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The most nerve wracking thing to me about the end game of the recruiting process is the blind faith you put into being told a chit will be used with admissions and your son will get in via ED.  I know this will be the case since my sons stats are in line with admission standards as well but just waiting is killer.  We didn't apply anywhere else.  We are fully bought into this school academically and for baseball.    As Tom Petty says (well said) the waiting is the hardest part.  Also there is a thread on this site where a promise was not kept which makes me anxious.

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Stay strong!  It's just a few more days and then you can breathe and move on to the next part of the journey.

As my Grandmother always said, "Sh*t like this builds character"  as well as "There is a lid for every pot" (in baseball and relationships). She never played college baseball, but she was a very wise woman! 

Make sure to keep us posted!

Hang in there Gunner. A bunch of us have been there....to diffuse thoughts think of plan B's. That's not being negative, just practical.  My son didn't want to hear that, he was confident.  But I had to, so that we were prepared to move on quickly.  Having said that: I'm sure all will work out.

We were the same as you -- no other apps, and no backup other than Juco.   

The coach did do one thing that helped us feel secure - he sent an invite for the kid to buy the same swag and practice jerseys that the team gets.

Hang in there. Anecdotally at least my impression is that it works out the vast majority of the time.

JCG posted:

We were the same as you -- no other apps, and no backup other than Juco.   

The coach did do one thing that helped us feel secure - he sent an invite for the kid to buy the same swag and practice jerseys that the team gets.

Hang in there. Anecdotally at least my impression is that it works out the vast majority of the time.

JC, that same thing happened to son.  It did reduce anxiety 

My son is also waiting for his official ED acceptance but he received a likely letter from his HA D3 school about a month ago so that is reassuring. Do your son’s schools issue likely letters to recruits? If not, was an official preread done? If preread was positive I would think that is strong indication of likelihood even if the school doesn’t offer likely letter.

Zoom 2020 posted:

My son is also waiting for his official ED acceptance but he received a likely letter from his HA D3 school about a month ago so that is reassuring. Do your son’s schools issue likely letters to recruits? If not, was an official preread done? If preread was positive I would think that is strong indication of likelihood even if the school doesn’t offer likely letter.

They do not do likely letters but the pre-read was done and he was told directly that the coach would use a chit with admissions and that he need only to apply to this one school.  I am highly confident he will get accepted based on the meeting with the HC its just natural anxiety kicking in....his scores are in range too.   We might not hear until 12/20 I am told too-  late ED notification date.

No likely letters are issued by my son's school. Yes, we had pre-reads there and elsewhere. I didn't know there was such a thing as those being "official".  

Like so many things, it comes down what you ask the coach. I said, "Do players ever fail to get admitted after they have been told they will get in?"

We liked the answer, so that was that.

Out of curiosity, does anyone know which HA D3’s issue likely letters to athletic recruits? I know Ivy D1’s issue likely letters but not sure how many D3’s do this. From our experience, we know that MIT and Caltech do not issue likely letters (they don’t even do formal prereads), but Hopkins does. Do any NESCAC schools or Pomona or CMS issue likely letters? It would be interesting to see how different HA D3’s go about their recruiting. I don’t understand why schools wouldn’t want to give this option to their recruits to help lock up their class, even MIT and Caltech.

The D3 school my son is applying to did send him a likely letter--a couple of weeks after the ED deadline had passed and he had submitted his application.  So I don't feel much anxiety, but I do wonder if something weird was happening behind the scenes and if maybe I should have been (or should be) more worried than I was/am.  This is a weird process.

No likely letters with sons NESCAC school.  Pre-read with admissions was done and son was told he's on solid footing academically with GPA/ACT being in middle 50% of the previous years accepted students.  HC told son he was his top pick (he could have been one of three for all we know) to support through admissions. HC said he was highly confident and that was good enough for us.  HC also said : he cannot provide any  guarantees though because admissions has the full picture of every candidate, he doesn't.

I haven't heard of any other NESCAC school providing some form of a likely letter.

