Do not waste ED on a SLAC. Very few unhooked (non-athlete, non-FGLI, non-legacy/donor) get in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid’s 1st choice is Swat. Are you suggesting it will be harder for her to get in ED than RD? Esp since they have ED2.

She is 1st in her class at end of jr year at v competitive private that typically sends 1-2 kids to Swat. Highest rigor. She has leadership etc and 1530 (800 v). No national anything.

She wants to be done with this process. Is it really a bad idea for her to apply ED?

No — the folks advising against ED have an agenda. Seek guidance from your daughter’s college advisor or the school itself. The bulk of the information shared on this thread is patently false.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid’s 1st choice is Swat. Are you suggesting it will be harder for her to get in ED than RD? Esp since they have ED2.

She is 1st in her class at end of jr year at v competitive private that typically sends 1-2 kids to Swat. Highest rigor. She has leadership etc and 1530 (800 v). No national anything.

She wants to be done with this process. Is it really a bad idea for her to apply ED?

DP, but she should apply to Swat ED if it is a clear first choice. I think OP is trying to say that if she were indifferent between attending Swat and Penn Arts & Sciences, for example, the ED application might move the needle more at Penn than at Swat.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This website is worth checking out. It is data reported (not useless anecdata). It shows total varsity athlete numbers per college and splits for male and female. It is a combined number for all 4 years but freshman year is always the highest due to recruited athletes. There is drop off in senior and junior year so freshmen account for the highest amount of that number.

VERY FEW varsity athletes are walk-ons for SLACs.

https://ope.ed.gov/athletics/#/institution/details

Not all athletes at a college are recruited.

My DD is being recruited for track. The coach of the LACs she's been talking to say very few (almost none) walk-on. So I'd assume that the vast majority are recruited.

Exactly. Hey DCUM - can you share your personal experience of your DC successfully walking-on to a varsity team at Williams, Swat, Amherst, Pomona, Bowdoin, CMC, Wesleyan, etc. in the past 5 years?

Do you have any real-life examples to share of this happening?

Crickets.

I know of two in the last 4 years on a NESCAC volleyball team. Different schools, Williams and Midd so it does happen. I know that it is rare. I believe that the larger teams might have a couple sprinkled in but you can figure roughly 150-170 of the ED kids each year at a NESCAC are recruited athletes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This website is worth checking out. It is data reported (not useless anecdata). It shows total varsity athlete numbers per college and splits for male and female. It is a combined number for all 4 years but freshman year is always the highest due to recruited athletes. There is drop off in senior and junior year so freshmen account for the highest amount of that number.

VERY FEW varsity athletes are walk-ons for SLACs.

https://ope.ed.gov/athletics/#/institution/details

Not all athletes at a college are recruited.

My DD is being recruited for track. The coach of the LACs she's been talking to say very few (almost none) walk-on. So I'd assume that the vast majority are recruited.

Exactly. Hey DCUM - can you share your personal experience of your DC successfully walking-on to a varsity team at Williams, Swat, Amherst, Pomona, Bowdoin, CMC, Wesleyan, etc. in the past 5 years?

Do you have any real-life examples to share of this happening?

Crickets.

I know a Bowdoin kid who this year walked onto women’s rugby. I wouldn’t be shocked if there are many many girls who had never played rugby before arriving onto campus

That’s a club sport. Entirely different conversation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid’s 1st choice is Swat. Are you suggesting it will be harder for her to get in ED than RD? Esp since they have ED2.

She is 1st in her class at end of jr year at v competitive private that typically sends 1-2 kids to Swat. Highest rigor. She has leadership etc and 1530 (800 v). No national anything.

She wants to be done with this process. Is it really a bad idea for her to apply ED?

Talk to your private school CC, they will be able to advise of her chances. OP is truthful in that ED bumps are much smaller for non-hooked and ED rate is misleading but your kid may be so amazing that they are the very rare exception? Your private CC will be able to steer you - good luck!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid’s 1st choice is Swat. Are you suggesting it will be harder for her to get in ED than RD? Esp since they have ED2.

She is 1st in her class at end of jr year at v competitive private that typically sends 1-2 kids to Swat. Highest rigor. She has leadership etc and 1530 (800 v). No national anything.

She wants to be done with this process. Is it really a bad idea for her to apply ED?

No — the folks advising against ED have an agenda. Seek guidance from your daughter’s college advisor or the school itself. The bulk of the information shared on this thread is patently false.

what agenda? we're all just parents trying to crowd share info and make sense of a system that's very confusing and opaque. I appreciate the website with data on athletes that OP shared. and there's other kinds of hooks to consider during ED rounds too.

I think it's fine to take a swing at ED for small LAC if it's your absolute fave, but odds are definitely lower than we think when accounting for all the athletes and other hooks that get prioritized in that round and inflate the accepted numbers up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid’s 1st choice is Swat. Are you suggesting it will be harder for her to get in ED than RD? Esp since they have ED2.

