Response Rate and Degrees of Interest from College Coaches

[girliesmom]

That is a good sign. It means the coach is taking your DD seriously.

As others have stated, different coaches have different degrees of pull with the admissions office.

My DS' D3 rowing coach made it clear that he has NO pull with admissions, except in perhaps slightly borderline cases. That college sets minimum GPA and ACT, and accepts anyone who meets their cutoffs. The point of meeting with the coach was for him to sell the program to us.

OTOH, my mother attended a well-known D3 women's college outside of Boston. That particular school is very selective. It appears the coaches for that school have a great deal of pull with the admissions, since that college will reject the vast majority of girls who meet the minimum requirements for SAT and GPA. One time my mother was recruiting a girl who was a nationally ranked swimmer, in addition to having great SAT and GPA. The girl asked about the college's swim team. My mother contacted the swim coach, who snatched the girl up like a dog with a bone.

The D3 Women's college outside of Boston is also on my dd's list of schools. That's great info. Thank you very much!!!

We are aware that some coaches have great pull while other don't. I've also read that some have slots (ie. NESCAC) while other ones don't and the kid is primarily at the mercy of admissions. We're certainly not expecting too much from this conversation. We're simply hoping that DD will peak the coaches' interest further and therefore open a channel for further communications.

We're so green to this so I'm very grateful for all the advise we've gotten.

 

[BobInMadison]

The Boston area school seems to have a really good softball team, by D-3 standards, at least.

I went to a D-3 co-ed college outside of Philly, of the Friendly tradition, and while the coaches are allotted several slots each, the athletics are less competitive. At one point they disbanded the football team because the team won too many games, and they didn't want sports to be overemphasized. They said too many slots were reserved for football players and they didn't want to be a football school. That tipped off the fact that coaches were given slots.

 

[Indiana]

Update: DD received an email yesterday from the coach at her dream school with a cell phone number at the bottom. So DD called the coach (despite being completely nervous and yet super excited at the same time. She was literally buzzing!). Got the Coach's voicemail so she left a message stating who she was and that she would follow up via email to find out when it would be best to call back. Coach emailed her a hour later thanking her for calling and asked that she call next week with a specific date and time. DD is over the moon. But we told her not count her chickens before they are hatched. This is a good sign, right? I'm sure there's been others who have been in our current situation. Any advise you can offer before she needs to make her call?

Have your daughter come up with a few questions to ask the coach. Also have her practice saying a few things about herself so the conversations runs smoothly. When my DD had her first college phone call, which lasted about 15 minutes, she didn't say much other than, "uh huh.... uh huh.... yeah.... wow....uh huh... ummm, can I travel abroad?..... uh huh....." So - try not to do THAT - ha ha.

My DD was recruited by D3s in the Northeast - her ACT of 30 and GPA of 3.85 (unweighted), 4.3 (weighted) made the coaches very happy.

 

[CoogansBluff]

This ranks the 412 D-III schools based on their softball performance last season. It considers strength of schedule, so that's better than just looking at W-L record.

Massey Ratings - CSOFT

 

[girliesmom]

This ranks the 412 D-III schools based on their softball performance last season. It considers strength of schedule, so that's better than just looking at W-L record.

Massey Ratings - CSOFT

Thanks for this great info. I've been looking but haven't been able to find something similar to the NCAA D1 Softball Ranking, but for D3s. The NCAA D3 Rankings are by conferences only. So this is fantastic. Thanks!

I'm curious, (I know this is somewhat off topic), but seeing that a Tufts pitcher has gone to play professionally, how would you say Tufts or any of the schools at the top of the D3 rankings, compare to the D1 schools? Would you say that top D3s are equivalent to Mid-Majors or Majors? Thoughts?

