<p>I know very little about the process--is there any books or websites I can read to learn more?</p>
<p>Ultimately interested in targeting academically prestigious DIII schools (namely, NESCAC)--Ivies would also be great. Sport is basketball. Recognized as top in the county, but coming from a poor program. Team won few games, coach is novice, and does not have much of a recent history of placing folks into the sorts of schools listed earlier.</p>
<p>Just want to start learning the bigger picture issues and how to get going. For example, should coaches be contacted directly? After a video is made? </p>
<p>son is a junior. above average academics. they aren’t strong enough to get into an ivy or comparably strong DIII program on their own right, but definitely within reason given an academic boost. </p>
<p>i hear of many kids in this category every year: excellent athletics at the county level and strong academics, but athletics aren’t strong enough for the most competitive D1 programs nor are the academics strong enough for the most prestigious academic programs without being recruited for sports. </p>
<p>been reading online about making athletic videos and how to prepare a cover letter and a 1-page scholar-athlete resume to email out to coaches. </p>
<p>in general, not sure when these should be submitted and how pro-active to be</p>
<p>I would suggest starting with The Essential Guide to Ivy League Recruiting by Tier 1 Athletics. It is availble on kindle and provides a great overview</p>
<p>satteacher - if this is your son’s Jr. year, now would be the time to be making contact. I would not send an unsolicited video link, start with a brief personalized note to the coach listing GPA, test scores and bball honors (all-state, maxpreps, etc), and, of course, size. Offer to send a video or link if the coach is interested. (Son should be making contact, not you, btw).
My personal thoughts on Ivy bball - the athletics have to be great - legitimate D1 skills, with recruiting interest from other D1 programs. If that is in place, the academics have to be solid, but not necessarily 2100 SAT caliber. In the NESCAC, I would say the athletic component may not have to be quite as strong as in the Ivies, but the admission boost isn’t quite as clear as in the Ivies either, so top academics will smooth the recruiting process.
But he should get those intro emails out asap. Good luck.</p>
<p>@varska yes he’s a junior. Thanks for the advice. I’ll get him on top of that this spring. Sounds like he should send a simple cover letter that offers to include a video upon further request along with a 1-page resume attachment that provides bullets effectively highlighting all the relevant academic, athletic, and stature stats ?</p>
<p>My understanding about Ivy bball in particular is that there is quite a lot of variation. As you may know from the current NCAA tournament, Harvard, for example, is a real contender. There are a few though, without naming names, that we’re thinking could be feasible.</p>
<p>The academics are solid. The only weakness academically is that the courseload could have been more rigorous. Will have a near 4.0 after junior year, but just an average schedule rigor wise (really, not below average but not above average either). SATs have been reasonably strong (definitely not perfect) and I’m sure will only get better.</p>
<p>Anyhow, I guess that’s for the coaches to decide. Just wasn’t sure how to navigate the process and how to get started.</p>
<p>Has your son taken SAT/ACT yet? Once he has some test scores in hand, I would recommend that he visit the athletic pages of the colleges that he is most drawn to and complete their athletic questionaires. </p>
<p>@JoBenny No official scores yet. Only PSAT and unofficial scores from proctored practice tests of recent, actual tests (e.g. from the official blue book for the SAT or the red book for the ACT). </p>
<p>You can definitely do as others have suggested and lead with a cover letter/email. Some schools offer Junior Days in the spring. Visit the individual school team pages and look for notices of events. If he can get an opportunity to introduce himself to coaches face to face it’s never a bad thing. And you can kill two birds by attending an info session/tour at the same time. </p>
<p>From my experience, the coaches really want to see official scores…but if his PSAT is something to crow about, by all means send it. As for Junior Days…you really have to spend a little time rooting around on the team pages. If there’s no straight calendar of team events, you can usually find notices under recruiting or prospective athlete tabs. </p>
<p>@JoBenny If coaches only want to see official scores–understandably so–then what do athletes typically do? Test early? It sounds like on the one hand, people get in touch with coaches early. On the other hand, how early can these tests get taken? </p>
<p>In any event, I’m truly unable to find any information about the Junior Days. I’ve been searching around on the team websites at a range of schools. Ivy, a non-Ivy D1, some D3. The schedules were only the game schedules and the recruiting information only talked about the questionnaire, NCAA guidelines, and the like.</p>
<p>junior days for athletics usually are by invite only
as others have stated send coach all academic info you can
get on his radar and you might mention your interest with regards to being included in any upcoming junior days that they might be having
it is like an open house but for possible recruits only</p>
<p>Testing should be completed as soon as it is feasible to achieve an acceptable score. My S finished ACT in October of his jr. year. Remember, Ivys also require SAT IIs which will be taken - probably - at the end of the jr year as well as AP tests. There is limited time for retaking of the tests and, combined with the sport’s season, college visits, OVs (hopefully), applications (the Ivys require fully completed apps [though the extent of the essay components are always hotly debated for athlete apps]), really compresses the entire time line. There isn’t much wiggle room to retake the ACT/SAT countless times.</p>
<p>Also, does your S play AAU or some ball outside of the school program which would get noticed?</p>
<p>While many schools verbal - even down to ninth grade for the rare 6’ 10" phenom - many kids who aren’t on the radar suddenly hit a growth spurt which elevates their profile. And, since height seems to be a factor in the majority of basketball positions, coaches understand the typical growth profiles of kids - as well as the coordination issues which may arise when a kid adds height quickly. My point here is this: there is ALWAYS room for talent; but in many cases, the talent must be placed so it can be seen.</p>
<p>I wanted to follow up on the first comment. If your goal is NCAA DIII schools there is no need to register with the NCAA Eligibility Center (only needed for NCAA DI or DII sports). However, if you think your son might play at a DI or DII program registering for the NCAA as a junior is good advise. </p>