<p>As a parent, I went through this process with my S (at DIII-NESCAC colleges for football - similar experience as other helmet sports like LAX) last summer. I would HIGHLY emphasize on having a broader reach/approach with all your DIII College coaches and recommend that you methodically go through this long process. This note is meant to be for all the fine student-athletes that have an interest to pursue an athletic “hook” with DIII colleges. That said you need to cast a wide net and heavily market yourself, get to know the head coaches, assistant coaches, and most importantly the recruiting coaches responsible for your geographical area. As others pointed out, you need to stay focused on your academics and make sure that your ACT is north of 30-31 (although some LECs super score the ACT). You need mostly A’s in AP courses and should take at least 3 APs in your senior year (the general rule of thumb is to take as many AP courses that you can score A in them). You also need to take your ACT (or SAT) test in early spring of your junior year (now), in time to have the score ready for upcoming summer camps (see below).</p>
<p>You need to make highlight films of your junior and senior years (take a look at the [Video</a> Software & Apps for Coaches, Athletes & Recruiters - Hudl](<a href=“http://www.Hudl.com%5DVideo”>http://www.Hudl.com) site if your school coach has already signed up, it is the easiest way to produce your highlights). You should also fill out the “athletic recruit” form on every DIII college (that you are interested in) web site before you sign up for their one-day summer camp. This is one way for the DIII college coaching staff to build their recruit data base (they have access to other data bases as well). Once you send your information to the colleges, you will receive “form responses” and often get “updates” from the coaches. A typical NESCAC “helmet sport” recruit data base has as many as 1,500 names to start with, and they end up actively focusing on selected 60+ per “helmet sport”. They go from 60 to even a lesser number of “spots”, “supports”, and LL (in case of IVY only). It is a grueling and long process but you just need to stick with it if you are utterly determined to use football as your “hook”. At the end of the day the NESCAC coaches are looking for highly motivated and great students that can equally play well on the field! It is not the other way around for these very selective colleges.
Sign up for the NE, Harvard and individual LEC/IVY one-day sessions (or other applicable LAX camps - as many as you can afford). This is your marketing opportunity but you need to be physically, skill-wise, academically, and mentally ready for these camps. It takes a lot of effort and coordination to hit these summer camps. As luck would have it, lots of enthused parents and student-athletes leverage the summer before senior year as an opportunity to visit colleges and these sports camps. These camps are sometimes oversubscribed but this is how you get noticed by the coaches. You need to prepare your “profile” (consists of resume with your picture on it, transcript with list of courses you will be taking in your senior year, ACT/SAT test score, and AP test scores if available). Once on a college campus, make sure you introduce yourself to the coaching staff, have a 15-20 seconds introductory speech ready (your “elevator speech”), hand out your “profile” and show energy, enthusiasm, and as much team work as you can during your short visit. Your parents also need to get to know these coaches and start a dialogue (as they say, “it takes a village”). Once the camp is over, send a “thank you note” to the coaching staff and identify with them how much you learned, and how you feel about their program. Now you are ready to send periodic “updates” in response to the emails that you will receive from college coaches (see above paragraph). Your periodic emails should include a line, or two about your most recent academic progress, a new highlight, some news about your football games, and how much you are looking forward to be part of the “College XYZ football program next year”. Make sure you have your thumb nail photo as part of your signature block. All these coaches are overwhelmed with emails and voice mails. A photo will jug their memory about who you are (every little thing counts).</p>
<p>You can also be invited for a “recruit day” before and/or after your one-day camps. Some colleges (like Middlebury) will go to different camps but they don’t have a camp of their own. Instead, they invite some student-athletes to attend their “recruit day” and this is when they put out a very nice “dog and pony” show to further their recruiting process. If they are interested in you, they may ask for your commitment and encourage you to apply ED. (Please read the next paragraph for details about how to qualify their interests).</p>
<p>Now the waiting game starts around late August (for football and Spring of Junior year for LAX). Coaching staff will start to contact student-athletes that fit their needs. Of course, by now you should have a good feel about the level of interest that you received during one-day camps, recruit days, or simply your visits. Be aware that if they are really interested they ask for your stats (GPA, ACT, SAT, AP scores, number of AP courses, and transcripts) for a pre-read at the Admissions office. Hopefully, you are within the academic range and very little support will be required. Otherwise, coaches have to get involved and start cashing in their “equity” (normally reserved for top notch athletes that are on the border line of academic range of acceptance at NESCAC colleges). Also be aware, that most good coaches keep their cards close to the vest and don’t volunteer too much information about where you stand on their priority list, unless you are on top of it. That said you need to understand when and under what