She is 1st in her class at end of jr year at v competitive private that typically sends 1-2 kids to Swat. Highest rigor. She has leadership etc and 1530 (800 v). No national anything.

She wants to be done with this process. Is it really a bad idea for her to apply ED?

No — the folks advising against ED have an agenda. Seek guidance from your daughter’s college advisor or the school itself. The bulk of the information shared on this thread is patently false.

what agenda? we're all just parents trying to crowd share info and make sense of a system that's very confusing and opaque. I appreciate the website with data on athletes that OP shared. and there's other kinds of hooks to consider during ED rounds too.

I think it's fine to take a swing at ED for small LAC if it's your absolute fave, but odds are definitely lower than we think when accounting for all the athletes and other hooks that get prioritized in that round and inflate the accepted numbers up.

I think some parents on this board project their own negative tendencies on others. They assume other parents would behave as they do. I doubt OP or most of us on here have silly agendas like OP being accused.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Anyone know if this differs at all at some of the women’s colleges (Bryn Mawr, Smith, MHC)? The ED rates are certainly higher and appear to give a substantial bump, but I’m uncertain about for unhooked applicants like my DD.

My D is at Smith, applied ED1 and it worked out for her. Anecdotally, a lot of her friends got in this way as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP you're kidding yourself if you think that SLACs give preferential ED admissions to most or all athletes.

Are you kidding? It is the quid pro quo for recruitment. No ED no support is the rule.

Correct (or more limited support, depending on the SLAC). At the school where my kid committed they were very up front about this at the general senior visit program. Almost half of the ED1 admits were committed athletes. Almost all had a positive pre-read and many had gotten a merit pre-read. The latter is available to all students who want to apply ED, not just recruits.

So half the spots were already spoken for with athletes who had passed the pre-read prior to applying ED? That's 100% acceptance rate for half the ED pool. Just imagine how low the acceptance rate for the other half of the ED pool if the final ED acceptance rate is only 15% Or even up to 30%? It's very misleading when half spots are claimed by athletes with a 100% acceptance rate through passing pre-read plus coach support.

My DS was going to apply ED to WASP+, but is now applying ED to WashU.

It's not misleading when they flat out tell you in advance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This website is worth checking out. It is data reported (not useless anecdata). It shows total varsity athlete numbers per college and splits for male and female. It is a combined number for all 4 years but freshman year is always the highest due to recruited athletes. There is drop off in senior and junior year so freshmen account for the highest amount of that number.

VERY FEW varsity athletes are walk-ons for SLACs.

https://ope.ed.gov/athletics/#/institution/details

Not all athletes at a college are recruited.

My DD is being recruited for track. The coach of the LACs she's been talking to say very few (almost none) walk-on. So I'd assume that the vast majority are recruited.

Exactly. Hey DCUM - can you share your personal experience of your DC successfully walking-on to a varsity team at Williams, Swat, Amherst, Pomona, Bowdoin, CMC, Wesleyan, etc. in the past 5 years?

Do you have any real-life examples to share of this happening?

Crickets.

I know a Bowdoin kid who this year walked onto women’s rugby. I wouldn’t be shocked if there are many many girls who had never played rugby before arriving onto campus

That’s a club sport. Entirely different conversation.

Yep and most people haven't had previous exposure to rugby so they are used to training newbies. Club rugby is very different from varsity soccer or softball.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This website is worth checking out. It is data reported (not useless anecdata). It shows total varsity athlete numbers per college and splits for male and female. It is a combined number for all 4 years but freshman year is always the highest due to recruited athletes. There is drop off in senior and junior year so freshmen account for the highest amount of that number.

VERY FEW varsity athletes are walk-ons for SLACs.

https://ope.ed.gov/athletics/#/institution/details

Not all athletes at a college are recruited.

My DD is being recruited for track. The coach of the LACs she's been talking to say very few (almost none) walk-on. So I'd assume that the vast majority are recruited.

Exactly. Hey DCUM - can you share your personal experience of your DC successfully walking-on to a varsity team at Williams, Swat, Amherst, Pomona, Bowdoin, CMC, Wesleyan, etc. in the past 5 years?

Do you have any real-life examples to share of this happening?

Crickets.

I know a Bowdoin kid who this year walked onto women’s rugby. I wouldn’t be shocked if there are many many girls who had never played rugby before arriving onto campus

Bwahahaha this is because nobody gives a sht about women's rugby.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This website is worth checking out. It is data reported (not useless anecdata). It shows total varsity athlete numbers per college and splits for male and female. It is a combined number for all 4 years but freshman year is always the highest due to recruited athletes. There is drop off in senior and junior year so freshmen account for the highest amount of that number.