 

[girliesmom]

Have your daughter come up with a few questions to ask the coach. Also have her practice saying a few things about herself so the conversations runs smoothly. When my DD had her first college phone call, which lasted about 15 minutes, she didn't say much other than, "uh huh.... uh huh.... yeah.... wow....uh huh... ummm, can I travel abroad?..... uh huh....." So - try not to do THAT - ha ha.

My DD was recruited by D3s in the Northeast - her ACT of 30 and GPA of 3.85 (unweighted), 4.3 (weighted) made the coaches very happy.

Thanks Indiana. Great advise. I will definitely get to to come up with a few questions. Certainly wouldn't want her to be a bump on a log. lol!

Thanks for the info on your dd I needed a baseline for ACT and GPA. It's give me a good idea of where DD needs to be. Thanks!

 

[CoogansBluff]

Thanks for this great info. I've been looking but haven't been able to find something similar to the NCAA D1 Softball Ranking, but for D3s. The NCAA D3 Rankings are by conferences only. So this is fantastic. Thanks!

I'm curious, (I know this is somewhat off topic), but seeing that a Tufts pitcher has gone to play professionally, how would you say Tufts or any of the schools at the top of the D3 rankings, compare to the D1 schools? Would you say that top D3s are equivalent to Mid-Majors or Majors? Thoughts?

The Massey Ratings rank all teams in all divisions. You'll have to tinker with it, but here is the top 500 in all divisions.


Massey Ratings - CSOFT

#99 Tufts
#180 Tyler
#227 E Texas Baptist
#301 Salisbury
#319 Trine
#329 Linfield
#345 Emory
#352 Christopher Newport
#361 Whitworth
#365 VA Wesleyan

That suggests that a top-10 team in D-III is roughtly a 300-400 team nationally, but that the top 2-3 can go much higher, especially with a big-time pitcher like the one Tufts had.

 

[sluggers]

So, my DD#3 went to a D3 school and played hoops. She ended up being on a team that won a national championship. Here is how we ended up picking that school:

1) We discussed her plans for her life after college. She wanted to go into the sciences. I told her that it would be impossible to play D1 ball and get a degree in chemistry, engineering, or physics.
2) I talked to my DD about what she wanted. She said she wanted to *play* basketball in colletge. I told her that if she played D1 or D2, she would sit the bench for 2 or 3 years. But, the level of play at D1 would be much more advanced than D3.
3) We then looked at several schools just to get an idea what she liked. Specifically, how "urban" of a school did she want? Some D3 schools are in the middle of nowhere. Some D3 schools are in the middle of large cities. Some D3 schools are near a large city.
4) Next, we talked about religion. Some D3 schools have strict religion requirements. Daily chapel, e.g., is mandatory on some campuses. (My DD#3 ended up with a minor in religion to go with her major in chemistry.)
5) Then, we looked up D3 schools in our area that had good basketball teams. (It isn't that hard...if you look at the D3 playoffs, you see the same names year after year after year.)
6) We then contacted the coaches and went for visits. My impression is that D3 coaches get lots of "shoppers" and few buyers, so they are reluctant to spend a lot of time on someone unless the kid has a real interest in the school.
7) When we went visited the college DD finally picked, she actually didn't want to go for the visit. She had been on other college visits and thought it she would hate the place. But, I dragged her anyway. Weirdest thing...the school fit her like a glove, and she knew it after about an hour. The science department was good. She liked the teachers. She liked the kids. She wanted to go there whether she played basketball or not.
8) We met with the coach. He was polite, but did not try to sell the school.
9) Before she made the decision to go there, DD and I asked the coach point blank, "Can my DD play here?" I explained I didn't want a promise of playing time, I just wanted to know if he thought she had the talent to play for him.
10) She received almost no financial aid, so it was expensive.

It turned out that she played a few minutes each game her freshman year, was a major contributor her sophomore and junior years, and started her senior year. She was all conference her senior year, and second team all conference her sophomore and junior years.

In addition to "the ring" and a diploma from a fairly well known school, she also got a letter of recommendation from the college president.