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D1 Non Schol Commit Process

BaseballmomandCEPBaseballmomandCEP1,000+ posts
Forgive me if these are 'stupid' questions. I feel like I should know this pretty well by now, yet my son is looking at some non-schol D1 programs, and I would love more clarification on how this works. Can some folks with personal experience on this, comment on the process of commitment to a D1 non-scholarship, not-Ivy team? (I guess that really means Patriot League Smile

I am pretty sure I get the Ivy process. As I understand it, from reading lots of great postings here and from my own research / campus visits, I know the Ivies do the "Likely Letter' route, and they also look for a pretty firm commitment from the athlete before securing the LL from admissions, so both sides are fairly committed without having the legally binding NLI. And since the Ivies in general have a very high yield, they can play it this way.

But how does the Patriot League do this? I see on PG, for example, a nice roster of 2012 kids have committed to Lafayette. How does a student give a firm commitment from that coach, when no money is offered; and the flip side of this question is, since student has until May 1 of senior year to commit to admissions, what is to keep him from changing his mind?

Do Patriot League schools have a similar Likely Letter process (I don't think so....) or do they follow the NESCAC pattern of asking for ED commitment from the athlete? Or are they just like a D3?


Thanks, sorry my question is long, but I think this could be a helpful new thread for some of us 2013 parents whose kids have a list of all 'flavors' of schools at this point.

Happy Friday all. Go Giants!

PS, a related question, another stupid one perhaps, are the non-schol D1 schools bound to NCAA regs concerning roster size? (I realize I could look that up.) Or do they act like D3s, and should we watch out for the over - recruiting possibilities?

THANKS!
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fenwaysouthfenwaysouth10,000+ posts
BaseballmomandCEP,

It is a great question, and I'm looking forward to the answer from someone who knows 100%. My son was also interested in a Patriot League school a few years ago. He did an OV, and my wife met with a Financial Aid officer and the head coach. At that time there was discussion about the Early Decision process but no Likely Letter process. As you know, the Financial Aid is need based financial, and there is no scholarship $$ for baseball. In our case, we found the Ivy need based financial aid (at two schools) to be more generous than this Patriot League school.

For recruited Patriot athletes, I would expect there to be a pre-read. If all is well with the pre-read, then there is a verbal committment and acceptance on the part of the Patriot school (non-Service Academies) and the player to move forward. All bets are off on the Army and Navy process, as I have no clue there. The Patriot recruit is expected to apply binding Early Decision (on Nov 1) to confirm the recruit, and accept him in mid-December. They may take additional athletes in Regular Decision if they did not get their fill of players, or get the athletes they needed (or expected) in the ED process. So, yes it would look like the NESCAC D3 process but without all the band quotas and slots. Again, this is purely conjecture on my part, but I'm looking forward to somebody telling us specifics.

PS....THere was an old timer on this site who's son went to Lafayette as a pitcher. His son graduated in 2009 or 2008. I remember him because it was one of my first PMs when I starting posting here. I think his screen name was jmepop. I haven't seen him post in a while. Hopefully, he'll catch this.
Last edited by fenwaysouth
Midlo DadMidlo Dad10,000+ posts
We had a Virginia Cardinals player go this route this year. Fenway has the process down right.

Technically, the player could back out, since there is no NLI. I guess it probably happens from time to time but I haven't heard about it from these particular schools. Basically the players are in the same boat as what schools with scholarship players call "recruited walk-ons." Essentially the whole team is recruited walk-ons.
Y YesReally100+ posts
Son is going to West Point. Patriot league but I know it is a little different - but I will say that while there is no NLI - they did provide a nice letter to use at a signing ceremony so he could go through that at his high school like the other D1 commits.

The coach should be very helpful in this process. For us the coach (and his administrative assistant) were very helpful and much more accessible than admissions.
fenwaysouthfenwaysouth10,000+ posts
quote:
MidloDad said....Technically, the player could back out, since there is no NLI. I guess it probably happens from time to time but I haven't heard about it from these particular schools.


Clarification....The only way I know the ED recruit could back out is if he proves that the Financial Aid is not adequate. That would be true for D1 Ivy, D1 Patriot or D3s recruits applying ED. If I was in the coaches shoes, I would want all my top recruits applying ED knowing that they are contractually obligated and committed. It is rare, but I have heard cases of people backing out due to FA reasons or hardships.

YesReally - West Point is a special, special place. I tip my cap to your son.
Last edited by fenwaysouth
Midlo DadMidlo Dad10,000+ posts
I know a lot of colleges have stopped doing Early Decision in favor of non-binding Early Action, and the reason usually given is that they have no practical way of enforcing the Early Decision commitment by the student anyway. It may look like a binding contract, but while some students have reneged, I don't know of any who have faced consequences greater than a forfeited deposit.
fenwaysouthfenwaysouth10,000+ posts
For the 4 non-service academy Patriot League schools ED is offered and EA is not. What Midlo states about ED may be true for other conferences, but ED is alive and well in the Patriot conference.

Bucknell ED deadline Nov 15
Holy Cross ED deadline Dec 15
Lafayette ED deadline Feb 15
Lehigh ED deadline Nov 15

As a comparision, I've included the Ivy conference which also offer D1 non athletic scholarship

Brown ED deadline is Nov 1
Columbia ED deadline is Nov 1
Cornell ED deadline is Nov 1
Dartmouth ED deadline is Nov 1
Harvard EA deadline is Nov 1
Penn ED deadline is Nov 1
Princton EA deadline is Nov 1
Yale EA deadline is Nov 1
Last edited by fenwaysouth
BaseballmomandCEPBaseballmomandCEP1,000+ posts
There have been many changes in ED and EA over the past 5 years. When UVA and Harvard and a few other top schools did away with Early plans about 5 -6 years ago, they do so out of concern that the early process favors the elite students. They were correct about that....but many collegs have since gone back to some form of early plan. Many of the "EA" plans have restrictions on them as well.


Bottom line is, read the fine print! It can change every year.

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