Newbie question- How do you start the recruiting process?

<p>D2 is still debating about going for the sport "hook". She plays 3 sports but her softball coach keeps telling her she is recruitable and would like her to consider it. She is an excellent student with the whole package but unfortunately at the more competitive schools that just puts her at "ground zero"!!! At the schools she is interested in, does she contact the coaches first? How do they see her play? Do the schools come to travel games and see you or do you go to the school and play? If the coach is interested, do you have to commit ED or can it go into RD? Any experiences in softball would be appreciated.</p>

<p>Email the coaches at the schools she is interested in. Include a player profile. List tournaments/games she will be playing in. Fill out recruiting application found on most college websites. Coach will be in touch if interested. You do not need to to go ED.</p>

<p>Make a sport resume. You can see some on the recruiting websites. What sport (so that we can help better)?</p>

<p>Thanks. She is best at softball. What are the “recruiting websites”?</p>

<p>What year in school is she? If she is looking at DI or DII schools, she needs to register with the NCAA Clearinghouse. Go the NCAA website and click on the “prospective student athlete” tab for required reading!</p>

<p>There are many good ( and inexpensive ) books on the subject, with lots of great tips, timelines etc. – We found the one described here very helpful [How</a> to Win a Sports Scholarship](<a href=“http://www.winasportsscholarship.com/]How”>http://www.winasportsscholarship.com/) – a lot depends on what which sport, what level and type of school . For sure the student athlete should be the driving force (with parental guidance) and not the parent … especially in the eyes of the coaches.</p>

<p>A good place to start is to visit the team websites of schools you are interested in, look at the rosters and player profiles/backgrounds.</p>

<p>You can take a look at berecruited.com. My son has a profile on it because his hs coach signed him up. You can probably get ideas from it, but I don’t know how much college coaches really use those sites. We recently attended a recruiting forum hosted by my son’s club, and the DI coaches in attendance all said they did not use those sites.</p>

<p>generally, she should email the coaches at the schools she is interested in. There are tournaments that travel teams go to where college coaches will be. Look at the NCAA.org website, because there are a lot of restrictions on coaches contacting students before their junior year. The kid can call the coaches if they want to, but the coaches can’t call the kids until after their junior year. In some sports, video is often sent, but not usually on the initial contact, but after the coach has expressed interest. There are also camps offered during the summer where kids are seen by the college coaches.</p>

<p>My daughter is starting college next year as a recruited athlete, and a good friend of her si going to an Ivy as a softball player. She was recruited at a showcase tournament.</p>

<p>If you google college athlete recruiting or some such workd combination, you will learn a lot, but I would start with NCAA.org because there are all sorts of requirements and rules, and you can also find out which are the Division 1, 2, and 3 schools. At the D-3 schools, there are no athletic scholarships, but it could help you a lot with admissiions. At D-1 and D-2, there are scholarships available as well as help with admissions. </p>

<p>What year is she in?</p>

<p>I’m a member of my HS W BB & Volleyball varsity for both 9th & 10th grade and all league BB as a 9th grader. Both of the teams were league champs and made it to the CIF semi’s. My overall GPA is 3.85 at a very competitive private HS in LA area. I am investigating Amherst,Bowdoin,Wellesley, Brown, Yale and Princeton because of my interest in Creative writing and Fine Art. I do not have the time for club sports because of heavy classwork assignments and almost daily practices for the 2 teams. My coaches feel I can easily play in D3 and perhaps Ivy. How should I proceed with the coaches at these top schools and does playing 2 sports hurt or help?</p>

<p>Any response you might care to give would be greatly appreciated.</p>

<p>Some sports recruit heavily from club and literally ignore HS ( i.e. soccer) - others it may not matter as much. Probably less important for average or lower D3 schools. It is harder to have an opportunity to be seen by college coaches if you just have HS playing time too. Regarding 2 sports - this can go either way - our experience with some coaches was that participation in multiple sports ( especially with achievement in multiple sports) demonstrated overall athleticism … some stated they actually preferred athletes that did not specialize too early as they can be molded better.</p>

<p>Google away – and good luck!</p>

<p>litld, you need to call the coaches and follow with game tapes.</p>

<p>You need a sports resume which has your academic stuff. Critical for top schools. You should talk to your HS to see if they can give you copies of former students who were recruited. That can give you an idea of what a successful recruit had. Then it depends on your sport for the timing, for Div 1, look at the NCAA rules on contact. Send the resume out when the time for the sport is right and the coaches are looking. Depending on the sport, the amount of work needed to set oneself apart is greater or lesser. For sports where there are tons of candidates you need to do a lot of work to show your kids stuff. For more esoteric sports it is easier since there are national competions and or ratings you can use.</p>

<p>I posted this question elsewhere, so I will try here.</p>

<p>For those that have gone through the process, what is a decent SAT score (3 test option) that colleges used and still got kids in?</p>

<p>We had one school tell my DD that if she got a 3.5 and 1450, that she could get in with Academic help. I’m not talking Ivy league here either considering they don’t give Athletic money.</p>

<p>It depends on the school and your strategy. If you are looking at a recruited athlete at a Div 1 for a sport where there’s some scholarship money available, then you should be not too much below their middle 50%. If your strategy is to combine athletic and academic strengths and leverage for more money at a Div 2, then the scores need to be above the middle 50% as posted on the websites such as princeton review or college board. And if you are looking at a Div 3 and your strategy is to use the athletics to get in, then you need to be close to the middle 50%. It really varies by school. I’ve had smaller Div 3’s tell my daughter that her soccer combined with her #3 rank in her class would get her full tuition, and I’ve had highly selective LAC’s scan down a list of club soccer players at good tournaments and not even look for players on the field unless they had a 3.5 GPA.</p>

<p>njcentconf,</p>

<p>When did you have those conversations about scholarships/support? DS is looking at Ivies and selective LAC’s, but paying full freight is out of the question, so COA may be a factor in the ultimate decision. I also understand that coaches will ask their “recruited” athletes to apply EA. How does that work if FA is necessary to attend? Any insights and war stories are appreciated.</p>

<p>If the coach is interested in you D, he will request transcripts, rank, and test scores in early September. If he continues his interest, he will request parents to fill out a preliminary financial aid questionnaire,send it to FA, so they can give an estimate of the expected FA. (That was how it worked for our D at some top Ivies.)</p>

<p>With SCEA, you will only know the definite results on Dec. 15 (unless she receives one of the very few likely letters), so it is vital that she has other schools’ apps ready to send for Regular Decision, should school #1 deny or defer her.</p>