<p>beawinner, good strategy. Recruited athletes tend to focus on the school that made some promises, and have trouble imagining what would happen if that school doesn’t work out.</p>
<p>For the most part, schools are using the Common App with supplements, some of them simple, and some with extensive extra essays. If you can convince your child to do this, completing the Common App in the summer and working on the primary and supplemental essays (gag) is time well spent. All of us who have been through this keep singing this same song, but it’s really true. </p>
<p>Especially if your child is in a fall sport, plans to make official visits, and is taking AP classes. Suddenly the time to daydream about “why Dartmouth” goes right out the window. D2, now a senior, and NOT a recruited athlete, sent out about 12 applications. We took a look at the supplemental essays during the summer. Some of them were the “why Dartmouth” variety, and had to be specific to that school, but many optional essays had common themes: who’s the most influential person in your life and why? tell us something about yourself not included in your common app essay? what is your home town like? what unique qualities do you bring to college X? Writing on some of these topics and saving those essays made the supplements a bit less painful, since the essays could be retrofitted to match some of the optional essay topics.</p>
<p>I’m bringing this up here, because, as you say, in the best case, your child will write one application and supplement and be done. But in the plan B case, suddenly you may have to send out a lot of applications, and it would be unfortunate not to apply to some schools because the supplemental essays just didn’t get written.</p>
<p>This is excellent advice, riverrunner. I would argue that it is exceedingly important, during that brief and hectic early fall recruiting period, that athletes have apps at minimum fully completed for multiple schools. It keeps the fire under the feet of the coaches if they know you are exploring other options and are not putting all your eggs in their basket…</p>
<p>One ivy coach we met with told us that there are about 100 kids on his radar right now and he expects to be at the 250 mark by June/July…only about 15 will get official visits!</p>
<p>Another ivy coach was the one who told us verbals mean nothing because neither coach nor student can be made to keep it…he has had a kid recruited, get in to the school using a slot, and then never show up for the first practice. </p>
<p>Depening on test scores from the ACT this week and the SATs etc in May/June…and our student’s PR, we will have a better idea come July 1 what to expect.</p>
<p>Its important to remember that the coaches must follow NCAA guidelines and that they are cordial and hospitable to everyone right now…Fall officials are the ticket</p>
<p>In response to, “Fall officials are the ticket” I would say that fall official visits are an important next step, but actually likely letters or letters of intent are the ticket. In our experience with Ivy’s, not all athletes invited on official visits were offered roster spots or admission.</p>
<p>^^^ right you are runners2…I guess I mean that until the official visit comes through–its all hospitality…kwim…</p>
<p>One thing that bothers me is where I see how some players want to keep every school “in the potential pool” so to speak…and some of that gets kind of ugly…</p>
<p>For example–I know of a student-athlete with a passion for one particular place==
and the student has been courting that institution for a couple of years
==and while having visited several schools recently–the athlete isn’t seriously interested in other places.
Now the student has VERY high grades and great PRs and would be a great catch to many programs, however much of this is ego right now and this student wants to keep as many schools on the line as possible…not attractive if you know what I mean.</p>
<p>Our D started working on her essay in July and completed two more or less safety applications by early October. It helped to have a framework underway, and those acceptances provided a better foundation as we waited for the top choice to pan out. And to Runners2, in our school’s case, the official visit was held the weekend before the signing period with the committed recruits – most probably had their early decision acceptances in hand. (I don’t think that number has changed). It may speak to the athletic budget or the program. There may have been enough unofficial visits that they didn’t need to spend money on officials to recruit for this sport.</p>
<p>Or the use of official visits may vary by sport - with sports where commitments happen earlier (soccer for example), the official visits may be more of a formality or even opportunity for recruits to meet than an evaluative meeting. In our S’s sport, the official visits tend to happen before commitments are made, so the official visits tend to be evaluative on both sides (by athlete as well as by coach), and more athletes are invited on visits than there are roster spots for.</p>
<p>I was asked to come up to a school for my unofficial by the coach during my Sophomore fall. I’m a freshman right now. So i’m going up. This coach has seen me play multiple times before, and knows how I play. I’ve emailed him frequently about updates on my season. This is for WOMENS ICE HOCKEY. I’m one of the top female goaltenders in the country statistically and he knows that. He already told me that I’m on the top of his recruiting list. And they offered us football tickets while we’re up there. They are in the top 5 as far as women’s D1 college hockey goes.</p>
<p>I know making a verbal commitment sophomore year is not that heard of, but if he’s asking me to come up for my unofficial now, does that mean they might ask me to make a verbal commitment? Also, do you typically make verbal commitments on unofficial visits? </p>