Tue 28 Nov 2006
Interesting article on two NESCAC football recruits, one of whom is headed to Williams.
This article helps answer questions raised in a recent Ephblog discussion concerning another future Class of 2011 athlete. Apparently it is kosher for tipped athletes to essentially be assured that they will be admitted to a NESCAC school via early decision (”support” of the application appears to be the operative term) prior to the December 15 notification date. Otherwise, these kids would not sound so confident about their future destinations.
If Kiely was recruited by Brown and Harvard, he must have strong credentials both on and off the field, considering the, on average, superior talent level of Ivy league football as well as the numerical limitations imposed on Harvard’s recruiting pool by the Ivy academic index system (which is toughest on the schools with the highest overall admissions standards).
3 Responses to “Nescac Football Recruits”
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Kiely “talked to” Brown and Harvard. The article makes no claim that he was recruited by either. I do not think that a large number of football players recruited (read: admitted) by both Harvard and Williams choose the latter, which is too bad.
Nice to see a reference to the important that Kiely places and playing two sports. The ability to do so is a great advantage for Williams, at least compared to Ivy League schools.
And kudos to Jeff for this article! We need more NESCAC sports news from him, now that he is settled in DC with his newish bride. [Getting married means more time for blogging? -- ed. Yes! And just wait to see what happens when a baby arrives . . . Lots of late-night blogging opportunities.] ;-)
Congrats to these kids on their admissions.
Jeff, I actually think the article raises a few more questions about our earlier discussion than it answers: The article says that Kiely did his overnight visit only two weeks ago mentioning that it “sealed the deal”. Did he file his early decision application without first visiting the campus, or is there a really quick turnaround for priority recruits? (or was there an editing error that made the timeline seem strange to me?) And why didn’t the reporter get comments from the relevant coaching staffs to confirm admittance? Or did the high school (St. John’s Prep) first approach the paper about doing this article to benefit their own recruiting agenda? I also wonder if the Williams and Bates admissions offices appreciate this article; it probably leads to some unpleasent phone calls from alumni whose kids are also waiting to hear via early decision.
In one sense, the answer to these questions do not matter all that much; I believe that colleges are largely free to conduct their admissions programs as they see fit. But I wonder what future applicants to our schools think of this policy. Should we even care? If Amherst is veering from the advertised ED time to let recruits know ahead of the rest of the ED pool, I might worry about Amherst being percieved by future applicants as less than honest. To me, that would be a needless consequence, especially when you are doing it to inform people who have already signed a binding agreement to attend if admitted.
In the jumble of relevant information which the typical applicant is processing this speculation gets entirely lost.