I’m just using it as a proxy for ED% relative to enrollment because athletic recruiting uses ED. To the extent ED is a finite resource, and I’m not sure if it is or is not, then athletics is using the lion’s share of it.
Yes, there are kids on NESCAC varsity rosters who got in RD but I think they are the exception, and I don’t think the NESCAC varsity teams have a robust number of walk-ons, though I concede that can really vary by sport. In any event, we’ll never be able to nail that down. I believe any level of coaching support, slot and whatever the other thing is called, requires the athlete to apply ED. @Mwfan1921 may know more.
At many schools, and you would have to ask at each, admissions says “yeah, you can play that card and get some benefit from it, but only if you will say you’re going to come here. We don’t want to give you that advantage for you to have us as an option you don’t care for.” I have a friend who has given several 7 figure gifts (very selective non-NESCAC) who was told that for his kids to get a legacy bump, they would have to apply ED.
I am sure that for some donors, there’s no need to ED - or even attend. The new science building bought you that privilege.
But anecdotally, most of the folks I know who had a bit of pull through their legacy status were told that magic wore off after ED. Note that their kids could still be admitted, but perhaps with a lighter finger on the scale.
Definitely. I think you mentioned rowing as one that may have relatively more walk-ons, and I agree. Would add cross country, sailing, some positions in football, maybe some events in track and field as other relatively more likely walk on possibilities.
Agree, I don’t know of any repository for this information.
Sometimes recruits fall into RD, for various reasons, but it’s not the norm. Relatively more common in spring sports, especially track.
In the big picture for NESCAC recruiting, the Amherst Place of Athletics reports from 2016 is still relevant for understanding the process and numbers involved.
My limited experience is that there are pretty few walk ons, because my student always says so and so was a walk on regardless of the sport which means everyone knows who they are which means there can’t be that many of them. And it’s a neutral comment. It isn’t an insult.
Regarding app numbers/acceptance percentage and yield, one thing that gets missed is that NESCAC schools with historical recruiting from large urban centers/NYC or California such as Williams and Amherst have the solid foundation of applicants notwithstanding the general decrease in college age students that could impact Oberlin, Bucknell or Carleton. Part of this is related to the ability to drive 3 hrs to campus to Williams or Amherst from NYC. Both schools are drivable for a day trip from Manhatten.
Yeah, i don’t have an axe to grind on ED. S26 applied ED2 to Wesleyan. But I will say that it’s a more emotional choice than either of us expected and some of that is to do with the enormous amount of pressure and lack of control that many kids feel (right or wrong) to be accepted to a selective institution. Even though S26 was excited to be admitted to Wes, there was a moment in February when many of his friends were hearing back from several schools while he was withdrawing from them, that he was like… what if I’d gotten in here or here or here? You can only choose one but having no more ability to choose did make him feel anxious that he’d chosen well. He moved through it and all is well, but we are talking about 17-18 year olds making the biggest decision they’ve ever made vs a school that’s a lot less emotionally invested in the decision (filled with adults whose job it is to make the decision). There’s not a fair balance of power in that regard.
(And note that he did apply to an Ivy ED and was rejected—it didn’t mean he didn’t love Wesleyan too. But ED2 is there for that reason, in part, I’m sure.)
Fwiw, even kids who make their decision in the RD round often experience some second-guessing.
At some point, you pick one! And glad your son is now excited about the fall. I think one of the things so many of us forget - about our own experience or our kids’ - is that usually once you’re there, you settle in and don’t look back.
Completely understand. We went through it too. I am confident your S26 chose well. I have one who just graduated from Brown, one who graduated from another very popular and highly selective college and Wes. The Wesleyan undergraduate experience was, from my vantage point, the best undergraduate experience of the three. Some of it is the kid, some of it is the school. Wesleyan does the undergraduate experience very well and is a place that, IMHO, has the “just right” combination of size, tradition, research, progressive thinking and willingness to try and do new things. I will be surprised if in 4 years you don’t come to the same conclusion.
Just happened upon this post and wanted to say that my son was a freshman walk-on at Trinity with zero rowing experience (but a strong high school runner), and he now rows on the first varsity boat as a junior. It can happen!
Track teams are huge. Not that many are “recruited” athletes who have the coach log a slot for them. There aren’t that many. How many of the javelin throwers and triple jumpers are recruits? And these teams include kids who aren’t that good because teams generally don’t cut but throw bodies out there for meets to fill slots. Football too. There are recruits, of course, but I don’t believe most of the guys on varsity are recruits. I’m saying I don’t think its a good proxy.
Makes sense. I haven’t done the math, but I’m pretty confident that for NESCAC and other highly selective DIII schools with varsity rowing (both men’s and women’s), it’s the sport that needs to fill the most spots via walkons: in other words, “number of athletes needed to field a full team” - “number of recruiting spots available to coaches” is the largest of all varsity sports.
It may be. It’s also one of the easier sports for good athletes to transition to, and the coaches are pretty slick in finding those kids who might be looking fora new sport. With their good conditioning, strength, and work ethic, they are great prospects.
The fall races include novice boats, and many teams have several boats, some 4s and 8s, so there are also good development paths. I’m familiar with a couple of athletes who rowed for the first time in college (NESCAC) who ended up on US teams.
I don’t think this is true. The vast majority of the kids on NESCAC track teams are recruits even the javelin throwers and triple jumpers. The idea that teams don’t cut is insane. Teams are not trying to win meets. They are trying to get athletes to nationals.
I don’t know T&F, but way back when, I swam in college. There were no cuts, and if you showed up for practice, you’d get to swim in an extra relay or second (unscored) heat at some home meets. It was, for those athletes, about exercise and personal improvement, and the whole team celebrated the latter.
The travel team, otoh, was small because there was one bus for the men and women. And it was from within that cohort that the kids going to regionals (D1-D3, this was prior to NESCACs) and Nationals came.
So it all was true - there were not so competitive walk-ons and athletes going to Nationals. Pretty sure the XC teams welcome walk-ons in a similar way still.
No, it’s not like this anymore. XC is very selective. Track team is full of recruited athletes. The only walk ons are usually athletes from other teams that compete in the fall.