Hi. I am a swimmer currently taking part in the recruitment process for Wesleyan, Babson, Amherst, and Vassar. A little while ago, I was asked to send pre-read info to these schools, and I have some questions.
How selective is the pre-read process? If I am offered a pre-read does that mean that I am “athletically passable” but I just need the academics to pass too?
I know that in the past pre-reads came out on July 1 and that last year, due to whatever legal changes, it became August 1. For the class of 2025, do pre-reads come out on July 1 or August 1?
Being offered a pre-read is a great step! It means that the coach is interested in you as a recruit. Coaches typically have a limited number of pre-reads and they do not waste them on athletes that they are not interested in.
That said, coaches also offer considerably more pre-reads than they have spots so passing a pre-read doesn’t mean that you will get an offer, it means that you may get an offer. You need to discuss with the coach exactly where you are on their list to get a better understanding of the odds of an offer.
For the NESCAC schools the date is back to July 1st. That date is just the earliest date and some admissions offices lag a bit but the clock has now started. Coaches will be making offers to their top candidates and then working their lists. The process can go on for awhile for athletes who are good targets but maybe not the top targets of a coach or school.
That depends on the school but for a NESCAC school a player passing the pre-read and getting an offer for “full support” in ED gives someone a very high chance of admission typically >90%. For MIT Swat, or JHU is is a big bump but not nearly the guarantee that it is elsewhere.
This was not our experience with these schools. However, JHU was quite upfront with what it took in terms of a test score and we know people who assumed “close” was good enough and ended up disappointed. I would put Carnegie Mellon in the less pull group, at least for competitive majors, particularly CS. But like MIT, they were quite upfront about it.
Curious - if the athlete submits GPA/test scores and/or transcript as part of the Athletic Recruiting form:
Why would coaches request this information again for pre-reads? Or are they asking for additional info?
If coach requests a call, is it reasonable to assume that the coach eye-balled the info submitted via form/email and believes that the athlete can be admitted?
Athlete Recruiting Forms are a black pit. Lots of coaches never even look at them. ALWAYS email after filing out the form. Regardless, most athletes fill out those forms very early in the recruiting stage. The pre-read typically happens much later and they want the most up to date info.
