Heading out for our first round of visits

Athletic Recruits
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<p>We are off for two weeks of visiting schools. I just wanted to say thanks to all of you who have been so full of wonderful advice. My daughter is excited, anxious, and nervous, but really looking forward to it. She has her resume, transcripts and a list of questions to ask ready to go. I also gave her a list of some questions I think she will face to help her prepare. And she has a brand spankin' new journal to record her thoughts! I hope we didn't forget anything.</p>

<p>I will post updates as we go, her first unofficial is tomorrow.</p>

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<p>We head out in a couple of weeks with kid #2 so I have been going through all our maps/brochures/media guides from our trips last year with kid #1. I am sure you will have a great time; I am looking forward to doing it again. </p>

<p>I was surprised at how much we all would forget–good notes are really important. We brought home every scrap of paper we picked up along the way and it really helped with our recollections. It made it much easier for my son to decide where to go on officials once the invites started coming in. Good luck!</p>

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<p>Have a great time. We leave early Sunday am for only 6 days…back for Easter.</p>

<p>Look forwrad to your insights :cool:</p>

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<p>Ooo, how exciting! Keep me posted, I am eager to hear your impressions, especially as we are in the same sport…I think…</p>

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<p>Fishymom - if you’re comfortable saying, what schools are you visiting? We’re looking forward to reports!</p>

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<p>Take pictures, too! I hate to get maudlin, but you may not have many more trips with your child, and it also helps you remember each visit :slight_smile: Enjoy!</p>

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<p>jealous…we never did the spring or summer trips, to busy competing. only 1 day off a week for d from sep 1 to early july, it’s crazy. although coach did allow time off for official visits in the fall.</p>

<p>i really would have enjoyed the spring break college visit thing. so have fun, you’re lucky to have kids that take you to such cool colleges!</p>

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<p>Enjoy - it was just last year at this time that we embarked on our “unofficial” college tour odyssey. Looking back it was a wonderful experience - kicking off 8 months of completely new experiences. Now that D is committed, I have to admit I miss it a little bit. Relax, enjoy and take a lot of mental snapshots. ;-)</p>

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<p>Make sure your music options are compatible… otherwise your child could live in headphones on the trip…not that I am speaking from personal experience LOL… </p>

<p>It is a wonderful opportunity to be a part of this special growth time… from the first campus to the last, your child will really mature and absorb and actually change… they will go from tentative to initiator… wishing you happy moments… and good beds for sleeping!</p>

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<p>I agree that those visits were such fun times together and I wish you the best of memories. We’re waiting for reports so we can relive it vicariously, lol.</p>

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<p>Thanks for all the well wishes, they are greatly appreciated! Jcc, we are visiting lots of schools: Cornell, Ithaca, Princeton, Yale, Harvard, Boston College, UVa, UNC, Duke, either NYU & Columbia or Brown (undecided, I am rooting for Brown!), Penn State and Bucknell. One down, ??? many more to go!</p>

<p>Kate, good advice about saving everything. I actually brought an expanding file folder for just that purpose! Each school that we are visiting has its own pocket and everything will go in it, to be sorted and sifted once we get home. And my daughter is keeping a journal, so that should help us keep everything straight.</p>

<p>Fog, safe travel and see you Monday! </p>

<p>Riverrunner, thanks for the advice on the pictures. My daughter is very into photography, loves to photograph landscapes and buildings, but tends to forget about people. I will make a point of getting a picture of us at each school we visit!</p>

<p>Maine, I am so lucky in that our musical tastes are very similar, almost too much so for her taste. A couple of weeks ago I mentioned that her dad and I were going to see a concert and she was upset because she was also going with her friends and heaven forbid her parents were there! Anyway, we are good on the music front!</p>

<p>And the update: Today’s visit went really well, met on campus, coach gave us a tour of the athletic facilites and then we headed to the boathouse. My daughter went out on the water to watch practice with the coach while I rested in the car. She got solid information about where she needed to be athletically and academically, very positive feedback as to her progress so far, lots of encouragement and a request to update the coach if the school was in her top 3-5 schools after all her visits. So, we are off to a good start!</p>

<p>My husband, who is the official puppysitter for the next two weeks, did not have such a great day. Our 10 month old Corgi mix woke him up at 4:00am to go potty. My husband had to get dressed, get his glasses on and by that time, it was too late. Then he took her to work with him and somehow she managed to lock him out of his office, with her inside! Of course the key was in his desk drawer, so he had to break in. And she whined and cried everytime he tried to put her in the crate. It’s his own fault, he spoils her like crazy. I suggested doggie daycare or it’s going to be a very long two weeks!</p>

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<p>fishymom, it sounds like a wonderful visit. That’s always been hard for DS, when coaches ask where their school ranks on his list. As he said, a school wouldn’t BE on his list if he didn’t think it was a satisfactory choice!</p>

<p>LOL, such a funny picture of your puppy locking your husband out of his office! Ha!</p>

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<p>Fishymom,
I love that the coach on her first visit asked to be updated if the school remains in her top 3-5 after her trip… to me, this is exactly the verbage she needs to have on hand as an answer at any of the other schools… and she was given this gift by a coach… </p>

<p>going forward, at any of the schools, she can now ask the coach, “if, after all my visits, this school remains in my top 3-5 schools, should I contact you for further follow-up and recruiting discussions?” It is so perfect… and it demonstrates that she is willing to do the work necessary to identify her own top choices. It is a great example of respect for both parties in the recruiting dance…</p>