VERY FEW varsity athletes are walk-ons for SLACs.

https://ope.ed.gov/athletics/#/institution/details

Not all athletes at a college are recruited.

My DD is being recruited for track. The coach of the LACs she's been talking to say very few (almost none) walk-on. So I'd assume that the vast majority are recruited.

Exactly. Hey DCUM - can you share your personal experience of your DC successfully walking-on to a varsity team at Williams, Swat, Amherst, Pomona, Bowdoin, CMC, Wesleyan, etc. in the past 5 years?

Do you have any real-life examples to share of this happening?

Crickets.

I do. Japanese student and a DC private school kid who both joined soccer at Pomona. The team has 7 walk ons in total. This isn't completely improbable.

ok we have one example.

Yes. You asked for one and received one. What a ridiculous argument.

It is ridiculous to believe that this one example, even if we believe it is true, is at all representative of athletics at SLACs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This website is worth checking out. It is data reported (not useless anecdata). It shows total varsity athlete numbers per college and splits for male and female. It is a combined number for all 4 years but freshman year is always the highest due to recruited athletes. There is drop off in senior and junior year so freshmen account for the highest amount of that number.

VERY FEW varsity athletes are walk-ons for SLACs.

https://ope.ed.gov/athletics/#/institution/details

Not all athletes at a college are recruited.

My DD is being recruited for track. The coach of the LACs she's been talking to say very few (almost none) walk-on. So I'd assume that the vast majority are recruited.

Exactly. Hey DCUM - can you share your personal experience of your DC successfully walking-on to a varsity team at Williams, Swat, Amherst, Pomona, Bowdoin, CMC, Wesleyan, etc. in the past 5 years?

Do you have any real-life examples to share of this happening?

Crickets.

I know of two in the last 4 years on a NESCAC volleyball team. Different schools, Williams and Midd so it does happen. I know that it is rare. I believe that the larger teams might have a couple sprinkled in but you can figure roughly 150-170 of the ED kids each year at a NESCAC are recruited athletes.

I know of 2 walk ons at Williams for swimming. 1 Diving & 1 swimming at Bowdoin, 1 football Pomona.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This website is worth checking out. It is data reported (not useless anecdata). It shows total varsity athlete numbers per college and splits for male and female. It is a combined number for all 4 years but freshman year is always the highest due to recruited athletes. There is drop off in senior and junior year so freshmen account for the highest amount of that number.

VERY FEW varsity athletes are walk-ons for SLACs.

https://ope.ed.gov/athletics/#/institution/details

Not all athletes at a college are recruited.

My DD is being recruited for track. The coach of the LACs she's been talking to say very few (almost none) walk-on. So I'd assume that the vast majority are recruited.

Exactly. Hey DCUM - can you share your personal experience of your DC successfully walking-on to a varsity team at Williams, Swat, Amherst, Pomona, Bowdoin, CMC, Wesleyan, etc. in the past 5 years?

Do you have any real-life examples to share of this happening?

Crickets.

I do. Japanese student and a DC private school kid who both joined soccer at Pomona. The team has 7 walk ons in total. This isn't completely improbable.

ok we have one example.

Yes. You asked for one and received one. What a ridiculous argument.

It is ridiculous to believe that this one example, even if we believe it is true, is at all representative of athletics at SLACs.

No one said it was representative of athletics. You asked for a damn example and are now throwing a fit because you were wrong. Get over it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This website is worth checking out. It is data reported (not useless anecdata). It shows total varsity athlete numbers per college and splits for male and female. It is a combined number for all 4 years but freshman year is always the highest due to recruited athletes. There is drop off in senior and junior year so freshmen account for the highest amount of that number.

VERY FEW varsity athletes are walk-ons for SLACs.

https://ope.ed.gov/athletics/#/institution/details

Not all athletes at a college are recruited.

My DD is being recruited for track. The coach of the LACs she's been talking to say very few (almost none) walk-on. So I'd assume that the vast majority are recruited.

Exactly. Hey DCUM - can you share your personal experience of your DC successfully walking-on to a varsity team at Williams, Swat, Amherst, Pomona, Bowdoin, CMC, Wesleyan, etc. in the past 5 years?

Do you have any real-life examples to share of this happening?

Crickets.

I do. Japanese student and a DC private school kid who both joined soccer at Pomona. The team has 7 walk ons in total. This isn't completely improbable.

ok we have one example.

Yes. You asked for one and received one. What a ridiculous argument.

It is ridiculous to believe that this one example, even if we believe it is true, is at all representative of athletics at SLACs.

No one said it was representative of athletics. You asked for a damn example and are now throwing a fit because you were wrong. Get over it.

It wasn’t me asking for the example, so I have nothing to get over. I do know that Pomona soccer does not have open tryouts, though, so the cited example is extremely fishy. Whatever happened it wasn’t a “walk on” in the commonly accepted sense of the term.