Reply to How do you get recruited as an athlete to an Ivy League?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I have a DC going through this right now. Interested in a few Ivys (as well as other non-Ivys) and getting traction from their coaches. There is a lot of accurate information and a lot of inaccurate information on this thread. And my DC is not through the process (2025), so I can only share their experience up to a point.

There are some differences depending on whether it's a team vs. individual sport, but for either, it starts like a good old fashioned job search. If you're interested, you email the coach. (Before doing this, fill in the online interest questionnaires, just because they like to have that done - it's okay if DC doesn't have all the information yet, but it puts them onto a mailing list of sorts.) Ideally this email will include video footage or a link to it online. Email should be comprehensive introduction but not so long that it's unreadable. The goal is to get the coach to respond. For D1 (which includes Ivys), early summer 10th is a good time to do this, because coaches can't contact until Jun. 15 that year.

Then, you wait for responses. If you don't get responses to some, follow up a few weeks later.

See where you are. Positive responses should hopefully lead to phone/zoom calls. That is the start of a relationship of checking in every few weeks/months. If relationship progresses, you may have visits (unofficial or official). After visits, conversation continues or not. If conversation continues, you may get an offer, which is an offer to be on the team if you get in to school. Coach helps facilitate this. The coach can't "get you in," but can sort of guide your application if that makes sense. So, while you aren't guaranteed admission, you get an edge. This is a result of:

1) They have a team roster spot to fill. So you get an edge over identical candidate who can't fill that spot.
2) You're looked at for grades and rigor and test scores, BUT you are not looked at for those things in the context of others from your school. For some, this can be a big boost.
3) While they may love for the athlete to be something else too (URM, for example), that is also not the context they're looking for. You're looked at individually vs. within a larger applicant base.

Basically, you need to be in the zone, but you benefit from not being compared to the entire pool of people applying.

Key is - you do have to sell yourself in the way you do for a job. You make the contact, you keep up with the coach. If you're an absolute stand out this will be easy, because the coach will chase you. But for most (like my DC), you're a contender, not a stand out, so you have to market yourself.

On that note. Lots of kids are great athletes and lots are great students, and a fair amount are both. These are the kids IVY+ coaches talk to. So, what sets kids apart is not actually either of these qualities. It's sportsmanship, character, kindness, maturity. Do not overlook the value of these qualities in this process. We have had more than one coach explain this. Also, they want kids who want to continue to progress and improve in college, rather than seeing college as where they land after having done so well in high school. In other words, college isn't the "prize" - it's the next level. Athletes need to show that they understand that.[/quote]

IME, and everyone is going to have a bit of a different experience, this is a bit of a rose-colored summary. This makes it sound a bit easier than it is. And I also agree it does depend on the sport. In our DC's there is a LOT of international recruiting so only about half are US Players.

In our experience, also, there are absolutely a fair number who are excellent players + excellent students. So it is still extremely competitive. And the ones that I know who went on to Ivies had SIGNIFICANT help from club coaches and directors. And were highly promoted by their clubs/coaches. The ones that didn't . . . went elsewhere. (Other factors such as "First gen" also helped).

You still have a fairly large pool of "applicants" for about half the roster spots in a given year (in our sport). So it's still really difficult. Not impossible if you are truly the BEST at your position and a good student. But most kids are "only" really good and really smart and they need a bit of luck, timing, and help to make an ivy happen. 
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