Official Visit Questions (non revenue sport)

Athletic Recruits
1
  1. Recruits are limited to 5 OVs. Approximately how many OV visits do schools offer for each slot or what % of recruits offered an OV get offers?
  2. Do most recruits on OV travel on their own if flying since schools can’t pay for parent expenses? Do most recruits stay in dorm room with hosts from team or are they sometimes put up in hotel nearby? For one OV, son was told that he and another player would go on visit together-I wonder if the two will share a hotel room-we are supposed to get more details, possible dates soon.
  3. If a coach is going to make an offer, does he do it while player is on campus or later? I assume coach needs time to talk to guys on team. If a coach says he wants to make an offer, can player ask for a Skype call to include a parent to ensure the details are understood?
  4. Do coaches usually give players several weeks to respond if players tell them they have other OVs to finish?
  5. Should recruits go on OVs to colleges that are just an hour or two drive away? While a recruit could take an unofficial visit to the nearby school and hang out with team until late to save an OV, if the closer school is a top choice, should OV be used? It might take an overnight visit to see what team is like. Son has visited closer colleges to watch practices and matches and has gotten to know head coaches, but not team or assistant coaches. His current favorite college is one where he flew with parent on an UV, stayed in a hotel 2 nights, and hung out with guys, watched practices, games, tours, etc. Maybe he would feel same about closer schools if he spent an equal amount of time with guys. In son’s sport, half the team or more is usually international so recruits often do not know players from past competitions.
  6. If coaches make an offer, do they give an estimate of what academic aid might be available on top of athletic? I know academic aid cant be based on any athletics and goes through a different office, but coaches might have a good idea based on GPA and SAT of what to expect. If a recruit signs in the early period, is the academic aid decided much later or do most schools have rolling decisions for academic aid?
  7. Could a recruit accept an offer and sign, but still take the SAT again and resubmit in the case the recruit has scores good enough for admissions, but might need higher scores for academic aid? A school that had been out of the picture suddenly offered an OV, and he is about 40 SAT points short of a possible significant academic scholarship but he cant take exam and have results before OV.
  8. How should players schedule OVs? Some coaches would fit in son anytime he could come up. At other schools with more recruits the coach may just tell us the date he can come. For now, we plan to get dates for the bigger schools and then schedule the other OVs around the open dates. However, he will probably get more athletic aid from the lesser known schools, and the out of state public universities from the Power 5 conferences might not be affordable if he only gets a small amount of athletic aid. Son plays a nonrevenue sport and we have heard often freshmen do not get offered much athletic $ the first year.

Our son has been on unofficial visits to several schools of interest. He could have had offers based on UVs, but told coaches he wanted to wait until summer national competitions and OVs to decide. There are 3 schools that mentioned OVs that he has not visited, and there are others that want him to return for OV. It is possible he could be offered more than 5 OVs and of course he would have to choose or do extended UVs at local schools; I don’t know if he could fit 5 OVS in anyway with school and competition schedule. Any advice on making the best use of OVs will be appreciated. We have a daughter in grad school so we understand the normal college admission process, but it is significantly different and with a much earlier timeframe with an athlete.

2

Just my $.02

  1. No simple answer, every school and every sport is different. Each sport has a limited number of OV’s to offer, and a some have more limited recruiting travel budgets than others.
  2. Travel on their own or with parent(s). Schools can only pay for the recruit to travel. Most often stay in dorms with athletes on team but timing or circumstances could cause a hotel to be used. May try to coordinate travel if another recruted athlete from the same area is on the OV.
  3. Some coaches like to make offers at the OV, others want to talk to coaches and athletes from team and make offers after. Some may do it on a call, others via text or email - have seen it all. D had a dozen or so offers and we saw a little bit of everything including a Facebook message. Its best to try to stay out of initial offer conversations unless coach wants to include you, like during an OV. Follow up later with the coach for more details if seriously considering.
  4. They often given several weeks, or a certain date that coach wants an answer by. We never really felt constrained by this, if a school was a top choice and you need more time I woudd tell that coach and then judge his reaction.
  5. I’d save closer schools for the later trips, especially if you think you may run out of your OVs. D took some out of town OV’s, and frankly kids and parents start running out of steam. Thought she might run out of OVs but she cancelled a couple and then took an OV to a close school that she originally planned a UV to. Glad she did because the overnight component and bonding with some teammates is what sold her on the school.
  6. Yes, they should. Hopefully will have a preread or an idea based on previous experience and grades/test scores.
  7. Anything is possible, talk to the coach who will be talking to admissions. Again I expect each school is different. When you sign an NLI, there is no mention in it of how much $ it includes. Had a few coaches make “contingent offers” - offer X today but Y more if you can hit a certain time, win a state championship, etc - those would have come long after NLI was signed.
  8. I would try to schedule top choices earlier be they larger or smaller schools. Occasionally a coach might fill his recruiting needs with early OVs and not have room to offer you later, or they might cancel your OV. Doesn’t happen a lot but can, especially in smaller sports with fewer scholarships to offer. If he gets a good offer early at a top choice, he might want to go ahead and commit. Had one coach be very honest with us and say “D is a top recruit, but if others commit and take my his scholarship $ then I won’t have room for her”. So again you can’t put everything into a nice tidy box - every school, situation, and coach is different and you have to read each as it come along.
3

