Good luck! It’s unnatural for many kids at this age to be that forthright and reach out that much to communicate with coaches, but it truly is necessary and is a great learning experience. If they’re calling, offering to help your kid come up with a list of specific questions, rehearsing/role playing responses, reminding them to write down answers, etc. is often helpful. If they’re emailing, they should be asking to set up a call with them.
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My kid is also NESCAC athlete and @Crosbylane’s advice matches my kids experience to a T. Coaches should be getting junior year transcripts and finalizing their hopes and dreams list (they are competing right now just like the kids) as we type. If you have favorites let them know. Coaches want to pre-read kids that they think they can get along with those that they hope to get.
A more direct approach right now is a great move. Good luck to your kid.
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Fingers crossed! My D26 just sent out her emails last night. Hoping they’ll respond quickly and talk things out. Solidarity!
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Do NESCAC coaches always signal if you are their top recruit for your position before pre-reads or do they hold their cards close? D26 is getting a preread first round and seems to be prioritized, but hasn’t been told she’s “the one” they want. Is that a red flag? Can/should D26 ask directly where she stands at this point in time, or if she’ll be supported if she passes the preread? Or just wait it out at this point?
She can ask and they might tell her, or at least give her a range ("you are one of our top 5 recruits’)
Many coaches submit many more recruits for pre-reads than they have spots for because many recruits are also looking at multiple schools. In some ways it is a game of musical chairs. A school can offer to many recruits but each recruit can only go to one school.
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We found that this varies. D was told by her top NESCAC choice that she was the top recruit and if she passed the pre-read they’d call her with an offer on 7/1. She was told by another NESCAC that they’d extend all offers by 7/15, which seemed to indicate D was in the top 10 or so (coach holding her cards close), but likely not in the top 5- this was just our assumption. D was also told by multiple NESCAC coaches for her field sport that they were taking 20-25 through the pre-read for 5-6 supported spots.
I think your D can ask, but she may/may not get specifics. I think it’s also appropriate for your D to say (if true) that she really loves the school/program and it’s one of (or the depending if it’s true) her top choices. She can ask what next steps are after pre-read and when she can expect to hear.
My D found it most helpful to be as direct and specific as possible, while being respectful/appreciative. We found, at least with our D, that we had to gently encourage some of that direct dialogue as it often isn’t their nature with adults at that age.
Good luck! Keep us posted and don’t hesitate to ask questions! That helped me tremendously!
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It doesn’t add value at this point to ask where she stands (in my opinion). The uncertainty of this process is torture! But the uncertainty will be alleviated soon.
By not adding value, I mean that asking isn’t going to influence a coach to move your daughter up in the ranks, and it is unlikely to give you more information than you already have.
At this point, the only thing your daughter can do to move the needle is to tell a coach that their school is her first choice, and that she would accept an offer on the spot. But really, only play this card if she is absolutely certain about her first choice.
My son went through recruiting during covid, so it was different. But in June he hadn’t seen or been seen by the school that ended up being his top choice and where he ended up attending. So – you never know what can happen! If your daughter is getting prereads now, I think she will end up being fine.
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I think it depends on the coach. My kid submitted for a pre-read for two different sports at a NESCAC (he was really only interested in two of the NESCAC schools to begin with when he eliminated sports from the equation), and each coach had a different approach. His timeline was probably a little later than what I’m understanding happens for field sports.
One sport is fairly niche, only had 1-2 supported slots, and there was a lot of musical chairs as some kids on the list were also going through the process for an Ivy, so the coach would not offer up how the list was taking shape until quite late in the fall after OVs. My kid had had several meetings with this coach and developed a good relationship/rapport with them, set up an OV that had to be rescheduled, etc., but I had to remind him to keep his feet on the ground and his options open during that time. In his other sport, he communicated with the coach a few weeks after the pre-read and the coach was very forthcoming when asked about where my kiddo stacked up on the list. He was solidly in the top 10, but he decided to move on and explore other options.
It was very stressful, but it also really helped bring into focus for him if he still wanted to apply to the NESCACs he was considering, either without coach support or without knowing if he’d have the option to do either of his sports (one school did not really have a great walk-on option, and for one of the sports, that option existed, but the odds of ever making the travel team as a walk-on, or even with soft support, would be near zero). I found that regardless of the outcome, the experience really helped him clarify what he wanted out of his overall college experience, what he valued in relationships with coaches, and what he was looking for specifically when it came to his sports.
