Announcing Early Action Commitments
There is no advantage to announcing your Early Action or Early Decision commitment.
Thinking of announcing your Early Action commitment? Or your Early Decision commitment? Think again.
We often come across articles about high school athletes announcing their commitment to certain Ivy League schools. For there to be a reputable article online about, say hypothetically, a high school swimmer (trained by Katie Ledecky’s coach!) who verbally commits to Princeton, it’s highly likely the swimmer was indeed recruited by the swim coach at this school. Of course he was. “SwimSwam” wouldn’t have run the piece if it weren’t the case.
But just because a high school student is getting recruited to swim at a certain school like Princeton doesn’t mean there needs to be a fancy article about his announcement. Because a college coach recruiting a swimmer, as the “SwimSwam” article correctly points out, does not guarantee the swimmer’s admission. After all, that’s up to the admissions officers at Princeton, not the coach. Do recruited athletes often earn admission? You bet. And, in all likelihood, this (hypothetical) student will be no exception. But what is the advantage to announcing your commitment? Swimmers aren’t exactly basketball stars. They’re not LeBron James. It’s not newsworthy. And what if the student doesn’t get into the school to which he commits? Now when he applies elsewhere, admissions officers can see that he applied Single Choice Early Action to Princeton. This kind of information is better kept to oneself.
And remember, not that the Princeton swim coach isn’t powerful (Princeton has a great swim program!), but swim coaches aren’t as powerful as football and basketball coaches. Sorry squash and tennis coaches but the same is true for you folks too. These coaches, while they typically get their choices, don’t have as much weight in the admissions process as do the football and basketball coaches. So just because a coach says he or she will recruit you, don’t risk everything on it. So avoid the press release or article. It’s not to your benefit. Best to always keep your cards close to your swim suit.
You are permitted to use www.ivycoach.com (including the content of the Blog) for your personal, non-commercial use only. You must not copy, download, print, or otherwise distribute the content on our site without the prior written consent of Ivy Coach, Inc.
2 Comments
They run your application by admissions before offering you a spot. Ivy recruiting is a complicated process but saying “hold your cards” is silly because they know before they commit.
Yes, we’re well aware. We think you’re missing the point. Other colleges don’t necessarily know where you applied Early. If you don’t get in, even as a recruit, revealing your cards to the world can come back to haunt you. By doing so, other colleges sure will know where you applied Early. Because it’s in the press!