"Time to get nervous about Ivy and/or D3 HA?"
If you're in the mix, its always time to get nervous about Ivy and/or D3 HA. There wasn't a time we weren't nervous about it until he got his official acceptance letter from Admissions on Dec 10. We had months and months of previous experience with traditional D1 recruiting and scholarships which we felt was pretty straight forward. Half way through this recruiting "thing", he decides 100% he wants to major in engineering. We do lots of homework, networking and determine the best fit for him is Ivy, Patriot, and D3 HA engineering programs due to less games, less travel, less practice and forgiveness around engineering lab time. Essentially, he's getting more study time at these programs. My son decides to forego a couple D1 scholarship offers to pursue other potential Ivy, Patriot, D3 HA interest that was just getting started. That was a really big pill to swallow.
So, we reboot our efforts and dive into the world of Ivy and D3 HA recruiting through networking, and lots of reading. We discover the recruiting process is a gauntlet with academics and athleticism metrics, and we also discover that our son is someone these programs are looking for. However, we are kind of at the tail end of Ivy recruiting timeline but right in the meat of the D3 HA recruiting calendar. There was never a time to rest in this process which made us anxious. We had our foot on the gas the whole time, and it was a constant churn with interest from various programs. Even the ED application process, and verbal commitment from the HC never made me 100% comfortable. I'd heard things and seen things that gave me cause for concern. My son kept in touch with a few coaches that reached out to him even after he verbally committed. However, at some point you have to take a leap of faith with the HC and his program. After the ED application, we waited 8-weeks to get an official word from Admissions. The 8-week wait was the worst part of all of it, and my wife and I enjoyed many varieties of wine over those 8-weeks. Once accepted, we were able to exhale.
If you are nervous about Ivy and/or D3 HA schools that is normal in my experience.