<p>Hope the trip is going smoothly!!</p>

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<p>I love college visits, and also feel a little wistful that they won’t happen again. Everyone who is travelling: have a great time!</p>

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<p>Fishymom,</p>

<p>Wow, that is a lot of schools. I’m picturing the Indiana Jones movies where the airplane is criss crossing the globe. This is your East coast tour…Cornell, Ithaca, Princeton, Yale, Harvard, Boston College, UVa, UNC, Duke, NYU, Columbia, Brown , Penn State and Bucknell. When is the West coast tour? ;-)</p>

<p>Enjoy, and let us know how it went.</p>

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<p>The “choices” question makes me laugh - at my daughter’s favorite unofficial, while sitting and talking with the coach, the coach asked her “so, what are your second choice schools?” It was funny, as my daughter had never said that the school was her first choice! After my daughter tried to give a rather vague answer (as advised by her high school coach), the coach did not let it go - again, “so really, what are your second choices?” It was very funny, and showed us how presentation is everything in the confidence of the coach - and of course, now this school really is one of my daughter’s true first choice schools :)</p>

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<p>I was just wondering about the choices question because its sooo early and there is no way to know if the kids are getting in—</p>

<p>I know the colleges are not even supposed to ask that question–that its against some fairness policy set by the guidance and AdComs that they can’t ask you where else you are applying…however the coaches don’t have to abide by that…</p>

<p>Last yr we had no trouble telling them where we were visiting because kiddo was a soph and it never occurred to us…now we say on any recruiting questionaire–
“other schools with similar major and xyz sport”…</p>

<p>Fishy–hope your travels go well…we did 7 scholls in 5 days while in Boston…which was busy and fun. So glad to hear you have 2 weeks for your whirlwind tour. You will be quite the expert-so be sure to fill us in.
You will have to do those colege review things here on CC…so many are years out of date.</p>

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<p>Interesting that coaches are really meant to ask about other colleges being considered, etc. - although they must of course know that if you are interested in their school for sports, you would be similarly interested in their peer institutions…At this point in the “game”, our students, as juniors, are often talking to several different colleges. Indeed, they may have strong feelings towards certain schools at this point, but one has to be fluid at this time.</p>

<p>Regarding other colleges, my athlete went ahead and “let go” of about 8 schools as the emailing with everyone was getting to be too much - way too time consuming. The schools that she wrote with a polite “thanks for the interest, but no thanks” are ones that she would never go to anyway, with or without sports being a component. This seemed like the fair and right thing to do, not only in terms of time management for my daughter, but also in consideration of the other recruits who actually do want to go to these schools - and also in consideration of the time of the coaches at these various schools - no need to waste their time, etc. It has made things much easier I think for my daughter now … only emailing with places she really would want to go to.</p>

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<p>Hey fog, every coach we spoke with, from head to recruiting to novice, asked my daughter what other schools she was looking at. We decided to just answer honestly and tell them where else she was visiting. Some cracked jokes, “you have to whisper that name around here”, and the coach we met this morning told her to look at the rest, but remember they were the best. I thought that was cute! But really, all the coaches so far have encouraged her to fully explore her options and to keep them updated.</p>

<p>Mayhew, I love the comment about “second choices”, I like that coach already! And you are so right about the presentation. The recruiting coach we met yesterday was very nice, but quiet. Couple that with my daughter, who is a bit quiet herself and you have lots of awkward silences. Very different from the day before, where she and the coach chatted easily the whole two hour practice. And thank the good Lord that wasn’t her first visit! My daughter really liked the head coach though. They were getting ready for a travel trip and the head coach was really busy, but took the time to talk to my daughter before they went out on the water, explaining what they would be doing and then talked to her again while they were loading the trailers. She was very encouraging and that really helped. But the recruiting coach didn’t really have a whole lot to say, didn’t give her any specific information about times, scores, numbers. The one thing she did say was they like to recruit from warm weather states because the kids are used to training year round, I thought that was interesting. And they all love to recruit swimmers! </p>

<p>I have a little break in travel today and tomorrow since we will be here until Sunday. I am looking forward to some rest, we have had late nights and early mornings. So far, things have gone as I expected. My daughter likes the schools I thought she would and is a little cooler on the one I didn’t think she would like as well. It is just a lot bigger than what I think she is comfortable with, although the academic programs are awesome. And she really did like the head coach. </p>

<p>My daughter’s mood has been pleasant until this afternoon, so we headed back to the hotel a bit early. It is cold and blustery out, with gray skies, perfect for an afternoon nap. I think it is all a bit overwhelming for her and she is really pushing outside her comfort zone, meeting coaches, trainers, academic advisers, etc. I think this trip will be life changing for her in many ways.</p>

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<p>We did an April break 4.5 day blitz a couple of years ago… Maine to Virginia and back…
we saw Penn, James Madison, Univ of Virginia, Univ of Richmond, Connecticut College and Brown… and I saw my child grow up before my very eyes… luckily we had a great random meeting with a coach at Penn… and the same at Richmond… and the difference in my kid’s questions and comfort with talking with a coach by the time we got to Brown was huge… in fact, my back was on strike by the time we got to Brown so it was all done solo… I spent the time there in the library looking at the world class miniature soldiers collection… </p>

<p>I tried to visit each and every library!! Williams has one of each of the USA founding documents… Yale’s Beinecke has original Audubon folios… Cambridge in England has Newton’s math book…and Christopher Wren’s sketch books… also journals from Beatrix Potter… Bowdoin’s has items from Joshua Chamberlain’s and Harriet Beecher Stowe’s own libraries… those are some of my favorite memories…</p>