The Essential Guide to Ivy League Athletic Recruiting

By Tier One Athletic Resources

The Essential Guide to Ivy League Recruiting is a condensed but thorough road map of the Ivy League athletic recruiting process. All the steps, and missteps, in the journey of a Midwestern public high school athlete to the Ivy League are chronicled in thorough and entertaining detail.

Includes tips on -

Getting on the coach's radar - one method that worked (and 2 that didn't).

The "Likely Letter", why it's the Golden Ticket of Ivy recruiting and the 'magic words' a coach wants to hear before offering one.

The formula that Ivy League admissions uses to calculate if an athlete can be recruited.

From essay topics to 'what to expect on your official visit', you'll refer to this guide often as you take this remarkable journey.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tier One Athletic Resources
• Release date: Jan 27, 2011

Book preview

The Essential Guide to

Ivy League Athletic Recruiting

Published by Tier One Athletic Resources at Smashwords

Copyright 2012

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Table of Contents

Introduction

A League Apart

Sports in the Ivy League

The Academic Index

Athletes Wanted

Laying the Groundwork

Getting on the Radar

The Role of the Parents

Making a Resume

Your Video Profile

Showcase Events

Recruiting Services: Are They Worth It?

Unofficial Visits

Financial Aid

Official Visits: What to Expect

The Post Visit Coach Meeting

The Likely Letter, aka Holy Grail of Ivy League Recruiting

Playing Your Cards

Early Decision vs. Regular Decision

Your Application

The Sweetest Words You Will Ever Read

One and Done: Priceless

Appendix-RecruitingTimetable

Introduction

Hi, this is the track and field coach from Columbia University. I received your information and just wanted to talk to you about some of the great opportunities available here. My daughter passed me the phone to listen to the voicemail. Columbia? That Columbia? It was very exciting and felt a little surreal.

We live in a Midwestern suburb and my daughter was a student-athlete at a large public high school. Every year, this school sends a few athletes to Big Ten or Mid-American Conference colleges. The Ivy League was uncharted territory for athletes, coaches and counselors in our area. In fact, in the 100 plus year history of the school, she was the first athlete to attend an Ivy League school. I suspect this is true for many areas outside of the recruiting hotbeds on the east coast and a few prominent prep schools in California. We had to learn the process from the ground up, from the initial realization that Ivy League schools don’t give athletic scholarships, to the meaning of such obscure terms as Likely Letters and the Academic Index. I read as much as I could find, trying to separate the good information from the myths and stereotypes that shroud Ivy League athletics. We were also fortunate to meet people along the way who were patient enough to explain the intricate and sometimes surprising way things work in the Ivy League. This guide reflects all of the ins and outs and behind-the-scenes details which culminated with her enrollment at Harvard as a track and field athlete. Every athlete will take a different journey depending on the school, sport and coaches, but the basic process is the same. I hope you find that our experiences are a useful tool in helping you navigate the Ivy League athletic recruiting process. I suppose I should add a disclaimer here. The information in this guide is based on our own experiences and research. While I’ve tried to be as accurate as possible in compiling the information, recruiting rules can change or be interpreted in different ways, so there are no guarantees about the accuracy or that you are going to end up with the outcome you desire. But you already knew that, so let’s get on with making it happen.

A League Apart

Harvard College generally accepts less than 7% of the roughly 35,000 applications they receive each year. Think about that for a minute. If you are sitting in the information session at Agassiz House in Radcliffe Yard with 50 other bright, motivated prospective Harvard students, 46 of them won’t get in. Acceptance rates throughout the Ivy League seem to drop year after year. Why do so many students apply in the face of such daunting odds? Obviously it’s an opportunity to learn at some of the finest universities in the world with benefits that will last a lifetime, but Ivy League schools are also some of the greatest values in higher education. For example, generally speaking, families with incomes under 60,000 per year attend for free. Financial aid is still outstanding even for families with incomes well over six figures. Also, most Ivy League schools will meet the student’s entire financial need with