3 Terms You Need to Know If You’re Being Recruited By an Ivy

 

The recruiting process is different at Ivies — it will take longer and the coach won’t be able to guarantee that you’ll be admitted. It’s also worth noting that the Ivies can’t offer scholarships. But that doesn’t mean that the coaches can’t help you get a really good sense of whether you’ll get in.

Ivy League coaches can work with the Admissions team at their schools to help determine whether their top recruits have a good chance of being admitted.

Here are three terms you need to know if you’re being recruited by an Ivy League school:

 

Academic Index

The Academic Index, often referred to as the AI, is a calculation that all Ivy League schools compute for all of their applicants — it doesn’t just apply for recruited athletes. 

The Academic Index has three sections: SAT/ACT, GPA, and SAT Subject Tests. Each section is scored out of 80 points, meaning the highest possible AI is 240.

It’s unclear how schools will adjust their AI calculation now that the SAT Subject Tests have been discontinued. In the past, if students took the ACT and their ACT/SAT AI score was higher than their subject test AI score, the ACT AI section was double counted, and the subject test AI score was dropped. This was one of the reasons why it can be so beneficial for students to take the ACT instead of the SAT. For more info on what you need to know about the SAT as a recruited athlete, check out my post on the FAQ of the SAT for recruited athletes.

Each team at each school has a target average AI. Coaches can recruit kids whose AI is lower than the school’s student body average AI, but only to a certain extent. They can recruit a few kids who are one standard deviation below the student body average, and even fewer kids who are two standard deviations below the average. And even when they recruit those kids, coaches need to maintain their target team average. Walk-ons (who get in on their own and typically have a really high AI) often don’t count towards this average.

One thing worth keeping in mind, not all teams are allowed to recruit kids who are below the student body average AI. When I was coaching the Harvard golf team, our team’s target AI was exactly the same as the student body average, and we were really proud of the fact that our team’s actual average AI was even higher than the school’s average AI.

So the moral of this story: academics matter a lot at Ivy League schools. If you have a lower GPA you can make up for it slightly with higher test scores, but only to a certain extent. Being a truly exceptional athlete can also help you.

 

Academic Pre-Read

An Academic Pre-Read is when a coach takes a prospect’s transcript through junior year, test scores, and senior class schedule to their liaison in Admissions and asks for their input. Input from Admissions typically falls into one of these categories:

• Green — this person looks great; we encourage you to recruit them
• Yellow — we have some concerns; we need to see more info on this person
• Red — this person is unlikely to be admitted; do not recruit this person

Coaches at Ivy League schools only ask for pre-reads for the top prospects. So if a coach mentions a pre-read to you, that’s a good sign!

While coaches can informally talk to Admissions about prospects at any point during the recruiting process, they can only get a formal academic pre-read after July 1 following junior year.

I typically recommend students send coaches all of their academics info as soon as their junior year ends so that coaches have everything they need to get a pre-read.

 

Likely Letter

A likely letter is an official letter from Admissions after a recruit applies with a coach’s full support. Admissions reads the recruits application in its entirety and if they feel favorably about the candidate, they issue a letter stating that the applicant is “likely to be admitted” to the school. 

For more information about the Likely Letter process, check out my recent post answering the question “what is a likely letter” in much greater detail.

 

Conclusion

If you are being recruited to an Ivy League school, knowing these terms will help you navigate the recruiting process more seamlessly and with less stress. You can ask coaches about where you stand in the recruiting process, ask them to explain how they calculate your academic index, and ask for the status of your pre-read. With that information, you can push for a likely letter, which is a great way to limit stress and end your recruiting process early.

For more information on the Ivy League recruiting process, check out the Ivy League Joint Statement, which states when Ivies are able to get pre-reads and issue likely letters, among other things.