<p>First post, though I've been dipping into this forum for a while.</p>
<p>So, situation is that D sent emails to coaches last month and received much interest back, Ivies and elsewhere, most DI. She made an appt. for info session and tour at top college on her list and the coach responded inviting her to watch a practice, attend class, talk to him. </p>
<p>She did all this, but since then, no communication from coach! This was D's first unofficial: she's somewhat reserved and shy (but nice person, not cocky, arrogant, etc.). Did I make a mistake in not accompanying them on their visit together? I stayed for 10 minutes but felt parents should make themselves scarce. I think D didn't come prepared with enough questions perhaps and didn't talk enough.</p>
<p>When I picked her up after the class, she got into car with blinding headache and promptly came down with 24 bug. So she wrote her effusive thank-you email 24 hours later, apologizing for delay due to bug. The next time she emailed was to report excellent third quarter grades AND to say that she had sustained foot injury (non sport-related injury) keeping her from her sport until mid-April though she's able to walk on it and work out (cycling, swimming) to keep fit every day (and does).</p>
<p>Radio silence. Kid is never ill and has never had an injury --what a time for this to happen, spring of junior year! End of March she'll email him with SAT scores. And if they're in his range but he doesn't respond... is that just the end for this school? Would an injury at this time of year put a coach off? Would the fact that she did not ask enough questions put him off? Should she keep persevering with results?</p>
<p>A little background: Very solid student at extremely rigorous prep school well-known to admissions everywhere. PSAT strong so we have hopes for good SAT performance.</p>
<p>Thanks for any thoughts or advice on how to proceed with this particular school. There are no so many schools recruiting in her sport that she can afford to ignore one.</p>
<p>Hi pacheight and OP,
Of course, I’ll give a different view of attending visits junior year: in my opinion, especially if you’re worried that she may not be quite polished, it’s OK to attend the coach meetings and help her become comfortable with them, and also help the conversation move along, if that becomes an issue. Most college coaches relate really well to kids this age (that’s their job, after all) so I’ll bet she’s doing just fine. If you have any doubt, though, you might want to go to the next one with her to be sure.</p>
<p>If the sport is track or another spring sport, coaches are very busy and/or on spring break. I wouldn’t over-interpret the quiet. Each coach has his own idea of when and how to communicate with recruits. Keep a lot of lines in the water. You never know when you’ll get a bite.</p>
<p>I agree I wouldn’t overinterpret the quiet. Although it may seem odd that there’s been no reply, maybe it’s just because what can be done for now is done.</p>
<p>I also think you wouldn’t have done any good or bad by joining them. We had an opposite experience where I did sit with my daughter on an unofficial visit and she was very quiet and we never heard from that coach again. So, you just don’t know what is behind the silence. (She wasn’t interested in that school after the meeting either, so she never pursued it)</p>
<p>At any rate, in a few months you will know, as on July 1 the phone is sure to be ringing off the book, either with that particular coach, or the many others!</p>
<p>Good luck, and don’t worry about her getting sick. It happens!</p>
<p>Thank you everyone for your welcome and your replies; they’re reassuring. We will try not to overthink this business in the next few months. The good news is that we heard today D might be up and at 'em in by end of March, not mid-April. Cheers!</p>
<p>Elileo,
My initial reaction is that I wish your daughter had not initiated her first unofficial visit with her first choice school. In an ideal world, one tests the water on a school further down their list…that way, she has a bit more experience when she gets in front of her first choice school/coach. I only mention it at this time for others who will read your thread and could benefit from this approach. </p>
<p>In the world of athletic recruiting, active dialog can be good news…silence is also potentially good…she hasn’t yet committed anywhere, so her options remain wide open. I completely agree with Riverrunner that some schools are off on spring break and who knows what else. At this point, the only bad news is to be told “no thank you, we are not interested” or “we do not need your position” etc. </p>
<p>Right now, I would wait until your daughter has scores, that merit reporting, to trigger contact. I would minimize dialog on injuries because your daughter wants the take away facts to be centered around her successes, her leadership, her participation. </p>
<p>No idea of the sport…no idea if the summer will involve camps etc…but, before you know it, July 1 will be knocking on the door and I encourage all of your family to enjoy the dance between recruit and colleges. Try to take advantage of this window to explore what makes each school a great fit for her. Also try to maximize on what your daughter can bring to the school so they choose her! </p>
<p>Good luck…congrats on finding/using CC… there is real knowledge here…some parental pride, deservedly so, but in between all the shiny proud posts are some rock solid nuggets of useful information.</p>
<p>couldn’t agree you with you more, but geography and near daily practice schedule (no vacations/holidays off) permitted only that one visit. D will not be able to check out any of the other colleges until this summer. And she may go to one or more summer camps (she’d been to two on campus of aforesaid coach; he was aware of her). Still, I regret that she wasn’t better prepared for the visit. We let that coach know of her injury because he was talking about coming to see her practice. We’ve been going back and forth about having her notify the other coaches but were taking a wait-and-see attitude until scores arrive and can be reported. Just as glad she didn’t since it may be more minor than originally thought. I am getting a lot of good information from participants in this forum, both directly and from reading earlier posts. Thanks again!</p>
<p>The coach is probably waiting on the sat score as well. But I’m not a big fan of coaches who don’t take 10 seconds to send an email…I can think of a couple male ivy coaches who are like this.</p>
<p>D is communicating with a handful of coaches. She made 4 unofficial visits (she’s a jr.) and one coach told her to continue emailing updates on her tournament play. The coach stressed that even though she doesn’t always reply, she reads all emails. I, too, don’t like coaches who don’t take the time to reply.</p>
<p>A recently-retired college soccer coach/friend recently told me that he would commonly receive communication from over 1000 athletes each recruiting season. At the same time, he was coaching a soccer team of 32 young, demanding players. He hosted matches, traveled with the team, went to showcase and state tournaments, and has a family of three children. He had one assistant. This was a well-known school, but probably not a school “everyone” would be contacting. Imagine what the coach at an extremely desirable school’s inbox must look like. Patience, recruits, patience!</p>
<p>Thanks. It was only that this coach had replied diligently to D’s previous emails (which were of the update variety). But it’s a spring sport and he’s busy… Guess we’ll know more as she relates SAT/ACT scores + athletic stats in the next couple of months to all coaches. Patience indeed!!</p>
<p>elileo, this whole recruiting thing is a matter of performance. the higher performing the athlete or team/school the more the interaction there is between coach and athlete. for instance that soccer coach may have received a thousand emails but if he’s coaching a top soccer program he is already emailing the top 50 soccer players.</p>
<p>Update that D was cleared today by her physician to resume sport (3-5 weeks earlier than anticipated) and alerted top college coach to that effect. And he responded with quick email! So she’s still in that particular game it seems. But she’s more sober now about the realities/vagaries of athletic recruiting and intent on keeping lines open with ALL coaches, not just the one at her favored school. It’s been a good lesson. I think we all understand now how few guarantees there are and what a long journey from first flush of coach interest to (one hopes) confirmed admission next fall/winter/spring.</p>