It's not a secret the college admissions process for athletes differs somewhat from those of nonathletes.
In many different ways, athletes obtain a clearer picture of where their funding can come from.
While it is a misconception that athletes can get full rides to school, an essential part from the process is that student-athletes get an early read (also known as a pre-read or soft read) for their merit aid, that shows them an estimate of what they will need to pay, let's assume that there are no changes to some student's application or parental income.
These pre-reads are extremely common when it comes to athletic scholarship applicants.
However, they are far from the norm when it comes to those students who aren't athletes.
That is starting to alter, as at least two colleges including The College of Wooster and Whitman College have finally begun to offer merit aid pre-reads for applicants who request them, no matter their athletic qualifications.
What Is really a Merit Aid Pre-Read in College Admissions?
A merit aid pre-read is really a process in which a college reviews a student's qualifications, in addition to their financial background, after which makes a prediction by what level of both need-based and merit-based aid should be expected before a student formally applies and it is admitted.
This allows for families to better determine what colleges may be a good fit financially before their child even applies, helping to make sure that they don't waste time and resources signing up to colleges they won't be able to afford.
As a result, it can significantly reduce the amount of stress that a family faces throughout the college application process.
Only a small number of colleges offer pre-reads for students who aren't prospective college athletes.
By conducting soft reads, colleges can provide a fair and frank assessment to the student, and therefore if it's too expensive for a student to consider, the school isn't able of accepting a student only to possess the student decline the sale because of cost.
Such a decline by accepted students lowers a college's yield ratio, which is increasingly essential in college rankings. Conversely, a pre-read provides a chance for students to show interest, an ever more important part of the admissions strategy.
Not all colleges provide a formal pre-read, but some will conduct them for college students whose educational funding requirements are for the more advanced.
Some smaller colleges, particularly those with generous merit-based programs, might have special events for college students where educational funding officers can respond to questions before a formal acceptance is granted; some larger universities do them as well.
Still, others offer a matrix by which students can estimate their own merit aid, as a way of measuring Grade Point Average (GPA) and test scores, although not their need-based scholarship eligibility.
It is essential to note that the pre-read isn't a firm offer alone. The student continues to have to achieve admission with different quantity of factors beyond test scores and grades.
Additionally, a pre-read is only valid upon acceptance if your student's circumstances don't change; students whose parents suddenly have a alternation in income, or those who catch a really bad case of senioritis, can find the pre-read to be rendered obsolete.
How Is a Merit Pre-Read Different From a Pre-Read for Athletes?
Merit-based (or need-based) pre-reads continue to be quite rare, especially compared to athletics-based pre-reads. Perhaps the biggest difference between the 2 routes to scholarship funding.
Athletic pre-reads are largely initiated by a coach who may try to make the case towards the educational funding office for a bigger grant from the general fund included in the recruiting process.
Students who're entitled to a sports pre-read have to consider their athletic performance like a factor for educational funding.
Student-athletes who are suffering an injury that hinders their ability to continue to experience an activity will probably see their eligibility change, introducing a new factor of volatility if they're unable to compete.
Regardless of if your child is pursuing a sports scholarship or not, chances are that a pre-read will become an ever more common bit of the admissions and financial aid strategy.
While it's still a relatively rare offering, colleges will probably expand pre-reads as potential students and their parents request them and see value in gaining insight from them.