So Columbia University is my top choice and I really want to there (i’m a senior). My head coach called Columbia’s head coach and talked about me and had a great convo. They were very interested in me and called me the following week. I had a great convo with the coach (they liked my personality and thought I was fast) and they offered me an official visit and paid for my ticket. I’m pretty sure they have my grade, act, and classes before they offered me the official, but they have everything now and i’m going through the preread. In addition, they sent me over the financial aid preread and want me to do ED. I’m going on my visit in two weeks and I just really want to go there. What are my chances of getting the Ok and the letter? I want to commit and do the signing ASAP? Do i have a chance??
My GPA is a 3.92 unweighted 4.83 weighted
ACT 27
7 AP/IB classes
All Honors classes
In the top choir I ended up performing in over 100 performances which included collaborating with the Joffrey Ballet, twice, as well as performing for the United Nations. I was also lucky to perform on Liberty Island and win All-State
being the top choir in Illinois. Now for my senior year, I am a choir section leader and officer helping my fellow members
Pretty solid for getting the “ok”. If the coach tells you the academic pre-read is positive, ask point-blank if you are being offered one of the team’s recruiting slots. If the answer is “yes”, then you should just about know for sure.
As for the letter. Well that depends on Admissions Office policy and discretion. The group of recruited athletes that receives likely letters is a sub-set of the group of recruited athletes who are admitted
And remember, a likely letter is nothing more than notification of admission (subject to standard contingencies) earlier than other applicants receive. That is all it is. Sure, in the stressful environment of college admissions and athletic recruiting, that provides great comfort. And it provides a tangible benefit if you are trying to decide whether to accept an athletic scholarship from an NLI school and need to make a decision by the NLI signing period–which may be scheduled to occur before the standard notification date for Columbia ED or RD admissions, as may be applicable.
The time to commit to the application process would be after you get confirmation that you had a positive academic pre-read and the coach is offering you a slot. In Ivy recruiting there is no “signing” (unless you wish to stage a replica of a signing). Your commitment to the application process is signified by your clicking–on the send button for the Common App and any Columbia supplements
Thank you so much! This really helps. So if the coach gives me a positive okay from admissions, would the coach be supporting my application on the common app and kinda helping me get into the school? And when I do the “staged” signing does that mean that I’m in?
Sorry this whole college-sports is so confusing. I feel that I’m a great and hard working student and you can see that in my grades and activities but I know my act is kinda low for them so I don’t want that test to not allow me to go to Columbia. So rowing makes up for my ACT
If you get a positive pre-read from Admissions, that means all the information they have reviewed qualifies you for acceptance with coach support. What could go wrong? Well don’t submit a rude or ungrammatical essay (but you wouldn’t do that anyway). And of course your recommendations will be in order. Also be sure to stay in school and out of jail!
After the coach confirms that you received a positive pre-read, and after s/he confirms that s/he has allocated one of the team’s slots to you, what does that mean? Each coach has a certain number of applications s/he may support through the admissions process and it means your application is one of them. This support will be noted in the application file that goes to the Admissions Office.
As has been stated on lots of other threads here recently, there is no such thing as degrees of support, such as full, lukewarm, cold. It is 100% or nothing, and if you have a slot you have 100% support.
This may or may not result in a likely letter. But again, a likely letter is early notification. You are just as admitted to Columbia whether you get a likely letter or not. If you are curious about this, you can ask the coach about the percentage of recruits that have received likely letters in previous years.
Since there is no document such as an NLI to sign, there is really no authentic signing ceremony that can occur. You or your high school could stage one on your own if you wish. The time for this would be after you receive notification of acceptance, either through a likely letter or at the standard notification date for all ED applicants
It would be nice if athletic directors at schools knew this stuff, but they haven’t, in my kids’ experience; Ivy coaches and kids who have been through the process of Ivy recruiting are the best source for answers.
Sooo…in my experience ( 2 rowers, Ivy recruiting), once you’ve been to your OV, and the coaches (hopefully!) offer you a slot, they will tell you that you will (assuming all goes well, and it usually does) receive a likely letter within X days after your complete ED application has been submitted.
Between them, my kids have gone over the recruiting process with rowing coaches from 6 or 7 Ivies at this point, and likely letters have consistently been discussed as an end result. I’d be much less comfortable than fenwaypark is in believing I really had a slot if a likely wasn’t mentioned; in fact, I worry that this is one of those cases where an athlete might believe more support is being offered than is actually the case, as Ivy coaches do offer softer support as well. I can imagine cases where a likely might not be offered, but as exceptions that prove the rule (for example, when an athlete commits close to the ED decision date, the admissions committee might not bother with a likely).
That said, experienced coaches don’t usually offer OVs to athletes unless they think they’ll pass the pre-read process. It sounds like you’re in a good position, but don’t be afraid to ask the coaches where you stand in terms of their available slots. As fenway stated, you’ll want both a positive pre-read from admissions and a positive offer of a slot from the coaches before you commit to an EA application–and again, I’d want to hear the words “likely letter” to be convinced that I really had both of those things.
What can I say? My opinion is different from fenway’s in some ways.
Why? Because some of what he says contradict the direct experience my kids have had with Ivy rowing recruiting. (For example, I’ve talked to parents whose kids were accepted to an Ivy without a slot but with the soft support of a coach). I’ve read Varska’s posts as well and don’t disagree with anything he says. .Could I be wrong about some stuff? Very possibly. Could fenway be wrong about some stuff? Also very possibly.
None of us are experts on this process, even Varska, though I trust his opinion and expertise a lot. None of us have the definitive answer. CC, at its best, is a place to share our differing experiences, admit that we aren’t experts, and allow others to sift through the variety of experiences and learn what they can. Over and out.
Thank you guys so much, this is all so new to me and I just want to succeed. During my OV how do I win them over to get a slot? Like what kinda question will they ask me? I’m definitely interested and I want them to be interested. I really feel that they will like me as a person and rower.
The one thing that I’m just worried about is my ACT (27) . I don’t want my ACT to be the deciding factor. I work so hard and I love school, and my score doesn’t reflect who I am as a person
You need to try again with the ACT or take SATs. You dont have to submit a score that could paint you in a weaker light unless it is the only score you ever have to offer. How have you done on your APs?
Usually during OVs you are not “quizzed” about anything in particular. Usually the main purpose (for the school) is to get a sense that personalities are compatible, and that you are sincere in your interest to attend the school and be a team member. Your purpose, similarly, should be to confirm your current strong feeling that you would be comfortable with the team and school.
If you have a positive academic pre-read, and the coach has decided to spend the money and commit his/her time–and the time of your prospective teammates–to give you an OV, you can be very confident that your academic credentials have been considered adequate for admission as a athletic recruit.
I’m feeling very confident. One of my teammates (junior) talked to the Columbia coach and the coach asked about me and my teammate said great things about me. So I should be confident. I think I have like an 80% chance that I’ll be able to go to Columbia
I think it is like anything you do - you won’t believe it’s real until it happens. If you get a job offer you somehow won’t accept that it’s real until you pass all the forms HR has for you and you are sitting at your new desk.
Coming slightly tardy to this party but echo what classicalmama said in terms of seeing “soft support.” We had this happen precisely with Harvard - our (very seasoned) counselor called it Support with a capital “S” and support with a lowercase “s” - or a slightly boosted chance at a side door to admissions. Slot vs. being included on a list of 'hopes" were two different things, we were counseled, so, yes, definiitely two tiers in our sport in our experience at least with that particular school.