Athletic Recruitment

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Northwoods

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DS looks to be getting invited to an official (per NCAA) visit the CGA in February by the track and cross country coach.

What should we expect when we take him there?

I know overall acceptance is around 15%. What is the rate for recruited athletes? I would assume higher, but is it 20% or 50% or what?

Sounds like recruited athletes need a close to 300 PFE. We did a mock pfe after he spent all day working slinging gravel and lumber at a pig farm. It was also cold, and he still had a lot of congestion from a week old virus. He still managed a 244. Biggest weakness was push-ups, he only did 35. He's adding push-ups to his routine with a goal of 55-60 by AIM (assuming he gets accepted to that). He did 82 situps, and his goal will be 95-100 by summer. He missed the 8:30 run time by 7 seconds, which the congestion, plus having been focusing on wrestling over running, was mostly to blame for. Improving that time will be the easiest for him. His mile PR is sub-5 minute, so he should be able to do the run in under 8 minutes.
 
Recruited athletes must meet minimum standard for academics, the PFE and be medically qualified. With minimum qualifications, a 'truly' recruited athlete will receive the appointment. As I caution my students, the coaches are recruiting broadly, so sometimes they will 'change' their mind and drop the recruitment process with a student. Thus, be sure to have back-up plans. I have had a number of athletes recruited by the SAs, including USCGA. Some are cadets and midshipmen today, and others did not receive the appointment(s) for various reasons. The invitation is great, and I hope your son has a great visit.
 
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I would anticipate a recruiting visit for a sport would be similar to the admissions events the Academy holds such as Bear's Day or Cadet for a Day. There will probably be a small group of recruits and they'll be paired up with a cadet from the team at which time they are referred to as a "bean spout" or "beanie". Depending on schedules, they may be passed on to different cadets, but in general, beanies will just hang with the cadet all day. Go to classes, eat meals, there may be some admissions info sessions, observe a practice, meet kids on the team, etc. If it's an overnight visit, they'd have dinner and hang with the cadets in the evening.

I think being a good recruited athlete is certainly a benefit, but there are plenty of kids who are not. A coach can't get you in, but they can advocate for you. Each recruited athlete is assigned essentially a good, better, best by the coach. Basically it's like "good enough to be on the team", "solid contributor", or "absolute game changer" scale. That will be one of numerous considerations during application review. Remember, they're trying to build a well rounded class and meet whatever needs they have any given admissions cycle. Depending what that looks like, and depending on the sport, being a recruited athlete may be more or less of a factor.

It's tough for service academy coaches. I'm not saying they don't recruit hard, but I've heard some of them say because the places are so hard to get into, and such a unique environment that only certain kids are even attracted to, they sort of get used to taking what they can get and working with it.

As for the PFE, I wouldn't get hung up on a specific number. High scores are certainly impressive, but he should just prepare and do the best he can. There are all kinds of athletes across a bunch of sports and they aren't all getting close to a perfect PFE. If he has great grades, is a highly recruited cross country runner and has an awesome leadership resume, and all the things they may be looking for in the admissions cycle, a 244 most likely wouldn't prevent him from getting an appointment.

If he goes to AIM, he'll do a PFE there. If it's good, he can use it on his application, or he can do it again in the summer or fall as part of his application process. Cadence pushups are no joke!!! LOL

All of that said, PFE is solid and will only get better and it sounds like sports are solid. I would be sure he's worrying much more about his grades, test scores, and community/leadership involvement being the best it can be. And when the time comes, carefully selecting who writes his LORs and putting a lot of work crafting his essays. It takes every bit of all of that!

Best of luck!
 
On the academics side by high school graduation he's likely to have completed through Calc 3, Organic Chem 2, several physics courses (can't remember them all), and other good STEM based courses. So far GPA is 3.95/4.00.

No SAT or ACT scores yet. Working on getting him ready for that.

Captain for cross country, and will be for track in the spring. Athlete of the month a coupke times. Currently JV wrestling, coaches want him moving up to varsity (he never wrestled before this season, so that's pretty remarkable skill development).

Non-athletic leadership is something he's working on too.
 
In general, recruited athletes definitely don't need close to a 300. The average PFE score for incoming swabs is around 225-235 usually. If you are thinking that most recruited athletes aren't as strong academically and therefore need a higher PFE, I would argue that many recruited athletes are also academic stars and are at the top of their class. Now, if you aren't as strong academically then yes, having a higher PFE and being stronger in other areas would be beneficial.
 
oldgradmom said:
Average statistics for entering classes are available at https://uscga.edu/academics/typical-class-profile/

USCGA is a D3 school- while I'm sure athletic recruits may get a boost, it certainly isn't that big. I don't know why a recruited athlete would need a 300 (perfect score) PFE- the average applicant score is in the low to mid 220s.
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A recent grad said the recruited athletes usually have very high (maybe not 300, but way above average) PFE scores. Especially runners since the run is where I've heard most prospective cadets struggle.

Maybe she meant the PFE run score should be almost, if not, 100 for recruited runners.
 
I feel that your score will really depend on your sport. Probably at D3 level it’s easier to be a well rounded athlete but there is no way a top xc male runner will hit the top number of push ups, just as a top lineman in football will struggle with the run. Someone highly competitive in shotput will have much different scores than someone who runs the 300m hurdles.
 
My son is a recruited athlete- hoping to hear back from admissions soon. He went to AIM last summer but I don’t think the coach had much to do with him getting in. I think a large percent of CGA cadets play sports so the coaches don’t have as much pull as say a D1 program at larger service Academy. The CGA athletes need to be as well rounded as the other cadets.
 
