High Academic minimum requirements

@smokeminside posted:

All true, UTL.  

Unfortunately, Son’s first scores are not going to help him. We thought we had time, as we did with his brothers, for a tutor and a test this month or next. However, there are no test centers available to us within 2500 miles until September.

Not sure how he’s supposed  to jazz up his app at this point.

Sounds like a challenging situation @smokeminside...sorry bout that. Some possible solutions if you might be looking for them are:

1. Often during the pandemic, at least here in MN, people had to book tests up to 5 hours away. After booking one in South Dakota (3.5 hour drive away) my spouse continued to look locally and ended up booking a test within an hour of here. Sometimes kids sign up for a couple of tests and then cancel when they hit a score that they need. Something might open up...

2. i know a Cali kid who traveled 5+ hours to get his SAT done. Maybe if there are a couple of HA schools son is interested in New England or somewhere else you could schedule a test in that area and then visit a handful of schools that same weekend.

3. I think a great way to jazz up the app might be volunteering to teach reading or math to underserved communities close to you. Kid could say that he could not test but "recognized that there were kids in his community that had some academic challenges and wanted to help them so they were in a better place once they could test" or some other out of the box giving back. A lemonade out of lemons situation.

Good luck to anyone on this. We knew from my now freshman in college's experience to test early (once you get a decent score you can be done or continue to test to get a higher score) and we were fortunately prepared when some testing became available between Soph-Junior school year for my 2022.

@SoCal OG posted:

I just skimmed through the posts but I'll add one thing I dont think I saw.  When it comes to HA the differences between D1 & D3 are huge.  D1 has a lot more wiggle room when it comes to what they can accept.  Just as an example...my son had pre-reads done by 3 Ivy's and was told you're good to go.  Johns Hopkins told him we'd love to have you but you need another 150 points on your SAT.  

The devil is in the details and the situation.   Let me guess, the 3 Ivys did not include H, Y, or P.

10 years ago, my son went through the same drill thing with Johns Hopkins, Amherst and Williams.   He was told he was good to go with Cornell, and Tufts which we were fine with as he was an engineering major and they both had outstanding engineering programs.  Cornell and Tufts were recruiting him hard.   Harvard was offering but they really wanted him to retake the SAT too improve his score and the team AI.  He retook the test as a way to expand his choices because at that time he wasn't sure.   A funny thing happened after that.  A couple days later after he retook the test,  he had made his college decision based on the engineering programs rather than the school and their required SAT scores.   He did improve his 2nd score 150 points exactly, but it didn't matter.  He made up his mind.

Bottom line is you can expect some of these schools to come back to you wanting more points to help the recruit and team AI.  It also helps the coaches position with the Admissions Committee if he presents a candidate that has gone out of his way to improve his position.   He can best help you if you've helped yourself.

Just my experience....

@fenwaysouth posted:

The devil is in the details and the situation.   Let me guess, the 3 Ivys did not include H, Y, or P.

10 years ago, my son went through the same drill thing with Johns Hopkins, Amherst and Williams.   He was told he was good to go with Cornell, and Tufts which we were fine with as he was an engineering major and they both had outstanding engineering programs.  Cornell and Tufts were recruiting him hard.   Harvard was offering but they really wanted him to retake the SAT too improve his score and the team AI.  He retook the test as a way to expand his choices because at that time he wasn't sure.   A funny thing happened after that.  A couple days later after he retook the test,  he had made his college decision based on the engineering programs rather than the school and their required SAT scores.   He did improve his 2nd score 150 points exactly, but it didn't matter.  He made up his mind.

Bottom line is you can expect some of these schools to come back to you wanting more points to help the recruit and team AI.  It also helps the coaches position with the Admissions Committee if he presents a candidate that has gone out of his way to improve his position.   He can best help you if you've helped yourself.

Just my experience....

His reads were Yale, Dartmouth & Brown.  Harvard spoke with him but never asked for scores.  

@SoCal OG posted:

His reads were Yale, Dartmouth & Brown.  Harvard spoke with him but never asked for scores.  

SoCal OG - Your situation is interesting as it includes Yale.  Back in time when my son was being recruited, Yale seemed to be aloof and unapproachable even for genuine Ivy and D1 recruits    I know that has changed as I know a half dozen  recruits that have gone there, and they've certainly become more aggressive ion their recruiting over that period of time.   If they are not telling your son he doesn't have to improve his score, but Johns Hopkins is then I think something isn't quite right.   

Your earlier statement about "wiggle room" (margin) is true.  The Ivys have more margin, but they are also looking for a higher level baseball player...a recruit who is being courted by many D1 schools.   An Ivy Coach will push for an impact D1 player that meets Ivy minimums...seen it many times.   Based on what you've shared, I think your son needs to further qualify his "positioning" (what he brings to the table) with both Yale and Johns Hopkins, because this doesn't add up.   If Yale is telling him they will go to the mat for him in Admissions (because he is an impact player) then I think you have your answer.   But with all things being equal between Yale and Johns Hopkins, they should both be asking for the same 150 point improvement.

Just my experience.   Feel free to PM me if you want to discuss off line.

An Ivy Coach will push for an impact D1 player that meets Ivy minimums...seen it many times.

Very true and once 1 coach starts calling they all got into the act.  And that was 10 mph ago too.

@fenwaysouth posted:

SoCal OG - Your situation is interesting as it includes Yale.  Back in time when my son was being recruited, Yale seemed to be aloof and unapproachable even for genuine Ivy and D1 recruits    I know that has changed as I know a half dozen  recruits that have gone there, and they've certainly become more aggressive ion their recruiting over that period of time.   If they are not telling your son he doesn't have to improve his score, but Johns Hopkins is then I think something isn't quite right.   

Your earlier statement about "wiggle room" (margin) is true.  The Ivys have more margin, but they are also looking for a higher level baseball player...a recruit who is being courted by many D1 schools.   An Ivy Coach will push for an impact D1 player that meets Ivy minimums...seen it many times.   Based on what you've shared, I think your son needs to further qualify his "positioning" (what he brings to the table) with both Yale and Johns Hopkins, because this doesn't add up.   If Yale is telling him they will go to the mat for him in Admissions (because he is an impact player) then I think you have your answer.   But with all things being equal between Yale and Johns Hopkins, they should both be asking for the same 150 point improvement.

Just my experience.   Feel free to PM me if you want to discuss off line.

This was a couple of years ago.  He was very excited about Yale but a blown labrum killed all of his D1prospects.  He was definitely on the lower scale of academics for the Ivy's but they were willing to try and push him through.  JH on the other hand had zero flexibility.  

It would seem out of all the Ivys, Columbia is probably the most flexible, especially for hitters...