What I am trying to address is the information posters are being given that is based off of what the rules are regarding Ivy League recruitment. From personal experience, I know that this is not set in stone and that there is a lot of area in the middle.
The coach most definitely has a depth chart which is used when presenting his/her recruits to Admissions. This is used to compile the AI which needs to be met. We asked the coach flat out where our child stood on the depth chart in terms of support. My experience is personal, not what I have been told or read about.
In terms of the Likely Letter, we had feed back from the coach via the AD who was directly working with Admissions. We had an email containing the pre read by the summer before Junior year. By the end of Junior year we had an email containing an attachment which was the exact copy of the Likely Letter that was later sent in the mail.
I cannot speak for all the Ivies, but a female lacrosse recruit at UPenn was asked to take the ACT and met the requested score. She was later asked to take the ACT again, which was being used to raise the AI for the recruit group. My other child who attends a non Ivy but similar school in CA committed in July before her Junior year and had to send quarterly academic updates. She also sent her Junior and Senior class schedule. She took the ACT twice and sent both scores. She did not have to take SAT II’s since the ACT is accepted as subject tests. She had to have her application submitted by August 1 before her Senior year and was given a full acceptance letter by September of her Senior year, long before Early Decision letters were sent out. She signed the NLI in November.
This was MY experience. I know there is a lot of information out there and I am sure each coach has her/her method. The process can be different from school to school depending on the AD, the coach, the coach’s relationship with Admissions and the support of the sport itself within the school.