My D is a senior and a strong athlete (captain of lacrosse). She is certain that she does not want to play at college - though she may consider intramural or club. As a result, she did not want to sign up for NCAA eligibility. She is applying to highly competitive schools (Ivys and the like). Given this, are we missing out in any way by not signing up for NCAA eligibility? Could it help her get admitted?
No, she’s not missing anything. If she’s not a recruited athlete, there is no reason to sign up for the Clearinghouse. If she changes her mind, she can easily sign up at that time. She’d have to do that if she wanted to do any official visits. Intramural and club do not require registration with NCAA.
Thanks - coaches have contacted her but not from the schools she wants to attend.
I would say sign up, it isn’t all that difficult and kids change their mind.
I was in your daughter’s position in the fall of my senior year, I was ready to be done competing. I had the resume to compete at a division 1 level (individual sport state champion and All-American) and had been contacted by coaches but just thought it was a good time to hang it up. That changed in the spring when the coach at the school I had already decided to attend reached out to me. This was a former Olympic team coach that was one of the most respected coaches in the country/world at the time. The indication that he saw potential with me changed my opinion and we rushed through a formal recruiting process and I signed a LOI less than a month later. It is a decision I have never regretted.
Granted at that time there was no clearinghouse so the process for me was easier. I think having the clearinghouse already taken care of, if she changes her mind, just speeds up the process down the road and if there is no change of mind all you have lost is the time it took to register.
I would agree to go ahead and sign up. You never know what opportunity might knock and having the paperwork complete keeps doors open. My DD was completely convinced she was not going to run in college. Then what ended up as her top two choices both reached out about recruiting visits. Ultimately she would probably not have ever even considered going to Navy if not for that contact and the recruiting folks reaching out to her. She is a Plebe and really really enjoying her time now (other than the whole Plebe summer thing :))
It is a good idea to sign up just in case. A friend’s son was not recruited for his sport at a D1 school but had an opportunity to join the team freshman year when they lost some team members. Unfortunately, they could not get his NCAA paperwork completed in time for the season so he could not be on the roster until sophomore year.
But the clearinghouse takes minutes to sign up for if/when she needs it. It has to be started before an OV at a D1/D2 school, but all the paperwork can’t even be completed until high school graduation. Early LOI can be signed in Nov but otherwise the athlete waits until the spring anyway. No LOI at an Ivy, D3, or service academy.
If your daughter has another ACT/SAT test scheduled, throw in a code (I think it is 9999) for the clearinghouse but otherwise save the $80 fee until you need it. I took part of the OP as asking if the Clearinghouse would HELP get into a college. No, it won’t. There is no release of names of those who have registered.
I tend to agree with @twoinanddone. It won’t help with admissions. If you do need to register the process is easy and unless you are a distance runner that runs a lot of non-sanctioned races, probably not too time consuming.