This won’t factor in for the pre-read. There are a couple of schools that ask for a short statement but for the most part it’s pretty objective. Transcript, test scores (and be prepared to submit even at TO schools, where the coach will usually advise how to deal with them during the actual application), and courses planned for Sr year. Some degree of rigor will be generally expected and taken into account.
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I meant the application will matter if he chooses to apply and roll the dice at a higher academic school if the coach likes him but can’t guarantee an admissions spot but says he’d have a spot on the team.
3 of 5 courses AP next year and 3 of 6 courses AP this past year. Rigor is there as his school and deans expect it of all students. Just hoping the 3.5 is ok coming from the top prep school where academics and athletics are 
Got it. I think it will be very hard to overcome the GPA in that instance, even from a top prep school. At the end of the day, you are almost always expected to be at the top of YOUR class. I also don’t know of anyone who didn’t pass a pre-read but made it through regular admissions at a high academic school.
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He should tell the coach his test score, and the coach will decide what to do from there (not your S.) Not having a competitive test score will likely be a disadvantage at the highly selective schools, especially if he has high rigor. How much of a disadvantage depends on how badly the coach wants your S.
Yes, the application will matter if he doesn’t have full coach support. Not all coaches will guarantee a roster spot for a non-full support recruit, but some will. Of course a spot on the team doesn’t guarantee playing time. And similarly roster spots for everyone aren’t guaranteed from year to year.
What does his HS counselor say about potentially ‘rolling the dice’ at a higher academic school with no athletic support? Some NESCAC coaches might give ‘soft’ support as well, which is another potential scenario.
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His advisor says “ if a coach wants you- you’re gpa is ok” . Not sure how it would be with rolling the dice and applying.
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Let me edit this…“if a coach wants you AND you pass the academic pre-read with admissions AND are offered a slot with full coach support, your GPA is ok.”
At any point your S may be considering this, this would be a worthwhile conversation for him to have with his counselor/advisor. There would also likely be a difference here if applying ED and you are full pay.
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I think the counselor’s comment was based on historical data of athletes at the school. But yes - IF the coach wants you, their point was the academic pre read would be passed. Again past years reference and variables always exist with very few constants. Im really just getting a read on 3.5 assuming the coach wants the athlete.
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My '25 had to send an essay to Williams.
Tufts pre read has an optional essay.
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Do some NESCAC schools do fewer prereads than others? Is it more meaningful to get a preread at one NESCAC vs another? Especially for this first round prior to July 1.
There is no standard for schools or teams. Pre-reads will happen based on a teams need, and how sure that they are of getting their top targets. Each team generally does start out with a limited number of pre-reads because it is work for the AO but they typically pre-read quite a few more than they plan on offering.
They do this because they might have some not pass (not real likely in my experience because coaches don’t want to push kids that won’t get in) but more importantly top targets often have multiple offers and coaches “are shooting their shot” for these kids hoping that they get some if not most of their target list.
For the first round they will likely pre-read several people for each position slot that they have. 12-20 pre-reads for 4 slots would be common for some schools especially if they aren’t confident of getting their top targets.
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As stated, this is likely dependent on sport, coach, and team need year to year. All NESCACs do pre-reads, so one pre-read is not more meaningful than the next, however, what’s important is where your athlete hopes to attend and play (which school is the best fit for them academically, athletically, and culturally) and that you have run the NPC.
My daughter was told by NESCAC coaches she went through pre-read with for her field sport, that they were submitting 20-25 for 5-6 roster spots. If your athlete’s been told they’re getting a pre-read, they can ask how many recruits the coach is taking through the pre-reads and how many roster spots they anticipate. My D knew she was being submitted for pre-reads by Spring and all materials were submitted by mid to late June. For some sports (not all), top recruits will get offers on July 1st or right after.
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Thank you for the information. My athlete has been asked for materials for a lot of NESCAC pre-reads that represent a wide range of relationships-schools/coaches we have not visited or spoken to personally to ones that have been in regular contact for several months. Was just a little puzzled by the uniformity at this point in the process without the same path leading up to end of May.
It’s not uncommon that coaches could be at a different point in their recruiting. Assuming your D passes the pre-reads, she should be asking each coach where she stands priority wise in the pool. That will help inform her when she is prioritizing her list. Good luck.
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The uniformity is now happening because we are approaching the date where the coaches can offer admissions support to recruited athletes. While different coaches and schools have different approaches to recruiting they are all bound by NESCAC conference rules when it comes to making support offers to athletes. These rules include when recruits can be given offers of support along with academic requirements and limits on the number of recruited athletes who can receive support.
Your athlete should be having regular, consistent, and specific conversations with their priority schools/coaches, expressing their desire to go/play there, and asking where they are are on the coach’s “list”. My D found it helpful to ask when she could expect to hear results of the pre-read and what the next steps would be. The responses vary from very specific (“If you pass the pre-read, I’ll call you with an offer on 7/1”) to more vague (“I’ll have all offers out by late July, end of Summer, etc.”), but either way it yields info. We found June to be a stressful month, leading up to 7/1, as my D submitted final documents and just waited. Again, your athlete having regular/consistent conversations with their top choices and asking specific questions/timelines is key.
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The waiting is excruciating.
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This tracks with my D’s experience as well. June was a stressful month. If you are in consistent communication and are a top recruit you should know by now and you should be able to get a feel for things by asking the questions that @Crosbylane mentioned. If your athlete has a top choice it doesn’t hurt to mention that as well; coaches want their top choices but they also want to yield from their top picks. Number 3 on the list could become number one if they aren’t sure about getting 1 or 2. They don’t want to go any lower on their lists than they have to and July can be a very stressful month for the coaches as well.
Things should settle down by mid-August for many sports but they can play out well into the fall. Though I don’t consider it the most ethical thing we had two coaches (UAA not NESCAC) “check in” during the fall to offer a spot if there was a change of heart.
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I do think that NESCAC as a conference really tries to stay above board with everything. I appreciate that.
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My D is at a NESCAC and I mostly agree. There is a reason for ‘mostly agree’.