<p>This is our first time on College Confidential and we are new to the whole recruiting scene.
My D is a junior and has been contacted by some swim coaches at D3 schools. A few have asked for her to visit campus unofficially. We have a few lined up to visit that are close to each other (4 or so hours away from each other), so we are thinking of visiting a few schools during the same week since plane fare and accomodations are on us (trying to be cut costs).
Our questions:</p>
<ol>
<li> What usually happens at these unofficial visits? What are the coaches looking for at these visits? Are they also interviewing the athletes? Can visits make or break an athletes' chances (seemingly too eager, asking too many questions?).
Can parents come along with athletes to meet coach? On campus tours, can we meet with admissions and financial aid staff to get an idea of the investment-or is it too soon?</li>
<li>How long do these visits usually take? One day, 2 days?</li>
<li> Will she be expected to swim/practice with the team or is this not allowed?</li>
<li>Do we tell the school that we are also visiting another program at the same week or is that not a good idea?</li>
<li> Any other input or suggestions or things to look for- would be greatly appreciated.</li>
</ol>
<p>This is what happened at my son’s D1 unofficial visits (for whatever reason, the D3 coach he contacted never got back to him, so no experience there).</p>
<p>Campus tour. Met with coaches–some met with him over lunch (he paid), others just in their office. Or he ate with athletes, who generally covered him with extra punches they had on their cards. Observed a practice, when there was one to observe–recruits cannot participate, just watch. Did the the campus tour/admissions session with me. When I was there I did the tour and admissions talk (sometimes taking a different tour to compare perspectives). I found a coffee shop while he did the athletic stuff. It would have been okay to meet with the coaches, sometimes even to have lunch, but my kid wanted me to stay out of it, so I did. </p>
<p>A couple of the visits were overnights at his request. Those were great–I’d strongly recommend you take advantage of those if you can. I wasn’t around for those (just picked him up/dropped him off) but in addition to all of the above, he was able to visit classes with team members, spend time in a dorm, and get a taste for the social life. You can do all this on senior overnights as well, but the time to make decisions is upon the athlete, and doing the overnight junior year gives them time to process the experience.</p>
<ol>
<li>What usually happens at these unofficial visits? What are the coaches looking for at these visits? Are they also interviewing the athletes? Can visits make or break an athletes’ chances (seemingly too eager, asking too many questions?).
Can parents come along with athletes to meet coach? On campus tours, can we meet with admissions and financial aid staff to get an idea of the investment-or is it too soon?</li>
<li>How long do these visits usually take? One day, 2 days?</li>
<li>Will she be expected to swim/practice with the team or is this not allowed?</li>
<li>Do we tell the school that we are also visiting another program at the same week or is that not a good idea?</li>
<li>Any other input or suggestions or things to look for- would be greatly appreciated.</li>
</ol>
<p>Swim,
Actually, all of these questions are great to even ask the coach. From my experience, the coaches are very aware that parents are new to this, and I think they prefer parents who are trying to get straight answers and do things right rather than having parents think they know all the answers and could potentially outsmart the coach and/or the process.
Coaches want to know that your kid is REALLY interested in their school. So showing up on an unofficial is the first step in demonstrating your interest. I’d have your kid be prepared with questions - even if that means writing them on a 3x5 card and having them in their pocket. It shows preparation. Yes, I do think visits can make or break a relationship…remember, that’s what you’re doing. Developing a relationship. We went on every single one of our kids’ (3 recruited D1 athletes) unofficial visits. We tried to walk a step behind the coach and our kid, and worked a lot in preparation to make sure that our kid was taking the lead in questions and conversation. In some cases (IVY) we also met with the FA office. The coaches were pleased to coordinate this, because without the FA match, there is little need for either party to continue the relationship.
a visit is really just a few hours. Unless it’s a structured Junior Day, which counts as an unofficial, you are visiting with the coach, touring (if the coach can/will spend that time), having a meal, and possibly attending a game.
3)Not allowed to practice with the team. You can watch, though, if invited.
We always told the coaches we were visiting other schools. We were honest and said it’s important for us to learn as much as we can, visit where we can, so that we can make the best choice about the best fit. That said, where we are RIGHT NOW seems to be a great fit. It was important to remember that the coaches aren’t looking at just one athlete, so why would athletes look at just one school?
Be prepared, be honest, ask real questions, don’t lead the answers, be genuine. Coaches do this for a living, and they can smell insincerity a mile away. Don’t puff up your kid’s athletic prowess. You can emphasize your kids interest in the program. </p>
<p>You can also ask at the end of every meeting what the next steps are. Leave the visit knowing what the coach wants you to do next, and what the coach will do next. Follow up with a email thank you (from your kid - not the parent).</p>
<p>Relationship is what can make the difference.</p>
<p>1) NCAA regulations will not allow your child to swim during the team’s practices. However, it never hurts to ask a coach if there is a USA Swim/Y club nearby that would be “guest friendly” for your swimmer. When asked during our unofficial visits, coaches were quick to point out pool availability and/or club teams nearby to swim. Each had a favorable reaction that we were interested in having D not miss practice for visits.
