I know many people on that path start sending “letters of interest” to college coaches as freshman. It is typically too early to have meaningful highlight videos and such, but I gather the point is to get on their mailing list. I know some also begin doing college tours, which is precisely because they are potentially going to be doing all this on a very accelerated schedule.
All of this is sort of crazy to me, but I get it.
When my kids were 13, they both were really into robotics. Couple of years later, 1 is 17 (going into 12th grade) and 1 is 15 (going into 10th grade). They’ve both lost interest in robotics…participated in VEX Robotics in high school, but no longer want to pursue robotics or engineering. For both of them, the requirement in engineering of so much physics is a huge negative. And they both said that robotics just wasn’t as fun anymore. They hated the competitions.
1 is now really really into biology and health care professions-related stuff, while the other kid has turned into a mega-history nerd with a smidge of “computer stuff” on the side.
It is very confusing to me, because the DI and DII coaches can’t even email back. So, you’re sending emails off into the ether. DIII can at least reply.
It seems crazy to me too, but I have a kid who really really really wants to please his coaches. Really. And I’ve set limits when I’ve needed to. But, I kind of like to pick my battles, and I’m not picking this one.
So, let’s assume he’ll be sending letters even if they may be pointless. He still needs to figure out where to send them, and he’s asking questions.
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Don’t know anything about the athletics but one of my kids has had a super strong interest in Creative Writing since 4th grade. She just finished up her first year in college and is still in that track but may add in an a minor.
Older kid’s interests changed from art to vet medicine. Didn’t see that coming. It’s such a stressful field I sometimes wish for the Art interest to come back.
My son reached out to coaches (soccer) in 9th grade, it’s definitely a thing. However its not too late to reach out in 10th or 11th grade. If your son is a strong recruit, coaches will want him and it won’t matter what grade he contacted them.
Then why do they have them do it?
My kids are older and I never heard of this when they were in high school! The idea that sports can get you into a top college seems like a source of a lot of pressure on kids. I do know Harvard parents who got their kids into rowing, squash, tennis or fencing and the kids spent high school at high levels, traveling around, trying to reach national level. Doesn’t seem worth it to me, but if the kid is happy playing the sport…
I would just let the kid know they have options for other paths and encourage them along the way to be flexible.
Back in the dinosaur age (2008-12) my kids applied to 2, 4 and 6 schools respectively! The 6 was because it included music conservatories.
See my edited post above about the reason why coaches have them reach out now. In a nutshell, strategy both for placement and planning (e.g. which showcases to attend). College coaches can still scout 9th graders even if they can’t contact them. Send those emails, get on a coach’s radar, kill it at the showcases and college camps, and hopefully all that effort will pay off when the recruiting period opens.
So as I understand it, there are contacts and materials considered recruiting materials, and other contacts/materials considering non-recruiting materials. The former are on strict schedules, but the latter are not.
I believe nonrecruiting materials include things like questionnaires, camp brochures, non-athletic brochures, and so on. So, if you get on a coach’s mailing list, they can start sending stuff like that to you early, they just can’t do direct contacts and such.
Meanwhile, coaches can create “watch lists” and such as far back as they want, including before HS for that matter. They typically can’t directly contact you until much later, but they can do research, scout events, watch highlight videos, and so on. Then when the rules finally allow them to directly recruit your class, they are ready to go.
OK, so a freshman year letter of interest is officially inviting nonrecruiting contacts/materials, but unofficially is also suggesting the coach consider putting you on their watch list.
But still, it isn’t “too late” if you contact them as a sophomore. Since those “watch lists” are entirely at the coach’s discretion, they can add or subtract from them at any time. So, if a sophomore gets their attention, they can add them to their watch list (even if that means dropping someone else).
My D decided around maybe 5th grade what college she wanted to go to and what she wanted her career path to be. She just graduated high school and is, in fact, going to the attend that very college, and still plans on the same the career path. Perhaps college will open her eyes to other possibilities, or perhaps she’ll stay the course. So far, however, she hasn’t wavered.
