[BaseballJunkie]

Question for those in the know, my niece has been offered a partial scholarship for the Stanford beach team (we're all thrilled for her) which she's verbally accepted. She's a rising junior. They've given her specific direction on what they expect of her academically in order to maximize her chance of admissions, but there is no guarantee of being accepted. At the same time, my sister tells me that Stanford expects that my niece will not participate in any recruiting going forward, even though there is no guarantee of admissions.

A few questions:
- Does anyone know how common it is for recruits to not be accepted if they by and large hit the targets Stanford sets for them?
- Do recruits really just roll the dice and stop talking to other schools in hopes for the Stanford admission? If the acceptance doesn't come, it would put any athlete behind the 8-ball to restart recruiting (and probably very few scholarships remaining at that point).

I don’t follow recruiting in non-revenue sports, but I’ve followed BB and FB recruiting for 20-plus years. In most cases, coaches wouldn’t even accept a commitment until the player was admitted. (I can’t recall if the policy on that varies by coach or changed over time across all sports.)  I think I can recall 4 football recruits who were not admitted after committing, one of whom ended up doing postgrad and coming the next year.  I can recall one BB recruit who was required to sit out playing for a semester to ensure he’d be able to keep up academically. Recruiting under Harbaugh in 2010 not included as that was a travesty and he apparently used admissions as an excuse for football decisions.

Both sides have made a commitment. Commitment means commitment, not committed until better offer comes along. Your niece will be accepted provided she hits the academic targets. It's that simple. If she doesn't, she will have from June of next year on to find another suitor.

I speak from some authority as a volleyball expert and also had a son graduate this year from Stanford. He accepted his offer in the fall of his sophomore year at age 15 and worked his tail off in the summer before his junior year to crush the ACT and clinch admission.

[BaseballJunkie]

Question for those in the know, my niece has been offered a partial scholarship for the Stanford beach team (we're all thrilled for her) which she's verbally accepted. She's a rising junior. They've given her specific direction on what they expect of her academically in order to maximize her chance of admissions, but there is no guarantee of being accepted. At the same time, my sister tells me that Stanford expects that my niece will not participate in any recruiting going forward, even though there is no guarantee of admissions.

A few questions:
- Does anyone know how common it is for recruits to not be accepted if they by and large hit the targets Stanford sets for them?
- Do recruits really just roll the dice and stop talking to other schools in hopes for the Stanford admission? If the acceptance doesn't come, it would put any athlete behind the 8-ball to restart recruiting (and probably very few scholarships remaining at that point).

I don’t follow recruiting in non-revenue sports, but I’ve followed BB and FB recruiting for 20-plus years. In most cases, coaches wouldn’t even accept a commitment until the player was admitted. (I can’t recall if the policy on that varies by coach or changed over time across all sports.)  I think I can recall 4 football recruits who were not admitted after committing, one of whom ended up doing postgrad and coming the next year.  I can recall one BB recruit who was required to sit out playing for a semester to ensure he’d be able to keep up academically. Recruiting under Harbaugh in 2010 not included as that was a travesty and he apparently used admissions as an excuse for football decisions.

Both sides have made a commitment. Commitment means commitment, not committed until better offer comes along. Your niece will be accepted provided she hits the academic targets. It's that simple. If she doesn't, she will have from June of next year on to find another suitor.

I speak from some authority as a volleyball expert and also had a son graduate this year from Stanford. He accepted his offer in the fall of his sophomore year at age 15 and worked his tail off in the summer before his junior year to crush the ACT and clinch admission.