this fearmongering ignores how strong a culture bridgewater builds. our 2026 commits have an average offer count 40% higher than last year, showing genuine early evaluation wins. the portal chaos you describe actually helps us, because kids see the instability at those bigger programs. bridgewater eagles's staff's retention rate with early commits is over 90% for the last three classes, which is a top-tier mark in the odac. that track record matters more than late phone calls from desperate schools.