DD is a rising HS junior being recruited for women’s soccer and wants to be premed. She has been pursuing high academic D3 and D1 schools since 9th grade. She currently is sitting on significant scholarship offers at Holy Cross and Northeastern. She needs to decide on these offers within 1-2 weeks and has a favorite amongst those two schools, but she has also been told by WashU in several calls that they want her and that they have gone to admissions with her transcripts and she is on track to get through the admissions pre read which wouldn’t happen until after this fall semester in Jan, 2027. Fit is more important than finances for our family, and she loves this coach, the feel of the school when we went for camp a year ago, and the team is a D3 powerhouse. Visits to the D1 schools have been completed but we can’t get on campus for WashU until 9/20, and that seems like a really important piece before making a final decision. Any advice on how to handle these conflicting timelines?
She can ask the NEU and holy cross coaches for an extension. They may or may not grant that.
WashU doesn’t give athletic scholarships, so make sure it is affordable without that. She can ask the coach for a financial aid pre-read, and you can run their NPC as well.
I would only ask the favorite among those two schools for an extension. Eliminate the #2 choice now.
Also discuss with D if she would be comfortable accepting her top choice offer and if ending recruitment if no extension would be a happy answer..
This is true for all schools. The coach can offer her a spot on the team but only admissions can offer her a spot in the freshman class, and if she is a Jr that won’t happen until Fall 2027 (but she’ll have a really good idea that it will happen). However, if she has high academics, it is very likely that a boost from the coach gets her through admissions at almost any school (except MIT) and a pre-read can give a lot of security.
If she is pre-med, look at the travel schedules for the teams. A heavy travel schedule can be really hard on the student part of ‘student athlete’
If you can, try to get a sense for the class schedules and labs. We looked at HC for a different sport and were told not to take Friday classes. Not sure if it’s realistic to get all labs in during a 4-day school week and not miss practice.
OP is a rising junior. WashU’s pre-read for potential recruits, per the coach, would happen in Jan 2027. OP would apply to colleges in Fall 2027.
D1 and premed is not the best combination. Not saying that it is impossible but be very realistic with plans, goals, abilities and priorities.
In addition to seeking an extension (perhaps unlikely, and there could be downsides to that), I’d try to talk to as many WashU players as possible to get a sense of the program and school.
These are likely different student-athlete experiences, so getting insight might help with decisions on whether to wait on WashU.
Also, soccer is not my sport and others will know this better than I do, but I’d be sure to nail down what sort of pull the WashU coach has. Is this an Ivy level probability with coach support (= near certain) or MIT level (slightly better than toss up)?
This is exactly what I was thinking. Premed classes are tough, and the student needs to put in a lot of effort (both daughters had majors that overlapped with premed classes, so I have heard a lot of stories). A very hard earned B- in organic chemistry for example I have heard helps significantly compared to a C (admittedly some students do pull off an A in organic chemistry, but I would not be counting on this at this point). Of course there are also lab courses, and there is also the need for medical shadowing.
Plan your budget with the intention to help quite a bit with the cost of medical school (whether you tell your daughter about this or not).
Between Holy Cross, Northeastern, and WUSTL, I would not expect the choice to make any significant difference to the likelihood of your daughter ever making it to medical school – assuming that she finds a school that is a good fit for her, and does not get too wrapped up in athletics to the point of neglecting classes or labs or shadowing. They are all excellent.
“A good fit” and “avoid too much commitment to athletics” to me seem like the top issues, assuming that budget is okay.
And to me the summer between sophomore and junior years of high school seems awfully early to be committing to a particular university.
Agree there might be downsides to asking for an extension, I should have said that! The athlete is basically saying I’m not sure you are my top choice. OTOH, coaches know they are competing for athletes.
With that said, even with an extension to visit the campus, WashU pre-read won’t happen until Jan 2027, so that does leave some uncertainty. The student could not pass the pre-read, or the coach could offer other athletes. And the HC and NEU offers likely gone. Committing now to NEU or HC, decreases risk.
WashU full coach support is similar to NESCAC/Ivy league in that admission is highly likely assuming a positive admissions pre-read.
Agreed, but that’s how D1 recruiting works.
My student is a premed and a D3 athlete. Sport takes a lot of time, but it seems doable. I cannot imagine doing D1 sport. On the top of rigorous classes (and importance of keeping high GPA), you need to do ECs, study for MCAT, etc. Think twice (and then twice more) before committing to D1 while being on a premed track. Again, there are successful premeds that did D1 sport in college, but they are minority for sure.
But it isn’t in some sports, including D1 women’s soccer.
I disagree. Athletics can be very good for organization, keeping to a schedule, support from academic departments. My daughter’s teammate/roommate was a bio/chem major and is now a dentist. Another is a CPA.
In addition, the academic support at some D1 programs can make the logistics of this easier— preferred registration and class selection, traveling proctors, tutoring, etc.
It needs to be examined case by case.
Really? They’re signing a letter of intent in the summer after sophomore year?
Not sure what you disagree with :-). I agree with you. That is what my premed student (who is also an athlete) says as well. He is a D3 athlete. It is very different mentality than being a D1 athlete. Again, not saying it is impossible to be a D1 and a premed but it is very very tough and student is almost guaranteed to lengthen his/her journey to medical school (if he/she survives classes and D1 rigor).
No, they are committing to the coach on Sept 1 of their junior year. It is not binding as far as the NCAA is concerned.
That’s how it’s been done in some sports for many years. Lacrosse used to have players commit as freshmen. Women’s lacrosse coaches agreed to no direct contact contact from the coaches to the athlete until Sept 1 of junior year, yet hundreds accept the offers ON Sept 1 every year, and of course there has been contact before 12:01 on Sept 1 (contact from the player to the coach is allowed). The NCAA doesn’t care, it’s just an agreement of the coaches.
NLI are dinosaurs now. All they did was restrict players for playing for another D1 or D2 school that participates in the NLI program for one school year after signing but now that transfers are pretty much allowed for any reason, they hold no weight. I’m not even sure athletes are still signing them. They probably help the athlete more than the coach as they do contain the amounts grant amounts them, binding the school. but no, you don’t sign them until Nov of senior year.
Why are Holy Cross and NEU asking this player for a commitment as a junior if it isn’t common? Can (and do) players break those commitments? Yes.
NCAA D1 does not use national letters of intent anymore. Students can verbally commit for most D1 sports starting summer after soph year. It’s not binding and they still have to apply and be accepted in their senior year. The Ivy League runs on a different timeline. D3 recruiting has its own timeline as well, with some differences by conference.
Thank you all for your thoughtful responses. It’s given us a lot to think about! Really trying to get her to think about D1 vs D3 difference as well as some small nuances between schools and coaches.
I am just going to reiterate what others have said to make sure any of the programs are workable with a pre-med class schedule. We have seen it numerous times with students thinking they could major in nursing, chem, bio etc and then arriving at school and not being able to take the required classes and needing to change their major.
There are also schools that do a great job with the schedules working for athletes and don’t just take the coaches word - talk to teammate and look at the current/past rosters if they indicate majors. Our daughter was a D1 athlete and her teammates were able to make it work - but it was not true at other schools in their league and other D1 programs.
With our “D1” daughter, her sport also dominated her breaks - only home for winter break for 1/2 the time and then off on a training trip and always on a training trip for Spring break. I am unsure about soccer (her sport was crew), but also something to consider with how it impacts family time.
Congrats to your daughter - it is an exciting time!