My son has had a number of coaches ask for prereads in his sport. Most of the coaches ask for transcript and classes for next year and some also ask for the school profile. Two of the coaches who initiated the contact and have demonstrated keen interest have sent him the entire application with several essays particular to the respective school. Is this typical? It seems like a significant amount of effort at this point for one school when he hasn’t completed the common core essay yet.
I have never seen a full application but a statement or two ~250 words, commonly the same as you find in the application, are not unusual.
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We were never asked for a full application or anything other than transcript, test scores, and senior year class schedule.
Does he have keen interest in these schools ? If yes, do what is asked vs asking if it is typical or not. It may be one more way for the coach and admissions to see who is serious about their school. My daughter was asked to complete alumni interviews for 2 of her schools in the recruitment process - guessing they wanted to check the boxes and recruits applications mirror the other unhooked applicants. Lastly, a recruits app should be their best work and I would imagine many kids have their Common Essay done and the app filled out by now.
Pomona required essays as part of their pre-read. My son still holds a grudge against me for making him do those essays. He ended up at an Ivy with no pre-read essays.
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Thank you for your response. Alls well that ends well. What happened after the Pomona preread?
He passed the Pomona pre-read, but it quickly became clear that he wasn’t interested in Pomona (too small and not a cultural fit, although weather was perfect) and his athleticism was Ivy D1 rather than Pomona D3. So, he withdrew his name from Pomona consideration, focused on the Ivies and ended there.
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My daughter has submitted transcripts to 8 schools. One asked for an essay from previous year. None asked for any application materials beyond school profile and senior class list. She has received one actual admissions likely letter and two other positive responses. It appears the others are after August 1. She also may have fallen off the list of others. Ouch.
The preference from each is visit with team to make sure it is a fit both ways then ED, so doing any additional effort before you know where you want to be is asking a lot of these kids. However, that is a good way to determine how serious one might be.
The whole experience is awkward at best. She has some outside chances at D-1 schools still. Seems like that leaks into September as first groups of players commit. Such a different experience than my older boys who were not going for sports…went to large OOS public. They knew what they wanted and got it.
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This sort of nails how I view it: “so doing any additional effort before you know where you want to be is asking a lot of these kids.”
We are going to do the application for one of them, because it is a top academic. When did your daughter submit the transcripts? We have only heard back from two so far, but just submitted them in the last two weeks.
Everything sent early July based on a direct requests. The most firm letter after they saw her at a camp a few days earlier. She had spoken to them a few times. The letter came late that night from admissions.
We had a few say come to our camps to see the school and meet us but we can afford the extra trips until we know she actually can get in. Those indicated August pre-read.
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I only know about very high academic D3 prereads. All wanted school profile and either a resume or comprehensive activity/extracurricular list, in addition to transcript, self-reported scores (advised whether to submit or not) with things like awards and volunteer information, and senior year classes. One school said schedule an interview, and another school said interviews are available but don’t sign up, because it can end up being a negative and doesn’t do much to help if it’s positive. It was very close to everything required for the application, other than recommendations. However, I know these coaches do some “reference” checks, looking into the kid’s character. Usually it’s conversations with other coaches, but calling someone from the high school can happen, too.
A few schools have added writing samples (an academic paper from the prior year). S25 was prepared for that, with material in hand. What he didn’t expect was the school with two writing prompts, which were actually the 2 supplemental essays. That preread was pretty grueling, and a coach said it’s that way on purpose, as a deterrent! They only want kids who want to put in the work and also embrace the academic/intellectual challenge. The good news on that one was twofold - they said if you got through the preread, don’t change a thing in those 2 supplemental essays in your application. Also, the preread was so thorough, the coaches for this team have had a 100% success rate with recruits getting the the early admissions process!
(This was the first choice and this is where my son has committed! In his case, it was definitely worth the effort!)
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Thank you very much. This was exactly the information I was looking for, and it is extremely helpful as to the process. And very interesting about the interview. My son has one scheduled next week and now I am nervous.
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I wouldn’t worry at all about the interview if the coach said to do it! The one my son did was a very enjoyable conversation and judging from how soon after it the next contact from the coach was, I’m pretty sure he heard quickly that it went well.
Tell your son to have things to talk about besides the sport and to have questions!! If the interviewer is a student, like an admissions fellow, and not an athlete, he could ask if they have friends who are on teams and he can talk about activities he’d like to participate in and ways to be involved beyond the sport.
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i would also add have a good why this school and work that in 
have a few classes or school specific examples that are not generic. Be able to speak about the academic side. My daughter had interviews for 2 Ivys and the alumni had no association with sports at all.
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Quick tip. I spoke with an alum of an Ivy League school who did interviews for prospective candidates. They recommended athletic recruit to mention that early. The Ivy League school typically uses alumnus to conduct interviews, primarily to make the interviewer feel like they were important. They said it was always frustrating when they found out later in the interview that the candidate was an athletic recruit, because their report was usually inconsequential.
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My son wound up having his interview after he recieved his likely letter. The interviewer knew that going in. Son took it as an opportunity to talk to an alum. Asked about his favorite courses, experiences, etc. while he was in school.
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To be fair, for any applicant, the interviewer report is usually inconsequential. And an Ivy League alum interviewing before mid-October should have put 2 and 2 together even before they said in the first nanosecond, “So Joe, tell me about yourself.”
Tl;Dr don’t blame the kid
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