? for a newbie

Hi 2010 mom, welcome to the best baseball web site I have seen. There should be several response to you on this.

You say "just received a letter from a D1 college that stated they want to "put him on their baseball priority admissions list". What should he make of this, does this mean to expect an upcoming offer of some scholarship?"

In my opinion it sounds like they want to make sure you are admitted into the school and may wait to see before making the offer. Many coaches can get consideration for admissions separate from the normal admissions routine. Once the coach knows your son is in you will know and can enter into meaningful discussions with the cosch.

It also sounds like the coach needs to know how serious you are about attending the school. If you do not get the admissions paper work in quickly that will tell him you are not that interested.

Good luck.

What is a BB admissions priority list ? Never heard that term.
The letter shows interest in your son but I assume no mention of an offer
Generally coaches ask very early in the contact what your marks are and status at the clearing house.

I have personally never heard of this before either, but that doesn't really mean much. My first impression is an invited walk on status is in the works, this however is just my impression.

I wouldn't feel at all awkward about blowing a call into the coach and asking him what it means. Coaches want the player and parents to understand the process and be transparent. I'd have junior give the asst. coach he's been talking to a call. The alternative is for you to call the head coach and ask, which might be a nice opportunity to make contact.

Best of luck.

quote:

Originally posted by 2010 mom:
Hello, newbie to these great message boards. I have been reading them a long while. First post as I am looking for some feedback. My son, 2010 grad, sub 6.6 60 speed, good batting average, centerfielder has just received a letter from a D1 college that stated they want to "put him on their baseball priority admissions list". What should he make of this, does this mean to expect an upcoming offer of some scholarship? How serious should we think they are. He does talk with the position coach by email and phone pretty frequently at this stage. At least once a week.

Simply, if you come to our school as a scholarship player or recruited walk-on, your admission process will be different than other students. Huge advantage when it comes to the top academic schools.

Thank you for the feedback. The school had already asked for and received from us transcripts, test scores, etc. and made sure he was registered with the Clearinghouse. They also asked us prior to this letter to fill out some initial financial aid information to determine what kind of estimated family contribution (EFC FORMS) we would be able to provide. Good advice on having son call coach and directly ask. He did mention he would do that. I just wanted to know if anyone had heard of this before? They have told us clearly on an unofficial visit that they are definately in need of outfielders as a priority in their 2010 recruits.

You should always apply through the coach.
To me they would make an offer since they know your sons academic status. I would be concerned if they haven't made some sort of offer if you are hoping for a BB scholarship. Many schools don't give BB money to many of the players. They have to give 25% minimum to the ones they do.

I think it would be fine for your son to send an e-mail simply thanking the coach for his interest, expressing your son's mutual interest, and asking if they would clarify what your son needs to do and the deadlines for each action, so that your son doesn't risk missing any deadlines.

It's possible they are viewing your son as a potential recruited walk on and want to couch their interest in terms of helping your son get into the school, as opposed to an offer of baseball money.

It's also possible they just don't want to get heavily committed until they're sure your son can get admitted. But I don't think you need to be too fearful about just asking the coach to clarify, as long as you do so with great care as to choice of wording so as not to risk giving offense unintentionally. In case you hadn't noticed, baseball people are infamous for taking offense easily and often without any real provocation, so you do have to tread lightly, and the kinds of things your son might typically say in e-mails or IM's among friends are NOT OK FOR THIS SORT OF THING.

Meaning, he should write it, but you should review it with him before anyone clicks the "send" button.

I am curious to know if this school falls into the category of a high academic school that is normally tough to be admitted to.....such as Michigan, Berkeley, UCLA, Virginia, Duke, Northwestern, Vanderbilt, Georgetown, Notre Dame .....etc. At a Michigan for example, no one from our (out-of-state) high school gets admitted there with under 1400 board scores. A 1350 student with a 3.8 average will be rejected.

Are you able to respond to that, without identifying the school, or would you say that this school is more towards the normal level of admission difficulty from an academic standpoint?

If he's going to be admitted anyway, the baseball priority admissions list doesn't add a lot. Being on the fall roster would though.

ncball is right, what it means is "if you accept our offer here we will make sure you will get accepted."

And Midlo is correct, they won't make an offer until they know he will be cleared by admissions. Coaches from those programs mentioned don't make offers than show the transcript, it's aleady been through a committee and been given the nod but the player still has to go through admissions.

Pedropere,
Many athletes get special exceptions for admissions to some schools.

TPM

I know that. I'm trying to get a feel for whether this is one of those extra tough admissions schools, or more normal. Its harder to find good athletes than good students.

Where do you see any mention of an offer in her posts ? The only offer was to put him on a preferred admissions list which I have never heard of.
I think she should find out what the coach means and whether they intend to make an offer with a scholarship in it.

BHD,
You bring up a good point, there is no mention of an offer in her post.
She did state that he just received that letter and has been talking to the coach, transcripts sent and financial stuff as well, so I am going to assume that if he meets academic requirements an offer may be forth coming.

My concern would be that they didn't mention an offer in the letter after having all the info from her. It is pretty easy to get an idea of being admitted and the BB offer is subject to being admitted.
My gut feeling is they are interested but haven't committed to making an offer with money attached. Every college we dealt with committed very quickly after determining admittance was a high probability. As I said one D11 with high admissions standards said they would make an offer but my son had to apply and get accepted before they would disclose the dollar amounts. There was no doubt the offer was coming just how much.

I would interpret it as "since he will be playing baseball for us, we can get him admitted whereas he might not be otherwise."

If they have all of the grades, transcripts, etc and were going to make an offer,I would think they would have already gotten clearance from admissions, or would make an offer contingent upon acceptance.

Or, they are waiting to see if they can get some academic money before they offer?

Or, they could be waiting on another offer that's out, and this is a way of stalling/keeping your interest?

It is definitely a head-scratcher!

I could be wrong, but that's how I would interpret it!

I'm assuming nothing was said by the coach about applying "Early Decision"?? This would be legally binding for the student and if it's not his 1st choice then wouldn't be a good idea (at least until he finds out what the coach has in mind).

Call or e-mail the coach to clarify.