Coaches get a certain number of spots they can push for in the admissions office. If she gets one and doesn’t go, that screws over both the coach and whoever would have that spot in her place.</p>

<p>BTW, there are only two Ivies with EA ;)</p>

3

<p>This is an example of a kid that needs the official visits to help her confirm her choice. Also, I would suggest that she go on the official visits to confirm the coach’s committment – although she would get that with the likely letter as well.</p>

4

<p>I thought the question was going to be, “Is she obligated to participate in the sport if she is accepted and attends?” I had no idea a student would be ethically obligated to attend a school if that student has applied nonbinding EA, even with a coach’s support.</p>

5

<p>Smytty - yes, you’ve rumbled me. Those are the two schools.</p>

<p>NJres - it was a bit of a surprise to us as well. Effectively turned these schools into ED decisions for her.</p>

6

<p>Not sure what your D’s sport is, but a young woman on this forum got into one of those schools EA a couple of years ago with some coach support, but had not made up her mind about attending. She ultimately did attend, but did not seem to feel that she was bound.</p>

7

<p>I have never been in this position, and won’t ever be, although I suppose I was in an analogous situation for my first job after grad school. I have a few thoughts, though:</p>

<p>(1) I can’t believe that if a coach supports a candidate at the EA stage who then turns the school down, the admissions committee will count that against the coach in the RD round, provided everyone knows that the kid won’t be matriculating in time to take that into consideration.</p>

<p>(2) So I think, in the absence of a clear, binding commitment, a candidate’s ethical obligation is to be honest with the coach at all stages, and to act in a way that takes other people’s needs as well as her own into account. So I don’t think there’s anything wrong with asking for the coach’s support while making it clear that she hasn’t made a final decision (and understanding that the coach may hesitate to support her because of that). And it would be better if she promised to make that final decision (if she is admitted) in a time frame that would let the coach support someone else in the RD round. (That presumes, of course, that there will be a commitment to some other school or coach.)</p>

<p>(3) But really, if it’s just a question of deciding between the two unnamed Ivies that happen to have EA, what’s the big deal? All the relevant information is available to her now: about the coaches, the teams, and, Lord knows, the schools. The schools are both great; there’s essentially nothing significant at stake in choosing between them from an academic and social point of view. It’s really a question of which coach, which team, which city, and which colors she likes more. Nothing much is going to change between now and April. So why not just pick one? Of course, if there are other options in the mix (say, DI scholarships), that’s a more complicated decision, but it would still permit her to pick one of the two now, with the caveat that she was still considering the non-Ivy route (and that would almost certainly put her in a position to make a decision in a time frame that would not disadvantage the coach who supported her).</p>

<p>(4) At the end of the day, the rules are the rules. She isn’t going to be committed to attend a particular school until she commits herself. Maybe she’ll be immature, maybe she’ll be a jerk, but people – especially 18-year-old people – are sometimes immature jerks about big decisions affecting their lives, and they’re usually allowed to do that without serious consequences.</p>

8

<p>Something you might want to consider-- if your daughter does applies EA with coach’s support is admitted in December and decides not to matriculate at that school immediately, but rather to wait until spring, you should assume that the coach (rightfully or not) will feel that your daughter has not lived up to her side of the “agreement.” Do not be surprised if the coach feels less than completely enthusiastic about your daughter, her level of commitment, and the coach’s ability to rely on her, once she is at the school and on the team.</p>

9

<p>KateLewis, no, she isn’t ethically committed. You have no idea how much a coach really goes to bat for your daughter.</p>

<p>She isn’t even committed to go to the school. </p>

<p>The coach isn’t obligated to play your daughter if she goes to the school either. </p>

<p>Your daughter isn’t obligated to play.</p>