How do you link Admissions to Softball Coach?

Welcome to Discuss Fastpitch

Your FREE Account is waiting to the Best Softball Community on the Web.

Jul 4, 2014
141
0
Based on dd's academic performance, she has received a bunch of "prospective emails" from colleges that she would consider attending. DD is a sophomore. (I'm sure these colleges are getting her name off a list of high psat scorers purchased from the college board.) Anyway, these emails, which I'm sure are being sent to thousands of kids, essentially say the same thing... we want you to consider our school in your college search, blah, blah, blah. My question is, when writing to a softball coach (assuming that she received a prospective student email from admissions at the same school), should she mention that she's received the said email from admissions? Or, are these emails from admissions a dime a dozen and means squat, in which case, she should say nothing? How have you or you dd handled it? We are new to this process. Any insight would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
 
Jun 27, 2011
5,089
0
North Carolina
These letters are insignificant to softball, IMO. I don't see any reason to mention it, unless you can relate it to softball. For example, ''I got this letter in the mail from Central U. and read that fall is a good time to take a visit and get a tour. Would you have time to meet with me if I did?''
 
Jul 4, 2014
141
0
These letters are insignificant to softball, IMO. I don't see any reason to mention it, unless you can relate it to softball. For example, ''I got this letter in the mail from Central U. and read that fall is a good time to take a visit and get a tour. Would you have time to meet with me if I did?''

I definitely see what you mean. Reason for my question is, these emails are from D3 schools. I know that at D3 schools, HC don't normally pay much attention to prospects until they know that the prospect is a potential admit ... stemming from the ... "I'm not going to bother until I know that they'll be admitted into my college" mentality. I'm hoping that mentioning the said email might at least indicate to the HC that DD is in the target academic pool and therefore help peak the HC's interest now, rather than later.

Wishful thinking on my part???
 

Greenmonsters

Wannabe Duck Boat Owner
Feb 21, 2009
6,168
38
New England
I definitely see what you mean. Reason for my question is, these emails are from D3 schools. I know that at D3 schools, HC don't normally pay much attention to prospects until they know that the prospect is a potential admit ... stemming from the ... "I'm not going to bother until I know that they'll be admitted into my college" mentality. I'm hoping that mentioning the said email might at least indicate to the HC that DD is in the target academic pool and therefore help peak the HC's interest now, rather than later.

Wishful thinking on my part???

Yeah, those are mass mailings. No worries, just go ahead and have DD contact coaches and express and explain her potential interest in the school and softball.

Probably worth the time to check out this D3 thread http://www.discussfastpitch.com/playing-college-softball/4172-school-me-d3-softball.html
 
Jun 27, 2011
5,089
0
North Carolina
I definitely see what you mean. Reason for my question is, these emails are from D3 schools. I know that at D3 schools, HC don't normally pay much attention to prospects until they know that the prospect is a potential admit ... stemming from the ... "I'm not going to bother until I know that they'll be admitted into my college" mentality. I'm hoping that mentioning the said email might at least indicate to the HC that DD is in the target academic pool and therefore help peak the HC's interest now, rather than later.

Wishful thinking on my part???

You're correct that coaches are looking for players they believe are truly interested their school, but there are other ways to demonstrate that. As far as academics, if you're talking a high-end academic school, point out your GPA, or the classes you take (ie, Honors English, etc.). Another way to show genuine interest is to say I want to come to your camp. If you can't find their camp, ask for dates, or to be kept in touch about camp dates. If you say you're coming to their camp, or that you've taken the time to see one of their games, or visited their campus, or written an email that demonstrates that you've researched the school and staff, that can alert them that this is someone genuinely interested in their school.
 
Oct 17, 2014
123
18
While the D3 coaches do care more about the student-athlete's ability to get admitted, they are not going to care about any admissions generated list. For every possible solid player on that list, there will be 500 kids who can't play a lick. You can't take a pool of unknowns on an admissions list and hope you find a few good players....you won't be coaching college softball for long if that's your approach. And while emailing the coach and informing them of your academic record is a good idea, you still need to show them that you have the ability that they are looking for. 10 years ago, that meant the college coach had to go out and see as many of these players play live as possible. Today, with video technology and coaches being bombarded with emails even at the D3 level, you gotta get a video in front of the coach to initiate some interest.
 
Jan 27, 2010
1,871
83
NJ
I disagree. DD received 100's of emails and letters from colleges. Out of curiosity, I had her email a coach at a very high academic school and say, I received this in the mail and looked at your program and am interested. She did link to a skills video and profile. She received an email back that day from the coach inviting her to a camp which she will attend in Nov.
 
Jun 14, 2011
528
0
Field of Dreams
My DD is verballed to a high academic D3 school in the northeast. I agree with InsidePitch- my sense from my DD having looked at several of these schools and attended camps- is that they have two concerns- the first and foremost one is- can this student even be admitted to my school- i.e. do they have the class load, grades and test scores to be competitive. The fact that your DD received an admission flyer from the school independent of the coach suggests that the school thinks your DD is a competitive candidate- this is important information for the coaches. This is may not be true for many D3 schools but for the high academic ones it is. My DDs emails ALWAYS included GPA, ACT and SAT scores so they knew my DD was a competitive candidate - and they then would consider her softball skills. Several of these coaches have little to no wiggle room with admissions so they look for this information up front. This is not necessarily true for the Ivies where they can accept candidates with GPA and SATs a bit lower than average if the athletic package is very attractive.

PS the coaches recommended taking SAT and ACT in spring sophomore year or fall junior year; so you can get on their radar ASAP for the schools you are interested in
 
Last edited:
Oct 11, 2010
8,337
113
Chicago, IL
I would not mention the mass mailing but I would mention your DD’s academic accomplishments, maybe before her SB skills.
 

JAD

Feb 20, 2012
8,231
38
Georgia
Good grades and test scores are an important factors in softball recruiting, so I would recommend promoting your DD's academic and athletic accomplishments to the college coaches of the schools she is interested in attending.
 

Forum statistics

Threads
42,830
Messages
679,475
Members
21,445
Latest member
Bmac81802
Top