Anxiety is normal - I sweated quite a bit this same time two years ago.  Son never did.

fenwaysouth posted:

Chico - Never heard of that happening....a likely letter after the ED deadline had passed?  Wow.   I wouldn't be too worried as they've gone out of process to make sure your son got the LL.  They clearly knew what they were doing.

I was never very worried (maybe less than I should have been).  The letter was nice reassurance, although odd because 1) the HC didn't mention during several conversations that LLs were even a possibility at his school.  And 2) the fact it came after my son had filed his ED app made me wonder if some other recruit didn't pan out and so the coach had an extra chit to use.  Anyhow, we will have an admissions decision on Dec. 15...

Chico Escuela posted:
fenwaysouth posted:

Chico - Never heard of that happening....a likely letter after the ED deadline had passed?  Wow.   I wouldn't be too worried as they've gone out of process to make sure your son got the LL.  They clearly knew what they were doing.

I was never very worried (maybe less than I should have been).  The letter was nice reassurance, although odd because 1) the HC didn't mention during several conversations that LLs were even a possibility at his school.  And 2) the fact it came after my son had filed his ED app made me wonder if some other recruit didn't pan out and so the coach had an extra chit to use.  Anyhow, we will have an admissions decision on Dec. 15...

Seems pretty standard. They can't issue a LL until AFTER the application has been submitted. In fact, all of these things probably have to occur first:

1. Application submitted by prospective student-athlete

2. Financial aid form submitted as well as given a basic look ensuring all supporting documentation has also been submitted (W2's, 1040's, Schedule C's, etc).  And of course the required forms cannot be known until the FA application has been received and given a decent review. Of course if you checked the box "I don't need any money because I'm filthy rich" then this step is unnecessary.

2. EA application deadline has passed. I would imagine it would not be considered proper to send a LL before all ED applications have been received.

I think a D3 "likely letter" can be whatever the school wants it to be.  My son received one, they called it exactly that, but it was basically a confirmation of the pre-read, before he decided where to apply ED. 

I'd note that anxiety is not confined to HA; we've known people who were stressed about getting their ACT scores up to 20, after NLI.  The NLI does not mean you're in; it means that if you get in, here's the scholarship.

This is a very long two weeks; good luck to everyone.

I have to admit i also felt like you when son was entering school as we had done everything by the book and had to wait on his admission. It all worked out and he was an above average student but that dark period left me pretty anxious.

I recall a situation soon after son was admitted and in school...a new semester was set to begin and we got hit with a $10k bill and a few days to pay it so that son could attend classes. I think this was his freshman year. We scrambled a bit and got in touch with the right folks in student services and his academic advisor for the team and it went away. We were lucky in that son's academic and baseball money pretty much paid for his 3 years except for some living expenses we funded to keep him on task with grades and classroom performance.

anotherparent posted:

I think a D3 "likely letter" can be whatever the school wants it to be.  My son received one, they called it exactly that, but it was basically a confirmation of the pre-read, before he decided where to apply ED. 

I'd note that anxiety is not confined to HA; we've known people who were stressed about getting their ACT scores up to 20, after NLI.  The NLI does not mean you're in; it means that if you get in, here's the scholarship.

This is a very long two weeks; good luck to everyone.

 One of my son’s travel teammates didn’t get the required minimum SAT score until the last test available in June after his senior year. This was to a major conference baseball program at a well respected academic institution with a 26% acceptance rate for regular students. The kid flunked out after sophomore year. 

Last edited by RJM

This thread has resonated with our household.  And to paraphrase Fenway, we too "are glad it's over;" the waiting.  

Son's "happy ending" came two days ago when he was accepted ED as a transfer to a HA D3.  Sure, he had the HC's word.  And yes the HC had even texted him for his uniform sizes for upcoming spring season.  And yes, said he had a "slot,” and yes the baseball liaison in admissions said pre-read “looked good.” The whole shooting match.  My concern was never the HC's word, it was with the admissions offices of these HA institutions.  You just never know what they're gonna do.  Never. As others have said, they see the big picture.  They're the gate keepers, not the HC.  This was quite an adjustment coming from a P5 where the admissions process was a ridiculous formality.

