My 2025 is talking with several NESCAC coaches and has visited the campuses, met with coaches and the teams. She is most interested in Middlebury and Williams and likely will be going through the pre-read with them this summer. She’s been identified as a top recruit at Tufts, Colby, Wesleyan and Hamilton, all would give support, but prefers them less. She attends a private prep-school in Houston and, they are aware of her unweighted gpa is 3.7, no test scores yet but in the process of taking SAT this summer.
She’s taking all honors/AP classes, strong leadership at the school, team captain and community service. Anyone have any experience with pre-reads at the NESCACS and is 3.7 good enough to get her through at Midd and Williams if she doesn’t end up as top recruit? Do they look at more than just the gpa and test scores when conducting a pre-read?
I’d guess that she’ll be fine with that as,it’s unweighted and has rigor. You should probably calculate without any "non-academic " classes, like pe, health, music, etc.
They most likely request the school
profile - where does your daughter stand as compared to her classmates in her school? Top 10% or ? As mentioned above, her rigor will matter too and did she take full advantage of the academic offerings? GPA doesn’t say a lot, as all in relation to her school.
I get the impression it doesn’t matter so much for a pre read, though occasionally they ask for the school profile. Pre reads are significantly less holistic and more about the numbers.
Having said that, Williams (more so than Middlebury) might view her as a B-Band athlete and she will need to be a true impact athlete to receive a slot. Strong (1500+) test scores will significantly help here. The issue is the timing as pre-reads will occur Jul 1st.
Just to answer this question specifically - prereads generally consist of academic transcripts, test scores, class rank or some equivalent, school profile, and courses planned for senior year. Coaches will tell your athlete what they need, but that’s the general list. No essays, letters of recommendation, etc.
I assume you mean still a recruit though. The coach should be able to give you good guidance. Note that not all NESCACs use bands in all sports. I agree a strong test score would help.
I would also have a resume ready to go. Not a sports only resume, but a full resume. Good luck.
It probably comes down to how much they want her/view her as impact player. Also, she should ask them if it matters she may not have a test score before 7/1, pre-read date. She hasn’t taken either the ACT OR SAT yet? In our experience, the coaches wanted to know/see D’s test score, even if they weren’t 100% sure at that time they WOULD submit it (they did). Also, they will want school profile, list/resume of academics and athletics, senior courses (as much rigor as possible) and current transcript.
Our friend’s child had to submit a graded paper for Williams for the pre-read this past summer. It came up as a surprise and they were contacting the HS to get assistance and advice on which paper would be the best option. They were accepted and enjoying their freshman year and sport.
I would recommend you speak with the counselor at your daughter’s school to get an idea where she falls within her peers. Do you have a copy of the school profile? You mentioned she attends a private prep school, so they should have all this information available and assist you. The school profile should have information regarding courses, test averages, gpa etc. If you don’t have it - get a copy. Does your school have a history with past students attending any of these schools - that is a good data point too and your counselor should share information with you regarding accepted students.
I would also recommend you reserve a couple testing dates - that way your daughter can retest as needed and you are not left scrambling. It is helpful to tell the coach I got X score in June and will be retaking in August (or whatever month) plus tutor, if possible. You should have an idea regarding her testing with the PSAT.
Recruiting is a roller coaster, in most cases - so buckle up and be open in the process, as it can change quickly and interest from coaches can vary.
Lots of experienced parents on this site - CC really helped me when my child went through recruiting during the Covid years.
As you can tell from the responses, it is virtually impossible for us to tell and it’s more likely a partially educated guess.
It can be helpful to understand how athletic recruiting works at NESCAC schools. All NESCACs use the “band system,” but that tells you very little about how NESCAC recruiting actually works. Basically for most sports (except football) coaches get two slots and three tips to support with admissions. These numbers are approximate. They can change according to need and for other reasons such as horse trading between coaches. The two slots are for lower band (B or C band) applicants. The tips are for athletes whose academic background is essentially similar to non-recruited admitted students. So, whether any athlete is admissible really depends on how much the coach wants you. If coach must have you, your numbers need not be as strong and you can be supported with admissions as a slot. If the coach must have you and your numbers are strong, he/she will support by tip, and you will have an equal chance of admission as the slot.
Here is the skinny on Middlebury. The information is dated, but from a coach. An A- would land you between the A and B bands. Test scores each should be in the 700 range. It can be less, but needs to balance. In other words, a 690 quant is fine as long it is a 710 verb. I don’t know how far down in grades a coach can go for a slot.
Williams is another beast. One coach expressed chagrin over a B+ in another wise perfect GPA with the highest rigor. That same coach said the lowest ACT score for a recruited athlete was a 29.
I would take all this with a grain of salt. The coaches may say one thing to one family and yet another thing to another family. They may encourage a “must have” recruit while trying to dissuade one in which they have no interest.
One thing that I have never understood is why recruits and family shy away from asking coaches the hard question. For some reason, parents are afraid that the coach won’t like them or maybe it will change the result. Ask. Will my kid be admitted. If the answer is “no,” you want to move on immediately and find a school where the answer is “yes.” The only one that can give you any kind of reliable guidance on the point is the coach.
I’m going to guess that the AO at the nescacs you mentioned are all familiar with the Houston private prep school and aware of which schools lack grade inflation. However, sometimes the coaches are less familiar with those things, and may not care to analyze the school profile so carefully. A flashy 1500 is a good attention grabber that won’t be ignored! I agree with the poster who said certain coaches, one school mentioned particularly, are much more critical of grades than others, and very insistent about the rigor of senior year courses. A NESCAC you didn’t mention requires a resume for prereads and they want almost all recruits to be as qualified as unhooked applicants who will be admitted.
The 1st DSAT in March returned scores in two weeks, so the May & June dates could both get her scores back by 7/1.
If your daughter is in communication enough to have had visits, she should talk to the coaches on the phone to get their input on senior yr classes and a target score to help balance her gpa. Either way, I think another opportunity for connecting with the coaching staff is always good.
Here’s a question for other posters:
Is there any leeway for submitting additional material for a preread, such as the resume or graded paper (if not requested), or a letter from the college counselor?
The coach will be sure to tell you all the information that is required for a preread. You can always submit anything extra to the coach for the preread. We always submitted an unofficial transcript, school profile, college CV and scores. Coaches never actually asked for the CV. That said, you have no control over what the coach will actually submit to admissions for consideration. Since the recruit does not have direct contact with admissions for prereads, it is murky what is sent or considered.
My advice is to be skeptical, get everything in writing and demand transparency. These super competitive D3 schools have all the power and zero liability esp the ones that explicitly state athletics do not play a role in admissions. We all know that isn’t true but you have no recourse and they have a crop of athletes to choose from. I personally know several kids who were assured spots on teams if they applied ED and got rejected! So beware and have backups. You don’t want to waste your ED these days. IMO, this is a serious issue that needs to be addressed and regulated bc it’s deceptive/fraudulent behavior.
There are many misconceptions in your post. Anyone interested in nescac recruiting can go back and read the many threads outlining the process. The nescacs are not known for coaches baiting and switching. It is not unheard of for an athlete to believe they heard more than they really did from a coach. That is the coach, while being enthusiastic, did not actually make the athlete an offer of admissions support.