- Jul 4, 2014
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Great info. Thanks JAD!!!
College Recruiting Strategy - Thoughts?
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Great info. Thanks JAD!!!
- May 23, 2010
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Middle kid went to Pennsbury at end of 10th grade and got interest from a few D3 schools, but not much (and most of that interest probably came from the SAT score). I don't know where you live, but if it is not near the Philadelphia area, I would visit some schools when she attends Pennsbury. One drawback to that - and to your visits in August - is that colleges are not in session (or are just getting underway end of August). You may not get the true "vibe" of the school when there are not students on campus. I recall one father of a field hockey player looking back on his daughter's recruiting experience and her college choice - he realized that she became interested in the schools she visited while in session, and quickly decided against those she visited in summer (not a conscious decision, but an interesting observation).
Test scores will give her some guidance when she gets those back. Did she take the new PSAT and receive her scores? While the new scoring scales are wacky, she should have percentiles on the PSAT report, so that could be useful too. She can always take the ACT again and add in the SAT - middle kid took the SAT 3 times and the ACT once. Would have been nice if she prepped in between SAT tests, but repeated sittings can raise scores.
She should keep an open mind about schools. She might decide to attend a school for academic fit/programs and they might not have softball. My eldest ended up at a school like that and now plays club. Also, from what you have written, it sounds like the schools on her list are very selective - and she says she only wants a school on that list. She must have safety schools (and hopefully a few matches) on her list. Unfortunately, great grades are a "dime a dozen", and even paired with good test scores, there are no guarantees when schools have very low admission rates. If you have a good state school, that can be a safety.
Maybe this spring when all of the decisions are in, there can be thread with the outcomes - the colleges, admit/waitlist/deferral, whether softball factored into admissions, scholarships (athletic/merit), etc. It might provide some guidance to future college applicants. I know my kid will have some disappointing decisions, but that is a reality when you apply to a bunch of reaches. She does have two acceptances already with nice merit aid (one safety, one match), but understand that a 2270, 34, 4.0 uw, 10 APs do not guarantee good outcomes at the reaches.
Test scores will give her some guidance when she gets those back. Did she take the new PSAT and receive her scores? While the new scoring scales are wacky, she should have percentiles on the PSAT report, so that could be useful too. She can always take the ACT again and add in the SAT - middle kid took the SAT 3 times and the ACT once. Would have been nice if she prepped in between SAT tests, but repeated sittings can raise scores.
She should keep an open mind about schools. She might decide to attend a school for academic fit/programs and they might not have softball. My eldest ended up at a school like that and now plays club. Also, from what you have written, it sounds like the schools on her list are very selective - and she says she only wants a school on that list. She must have safety schools (and hopefully a few matches) on her list. Unfortunately, great grades are a "dime a dozen", and even paired with good test scores, there are no guarantees when schools have very low admission rates. If you have a good state school, that can be a safety.
Maybe this spring when all of the decisions are in, there can be thread with the outcomes - the colleges, admit/waitlist/deferral, whether softball factored into admissions, scholarships (athletic/merit), etc. It might provide some guidance to future college applicants. I know my kid will have some disappointing decisions, but that is a reality when you apply to a bunch of reaches. She does have two acceptances already with nice merit aid (one safety, one match), but understand that a 2270, 34, 4.0 uw, 10 APs do not guarantee good outcomes at the reaches.
- Jul 4, 2014
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DD got her ACT scores this morning and she got a 34 composite score as a sophomore. (It was also her first time writing it.) We are so very happy for her and so proud of her accomplishments. Boston, here we come!!!
WOW, please tell your DD congratulations! That score with a good GPA will present a lot of opportunities for academic scholarships.
- May 23, 2010
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Congrats to your DD! Great to have that 99th percentile score as a 10th grader - she can focus on other stuff in 11th and 12th (stuff that is more enjoyable than standardized testing, which is pretty much anything else).
Thanks - and holy cow, a 34 is amazing. I've edited this post a few times to try to answer your question; it's a little complicated. I'll use myself as an example:
I attended Cornell University as a recruited athlete back in the day - the coach told me to apply to the school of Agriculture and Life Sciences (which was what I wanted anyway so didn't give it a second thought), but looking back, now that I think about it, I don't think I would have been admitted to the more competitive schools such as Arts and Sciences or Engineering.
DD was admitted to her program because of the passion and tenacity that she showed in her essay and in her accomplishments late in high school. The University that she is attending does make concessions, if needed, for recruited athletes as they have national championship teams in many sports and rely on attracting some of the best athletes in the world. If concessions are made; however, the student athlete may be limited to a general program of study.
I believe smaller liberal arts schools work very differently (and some of the smaller Ivy's - like Yale?) and your daughter would have all of the school's programs open to her - but definitely look into it to be sure.
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- Jul 4, 2014
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Thanks everyone for your kind words. We are very proud of her achievement. My DH and I are jumping for joy. Our DD on the other hand is as cool as a cucumber. She called me at the office and very nonchalantly told me the news. I on the other hand couldn't stop crying out of sheer happiness for her. I know that the test was extremely stressful. She went in with a full set of manicured nails (took her to the salon a few days before as a de-stressor) and she came out with absolutely no nail polish on (she picked it all off) and chewed her nails down the quick. It's definitely a good thing she does not need to rewrite. lol!
She's still a sophomore and I know that a lot can change between now and the time she graduates. But with this score, if she decides that she doesn't want to play softball, she still has options.
