So to clarify (this is the original poster, btw): when my daughter was in 8th grade the old rule was in effect and a number of programs (beyond the top few) had completed a lot of their recruiting with the 9th grade class (2020s) at that time. So, we were advised to get going and we took our daughter to a few school camps in the Feb / Mar window that year. We also, just prior to the rule change, put in place a robust set of summer visits. So, she did in fact get going just before the rule change. While we know in hindsight where she ended up vis a vis top programs, we weren't really sure back then ... happy to clarify anything else, but I really don't have any motivation to make stuff up, I was merely trying to provide info to be helpful to others
