Skip to main content

Son (2016) received e-mail from coach asking him about his current interest level in high academic DIII program and asking at same time whether he is going to apply Early Decision.  I can't tell whether this is a "loaded" question whereby the coach is strongly suggesting ED or whether the coach is simply curious whether that is part of son's plan.  Program is absolutely one of son's current top 3 choices. Son's slight preference is to keep options open for top/top choice.  But, he/we are concerned that advising the coach that he does not plan to apply ED conveys the wrong message. Maybe the answer is that keeping certain options open always inherently carries with it some "the program in your face will focus elsewhere" risk.  I also think son needs to have a conversation with the coach to (i) reconfirm his big interest in the program and (ii) flesh out exactly where he stands on the recruiting board.  I'd really appreciate any other thoughts/guidance.

Original Post

Replies sorted oldest to newest

Originally Posted by b i g m a c:

...I also think son needs to have a conversation with the coach to (i) reconfirm his big interest in the program and (ii) flesh out exactly where he stands on the recruiting board.  

Yes, this as well as asking for his help assessing what type of $$ son will likely be awarded from that school in the form of academic, grants and any other monies available (understanding that D3 has no athletic $ to provide).  It is my understanding that ED is somewhat of a commitment.  He cannot expect your son to make that commitment without knowing what he is committing too and what the costs will be.

Absolutely call the Coach.  Rather than guess the coaches intentions, I'd have your son call the coach to discuss the coaches interest level in your son and what help if any the coach can provide.   If this is a school where your son could receive needed admissions help then I think it is worthy of the cost and time to call the coach.   

 

You can pretty much assume the coach is having this conversation with many other recruits.  You want to see where you stand.  ED deadlines are coming up, and coaches are getting behind their choices.  You want to keep the communication lines open.

 

As always, JMO.  Good luck!

bigmac,

 

Understood.  Typically with high academic (low admissions rate) school there is very little merit money.  Too much demand for too little supply.  Assuming everything is a good fit academically and athletically, the most important thing is to understand is :

 

1) does your son want to go there?

2) does the coach want him and will he offer him a roster spot?

3) does son need the coaches help to get admitted?

4) will the coach support him through admissions if he applies ED?  

 

If your son doesn't need the coaches help to get admitted he has some other options with regard to applying RD.... but he will most likely not be guaranteed a roster spot.  Coaches have the most influence with Admissions during ED or ED1 (not ED2).  

 

Whatever it is that you and your son decide make sure it is very clear to everyone. Essentially, you are playing a poker hand and it is almost time to show your cards. Coaches have deadlines and they want to know who is going to be in their recruited class.  Sure they will take a couple stud walk-ons in the Fall, but now is the time when these decisions are made.

 

Good luck!

Fenway, I really appreciate you taking time to provide these thoughts. 

I guess the best we could possibly get out of the coach is a statement that IF son applies ED, he'll have a guaranteed roster spot.  And, even then, there is a risk (as with almost every college program) that things change and the spot does not happen.  Although, I would think/hope that a coach wouldn't push for ED if he wasn't serious about the player as a player (versus just student).

I like your poker hand analogy that we are at or near the showdown here -- too much finesse or indecision is a bad idea.

Last question: do you have any sense as to what percentage of high academic rosters were ED kids?
Originally Posted by b i g m a c:
.....Last question: do you have any sense as to what percentage of high academic rosters were ED kids?

 

In my experience a very high percentage of high academic recruits are ED applicants.  High academic schools cross a wide variety of Divisions, schools, and conferences.  My son was recruited across D1 mid-majors, D1 Ivy, D1 Patriot, D3 NESCAC and D3 schools. Every school that seriously recruited and offered him required an ED application to secure a roster spot.  Again, the Coaches want to know exactly what they have for an incoming class.  ED is the best way to guarantee a recruit is going to show up in the Fall.  Look at it from the Coaches perspective.

 

Remember, In poker the odds are always in the houses favor and they are much more experienced with these situations than you are..

 

Another way to ask the question is how many RD applicants walked onto a high academic school in the Fall?  In my experience not many.

 

Good luck and feel free to send me a Dialogue if you want to discuss the finer details.

Originally Posted by b i g m a c:


Last question: do you have any sense as to what percentage of high academic rosters were ED kids?

 

bigmac,

 

Every player in my son's recruiting class applied ED and got in.Highly selective schools are really hard to get into during ED.You need every edge you can get.They are insanely hard to get into during regular decision.Almost need an act of god to get that congratulations email/letter !

 

Look at some of the forums of highly selective schools on College Confidential.There are tons of kids who get denied each year who have off the chart application packages.

 

One thing to remember,these academic spots in ED have tremendous economic value and baseball players that play the recruiting game right can jump to the front of the line

All of the coaches leverage comes in ED.  

 

To put more light on the subject, I want you to consider that the athletic recruit in RD has an even worse chance of acceptance than a non-recruit.  Its simple logic.  The coach gets his players in ED so his team is mostly set.  The Admissions Committee knows that a kid being recruited for athletics who did not commit as an ED is most certainly being recruited for athletics by other schools.  It is very likely then that he will be admitted to one of those other schools and therefore is less likely to come to this school even if he is admitted as an RD athletic recruit.  

 

The recruit is almost certainly going to be admitted as an ED and most certainly rejected as an RD.  It stinks but it plays out the same way every year.