Anecdotally, at the D1 level one might say, "You can never trust these coaches."  In HA D3, "You can never trust the admissions office."  It ain't over till it's over.  There's no substitute for seeing it in writing.  

Good luck to any households still waiting.  As Gov says, "....to diffuse thoughts think of plan B's. That's not being negative, just practical."  That idea helped.

Last edited by #1 Assistant Coach
#1 Assistant Coach posted:

This thread has resonated with our household.  And to paraphrase Fenway, we too "are glad it's over."  The waiting.  

Son's "happy ending" came two days ago when he was accepted ED as a transfer to a HA D3.  Sure, he had the HC's word.  And yes the HC had even texted him for his uniform sizes for upcoming spring season.  And yes, said he had a "slot,” and yes the baseball liaison in admissions said pre-read “looked good.” The whole shooting match.  My concern was never the HC's word, it was with the admissions offices of these HA institutions.  You just never know what they're gonna do.  Never. As others have said, they see the big picture.  They're the gate keepers, not the HC.  This was quite an adjustment coming from a P5 where the admissions process was a ridiculous formality.

Anecdotally, at the D1 level one might say, "You can never trust these coaches."  In HA D3, "You can never trust the admissions office."  It ain't over till it's over.  There's no substitute for seeing it in writing.  

Good luck to any households still waiting.  As Gov says, "....to diffuse thoughts think of plan B's. That's not being negative, just practical."  That idea helped.

Congrats!  Will he remain at his D1 through the spring? Rehabbing or playing?

JCG: the texted request from HC about uni sizes did prompt a sigh of relief as well, but after that one sigh I put the guard back up!

Not wanting to hijack this informative thread on ED, I’ll chime in elsewhere on son’s experience with labrum surgery, his Medical RS year, his ongoing rehab, and his hopes to pitch in the latter half of 2020 season for his D3 assuming shoulder is where it needs to be.  He reports to D3 in January.   Moving him out of his D1 school apartment next weekend.  

Most HA D3s do not offer mid-year transfers.  However a rare few do, with a November 1 application deadline.  I’m still a little foggy on the details, but it appears that recruited athlete transfers are “in” with the ED HS recruits.....sort of?  But also in their own little weird category, as they’re also with regular students looking to transfer in.  Had pre-read, slot, overnight visit, etc. but was clearly in a different “lane” due to being a transfer recruit and not a HS recruit.  The seemingly unconventional nature of son’s application path (as a mid-year athlete transfer) did not help my stress level!  As it seemed he was walking a trail, that was very overgrown, and had very little foot traffic.  The term “bushwhacking” seems appropriate.

Thanks for the well wishes JCG.   

Last edited by #1 Assistant Coach
#1 Assistant Coach posted:

JCG: the texted request from HC about uni sizes did prompt a sigh of relief as well, but after that one sigh I put the guard back up!

Not wanting to hijack this informative thread on ED, I’ll chime in elsewhere on son’s experience with labrum surgery, his Medical RS year, his ongoing rehab, and his hopes to pitch in the latter half of 2020 season for his D3 assuming shoulder is where it needs to be.  He reports to D3 in January.   Moving him out of his P5 apartment next weekend.  

Most HA D3s do not offer mid-year transfers.  However a rare few do, with a November 1 application deadline.  I’m still a little foggy on the details, but it appears that recruited athlete transfers are “in” with the ED HS recruits.....sort of?  But also in their own little weird category, as they’re also with regular students looking to transfer in.  Had pre-read, slot, overnight visit, etc. but was clearly in a different “lane” due to being a transfer recruit and not a HS recruit.  The seemingly unconventional nature of son’s application path (as a mid-year athlete transfer) did not help my stress level!  As it seemed he was walking a trail, that was very overgrown, and had very little foot traffic.  The term “bushwhacking” seems appropriate.

