The high academic D3's appear to operate exactly the same way as the Ivy's. My 2017's interest from a couple of the elite schools played out exactly the same way with a request from the HC for a copy of the transcripts and test results to "run by" the admissions office. One of them told him that they could not get a "yes" from that pre-read but could get a likely "no chance." And sure enough, he has not heard back from that coach, so he knows the answer on that one. The other one said go ahead and apply but it will be a close call. My 2017 is not going to consider ED, so that means it will be months before he knows if he even got in. By then that coach may have already gotten enough positive early reads that he may not be interested in him anymore. So he is certainly pursuing multiple options.
And so it goes with the high academics. I am not sure where my 2017 will wind up, but STRAINEDOBLIQUE really gave some excellent insight into the process. For those of you with 2018's or younger aiming for the Ivy or other high academics, I cannot emphasize enough how important it is to take BOTH the SAT and ACT tests really early in their Junior year to allow retests. My son did really well on the first SAT but then still improved about 10% on the retest and that got him into the discussion with some of these high academic schools. He is hoping for the same result on the ACT he took last weekend. And we talked to a kid at the Stanford camp who got a 30 on the first ACT in the Fall of junior year, retook it three months later and got a 32, then took it again in April and got a 34. He told us he knew what he missed so he took it a fourth time in June and got a perfect 36. He can now pretty much choose which of the elites he wants to play for (having a high 80's FB also helped him). Most kids would have been satisfied with the 30 and not retaken it. So with time on your side, if your son really wants to play baseball at one of these excellent schools, it takes a full commitment for the grades, tests and retests, and baseball ability to do it.