<p>My D has been invited to 3 Ivy League official visits for athletics. Anyone have any insight into this process? What does the official visit actually mean? What happens after the visit? Thanks for any insight into this process. D is fantastic student with exceptional stats.</p>
<p>Schools typically invite an athlete on an official visit when they are very interested in having that student play for them. In high division one schools, an official visit is almost always means the athlete will be offered a scholarship/guaranteed admission. My friends' kids who have gone on official to ivies find that it means the coach would like them to play if they can get them in, but they will have to go through the early or regualr admissions process. SOMETIMES, an official means the coach will be able to get you in. If this is the case, the coach will make sure you you and your daughter know-after all, they would only do that for their TOP recruit(s) and will want to give you a guarantee so you commit to play for the school and cease participating in the recruiting process with other coaches.</p>
<p>Your daughter should take advantage of her official to spend time with the coach/team , BUT she should also as to meet with an academic advisor and any departments she is interested in at that school. Basicially, you have the opportunity for a VIP tour of the school and the very real possibility of (nearly) guaranteed admission.</p>
<p>And, as I advised my athlete as he looked for schools, "Choose a school you will like even if you never play a minute of your sport and end up off the team for whatever reason. Make sure the school fits first, then the sports program." It is possible to find a great fit in both areas. Enjoy this time, it is very exciting for your family.</p>
<p>bessie pretty much summed it up. It's a VIP visit, a wonderful opportunity for your D to check out the team, the coach and best of all, the school. Ideally she'll get to go to a class or two, stay in the dorm a night or two and quite probably meet with an admissions person. In the case of an Ivy, athletic scholarship is not a possibility, but the coach may have pull with admissions - it just depends. An ivy league coach is not going to waste much time on an unqualified recruit, so the coach will want admissions to review all of her available scores and grades before the visit. You will probably have a decent feel for your D's chances after the visit. </p>
<p>If your D finds a good "match" and a coach who wants her, the coach will request a letter of intent during the siging period AND probably want an ED application. You might want to familiarize yourself with some of the info at the NCAA clearinghouse site.</p>
<p>And same as bessie, the athlete in this house was advised to pick the school because of school fit and academic fit, with the sport being a plus. The athletic piece can change in an instant. The ATHLETE can change in an instant. It's a BIG commitment. Pretty exciting stuff, too!</p>
<p>Isn't there a limit on how many "official visits" an athlete can attend? I thought there was and if so, make sure she really is interested in the school before accepting the offer.</p>
<p>First thing you should do is visit and consider joining the NCAA clearinghouse. All of the rules are there about visits and qualifications. Your D could join (I think it's around $30, post all her information there for college coaches and maybe you'll hear from some other schools as well. Even if you don't want to do that as an option, visit and read up on the visitation rules to be in the know.</p>
<p>The advice given thus far seems very wise. My D is in a similar situation -- and we're learning as we go. I believe students are limited to five "official" visits (to D-1 schools). For us, three seems like a nice number to start with, i.e., enough for comparative purposes but not too time consuming. It's worth noting that the visits usually entail missing a day of school. Admittedly, it's a very nice dilemma to face, but it's still stressful. I'm sure a lot depends on where your D falls on a coach's priority list (which may take into account academics as well as athletics). </p>
<p>My D's initial plan was to apply Early Action on one school, and perhaps consider others if she was still unsure. What we've learned is that once the offers come, the pressure will likely mount. Coaches are in a difficult predicament and we're told they will want some sort of commitment. Can't offer any real expertise or advice, except to be prepared for the next few months to be intense. Ultimately, it's a good place to be. My D's hope is that the choices will become clearer after the official visits. Good luck!</p>
<p>I'm quite sure this will vary by sport and by school -- but my son's experience was that taking an "official visit" came <em>after</em> a verbal committment to the coach. At the very least, going on that visit included a meeting with the coaching staff and the admissions staff and a push for a committment. </p>
<p>Your mileage may vary!</p>
<p>Let me add my $0.02 to this argument since this is the second time around for me. Officials are not tantamount to acceptance. More kids are asked on officials than the coach really needs for obvious reasons so don't get carried away with the excitement. </p>
<p>You will be ranked athletically and academically. The higher up on both, the better and easier for the coach to make a commitment. At this time, coaches already know who their "A" kids are and who their "B" kids are. They are going after the priority kids hard and the "B" kids will be their back ups if they lose the others. </p>
<p>The kid will be pressured to commit so it is important to be ready and not be starry eyed about this. Commitment, like any business deal, should be both ways. The coach should tell you where you stand at the same time so you can evaluate it better. Remember (and this is important) once you commit, other coaches will take you off their list and you are "cooked". That is how the game is played.</p>
<p>Approach this as you would any business deal for that is what it is. It is a giant poker game which coaches play every year at this time. Make sure you also have your applications ready to go as well.</p>
<p>Good luck to everyone. Let the games begin!</p>
<p>A friend told me that her child ran out of "official visits," then had a couple of unofficial ones. The only difference the mom noted was that her child did not sleep on campus for the night but off campus in a house where some team members lived. There may have been other differences but if so she did not know about them.</p>