As with any college recruited athlete there are different levels depending on your sport and your level of recruitment. Different sports carry more weight and it also depends on how much they want the athlete. That doesn't mean you can be a great athlete at a desirable sport and not also have the academic chops because you need to be a well balanced candidate. What it means is that if your sport is highly rated at your school and you are a top athlete in that sport that the coaches might have more pull to get you into AIM and also will help guide you through the application process including what classes to take in senior year of HS, guidance on your application and communication on when it will be reviewed. Saying that my belief and our son's experience is to always listen to the coach if you are being recruited. Keep communication lines open and show detailed interest in attending CGA as your first choice. Typically top athletes are recruited to several colleges and if you really want to be at CGA let them know that they are the first choice so your coach knows you are not just mildly interested. The coaches at CGA are phenomenal people who not only are athletic coaches but really push how the academy is there for molding those athletes into stellar CG Officers on graduation.
 
Northwoods said:
Yes, but many that play sports aren't recruited as such.
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Being a recruited athlete at USCGA isn't that big of a deal. Is it helpful for admission? Sure. Is it like being a football player at navy? No. I'm not sure the football coach at USCGA could get a prized recruit through the doors if they couldn't hang academically. At navy it's probably a different story. If you are recruited great, but it's DIII so you have to keep it in perspective.
 
Northwoods said:
Yes, but many that play sports aren't recruited as such.
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Yet many of them are. Our DS is talking to two separate coaches from two different SAs. One being D3 (USCGA) and one being a D1. One coach ask for updated metrics, videos and schedules, other coach asks for updated academics (Can fill in the blank which school is asking for which). I have read many, many post about DD/DS of other colleges/universities wanting a commitment from player, which might be from a D1 or D2 school. The CGA is getting great athletes in all sports. Our DS would choose CGA over the other if given the opportunity because he realizes it is a 9 year commitment and not a 4 year commitment and likes the mission of the Coast Guard over the other and is more important then playing his sport. He also realizes the CGA is probably going to be the most challenging to get in regardless of athletics. The D1 SAs already have 2025 graduates committing because the coach believes he/she can get the athelete accepted into that SA and all this before the application window has even opened for that class. I don’t think I have seen any “commitments” to the CGA in the 2025 class. I believe this is due to multiple reasons but the biggest reason I believe and what I have read multiple times and other people have stated, it is a 3 leg stool and have to have all 3 to get in, athletes alone will not get you there.
 
Northwoods said:
DS looks to be getting invited to an official (per NCAA) visit the CGA in February by the track and cross country coach.

What should we expect when we take him there?

I know overall acceptance is around 15%. What is the rate for recruited athletes? I would assume higher, but is it 20% or 50% or what?

Sounds like recruited athletes need a close to 300 PFE. We did a mock pfe after he spent all day working slinging gravel and lumber at a pig farm. It was also cold, and he still had a lot of congestion from a week old virus. He still managed a 244. Biggest weakness was push-ups, he only did 35. He's adding push-ups to his routine with a goal of 55-60 by AIM (assuming he gets accepted to that). He did 82 situps, and his goal will be 95-100 by summer. He missed the 8:30 run time by 7 seconds, which the congestion, plus having been focusing on wrestling over running, was mostly to blame for. Improving that time will be the easiest for him. His mile PR is sub-5 minute, so he should be able to do the run in under 8 minutes.
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There are unlimited visits to D3 schools. I
Ghostjwm said:
As with any college recruited athlete there are different levels depending on your sport and your level of recruitment. Different sports carry more weight and it also depends on how much they want the athlete. That doesn't mean you can be a great athlete at a desirable sport and not also have the academic chops because you need to be a well balanced candidate. What it means is that if your sport is highly rated at your school and you are a top athlete in that sport that the coaches might have more pull to get you into AIM and also will help guide you through the application process including what classes to take in senior year of HS, guidance on your application and communication on when it will be reviewed. Saying that my belief and our son's experience is to always listen to the coach if you are being recruited. Keep communication lines open and show detailed interest in attending CGA as your first choice. Typically top athletes are recruited to several colleges and if you really want to be at CGA let them know that they are the first choice so your coach knows you are not just mildly interested. The coaches at CGA are phenomenal people who not only are athletic coaches but really push how the academy is there for molding those athletes into stellar
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scprepoh said:
Being a recruited athlete at USCGA isn't that big of a deal. Is it helpful for admission? Sure. Is it like being a football player at navy? No. I'm not sure the football coach at USCGA could get a prized recruit through the doors if they couldn't hang academically. At navy it's probably a different story. If you are recruited great, but it's DIII so you have to keep it in perspective.
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💯
 
Northwoods said:
Any idea if being a recruited athlete improves odds of getting into AIM?
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It does help. Last March when my daughter was at a Bears Day event and had her first in person meeting with Coach, coach asked her if she was applying to AIM. She told him she was finishing up her app. He said to email him as soon as she submitted it and he would send a letter telling admissions he wanted to see her at AIM and advocate for her. Not saying a coach can make anything automatic, but I think it helps for sure.
 
27BearDad said:
It does help. Last March when my daughter was at a Bears Day event and had her first in person meeting with Coach, coach asked her if she was applying to AIM. She told him she was finishing up her app. He said to email him as soon as she submitted it and he would send a letter telling admissions he wanted to see her at AIM and advocate for her. Not saying a coach can make anything automatic, but I think it helps for sure.
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Same - my dd went to AIM and I definitely think meeting the coach prior at a Bears Day was helpful.
 
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