<p>Just wondering from old hands, how should we interpret this?</p>
<p>Email from coach addressing our player by name, referring to two particular camps where he has seen him. Includes an invitation to attend a home game and stay overnight with a team player. Gives several dates.</p>
<p>Is this what's considered an unofficial visit? Or as official as you can get since I think NESCACS don't offer officials?</p>
<p>I think you should interpret it as your kiddo has a great shot at playing competitive sports at this school! In our experience, a coach doesn’t invite a kid to an overnight unless there’s great interest, and unless he’s pretty darn sure there are no major admissions hurdles. At the overnights my son did, it always included a face to face meeting with the head coach so he should be ready for that.</p>
<p>GingerPeach, I suspect our sons will be seeing each other! Congrats! We too received several such overtures. My understanding is that they don’t throw those invitations around liberally, and given the competitive academics, they would not extend if they did not think the player was a decent candidate for admission. Very exciting!</p>
<p>My daughter got 2 of these invites from 2 NESCAC schools when she was a rising senior 2 years ago. She stayed with a team member, got to practice with the team, see the school, etc. </p>
<p>Amherst was one of them, and the coach said she’d have a shot if she got her SATs up and applied early; Conn Clg was the other; they didn’t make any similar suggestions; she applied and got WL. </p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>Classof2015, did Conn Clg offer your dd a slot or anything that made her decide that was the school to apply to? Was she WL on an early Application? I hope you don’t mind my asking. I get very nervous every time I hear about an athlete who is not outright accepted after seemingly strong coach interest.</p>
<p>My D also got a couple.</p>
<p>It is obviously a very good sign.</p>
<p>Now, if only the coach could tell us how to pay for the darn place . . . ;)</p>
<p>GingerPeach,</p>
<p>It is sincere interest on their part, and that is what is important. This overture is typically what leads to an offer. They want to know if your son or daughter is going to reciprocate that interest. I suggest you prepare him or her for the trip, and how to handle any offer dialog that may come up with the coach. </p>
<p>In our case, it involved an invitation to come to campus, see a football game, hang out with team, and meet with the Coach. It’s an “official unofficial visit”.</p>
<p>Different people have used different strategies with these visits. Some like to go to first choice colleges first and some go to first choice colleges last. Personally, I prefer to go to first choice college first to see if it genuinely is first choice. Also, college recruiting is a competition. Recruits get bumped in favor of other recruits. You never know what is going to happen a week from now, or even two months from now. So depending on what dates are offered, you may want to think about how to approach it. </p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>GingerPeach,</p>
<p>My D went through this with NESCAC last year. This is a very good sign. If he is interested, he should schedule the OV asap in order to show interest. He will stay with a team member, then go to a game. At some point he will talk with the coach and or asst. coach. This is his chance (and yours) to find out how much support he would receive. Be very direct and honest. The coach will want to know how interested he is in the school.</p>
<p>I am wondering…did your son send any academic info or was this info available to the coach? I always assumed that NESCAC would offer OV after a positive preread.</p>
<p>145bluz, we had the junior transcripts, screencaps of SAT and ACT reports available to email at the camps when we talked to a coach. Our player won his position challenge at Elite on the 3d day and had coaches ask him to send his scores and grades, but because we had them already scanned in, our player says he emailed them on the spot or texted them and then had the coach’s cell number which opened up further communication.</p>
<p>In this case I asked because I realized I really did not remember and yes, our player says he texted and emailed the screencaps of his junior transcript and scores. This was for this particular school in June.</p>
<p>GingerP,</p>
<p>NCAA rules do not allow D3 schools to offer official visits, the best they can do is to offer “well organized” unofficial visits. I agree with the others that the unofficial visit your S is being offered shows a high levels of interest by the coach. There are no NCAA limits to the number of unofficial visits a recruit may take ( there is a limit of 5 for official visits), however there are practical limits to the number of visits your S will be able to schedule prior to the ED deadline. If this is a school your S is interested in attending then I would offer this general advice:</p>
<ol>
<li> Respond positively to the offer as soon as possible. </li>
<li> Try to attend one of the first visits offered.</li>
<li> Ask the coach direct questions about the level of support he can expect with admissions.</li>
<li> Have fun and try to learn as much as possible about the team.</li>
</ol>
<p>If he has not already done so I would have him start filling out the application. I would also try to get a financial aid pre-read at this time.</p>
<p>Actually, DIII schools can offer official visits - from the NCSA website -</p>
<p>How many official visits can a coach offer?</p>
<p>The number of official visits a college or team can offer depends on their budget each year. Division I schools usually can afford the most official visits, followed by Division II schools. NAIA and Division III colleges usually do not offer paid official visits, even though they are allowed to offer them.</p>
<p>Can you visit a D3 school officially?</p>
<p>There is a common misconception that D3 schools do not offer official visits because they do not offer athletic scholarships. Fortunately, that is false! You are allowed an unlimited number of official visits to NAIA & D3 schools. Unfortunately, D3 schools tend to have a limited recruiting budget and therefore aren’t usually able to offer paid airfare, hotel, etc…Some D3 schools do not offer official visits at all. It’s a case by case basis.</p>
<p>I looked this up last year in the DIII manual - <a href=“http://www.ncaapublications.com/productdownloads/D313.pdf[/url]”>http://www.ncaapublications.com/productdownloads/D313.pdf</a>
Official visits are section 13.5-13.6</p>
<p>Congrats…sounds like a positive sign to me! So far one coach has told my son he wants to offer an overnight but many seem to not do them anymore…I don’t think a coach would waste his time if he wasn’t sincerely interested…can I ask which sport? Best of luck!</p>