<p>My D has youth on her side and is just rolling with it. She is not trying to read into anything and is just taking it in stride. Wish I could say the same about her mother!! Her first visit is in a few weeks and then we should know a little more. Thank you for your insight into this process. This is our second child to go so we are a little more relaxed. So many kids seem happy at so many schools. It will all work out.</p>
<p>From what I've read on other boards, I don't believe Ivies typically have NLI signings up front as coaches there don't necessarily have the same ability to tip an athlete that other schools do (Academic Index considerations for the whole team and school to be considerred). That being said, my understaning is that they get you a "likely letter" from admissions which is about the functional equivalent of an NLI offer.</p>
<p>ED/EA in the case of an Ivy Athlete is probably your friend here given that there are no scholarships involved (per Ivy League convention) and you are comfortable with that. If it is truly the student's first choice, go for it.</p>
<p>And definitely get her in the NCAA Clearinghouse ASAP!</p>
<p>"And definitely get her in the NCAA Clearinghouse ASAP!"</p>
<p>Thank you for the second. Please visit that site and read the rules. All any of us can do is tell you snippets of our experiences. The NCAA clearinghouse is the NCAA, not a promotional spot offered by a third party. Visit the site and get the actual information. </p>
<p>This is really important EVEN for non scholarship atheletes. Know the rules. I know of 2 D3 soccer players who were supsended for games because they innocently violated NCAA rules freshman year. While you haven't disclosed the sport, check and make sure of the what, why and where's of college atheletics as these rules apply even to nonscholarship atheletes.</p>
<p>Any idea if the coaches speak to each other about recruits? Our child is going through this too with 3-4 ivys with official visits coming up. Whereas all seemed very attentive in the beginning, a couple seem to have cooled off for no reason. Grades aren't an issue, we wonder if the coaches talk and kinda decide X gets A kid, Y gets B kid, etc. Any idea?</p>
<p>I have always been a conspiracy theorist. They certainly don't talk to each other because they are too competitive for that. My sense is that they know who are on each other's list from some means or other. Some may lose interest because they feel they cannot compete with HYP. Whatever the reason, we will never know for sure. As I said, our kids are only the chips in a very competitive game of poker. Over the next month, the stakes will get higher as kids start to commit.</p>
<p>I don't believe the coaches talk to each other. However, they know exactly how many slots they have on the team and with admissions, and they know exactly what they need to add to their team in this particular admissions cycle. And they have a pretty good idea which kids are looking at which schools and which kids are a match with which schools.</p>
<p>As the recruits start to commit -- and this is really specifically verbal commitments -- those slots fill up. So .. if a coach knows he has 3 slots (for example) and has 10 kids that are possibles ... they generally go down the list working to see who is the most interested in them. If they get <em>solid</em> verbal commitments from 3 kids, they are probably done. And in some sports that happens before September 1 and the start of official visit season. </p>
<p>It will seem that the coach's interest has cooled -- and it has -- but not because your student-athlete did anything wrong. They'll keep you on a back burner until admissions has finished its thing -- there's always another little flurry after ED decisions are out too.</p>
<p>Our experience did not include NLIs ... as men's lax only has 12.6 scholarship equivalents to spread around among 40+ guys and my son ended up at a school with no athletic scholarships anyway.</p>
<p>I sincerely doubt if coaches discuss THAT much if at all, but I couldn't say for sure. More than likely it's a shake out of the available recruits and their perceived talents. Coaches are fine tuning their "wants and needs". Grades may not seem an issue, but when you are talking Ivy, and depending on what sport, you can never tell what the line up is in front of you.</p>
<p>It's really important to help the student athlete keep a healthy outlook in all of this. At the end of the day, it's just like business. The coach is trying to build the best team possible with the available resources. Best to check the emotions at the door as there isn't a lot of room for that in this process.</p>
<p>And definitely get familiar with the NCAA site, rules, requirements and deadlines. Don't dawdle on that one as getting info posted and cleared there takes time. Forgot that a certain athlete I'm familiar with spent a few weeks in limbo due to slow posting of critical information.</p>
<p>Thanks...and here's a related question....With 4-5 colleges in the hunt and with visits scheduled for late Sept and early Oct and everything likely to happen quickly soon thereafter, our plan is to send in applications to all those schools by Sept 30 and wait to see what happens. Ultimately we'll ask for/or be asked for a committment and assuming we have an agreement with a coach, ask for a likely letter. And upon receipt, withdraw the applications from the other schools. Make sense? Is it important to get a completed application in to a school so a coach knows you are serious and ready to go?</p>
<p>We are all effectively advising the same thing. Be cautiously optimistic but expect anything to happen. With my first child, we were told by the coach that she would be put on a list if she gave her verbal commitment to go ED. To my child's horror, she was promptly wait listed which let us to believe that coach must have put her on his grocery list rather than admissions list. Everything worked out well though and I am sure the same will happen this time but I am more suspicious.</p>
<p>zoid..one of my favorite lines is that a coach says "I can definitely see you here at XYZ college, you are a great fit for the school and team". It's easy to think you have the coach's support but truthfully this statement doesn't mean anything. That coach may say this to every recruit but ultimately can only support 4 - 5 at admissions.</p>