<p>Should D3 (Tier 1 LAC's) recuited athletes who are full pay (no financial aid; maybe merit aid) take the time and effort to go on athletic recruit visits? Would it be more cost and time effective to visit after admisssions have made decisions? For purposes of this discussion, I will assume that: 1)coaches have the typical amount of influence on the adcoms and 2) the applicants have the middle to upper range of stats for admitted students.</p>
<p>Thoughts, please?</p>
<p>I think if your athlete wants or needs coach’s help with admissions then it is well worth while to make the visit, otherwise, the coach may be concerned about your athlete’s level of interest in the school and choose to support another. Typically the coach will have a limited number of athletes he can support. </p>
<p>On the other hand, if your S/D is confident of admission, then the reason to go on the visit would be to more fully explore whether the school & team is a good fit - that might not be necessary if the athlete is already clear about that.</p>
<p>^^agree with Runners2.</p>
<p>ibcc, also make an effort to find out if the coach in your sport at a particular Tier I LAC has any say with admissions. This is an often-discussed topic on CC. I’m sure it would be helpful to many prospective athletes to share accurate information on the subject, so start a thread specific to your needs, if you can, without revealing an uncomfortable amount of information about your kid and his sport/favorite schools.</p>
<p>We didn’t go very far down the DIII path, but I can say the Pomona track coach, for example, was pretty clear that he had NO say in admissions. It’s OK to ask this question of DIII coaches, but much more difficult to be sure of what you are hearing, unless they are as blunt as the Pomona coach was. </p>
<p>Follow-up questions should be: How many athletes are you asking admissions to admit for you this year? Where am I on that list in terms of my athletic ability? How do I stack up academically with the other athletes on your list, and against other admitted students in general? Do you often/ever have students you’ve supported in admissions not get admitted? Would it help if I wrote a letter to admissions letting them know this school is my top choice? </p>
<p>Some DIII’s use an ABC rating system for student/athlete recruits. For example, depending on the sport, the importance placed on athletics at the school, and the need for particular athletes that year, a school might admit a high number of A’s, fewer B’s and one C (ABC ranking based on academics/scores, kind of like AI). You can ask if this LAC uses some sort of ranking system like this, what your rank is, and what your chances are with that rank.</p>
<p>It’s OK to ask lots of questions. I was pleasantly surprised at how forthcoming some coaches were about how the system at their school works. While they can’t show all their cards about other athletes, they can often give you enough information for you to understand how things might play out for you. It’s like putting together a jigsaw puzzle. Keep asking for pieces.</p>
<p>Your question was about visits: you can make a match without a visit, if both sides are comfortable with that. My kid definitely needed to see the campus, meet the coach, sit in a class, etc., but this didn’t have bearing on her recruitability, IMHO.</p>