@LuckyCat posted:So, we've had a communication like this from a HC at a top ten liberal arts college. The HC said the admissions office could not guarantee admission from his pre-read, but that the HC would put his name on a list for ED with support and would advocate for his admission. The HC said he understood if my son wanted to focus on other schools where admission was more certain, but that he thought my son would be a good fit for his program. He asked my son to keep him updated with his college recruiting.
He did not mention slots or tips or numbers of recruits that would be on the list, and so far my son has not asked.
We're not sure what to think about this, although we do really appreciate the HC's candor.
That's a tough one. As you know, at a very HA LAC, grades and test scores in the top quartile of their pool mean a 10-15% shot at admission (absent having some other thumb on the scale). An athlete in your son's position probably has better odds than that; the question is, how much better? I would seek more information from the coach. Does he have experience with students who had similar qualifications? I'd interpret any reluctance to answer these questions as a bad sign, although it sounds as if the coach has been straightforward with you so far, and may have told you all he can. I know stories where players in a position similar to your son's got into very-HA D3s, and where they didn't. Unless the coach is new, he ought to have some sense of what the odds are.
Your son only gets one chance to apply ED. And slots for D3 athletes only exist in the ED round. If he has fallen in love with this school, then maybe he rolls the dice. But if he can see himself somewhere else where his pre-read is more definite... well, that's kind of the point of the HA D3 sports recruiting process from athletes' point of view. Pre-reads don't give guarantees. But the schools my son dealt with were willing to say something like "we have no concerns."
I also encourage you to remember that there are 20 or 30 "top-ten liberal arts colleges." I'm not being sarcastic. There are quite a few great schools that almost anyone would agree are in the very top tier academically, and I honestly think "fit" means more than anything else when choosing one of those versus another. In your position, I'd encourage my son to continue the recruiting process and see if something more definite comes up. He doesn't have to go somewhere just because he gets an offer--it's worth exploring. Given what this coach said, he can't reasonably ask your son to stop looking at other schools.