<p>Hi everyone. I have a quick question regarding athletic recruitment. I was wondering, for schools such as Princeton, Dartmouth, and pretty much all the "smart" schools that don't have top tier athletics, do you give them your name and go form there, or do they find you. Like, if I were to go for a campus visit, should I contact the coach, or should I not do this because he hasn't been recruiting me. Sorry this is a little confusing, but does anyone have any comments? Thanks in advance.</p>
<p>First of all, some of the “smart” schools do have top tier athletics in certain sports, and they do compete in Division 1. Does your high school coach or club coach consider you a potential Division 1 level athlete? If you do a timed sport, this is easy to verify for yourself.</p>
<p>Yes, I would definitely send an e-mail to the coach before you go for a campus visit. Introduce yourself. Include your GPA and PSAT or SAT scores if you have them, as well as a brief summary of your athletic accomplishments. Then tell the coach you plan to be on campus on X day for Y tour and Z info. session and would like to meet with him or her. Self-recruiting is very important because the coaches want kids who show interest in attending their schools. Of all the thousands of high school athletes in the country, they can’t possibly verify who does or does not have the academic requirements to be eligible for admission. They might inquire about the superstars, but other than that they need you to give them the information they require to determine if you are a viable prospect or not.</p>
<p>As stated, don’t wait for coaches to call or e-mail you, you need to reach out to them. Make sure you keep them updated with your recent accomplishments and/or personal bests. I went through the whole process last year, and I cannot recommend enough putting your name and stats out there to coaches.</p>
<p>Thanks for the great intel. Is it every too early to start contacting these coaches. If freshmen year too early. My coach says I have D1 potential, but of course I’m not ready yet. However, should I contact the coach and let him know that I am very interested, an will put the time in to be D1 material? Thanks</p>
<p>Freshman year is way too early, in my view. Unless you are truly exceptional, coaches will have no idea about where you will ultimately fall in both the athletic and academic pool.</p>
<p>Whats the earliest I should start then?</p>
<p>You should wait until Junior Year to proactively contact a number of coaches at schools you are interested in and have the grades/tests/activities and recommendations that support your applications. As a freshman, the most important things you can be doing include improving your skills in your sport, begin developing your leadership skills by helping others, guiding practices, assisting coaches in prepping for games/meets etc. Your local HS coach or team coach, if your sport is significant outside of the school community (premiere teams etc) is the right person to assist and guide you on the recruiting journey, along with your parents. There are also many wonderful summer camps that are run by colleges/coaches and even companies like Nike. Now is a good time to research some of these offerings and see if attending a camp would help you develop skills and provide some contacts also. </p>
<p>If you are sincerely interested in a top LAC or IVY, then spend an extra 30-60 min a day Monday thru Thursday on your schoolwork to ensure top grades. You will not regret this extra effort. Your courseload and grades are the #1 thing you can spend time on now that will make it very easy for a coach to return your interest…if you do well in school, and you have athletic ability, they will start talking to you junior summer. If you have done extraordinarily well by the end of your sophomore year, then your HS coach will be able to talk about you with their contacts to get your name in the ring. </p>
<p>Our HS has a College Information Night for HS Athletes…where the AD for Bowdoin College comes and presents information to parents… it is intended for juniors and their parents, but it is open to all parents. Check with your guidance office to see if they offer anything similar at your school or in the greater community around you. </p>
<p>Good luck…</p>
<p>I think when you start setting your sights on recruitment is very much dependent on your sport and the avenues in which kids are recruited (elite teams, summer camps at colleges or competitions) etc. Talk to your coach. </p>
<p>There are 8th graders in the paper getting looks for college in basketball. Believe me, while the coaches might not be able to talk to the kids until certain times in their HS careers, they sure are allowed to watch.</p>
<p>wow thanks for the great information. Maineparent, are you saying that even if you’re not the elite of the elite in your sport, but you have fantastic grades (like top 3 in your class), then you’ll have a better chance. In my situation, I am pretty good at the sport I play (one of the top players in the district, but not the state), but I’m ranked 1st in my class. Will this benefit me more than it would if I were the best in the state? Thanks</p>
<p>bump… please I’m very confused</p>
<p>It depends on the sport you play.
Generally, in the Ivy League, if you are above average at the sport you play and are smart, you have a solid chance of getting in. As an individual is increasingly good at the sport they play, they don’t have to have as good of grades. But if you’re smart and amazing at your sport, then you should be in!</p>
<p>This is an oversimplification, to say the least, but it is generally what happens (in my experience).</p>
<p>To be an athletic recruit at any school, you must be able to contribute to the team. That means in high school you have to be performing at or just a hair below the level the current college team is performing. As GFG says, if your sport is timed or measured with a ruler like running, swimming, ski racing or jumping, it’s easy to see if you would fit on a team, and to convince the coach of that. If your sport is more about skill, like soccer, basketball, football, lacrosse, hockey, etc., then you will have to jump through a lot more hoops to demonstrate your talent. Skill sports have club, regional and national teams. Colleges have summer camps. Teams enter showcase tournaments. All these are avenues to improve your skills, add to your athletic resume, and be seen by college coaches. Without a little more information, it’s hard for us to know if you are recruitable to any school. You may not want to share too much specific info on CC, but think about PMing a parent or athlete in your sport who posts here, for more accurate information.</p>
<p>To answer your basic question, if the coach doesn’t see you as able to contribute to his team, he will not recruit you no matter what your class rank is. If you ARE within the range of what he’s looking for, by all means, make an appointment with him when you are visiting the campus. If you’re not sure, start the conversation by email and present your athletic and academic stats. What do you have to lose?</p>
<p>^^^^^ Great advice from riverrunner</p>
<p>Riverrunner, or anyone on CC for that matter, do you know of anyone on here who has been through the recruiting process for Princeton University, or any of the IVY League schools?</p>
<p>To follow up on what riverrunner said, you are putting the cart before the horse. If you are truly interested in playing Ivy sports, at this point in your career you should be focusing your energies in getting good grades and improving as much as you can in your sport. Then, when the time comes, (junior year) you can worry about the details of recruiting at particular schools.</p>
<p>xAxBxC - my son is a senior in HS will be playing baseball for an Ivy next year (but not Princeton). I’m noto sure what sport you play but if you would like more information on our recruiting experiences, feel free to PM me.</p>
<p>Hi xAx, PM me if you want info about Ivy track/XC recruiting. D is a current Ivy athlete.</p>
<p>check out the NCAA website for the tiemtable of what you and can and cannot do and what coaches can nad cannot do—</p>
<p>and head the great advice the other folks here gave you–</p>