Are official campus visits mandatory to be recruited for DIII cross country and track? I plan on running in college, but I’m not sure if I have the time to attend an official visit this coming fall. If it is necessary though, I will.
Thank you!
Short answer, no. Official visits are paid for by the school and are actually pretty rare in D3. I would think that you would still want to visit on your own, meet the coaching staff and check out the facilities, though.
@varska Thank you! I have checked out the facilities and am in email contact with the coaches at the moment. I also attended a summer camp coached by one of the coaches, so I guess I somewhat know them. It was just that one of the coaches recommended a official visit before applying for ED or EA.
Coaches do not “recommend” official visits, they offer them (and I agree with varska that they are rare in D3). Maybe the coach said “overnight visit”. In any case, I think it is great that the coach is recommending a visit before you decide to apply early, to help you gain assurance about your possible decision.
It is a worthwhile experience to stay overnight with current team members, and even with your existing familiarity with the program, this might be something you should consider.
Also, is this a very selective school where you are hoping for some admission support from the coach? If so, going out for an overnight visit prior to applying ED/EA, as one coach suggested, may be his way of gauging how serious you are. He wouldn’t want to support an athlete that may not choose to attend if accepted.
@fenwaypark
I read somewhere that you are supposed to ask the coaches rather than just wait for them to offer an official visit. What is the difference between an overnight visit and an official visit? Is it just that the official visit is paid for by the school while the overnight is out of pocket?
@varska
Yes, the schools that I wish to apply to are selective (JHU for ED and MIT for EA). I am pretty confident that my test scores and GPA are enough to be admitted without too much admissions support, at least for JHU, but I would really like to run cross country and track in either school.
I will see what I can do with my schedule. JHU is a long drive away for a visit, and I’m not sure if my parents would want to take the time. An overnight stay at MIT is more probable, but would still require a lot of convincing on my part.
I guess the next question is, would it be worth it?
College coaches are not known to be shrinking violets. If they are interested in you as one of their top-tier recruits, and have the budget, they will offer an official visit without having to be asked. If you have to ask…in the case where there is budget available…that tells you something about the level of interest.
Official visits are paid for by the school. You have to send a transcript, test scores, and NCAA eligibility center status before an official visit may be approved. Each official visit may last no longer than 48 hours. At the D1-D2 levels, student-athletes are limited to five official visits combined. These conditions do not apply to overnight visits. (D3 official visits are unlimited.)
In this case where you are not sure whether the coach is “recommending” an official visit or an overnight visit, you should definitely clarify. If the coach says “official”, great. If the coach says “overnight”, well I guess you could ask for an upgrade to “official”, but I think you would already have your answer.
PS: Why would it take a lot of convincing to accept an overnight visit to MIT? As varska alluded to, this question might occur to the coach as well. Between two candidates who are fairly equal, one of whom jumps at the opportunity for an overnight visit and the other who needs a lot of convincing, which candidate do you think the coach would throw greater support to?
@fenwaypark Thank you for the clarification! I think I understand this now. 
Most of my cross country friends that graduated run DI, so I wasn’t sure if the same things applied.
At D1 if you do not get offered an official visit, chances are that you are not a top-tier recruit.
At D3…again as varska has alluded to…official visits are rare. So a recommendation that you take an overnight visit to a D3 is not a sign of lukewarm interest, and it is nothing to be disappointed about.
Coach will still take the time to arrange a fun and interesting itinerary for you and set you up to stay with current team members. Whether you accept or not, a show of gratitude would be in order.
Thank you again!
Seems like you have your answer but two quick adds from recent experience at very similar schools:
Track coaches at DIIIs sometimes used the term “official visit” even though they were not paying for transportation. IMO, several DIII programs did everything they could do to make the recruiting process seem like a DI process, absent travel budget. Pre-reads on admission were done in advance of a fall DIII recruiting event invite just like the DI pre-read/official invite process works, too. Some DIIIs provided a food stipend during the visit, BTW.
DIII overnight recruiting events can be extremely similar to DI official visits other than who is paying: overnight with team members, take a class, meet other recruits, check out a football game, hang with the team. Hard to beat this opportunity to gauge life as a student athlete at the school regardless of whether labelled an official visit or otherwise.
@Startingblock From what the coach has told me, lodgings and food are provided, so it sounds like your first explanation. 
Thank you for taking the time to respond.
In terms of terminology, I believe that a visit is considered official by the NCAA if the school is paying any expenses such as meals i.e. transportation does not necessarily have to be included.
Even in D1, I don’t believe that coaches (especially in a non-revenue sport like track) will always have the budget to fly a recruit in but may still have real interest and budget for meals etc.
We went to a D3 visit that would sort of be ‘official’ BUT I paid the airfare, car rental, and hotel rooms. DD stayed with a team member overnight. So the school did provide her lodging, meals, and a ‘ticket’ to a field hockey game (I don’t think there was a charge). When I was setting it up with the coach, she said DD could only be on campus for 48 hours, so I guess she thought of it as an official visit.
At the D2 school, which was more of an official visit, the school paid for the hotel room, one meal I believe for the girls looking at the program, and admission to a school soccer game (none of the parents went). We lived two hours away so drove, so I don’t know if the coach paid for airfare for the other girls or their parents.
Clear as mud. We were never told by NCAA that we were limited to 5 official visits, and no one ever asked how many we took (only these too). It is so easy to be in violation and not even know it! Originally the coach told the girls to bring sticks to the D2 school, but later she found out that wasn’t allowed.
Yes it’s not always crystal clear . . .also, in some sports (such as volleyball) some of the top recruits are already verbally committed before senior year and may not go on any official visits, despite being among the best players.
I know I am kind of switching the topic right now, but I was wondering about the differences between the divisions since I am also applying to quite a few division I schools.
I understand the differences when it comes to scholarships, but when it comes to the athlete’s actual participation in the sport, what are the differences between the divisions? Are division I and II any more time consuming that division III? Are there more away meets/games?
Yes. DI is a bigger time commitment. Although NCAA rules impose a 20 hour per week limit on “countable hours”, the actual time commitment exceeds that. My daughter was a D1 (Ivy) track athlete and her typical day during season was strength and conditioning from 8 - 9 am. Then classes. Then back to the track by 4:30 for practice which lasts until about 6:45. Then you have the training room time, ice bath, massage, etc. Not to mention getting to and from the practice facility. So maybe 3.5 hours of “countable hours”, but probably closer to 5 1/2 - 6 hours that you’re devoting to your sport when you total it all up. Six days a week, so let’s say 33-35 hours weekly during season in her case.
Contrast with what Jeff Stiles at WashU (D3) told me about his athlete’s time commitment,
“I’d say 2 to 2 ½ hours per day would be the norm. If you include the training room, maybe 3 hours. But some days might be 75 minutes because we have a meet coming up. But I usually say 2 ½ hours is what you need to plan on.”
And they get 2 days off each week. So that’s about 12-15 hours weekly.
@varska WOW. Thank you! You’d never think that that much time goes into running! Sounds like DI would be a little too much for me; I’d rather have some more time for academics, to be honest.
Does your daughter like it?
She has graduated, but she did enjoy it. It did take a little while to get a handle on time-management. Her only real complaint about the heavy time commitment was that it prevented her from getting involved in many of the interesting ECs that were available at her school.
Thank you so much for your responses! You have been very helpful. 