Thanks! For the offers over the phone, did you follow up to get something in writing? So there is no attachment
with details with NLI? Since a coach could leave, I would hope to have something in writing by NLI time. I know players sign with a college not a coach, so if a coach leaves, I assume the college and the next coach have to honor the NLI for at least freshman year. If a coach leaves and there has been only a verbal commitment, I assume the recruit has to start over unless new coach wants recruit-that is why I am encouraging son not to verbally commit more than a couple months out from NLI signing day. There were a bunch of coaching changes at schools in his sport this summer, but I think it has settled down.

4

Just as lubub said, schools are all over the place.

There is a financial agreement that comes with the NLI. They are two separate documents. However, if there is no athletic money being offered, you do not need to sign anything, all agreements can then be verbal. Some schools go so far as to award a minimal amount to all – say books and fees, or athletic gear, so they can issue an NLI, which stops all other coaches from recruiting. While the documents are nice for peace of mind, for the most part they protect the school not you.

My son took only 2 of his allowable OVs. He took them in his order of interest. He was offered several, but elected not to take them since we had a frank discussion about finances with coaches before traveling. Our mindset was that we did not want him to look at unrealistic options. We never expected, nor were we ever offered a full ride. (He is a one event, male track athlete.) But I think our budget was realistic, it was equal to the cost of attendance for his local state school without any scholarships.

We explained to other coaches that if you wanted my son to go to an out of state or private school to be on their team, they would have to help us find the difference. Many of the schools that contacted him were only offering admissions help. (He looked at predominantly D1 schools and non-Ivy). My son proactively applied to most of the schools he was interested in attending to see if there would be any academic dollars, in this way he was able to contact the coach and say he was already admitted.

The coach of the school he initially attended (and then transferred from) began conversations with him in the spring, and offered him enough athletic money to hit our number. My son received the athletic offer in writing via FedEx along with the NLI with a 14 day window in which to accept/decline. A parent/guardian signature is REQUIRED on the NLI for all athletes under 21.

He expedited his second OV to see his second choice school during this 14 day time period. My husband traveled with him to both visits, but parent travel was on our own dime. Both schools required a flight/hotel. Dad and son parted ways until the end of the 48 hrs. Finances where discussed at both visits with the head coach at the end of the second day. The initial offer was verbal followed up by email. Once dollars were mentioned all email correspondence included the head coach and athletic director, and you are right in that all agreements are with the school not the individual coach.

My son’s offer was % of COA based on the value after academic merit aid was applied, so I suspect that if he got more academic money the athletic number would have been reduced.

5

They can’t give you anything binding in writing, but can say “we’re planning to offer $10,000 or 1/4 tuition”. I don’t know how far they can go with the written communication about offers before the official NLI/Grant in Aid documents that I don’t think can be sent before the Nov signing date. Daughter received her offer verbally at the OV, but nothing in writing until Nov 13 or 15 or whatever day she signed. Oh, and I talked to the coach, I think it was by email but it might have been on the phone after the first offer and received a better one.

My daughter signed the Grant in Aid at the same time as the NLI.

6

My daughter received one full scholarship offer by email in February of her junior year. Not sure how binding it was but it looked relatively official. Other offers were communicated verbally but she could probably request something in writing before accepting.

7

Thanks OnTrack. So before the OV,you talked with coaches about $ so you did not make visits to schools you could not afford-smart!. Did you as a parent initiate those $ discussions? Did you know your child would probably get an offer from those schools so you felt like you could start those discussions? I know one of my son’s favorites is probably not affordable as tuition as gone up significantly since he first was approached by coach. However, it is hard to know what the athletic package might be-could be above or below what we have heard is typical for freshmen of similar level. It is a good school so we might be willing to go somewhat over our planned budget. Our budget is similar to yours-willing to pay in state without scholarship amount to go out of state with mix of academic and athletic aid.

Did your son sign in the spring of his senior year? You said he was already admitted to schools when he/you talked to coaches about scholarship $. Our son is hoping to sign in November as many players in his sport do by then or risk missing out but few schools would have admission decisions by then. I have heard most of the athletic $ is given out by the early signing except what is held for internationals… Did the coaches give you the athletic aid estimate or a range on the phone before you cancelled the OVs? I think son would want to visit a couple of these schools for the experience even if he was not sure if he could afford to go there.

8

CCDD14, it’s not binding no matter how official it looks. It can be withdrawn or changed up until the NLI is signed.

