<p>Question: I wrote to the soccer coach at my first-choice college, which is an NCAA Div. 3 school. I told him that I was interested in being on the team, with the hope that he could help me get admitted. He wrote back and said that he was happy I was applying. He gave me [...]</p>
<p>When is the best time to contact the coach at the university?
If I were to write a letter, would it include everything including awards, recommendations, stats etc? Or should I just wait until the coach replies and then give him/her all the information?</p>
<p>Coaches at the NCAA Div. 1 and Div. 2 levels have strict rules about when they can contact students. At the Div,. 3 level, those rules are more relaxed. Even so, YOU can contact THEM at any time, and it doesn’t hurt to do so even if it’s too early for them to legally recruit you.</p>
<p>Many colleges now have athletic contact forms right on their Web site … so that’s a good place to start … assuming that you can find these forms without a treasure map, They have different names … most obvious (“Prospective Athlete Form,” “Recruit Me,” etc.) but there’s not one specific form that you can search for. Likewise, sometimes there is an obvious link right on the college’s main athletics page. Sometimes you need to first find a specific sport and then look for links from there. The form you find may pertain only to your sport alone or may be for any potential athletics participant.</p>
<p>Once you’ve filled out the form (or if there’s no form in the first place), it’s fine to write to the coach, either by snail mail or email. The benefit of snail mail is that you can send enclosures … DVD’s, news clips, etc. (Only send the latter if it really focuses on you, not on your whole team, and makes you sound like a stand-out.) E-mail, on the other hand, can be a good bet because it facilitates a speedy reply.</p>
<p>Your initial letter (or e-mail message) should include both your athletic and academic strengths. Coaches do not like to waste time on prospects who don’t have a prayer of being admissible. So if you know that your grades, rank, and test scores definitely put you in that school’s admit range, be sure to say so.</p>
<p>If you are writing to a Div. 1 or Div. 2 coach before the official recruiting period has begun, you may get a generic reply that focuses more on admissions and the college in general and not on sports. ("We offer 32 majors … "). If, however, the coach is legally free to write to you and still you get only a generic response–whether about the college as a whole or about the team itself (“The Red Raiders have enjoyed three straight conference championships …”)–then read between the lines. The coach may not feel that you are a likely prospect. (At that point, you don’t have to give up … but do recalibrate your goals and look for other schools where you may be very much wanted.)</p>
<p>There is a lot of helpful, specific information about athletic recruiting on another CC forum. See: [Athletic</a> Recruits - College Confidential](<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/athletic-recruits/]Athletic”>Athletic Recruits - College Confidential Forums) </p>
<p>If you can’t find answers to your questions already posted there, then start a new thread.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>Thank you very much. That was extremely helpful.
Will the official recruiting period be posted on the school’s website? Like, can I find that infomation on their website?
And should I wait until my SAT/ACT scores come out and then contact the coach so he/she would know if I would be admissible in the first place? I have the GPA, class rank, awards, EC etc.
Thanks</p>
<p>What year are you now? What sport(s) do you play? And do you think you will play at the Div 1, 2, or 3 level in college?</p>
<p>There is a lot of information you will need on the NCAA Web site for prospective college athletes. See <a href=“https://web1.ncaa.org/eligibilitycenter/student/index_student.html[/url]”>https://web1.ncaa.org/eligibilitycenter/student/index_student.html</a> You should be able to find recruiting periods for athletes at each level there, though you may have to dig a bit.</p>
<p>Yes, it’s best to have SAT or ACT scores before you contact coaches so they will know if you’re in their ballpark … so to speak ;)</p>
<p>I’m currently a junior and I run track and field, specifically jumping. Hopefully I can run at a Division 1 school. Since track and field is towards the end of the year, I only have my sophomore stats. Should I wait until the summer of my senior year, after I have competed this year?
Thanks</p>
<p>First of all, Jumper101, if you haven’t done so already, go onto the Track & Field Web sites for the Div. 1 colleges that most interest you. Dig around until you find results for your events. Next, compare the winning results with your own best results. How do you stack up? You’ll probably have to extrapolate since you only have your sophomore stats to compare. But you need to ask yourself if the Div. 1 numbers seem like results you’ll be able to attain yourself. Similarly, ask your coaches to estimate where you’ll fit into Div. 1 programs.</p>
<p>Assuming that you and your coaches feel that, based on these numbers, you’re a solid Div. 1 prospect, then I would suggest that you contact coaches in the spring, after you have your SAT results and, presumably, some new jumping stats (even if the season isn’t over yet).</p>
<p>Here is a link to a recruiting-regulation calendar that you may find useful: [The</a> five NCAA recruiting rules that high school coaches should know | Coach and Athletic Director | Find Articles at BNET](<a href=“http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0FIH/is_9_74/ai_n17209237/]The”>http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0FIH/is_9_74/ai_n17209237/)</p>
<p>Make sure that you scroll down past the basketball and football regulations and look for “Other Sports,” where the restrictions are somewhat different. You’ll see that coaches are allowed to call you as early as May of your junior year, so it might be valuable to get onto some coaches’ lists and “radar screens” by then.</p>
<p>I compared my results with their athletes and my records in sophomore year surpass those of the athletes in the colleges I want to attend. Specifically Yale and Darthmouth.
Out of the 8 spots or so, half of them will graduate before I go to college. But most of them are seniors this year. So, does that lower my chance of getting a spot the year after since the coaches will look at more athletes this year to fill the missing slots?</p>
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<p>Not necessarily. There’s no guarantee that the coach will have a good recruiting year before it’s your turn or that the athletes who enroll will perform up to snuff and stay injury-free. Also, it sounds like you are a very strong contender, so you may end up not only being admitted but also surpassing the older athletes on the roster.</p>