Thanks for the well wishes JCG.   

What was the academic requirement?  3.75? No Bs?  That HA D3 is one of the top in the country!! 

Good luck to S!

Gov posted:
#1 Assistant Coach posted:

JCG: the texted request from HC about uni sizes did prompt a sigh of relief as well, but after that one sigh I put the guard back up!

Not wanting to hijack this informative thread on ED, I’ll chime in elsewhere on son’s experience with labrum surgery, his Medical RS year, his ongoing rehab, and his hopes to pitch in the latter half of 2020 season for his D3 assuming shoulder is where it needs to be.  He reports to D3 in January.   Moving him out of his P5 apartment next weekend.  

Most HA D3s do not offer mid-year transfers.  However a rare few do, with a November 1 application deadline.  I’m still a little foggy on the details, but it appears that recruited athlete transfers are “in” with the ED HS recruits.....sort of?  But also in their own little weird category, as they’re also with regular students looking to transfer in.  Had pre-read, slot, overnight visit, etc. but was clearly in a different “lane” due to being a transfer recruit and not a HS recruit.  The seemingly unconventional nature of son’s application path (as a mid-year athlete transfer) did not help my stress level!  As it seemed he was walking a trail, that was very overgrown, and had very little foot traffic.  The term “bushwhacking” seems appropriate.

Thanks for the well wishes JCG.   

What was the academic requirement?  3.75? No Bs?  That HA D3 is one of the top in the country!! 

Good luck to S!

Gov,

Good questions.  There is no "book" that we found on transferring to a HA.  That was part of the bushwhacking son had to do.  Can't comment on what the academic reqs were for a mid-year RS Freshman/academic sophomore transfer as son had no time to research it.  He told D1 HC he was transferring on Monday, October 28 and deadline for transfer applications for January 2020 enrollment was November 1st, just 4-days later.  Son had FOUR-DAYS to find a new home and submit an application by November 1 deadline.  Otherwise he'd be twiddling his thumbs another season, and there was no way he was going to do that again!

Again, I probably should post a thread on the mid-year transfer journey to HA D3s.  From the day he told HC he was transferring, to the day he was accepted at D3, was 38-days.  Felt like 38-years.

 

Gunner,

Kudos to you for starting this thread as it was just what I needed to read.  Got some great advice here about dealing with the waiting time for the ED notification.  From what I've read here, I believe your son will be fine.  I say that because it sounds like his academic #s are in line pretty much with what school wants from regular students?  Your gut is probably right.  But I'll be crossing my fingers until you guys get the news you want!

Last edited by #1 Assistant Coach
 

 

Gunner,

Kudos to you for starting this thread as it was just what I needed to read.  Got some great advice here about dealing with the waiting time for the ED notification.  From what I've read here, I believe your son will be fine.  I say that because it sounds like his academic #s are in line pretty much with what school wants from regular students?  Your gut is probably right.  But I'll be crossing my fingers until you guys get the news you want!

I hope we hear by this time next week.... and yes he is in line with admission standards for regular students.  The admission office told us 12/20 notification but that has to be EA not ED because others have said ED notifications come out on 12/13 or 12/16.... I will certainly post to the thread when we hear.

Dirtbag30 posted:

Thought a little dated, I found this NYT article on the "unpredictable" and "mystifying" world of HA D3 recruiting to be very interesting, as Haverford College gave them behind the scenes access to the process.  Also, Haverford's baseball coach is still there.

Results Can Be Jarring as Recruiting Carousel Stops

That's a good article (I had seen it somewhere before--maybe on this site?).  But most of the students profiled have SAT scores that would be below the current 25th percentile at the schools discussed.  Granted, scores were almost certainly lower in 2006, but I have to wonder if the author failed to mention that the athletes he is discussing were warned that they were at some risk of not getting in?  

My son is supposed to get word on his ED application tomorrow, so maybe I'm whistling past the graveyard...  

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