<p>I felt that the recruiting process for my son was quite straight forward and the coaches were very honest and helpful. His athletic talent opened some nice doors for him. He got into his first choice school ED and also had an EA acceptance from another excellent school. It did mean that we had to find both an academic and an athletic fit, but this was managed.</p>
<p>There is also a discussion site for D3 sports:
<a href="http://www.d3sports.com/post/%5B/url%5D">http://www.d3sports.com/post/</a></p>
<p>I agree that the recruiting part made things more fun. College visits were taken care of completely by someone else (the coach), including pickup at the airport, and applicants get a much more inside look at the college through the visits, where they stay with players, go to class, practice, and events with them, etc. The weekly phone calls made it seem like there was someone at the college who really cared about your child. In fact, there were only two really hard parts: making the final decision, and saying goodbye to the coaches at schools S did not choose.</p>
<p>There was a startup period of a lot of reading and researching colleges that had the right combination of qualities, and knowing the rules of the process, but after that the whole thing was a pleasure.</p>
<p>Patient, I am with you most of the way. We did get a "played with" a bit by some coaches and circumstances at my son's top choices which did make things tense. It colors your thinking on everyone else in the process when you find out that some things you were told were not true. Most of the coaches were honest, but as with all things, there are those who are just not forthright. Also, things can go awry, like a coach is fired, gets a new job, a program's funding is slashed, a new very hot recruit comes on the horizon, a pressing need for another position come up that can change the picture at any time. But overall, I think it made things easier, and gave my son an inside look on how his life would be at given colleges.</p>