9

KD I can tell you are the kind of person who really wants to understand the entire process and get all the answers. The truth of the matter is you are going to have to let things happen on their own terms. Each coach and school has their own way of doing things and you are just going to have to sit back, take a breath and let each coach proceed at their own pace. Don’t read too much into what one coach says or doesn’t say, each has his own process.

Anything in writing is not official, it can be withdrawn, increased or reduced by the coach until you sign an NLI. Some coaches might make changes liberally, others hopefully stick by their word no matter what. They are trying to manage a roster and numbers of scholarships for the next Fall and you never know when the coach needs to give a current athlete more to keep them happy, have someone leave or someone fail out. You can generally take a coach at his word during recruiting because they don’t want to get a reputation as being one that pulls offers. This is a another valuable piece of the puzzle your athlete can learn during visits and talking with current athletes.

Coaches almost always want to communciate with the athlete, not the parents. If the parents are too involved coaches start worrying about helicopter parents - and they don’t want them. So don’t be the parent who hurts your kid’s chances. But it is expected and very appropriate for parents to talk about money with the coaches. Further I think its reasonable to get an idea of possible $ before you make official visits. We approached this with a couple of coaches along the lines of “We know you need to get to know me better on an OV, but assuming that goes well what kind of overall financial package could we expect?” D used this a couple of times and eliminated a few schools that were recruiting her based on the answer to this question.

Assuming your sport has a Fall signing period I would strongly encourage to sign then if possible. Coaches occasionally have some “surprise” $ in the Spring due to kid quitting or transferring, but I wouldn’t count on it. Most want to sign their class in the Fall and not have to worry about continuing to recruit in the Spring. If the coach is offering you in the Fall you can feel pretty good that admissions isn’t going to be an issue, but this is another one of those things where you have to trust the coach and their system.

10

kdbugalpha - My son talked to coaches directly but then handed the phone over when the discussion of dollars came up. We took the “apply first” approach based on advice given to us second hand (a well-respected D1 coach talked to hs coach) he told us that while he would love to coach my son, he would not have any athletic money to offer, it was used for 3 upperclassmen in the same event. He advised us to apply by the schools deadline for scholarship consideration to be eligible for all possible academic dollars, and we did. Most schools have a clear deadline for scholarships and the coaches typically can not influence these awards, they are available to all students and athletes receive no special treatment.

So, that is the approach we took for all schools. We investigated team rosters, where they had a coach for his event, academic fit and school location. In total he applied to 15 schools. Once he applied, he then contacted coaches and told him he was interested in attending but it would depend on what, if any, academic dollars he received. About half responded with a “let us know how it goes” and made no offer of athletic money or further dialogue. Most schools send out admissions notices by Jan - Feb timeframe and academic awards came with admissions.

Recruiting for my son did happen very late in the cycle, he did not get any OV invites until after winter break of his senior year. There were no options in the fall. This was in part because of his performance. His junior year was okay, just okay. At the time he submitted his applications he was looking for a guaranteed roster spot at school that offered his STEM major and we were not expecting any athletic money. But at the start of indoor season (January) he had a very strong, breakout performance in a national level meet, shot up in the rankings and then all of a sudden unsolicited calls and OV invites came in. He ended up signing in late Feb. In one month he received over 10 unsolicited calls from different schools who had no idea what his grades or academic interests were, they offered him guaranteed admission, but no money.

For the OVs my son did not take, when the coaches called with possible dates for a visit, my son asked what, at a high level the potential athletic dollars being offered where, if they said none, and he wasn’t getting any or enough academic money from the school, he just thanked them and said no. My son was told that they appreciated him being upfront. Just an FYI – leaving things on a courteous and professional note helped a great deal, since my son was back in touch with most of the same coaches a year later to discuss transferring.

Even as a transfer, the best options for him where a combination of academic and athletic dollars. Having academic dollars also gives him some peace of mind. There are very clear GPA requirements and he can make sure he keeps his grades up, whereas athletically he has been chronically injured and is collegiately at an “okay” not great performance level, not having all the scholarship eggs in one basket minimizes worry.

11

Re: your first question - how many recruits come on the official visits? For women’s swimming/diving, the 4 schools our daughter visited had 3-4 official visit weekends with 4-6 girls on each visit. The roster size for swimming is 25-35 athletes per team.

12

My daughter is a rower and participates in regattas most weekends during the fall. She is having trouble finding a weekend that doesn’t have a regatta, and works for the schools who are offering her OV’s She is adamantly opposed to skipping a regatta. Do kids typically skip competitions to attend OV’s?

13

That’s her choice not to do an overnight. It’s difficult for football players to find a weekend in the fall too.

If your daughter would prefer to miss school, she can request an OV during the week, but it unlikely to be the same experience, and perhaps would be for a shorter time (just one day?). Has she otherwise visited these schools?

14

She has visited all but one. She mentioned missing school, but I would really like her to have the full experience. We are at a bit of an impasse, as her father and I would really like her to find a way to go for the weekend. Hopefully we will figure something out.