But it’s the if part - right.
And it doesn’t mean if they don’t get in to P, they can’t run.
But maybe it’s - not U Chicago caliber where they get a late spot?
Just thinking out loud.
Outside of running you are a typical “average excellent” candidate. Legacy and donations could help but if it only comes onto play as a “tie-breaker” you are in a tough spot like almost anyone else. T&F wise your current numbers are marginal for Princeton and the coaches response aligns with this. They already have many runners in each of your events well ahead of you.
For the other schools that you mentioned I would expect interest including Penn. Though we do not know what they have in their recruiting pipeline you could possibly be in a point scoring position as a frosh.
I have a close family friend currently running at Brown. By this time the process was quickly narrowing with multiple schools dropping her from their lists about now and others making offers. The final process has some flux right up until the EA deadline because some coaches will drop a kid for a faster kid at the last moment.
None of the schools that you mentioned are great odds for you without running (they aren’t great odds for anyone). You could have some great choices now but they might not be there if you try your shot and Princeton and don’t get across the line.
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OP- I’d encourage you to spend some time thinking about your non-athletic goals for college.
Princeton happens- yay! Walk-on happens- Yay! So you know your best case scenario.
But your backups, plan B’s, plan C’s- that’s going to take some introspection about your actual education, the environment you want academically and intellectually, the ways you want to grow as a person and a scholar. Finding some options which are “sure bets” and “not so risky” which will also provide the right level of intensity, stimulation, rigor, etc- that’s the hard piece.
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All of this. Nothing wrong with taking the shot, but what happens if it doesn’t pan out?
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Some very good insights from parents who have gone through high academic recruiting. Our experience:
The only Ivy that said they would provide a soft support letter was Harvard. Athletics is one of the criteria they officially score in their admissions rubric. Yale, Princeton, and Dartmouth told us no soft support after they said “no” as an official recruit.
Princeton is REA for early admissions. You cannot apply anywhere else EA or ED for any private school in the US. If you applied ED to your sure thing, you could not attend Princeton if you are accepted to the ED school.
S had same dilemma as you. He was offered full support at half a dozen academic D3’s but was not offered support for Yale although he was welcome to walk on if he got in. He was upfront with the D3’s he turned down that he was applying to Yale REA. Most of them told him to report back if he did not get into Yale, implying there was some some support available in RD. From your posts, maybe this is the path you can try to take? S could afford to take the risk since he was already admitted to an honors program of a very good state U. Also he had a bunch of apps ready to go if he were denied or deferred REA.
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This was our experience as well. But I can stress enough the need to have a solid list if applying RD.
For a possible Plan B : Since UChicago is a D3 school and also offers ED2, it’s possible to check with the coach there to see if they would still offer support with an ED2 application. Basically, you are telling them they aren’t your first choice so they might say no. But if they are ok with that, you could REA to Princeton and if denied, pivot to UChicago. Of course , if you are deferred, then you have a decision to make.
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To clarify I have ABSOLUTELY ZERO issue with a student applying to their top choice school in an early program and giving it their all. I agree that there is value in never having to wonder “what if.” I just was concerned with OP’s use of the term 'dream school" which to me has a connotation that it (Princeton in this case) is the “perfect” college. In fact no college is perfect and students can have wonderful experiences and get where they want to go in life at many different schools.
It would be lovely if Princeton works out (and I believe the school values legacy), but hopefully the OP will go through the college application process with an open mind and a well thought out college list that includes reach, match, and safety schools that appear affordable and that they would be excited to attend.
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A sport such as running is a good EC.
These are good ECs.
The point of ECs is not to be the boss of some high school club. The point of ECs is instead to show a commitment to something that you care about, and to do well at it, and to treat people well. Show that you can put a solid effort into something. A summer job for 4 years shows a commitment. If you didn’t get along with people then they would not have hired you back for 4 years. If you can’t work with people then the club that you founded would not have gone anywhere.
I think that your ECs are quite good.