That is our philosophy too. But to be realistic, rising seniors in our HS are now seeing some of the recruited athletes starting to lock into very desirable colleges. I don’t think that means any kid should see it as necessary to follow such a path, and indeed I also know kids who have gotten to this point and are simply not happy with their recruited options and are basically shutting down that operation. But I think the kids themselves sometimes see it as an attractive option, and realistically it typically requires a dedicated process from a pretty young age.
So I struggle a bit with exactly what to tell young kids who could potentially follow this path, since at least for some it seems to work out well by their own standards. But I do think your basic rules still apply–they should only do it if they really enjoy it, and should remain open-minded.
Personally I find it a crazy that the coaches are asking them for a list of schools at all, much less 30-60. And I say this as someone working at a high school with a nationally ranked basketball team who has players heavily recruited every year by T20 schools. We currently have 6 players in the NBA, most of whom went into the draft after their first year of college. I still don’t think most (any?) of them could have named 30-60 schools when they were in 8th grade.
But onto your actual question about how much preferences will change … I think in most cases, SO much. You will always have some students who are laser-focused on one thing, say CS, and will not waver. I actually feel like that much rigidity can be a negative. But most students will change their mind, or at least realize other interests throughout high school and into college. My oldest, from middle school until college, changed his mind four times at least. Got to college, changed majors three more times. He’s graduated now and working on his master’s and thriving.
And for sports, only the elite of the elite are going to be recruited by top schools. Of course, smaller schools, or DIII could be interested. But whether or not your son will even want to continue basketball by that point is 50/50 at best.
Anyway, just my opinion, so take it with a grain of salt, but I hope it helps.
So, then if there is some value in getting on coach’s watch lists, I think then being thoughtful about which watch lists makes sense?
I’ll give an example. My guess is that almost every kid on his team will have all of the NESCAC’s on their list. Because I live in an area where people chase prestige.
But, I am pretty sure that if, today, I told this kid “go look at the Bates website, and see if you want to go there” he’d come back and say “I’m not going there, they don’t have engineering”.
So, do I help him come up with a list of 30 - 60 schools that have engineering? Or do I push back and say “you should pick a wide variety of schools”?
My vote would be wide variety.
There is an excellent section of this forum for athletic recruiting and questions about it. You might want to post that part of your query there. Very knowledgable folks about that process!
Just want to note that kids get into top schools (if that is the goal) for all kinds of things: music, dance, photography, public service, CS, you name it.
I personally would not talk about colleges at all with a kid this age. These concerns really affect the high school experience and development- again my view. I would not worry about giving the coach even one school, but that’s me.
It is hard for a kid to change preferences when the focus is so intense. They may not even feel free to do so, and they are so busy they don’t get exposed to other possibilities. I think high school should be a time for exploration. And certainly not focused on college admissions.
It is a stage of maturity when kids start making decisions on their own, with less reactivity to outside pressures. For boys that is some ways away!!
ps sorry to continue to diverge from the original question…the answer is “yes” if they feel they can change!
My oldest son - now at 19 and 6’3”, 195 pounds of muscle and incredibly agile for his size - likely could have gone D1 in his choice of several different sports. He lost a lot of interest by the time he got to high school. It became evident his sole purpose for participating in athletics was to have fun. Smart kid. 
Thankful we didn’t spend more time or money on it than we did but always wonder what could have been.
And one of the musician kids in this family decided the same thing. Loves playing their instrument…but for fun. And there are plenty of civic orchestras here that would welcome her.
I think my main advice (other than to agree you might want to ask in the dedicated forum) would be to keep it toward the 30 end, and not put too much into it yet. These are not applications, this is not your last opportunity to send a letter of interest, and there won’t be any penalty if you end up not so interested in the future. It is just a first step in the process.
So, if all the schools on this first list offered undergraduate engineering–fine. If not–also fine. This is a process of exploration for your kid too.