2) We did tell coaches what other schools we were visiting during the trip–it often led to conversation about other programs, or other coaches–both positive and negative comments were made, which helped form our impression of the coaches.
3) Make sure you are ready with the following data points: swim times, GPA, SAT/ACT scores (if taken already) and the number of AP classes your child is taking. Those will help frame the discussion with the coach and enable to have them assess your “fit” with the school from their perspective.
4) We also found unofficial visits the time to try the local hot lunch spot, scope out the feel of the school, visit a library on campus, etc. It is the informal look at the school that will enable your child to indicate interest or not.</p>
<p>All really good information in the previous posts from everyone else. We were looking exclusively at D3 swimming, so I will add a little about our experience:</p>
<p>I would treat these unofficial visits the same as a regular campus visit but with the added bonus that the coach is certain to make time to meet with you and your student. When we went on unofficial visits to D3 Swim programs, we did everything a family normally does on a campus visit, which includes a campus tour, meeting with admissions, etc. Then we also met with the coach. In one instance, the coach sat down with all three of us and spoke with our swimmer for about an hour, asking about her and telling her about his school’s program. We told him we were visiting several other schools nearby. At another school, the coach met with us and another family and just gave us a tour without any personal one-on-one interview. (on her official visits later on, she went by herself)</p>
<p>Take a look at the Conference results for each school from last year and also that school’s Top 10 records. See where your swimmer will fit. For example, 1:01 in the 100 butterfly made finals for conference - your daughter swam the 100 butterfly in 1:02 last year and her goal is to go 1:00 by the end of Senior year. This would be something the coach wants to hear. He also wants to hear some specific ways your daughter is working towards achieving that goal: team has started lifting weights, included Yoga in dryland, etc. So, mention ways she is noticing improvement and things she is excited about. (If there isn’t an opportunity to do this during the visit, this is something she can include in her emails to the coach) She doesn’t want to say anything negative about certain strokes or distances. Be honest, but try to sound well rounded and versatile. Showing enthusiasm for high school, her intended major, and her team-mates’ achievements are all good things. Remember, in college it’s all about the team, and versatility is huge when the coach is trying to get the most points at conference.
I would schedule one visit for the morning and one for the afternoon, same as for a regular campus visit. </p>
<p>After the visit, if your swimmer is interested in the school’s program, have her email the coach with an update on her big meets and how school is going. Don’t be surprised if some coaches contact her often and some wait a couple months between contacts. We did not find this to be any indication of their lack of interest, rather that some coaches are just better recruiters than others. </p>
<p>Finding information about D3 recruiting is hard – so much of the info is based on D1. It’s a lot of work but we were lucky enough to work with all really nice coaches, which of course made the final decision that much more difficult. Have fun and best of luck!</p>
<p>What is the best way to ask for an unofficial visit, for a HS junior? Is it a good idea to ask for one on a game day or a bad idea? Would it be better to wait until spring (his sport is in the fall in college)?</p>
<p>And is this something that should have a long timeline, like give the coach a few weeks to plan or is it better to ask close to the campus visit so he doesn’t forget who you are?</p>
<p>Or am I missing that the coach has to ask the player to visit? I know where I work, the coaches will ask a very few players to visit, but most of the other players contact the coach and ask to visit.</p>
<p>RH,
It’s easy to see how the name “unofficial visit” can make it seem like more than it is. All it is a visit to campus at your expense. So, you clearly don’t have to ask a coach if you can do this! What you do want to do is see if you can meet the coach while you are there, and that’s what defines it as an “unofficial” visit.</p>
<p>We found the best thing to do was call or email the coach and let them know we were definitely coming to the school on x or y date. Was there a date/time that the coach would be available for us to meet with him/her? The answer is either yes or no – but what you have done is expressed to the coach your interest in the school. We found it best to give some flexibility in dates, especially if we were driving distance.</p>
<p>Is it a good idea to ask for one on a game day or a bad idea?</p>
<p>This would be a good question for your S to ask the coach. On game day the coach will have less time available to meet with recruits. Also I dont think it makes much difference if you schedule an unofficial visit during the fall or the spring although most unofficial visits are made during the spring.</p>
<p>I think it is better to go when the team is not competing. If you go when the team is competing then evaluate their chance to win - you do not need unhappy faces. And do not show up to watch a match where both teams are recruiting you. </p>
<p>UV structure will depend on the coach. Some will make it like OV with 2 nights stay and some will tell you to do a standard Admission Presentation/Campus tour and then will meet with you. In all our cases parents were welcome to participate in the UV to some extend and were evaluated as well. Based on our experience parents were not welcome at all during OVs and it was assumed that the kids would travel by themselves.</p>
<p>I think it is a good idea for parent and recruit to take a generic Admission Presentation/Campus tour on their own during UV. You can make your observations without any bias.</p>