My experience does not include people who were recruited for sport. It does include quite a few students who were pretty strong academically, and who were at least competitive for highly ranked universities. At least in my experience students who are competitive for the top schools, if they apply to a good range of schools, do get accepted to some schools that are very good and that are a good fit for them. They might not get into an Ivy League school or a school at the MIT, Stanford, Chicago, Caltech level, but that is okay. They get in somewhere else that is quite good and then they do well there.
So I think that the issue might be whether to give up on Princeton and take a spot at another specific well ranked school that will recruit you for a sport, or to take a shot at Princeton knowing you will get into some very good university but it might not be one that is famous and highly ranked.
If it were me then I would apply to a range of schools including Princeton, and see where I get in. Then figure out from the various acceptances which one is the best fit.
“Undecided” I understand. This is common and makes sense. There are so many excellent subjects and majors that a student could focus on that it can be hard to pick one, especially when you are still in high school. It is very common for students to change their major when they are in university.
“No academic interests” I do not understand. I do not see how this is compatible with attending a highly ranked and academically challenging university. Academics is going to need to be important to you if you want to do well at Princeton, or Chicago, or Dartmouth College, or any other highly ranked university, or probably any other college or university.
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I meant no SPECIFIC academic interests. Should have been more clear. My problem is I’m interested in TOO MUCH to declare just one main interest I want to pursue. I like all sciences, not just chemistry or biology or whatever, but I also like math, and I like history, and there’s stuff I haven’t taken yet that I want to take my senior year, because I want to explore every area–since I am so undecided and unsure.
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Great, that is the vast majority of Princeton students 
That is the point of a liberal arts education. And then again, you might just love the academic freedom offered at Brown. Have you considered schools like Amherst, Bowdoin, or Williams? Possibly Swarthmore? I am guessing you are a very competitive athlete for some of them. These could make a great plan B, with a good chance of some support, but you need to build those relationships now.
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Wouldn’t support from a coach require ED to these LACs?
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This is a side note, but since you appear to have the ECs to support this, do yourself a favor and lean into the History thing for your application.
And there is a difference between uncommitted undecided and open minded. Make sure to choose things that interest you today (not undecided) from the application drop down and are aligned with the story you are telling in the application.
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Some will be able to support in ED2 and even throw some weight in RD. If the athlete is Ivy competitive (even if not quite at the Princeton level) they will be an impact athlete at some of these programs. The coach will do what they can to get them, but IMO its easier if the relationship is already there. Few coaches will balk at a multi-legacy Princeton applicant having that as their first choice. That does not prevent you from genuinely exploring other options. The key is to be appropriately open and transparent as @BKSquared mentioned.
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This makes a lot more sense! Yes, it is common for a student to explore multiple subjects in university before they decide what they want to major in.
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I’m going to second the idea of applying REA to Princeton and exploring the idea of ED2 at Chicago if it doesn’t work. You would need to work this out with the Chicago coach, who may or may not want to give you support in the ED2 round (but where you might be successful if you submitted a binding application). But I have known recruits who managed to get support ED2. (And also many who did not.) In no case, however, did that happen without some candid conversations.
You risk giving up a sure thing but it gives you a shot at your dream. Without knowing what level of donors your parents are, it’s hard to say how meaningful legacy is at Princeton, but legacy is more helpful in binding rounds than RD. It can be a finger on the scale.
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There are no binding admission rounds at Princeton. I believe REA is a positive for Princeton legacy applicants but the OP should confirm.
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Oh yes, sorry. I should have said binding or REA, SCEA. In other words, some quid pro quo!
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You don’t need to decide anything now, correct?
I’d keep the ball rolling at any other Ivies and D3s (or other D1s) you’d be interested in.
If you can go on official visits to a few Ivies and other schools and end up with offers for coach support, that’s when you have a decision to make.
Focus on learning about the schools where you might be a better athletic fit.
Also think about what the backup plan is.
I don’t think soft support is much of a thing at Princeton.
Congrats on the improvement this season.
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This really comes down to priorities. If you’re aiming to walk on at a dream school, the uncertainty can be intense. Between managing practices, classes, and everything else (like even doing laundry or basic errands), the time pressure is real. It helps to simplify whatever you can so you’re not burned out before the semester even starts.
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