Last edited by leftyshortstop

Great posts here.  Just another spin:

 

Athletes applying ED are able to eliminate the competition in RD.  29-31 ACT baseball players eliminate the 33-34 ACT competition.  Attending a top academic institution and continuing to play the game you love.  

 

Bonus: Top corporations, investment banks, law firms heavily recruit student-athletes graduating from top colleges.

 

Good luck

Originally Posted by Gov:

 

 

Athletes applying ED are able to eliminate the competition in RD.  29-31 ACT baseball players eliminate the 33-34 ACT competition.  Attending a top academic institution and continuing to play the game you love.  

 

 

You got it exactly.  You can go through the back door with your name on a list or you can fight to come through the front door with everybody else.  If your absolutely sure the school is the right fit then it isn't a tough choice.  JMO.

If the athlete is being told to apply ED, should he have anything "official" from the coach if it's D3?  When we sat down with the coach at his visit we were told that he'd have coaches support through admissions and a guaranteed spring roster spot - but - as of that date they were still waiting for word from admissions and would not give us final word (although they were very positive).  It's taken some time but it appears he's been given the word today - 2016 is still working the communications through email. I'm just wondering if we just take the confirmation via email and apply ED?

 

Do I need any sort of email from admissions or coach that gives us the go ahead?  

MKbaseballdad,

 

The process you are describing is called a "pre-read". This is a normal process for recruited athletes.  It sounds like Admissions is telling the Coach that it is "likely" your son would be admitted.  That "likely" is typical language and there are no guarantees.  It is up to the Coach to pass that "likley" information along to your son.  Again, this is typical so congrats on the good news.

 

If you are unclear on anything in this process I would call the Coach to answer these questions just to be absolutely sure of next steps.  If you already know your son wants to attend the school, will be supported by the coach and likely admitted then that is pretty much the bulk of it from the baseball standpoint.  Have you talked to the Financial Aid dept?  If you haven't, you probably should.

 

Good luck!

Thanks very much.  All the info is going to 2016 so I assume this is good news - coach said "if we are your first choice, then apply ED" when previously he had said he was still waiting for the go-ahead from admissions.  

 

When you say call the coach do you mean me or 2016?  I have not talked or emailed with the coaches at all except for the the 2 days we were on campus (it kills me to stay out of it).  We had decided that he was going to apply ED after our visit last month and have just been waiting for word from the coach.  This just happened earlier this evening so I still need to talk to the school and get the financial picture.  

MKbaseballdad,

 

Typically, I'm not fond of parents calling coaches unless it is about medical or financial reasons.  

 

I agree with leftyshortstop that if you (parent) call the coach in the context of confirmation of support and access to the Financial Aid folks then that should answer all questions and get the ball rolling.  Of course you could call the FA folks separately, but I think it is fair to "tie off" with the coach as well to answer your questions.

 

Congrats and good luck!

I thought about calling the FA folks directly today (Admissions gave us his card when we visited) but I did not want to call until I had more of a sense of confirmation between son/coach.  

 

Here is how my conversation with son went yesterday:

 

Me - "we need to start thinking about a more solid plan B, there are a couple of showcases coming up with some of your schools attending"

 

Son - "why would I do that?"

 

Me - "we'll, it's been a while since we talked to XXX, and we haven't heard back, I think that ship might have sailed."

 

Son - "what are you talking about, I just got an email from the coach about applying ED" 

 

I have no idea why he wouldn't lead with that info when he got in the car.  He replied to the coach with the correct questions about applying ED with coaches support and a spring roster spot for confirmation purposes.  I told him to just call the coach but he wanted to discuss with his guidance counselor today and then call (he was working on his common app which was what prompted his last communication with coach - "hey coach, I'm working on my application and there are questions about applying ED, wanted to touch base with you..." or something like that). 

 

He did all of that without me bugging him about it (even though I really wanted to bug him) so I'm going to see if he can finish up today on his own.

 

 

Well, it seems like I jumped the gun just a little bit yesterday.  HC is still working with admissions on the "pre-read".  2016 did speak with him yesterday instead of email and he's still planning on applying ED but I'm not considering it a done deal just yet.  I also spoke with admissions/financial aid and it didn't seem like they had done any pre-reads for athletics yet (but they really didn't seem organized - I was transferred about 10 times to dead phone lines, wrong numbers and never heard back from anyone I was told I needed to speak with).  

 

I'm fairly confident that we won't get much in the way of financial aid.  All I really need to know is if 2016 will get any sort of merit award (as outlined on their website).  There are 2 that he technically could be considered for.  He'd either get one of those or would be full pay.  The admissions person I did get to speak with (not one of the 3 people I was told I should speak with) said I should let the coach know that son wanted to be considered for a merit award.  I said "isn't everyone who applies considered for a merit award?"  She said yes.  So I'm not really sure why I have to tell him and in fact don't want him to think 2016 would only attend if he received something (would be a small amount based on what I see online).  

 

Sounds like things are winding to a close one way or the other shortly - HC needed some additional info from 2016 and told him this would be done sooner rather than later.  I can't help feel that 2016 is being strung along a little here but HC needs lots of pitchers (based on what he said and by looking at the roster) and so far has none listed as committed on PG.  

 

 

Add Reply

×
×
×
×
Link copied to your clipboard.
×