She's still a sophomore and I know that a lot can change between now and the time she graduates. But with this score, if she decides that she doesn't want to play softball, she still has options.
- Jul 4, 2014
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Yes I would love to see something like this. I think it's a great idea!
I hope this isn't too personal but with respect to your dd
who applied to a bunch of reaches, is she a sb player? Had she been in contact with any of the coaches at her reach schools? Did they tell her that they would support her application? Reason I ask is, dd is exactly in the same boat. primarily highly selective schools and you hit my fears right on the head. Even with a 34, 4.0 and by the time she graduates, 9 APs under her belt, she'd still experience disappointments. So I was wondering, does being a sb player improve one's chances of getting into a reach? What if she has a coaches support? Does it improve her chances? I know that kids with 36, 4.0 and a dozen APs, but non-athletes are a dime a dozen. But I'm curious, are there many 34, 10 APs, 4.0 pitchers who also play on the national stage? I'm trying to understand her odds and ascertain if we need to change gears. Thanks.
- May 23, 2010
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Yes, my 2016 (also referred to as middle kid) is a softball player. She has somewhat pursued the recruiting process, though playing in college is not the top priority for her. She has applied to 9 schools, 3 of which are D3. She has had contact with the coaches at the 3 D3 schools. She met with two of them on campus, also attended a camp at one of those schools. The other school she sent a video and has had email contact (coach was not able to meet when she visited campus). Was told that she was "on the list" sent to admissions at one school, coach alerted admissions that she was tracking her application at another. However, at these schools the coaches have very little influence with admissions.
Coaches have more influence at some D3 schools than others. NESCAC schools have a fairly clear process which involves "slots and tips", and if you apply ED with coach support (and have a green light on the pre-read), it means you will very likely be accepted. At some other schools, the process is rather grey and coach support may not count for much. So whether coach support "counts for much" at a D3 depends upon the school.
I expect your DD will have more support as a pitcher than players at other positions - you can always use pitchers. While I have heard some others say otherwise, the fact is that there are not many 34, 10 AP, 4.0 softball players. Let's assume that the ACT score distribution for softball players is the same as the national distribution. I looked at some fairly recent data, and there were 1.8 million ACT takers (for a graduating class), and exactly 1% scored 34-36. So 18,000 kids scored 34+. Don't forget those who take the SAT - slightly fewer take the SAT, so the top 1% of SAT takers are 16,000 kids. That is 34,000, but some kids take both (like mine), and may be in both groups. We'll use 30,000 top 1% test takers.
How many are softball players in the 30,000? Well, only half are female, so the number of females in the group is 15,000. I have seen information (I could look it up, but pretty sure it is correct) that 6% of HS girls play softball. That is 900 girls. Maybe half of these kids have some vision of playing in college (might be high estimate), so now we are down to 450 girls - really not that many, and for various reasons, I think this is a high estimate.
Most would say that my eldest is/was a better player than middle kid, but middle one is a more versatile player - between travel and HS, she played every position except pitcher last year and does a solid job at any position. Eldest is mainly a contact hitter, but middle one has her fair share of extra base hits and can also put down the bunt. Neither one really had a lot of interest from the coaches at the D3 schools they wanted to attend, but did receive interest from other D3 schools - schools with great academics, but not the ones they wanted to attend.
I'll give specifics on the schools once the results are in. In any case, have your DD apply to one or two safety schools. Though it is rare, there are a few high stat kids on College Confidential each year who applied to a bunch of reaches, maybe one or two matches, no safety schools, and come April 1st, find they have no acceptances.
Best of luck with the process!
Coaches have more influence at some D3 schools than others. NESCAC schools have a fairly clear process which involves "slots and tips", and if you apply ED with coach support (and have a green light on the pre-read), it means you will very likely be accepted. At some other schools, the process is rather grey and coach support may not count for much. So whether coach support "counts for much" at a D3 depends upon the school.
I expect your DD will have more support as a pitcher than players at other positions - you can always use pitchers. While I have heard some others say otherwise, the fact is that there are not many 34, 10 AP, 4.0 softball players. Let's assume that the ACT score distribution for softball players is the same as the national distribution. I looked at some fairly recent data, and there were 1.8 million ACT takers (for a graduating class), and exactly 1% scored 34-36. So 18,000 kids scored 34+. Don't forget those who take the SAT - slightly fewer take the SAT, so the top 1% of SAT takers are 16,000 kids. That is 34,000, but some kids take both (like mine), and may be in both groups. We'll use 30,000 top 1% test takers.
How many are softball players in the 30,000? Well, only half are female, so the number of females in the group is 15,000. I have seen information (I could look it up, but pretty sure it is correct) that 6% of HS girls play softball. That is 900 girls. Maybe half of these kids have some vision of playing in college (might be high estimate), so now we are down to 450 girls - really not that many, and for various reasons, I think this is a high estimate.
Most would say that my eldest is/was a better player than middle kid, but middle one is a more versatile player - between travel and HS, she played every position except pitcher last year and does a solid job at any position. Eldest is mainly a contact hitter, but middle one has her fair share of extra base hits and can also put down the bunt. Neither one really had a lot of interest from the coaches at the D3 schools they wanted to attend, but did receive interest from other D3 schools - schools with great academics, but not the ones they wanted to attend.
I'll give specifics on the schools once the results are in. In any case, have your DD apply to one or two safety schools. Though it is rare, there are a few high stat kids on College Confidential each year who applied to a bunch of reaches, maybe one or two matches, no safety schools, and come April 1st, find they have no acceptances.
Best of luck with the process!