Good luck to your daughter! The insight and knowledge shared here was a great help to me as I helped my kid navigate it all - both the ups and downs.
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In our experience, if you are “number 1” (or 2 or 3), the coach will let you know. They are trying to get a gauge of the interest of their top recruits to see how deep they need to go on their depth charts. Don’t lose hope if you are not the “top” recruit at this point. There are usually a small group of recruits that are in contention for “Ivy” and D3 spots that are the top recruits at multiple D3’s. As noted above, once these kids start to commit, there is a whole cascade of open seats in the game of musical chairs. I would say though, if you have not been told you are a top recruit, keep your options open and do not fixate on just 1 or 2 schools.
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Exactly. And just to keep in mind that musical chairs phase of recruiting can go right up to the beginning of November as that is when most ED applications are due.
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Can any parent of NESCAC recruited student athlete give me insight to maybe a below average (for the school) gpa that admissions accepted? If the high school is a top 10 prep school in the country even better ( rigor of the school helps, right? ) .
A Hotchkiss student was admitted to Williams with a 3.4 gpa. He was a star striker, and he later became a coach. He is the person who told me.
If you are going to a top (read: very rigorous) prep school NESCACs definitely take kids with lower GPAs than their reported admitted students’ average.
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Thanks, this helps. My 2026 recruit son in process now with baseball and he’s at a top academic private school with top ball program too. His 3.5 uwgpa is throwing me off because I am reading so much about 3.8 and above being the norm. Maybe not looking NESCAC entirely but even d3 schools a bit less rigorous I am reading the gpa needs to be higher. We’ll see he is about to send transcript to interested coaches…
Feedback from the coaches will be the critical piece. The combination of his GPA (rigor too) plus his athletic strength/recruiting desirability are the key components. Does he have a test score? Also, agree that the top prep schools tend to be more ‘known’, so there may be some give there too.
In general, the relatively more selective NESCAC schools give less on GPA than the Ivies. More give for helmet sports than baseball too. Again, all generalities…your S might be really strong at a position the coach really needs and his GPA will be ok, only the coach will be able to give insights. Good luck.
I think the issue is more that he needs to be one of the top two recruits. There is more wiggle room when that is the case. The coaches get one or two passes and everyone else needs to meet the academic standards.
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Where does his 3.5 put him compared to his high school classmates - school profile? To me, that is of more value vs comparing to other recruits from different schools and grading systems.
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But the NESCACs will take a kid in the bottom half of a rigorous, well known prep school. (Which is where a 3.5 gpa is likely to be). So not sure how comparing students helps. I agree with those saying the student’s athletic ability is likely to be more of a determining factor.
Superstar recruit, impact player freshman year and the coach’s #1 – more leeway on the gpa.
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My point was only that sometimes people get caught up in the gpa and don’t look at it in context of their school. Our recruited daughter (D1) had a 3.7 something from her well known prep school - that put her in the top 12% IF the school would have ranked - no 4.0 student for several years at least from her prep school. She graduated this year from an Ivy with a 4.0 - so grades and grading policy vary greatly 
While she was worried disclosing her gpa to coaches up front would cause them to be concerned, her school counselor made it clear to her that AOs know the school and grading system, but to still point out to the coach in her communication the percentiles.
Agree 100% that top recruits can have more wiggle room.
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Spot on. Where they are on the coaches list is key and a strong test score could help offset things. A 3.4 would typically be a ‘B’ band recruit and coaches only get 1 (maybe 2 some years) B band recruit so being at the top of the list could be critical.
As far as the NESCACs go what would work at Conn College and Trinity is very different that what would work at Williams, Amherst, Bowdoin, etc.
Literally just started the summer academic showcase circuit with a recruiter- son is showing well, multi position player. Schools are expressing interest- not NESCAC but I’ve been curious how the 3.5 gpa will be a factor. His application will be strong, recommendations and writing are very good. He won’t submit sat scores- not high enough for NESCAC but maybe take one more time in early fall. Correct in assuming at his school the 3.5 puts him towards the bottom of his class. 75% or more of students go to top 50 schools with the remainder at well known universities, few go CC or pg year to move on to top schools.