circumstances they will send your academic information to the Admissions office for a pre-read. Again, most of the coached don’t commit to you unless they get thumbs up from the Admissions. They equally encourage you to do ED I because they have the most pull. However, you need to ask probing questions about the coaches’ track record and their past performance with the Admission office before you commit to any ED. Do some research, talk to other athletes and get a feel for the head coach’s batting average. Most good NESCAC coaches have 80%+ average. Last but not least, your head coach may ask a couple of probing questions from you to gage your “true” commitment. Questions such as: how do you feel about studying abroad for a semester, or two? Is your application ready? Has anyone reviewed your essays? Be careful about the first question because most coaches want their student-athletes’ on the campus in fall semester for football. If you get through the last set of hurdles and you commit, your head coach will equally make a commitment to get your application through the ED process. This is just verbal (at NESCAC colleges), don’t expect anything in writing, and this is how it is (welcome to the real world of uncertainty)! Also, make sure that you read the college web site information carefully. Some colleges “recommend” having an interview and that basically means that you SHOULD have an interview. Don’t take this lightly just because you are a student-athlete. If you are going to commit to any college and submit your ED, and you need financial aid, remember that you also need to get your financial aid application ready by the ED deadline. You also need to remember that you won’t have an opportunity to compare what different colleges will offer if you decide on the ED route.
Now comes the ED deadline of mid-November and you are about to submit your application. Some student-athletes think that because there is a “favorable” pre-read and the coach really wants her/him that means that they are “in”. Well, the ultimate decision will be made by the Admissions office and the committee that reads your application materials. Remember that these are very selective colleges and there is no shortage of qualified applicants waiting at their door steps. Do yourself a favor and work on your essays as if you don’t have any athletic “hook”. You submit your application and you think you are done, but not exactly! Although, you need to have a fall back plan with your application in a stand-by mode for other colleges in case your ED does not pan out (remember that every decent college has a “supplemental essay” on top of the usual “common application essays” and it takes time to get it right). Work on your non-football applications as soon as you submit your ED. You hope for the best and plan for the worst! You will only have SIX weeks to prepare all your applications, and this is your Plan B (hopefully you won’t need it). Also, stay in touch with your NESCAC recruiting coach during this process. You need to be your own advocate and demonstrate independent thinking, continuous updates, follow through, energy, and most importantly enthusiasm for your next college of choice. Ask your recruiting coach to follow up with the Admissions office and find out if there is anything above and beyond what you submitted that may be helpful for them to properly evaluate you. Remember that you are driving this bus! As you may have read on the CC, there are a number of cases where a student-athlete thought s/he is “in” but the opposite happened. To hedge your bets, don’t burn bridges with other schools that have an interest in you but be honest with them because honesty will go a long way in this process. </p>
<p>The next waiting period starts after you submit your ED application to your number one college of choice but you still have some work ahead of you! If there is one (or more) school that was trying to recruit you (and they also did a favorable pre-read), let their coaches know about your decision and stay in touch with them. These coaches have been around the block a few times and know exactly what you are going through. That does not mean that they will keep a slot open for you indefinitely but the coaches are in the same position as you, and they are trying to get their recruits’ commitment at the same time. College coaches also lose good student-athletes to competing colleges (or Admissions office denies the coaches’ request for admission), so in a way it is like a game of “musical chair” (there are a finite number of high quality/high caliber/skillful student-athletes with limited football slots at NESCAC colleges – you can apply this logic to any sports and any college)! </p>
<p>Now comes the mid-December time and you will hear from your ED college of choice. Hopefully you are accepted (and if you need financial aid, you get what you need). If you are not accepted, or you don’t get the financial package that you need, then get in touch with other coaches that may still have an interest in you (there may be an opportunity to do EDII, or RD with other football colleges). If that is not the case, just don’t worry about it and execute your plan B by firing off your applications to other (non-football) colleges that you are interested in. There are only two weeks between 12/15 (when most ED acceptance/rejections/deferred news comes out) and when most RD, or EDII applications are due on 1/1. You are in charge of your destiny and can’t afford to miss the opportunity for RD elsewhere if your ED does not work out. That is, you can’t afford to be “down and angry”! This is not end of the world but rather a new beginning after the NESCAC recruiting process is over. Imagine you are playing football and you just lost one game. Dust yourself off and get ready for the next game. Good luck!</p>
He has a few days to decide and is mulling it over. He is very excited (and so am I).</p>