Recruiting commitment as HS sophomore?

[Anonymous]

My niece just announced that she has committed to college X for sport Y. She is an excellent athlete and an even better student and the school is one of the best in the country. DH says that you can't sign a letter of intent until you are a Junior so what exactly does it mean that she has "committed." PS - very proud of her - she has worked her butt off and is the kindest, most humble young woman you'll ever meet but the family is pretty private so I just want to better understand what this all means for her.

[Anonymous]

It's a non-binding verbal commitment. She or the school can change their mind. It is not binding until a National Letter of Intent is signed during her senior year (either during the fall early signing period, or in the spring). Obviously, these verbal commitments are the first step, as schools need to know how many slots they have available for each signing class, and they only send an NLI to you if are the right fit and they're sure you'll sign with them. But, again, a verbal, at this point for your niece, is non-binding.

Many verbal commitments turn into signed ones, but not all.

[Anonymous]

Verbal commitment. Some girls sports (soccer for example) recruit early. The offer is usually contingent on relatively modest expectations for scores and grades going forward, although it's obviously in her interest to keep those up. Also hope she doesn't get injured.

[Anonymous]

http://www.ncaa.org/student-athletes/future/eligibility-center/what-verbal-commitment

It just means the college coach "intends" to have her sign a National Letter of Intent when she can... senior year.

The only athletes I know that have had a college back out of a "verbal commitment" are when a coach gets fired and the new coach will not honor the verbal commitment.

Also, I know of a few athletes that had the college take away their verbal due to getting bad grades/issues with behavior.

Also, they will remove the offer if she does not live up to the "expectations" of GPA and SAT score.

[Anonymous]

Oh, and I should mention, verbals this far out are very common. I don't particularly like them, but that is the direction college athletics recruiting has gone in most sports. I've seen kids give verbal commitments has far out as the summer going into their freshman year of high school. Personally, I think schools are utterly crazy to do this, but everyone wants to lock up talent sooner and sooner, best interests of the kid be rammed.

[Anonymous]

OP here - thanks. Does that automatically mean scholarship money too?

[Anonymous]

When she signs the National Letter of Intent it will come with a financial aid package. Not everybody calls it a "scholarship: but it will come with financial aid.

You won't find out how much unless they offer that information. It could be as little as 25% or as much as a full scholarship.

Everybody will come on here and say Ivy league schools don't give scholarships. They do give financial aid though.