<p>My son has been recieving a good amount of phone calls from football coaches , however no invites for official visits as yet , they seem to be more introductory and they were mainly D3 .
Is anyone getting mush D1 or 2 Official invites as yet or is it still too early in the season to start scheduling these</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>Has he attended any summer camps or junior days? Has he sent academic records? I thought these are needed for coach to get official visit approved. </p>
<p>Yes he has attended 8 camps all throughout the summer , and has sent transscripts when requested. I am hearing it still may be somewhat early to schedule OV’s yet , especially for D1 aa and D2 , , checking to see if that in indeed the case.</p>
<p>What year in HS is your son?</p>
<p>senior</p>
<p>I know that official visits are being offered right now at a number of schools. Not sure how many are happening until the season winds up, but I know a number of guys on my son’s team who have been offered visits for this fall/winter. A lot of football recruiting going on right now seems to get done at home game visits which are set up by the schools as unofficial visits in my experience. Invitations for home game visits are also going out now.</p>
<p>Does an OV at a D3 school mean that admissions has given a green light? </p>
<p>If you mean by “D3” schools like Amherst, Williams, MIT, etc., and if you mean by “green light” something like the “Likely Letter,” then the answer is simply no. While D3 coaches can tell you all they want and invite many to OVs, it’s the admission committee that decides who ultimately gets the “green light.” Elite D3 schools–unlike the Ivy League–do not have a formal “Likely Letter” system and, as a result, admissions are far more difficult to predict. And while D3 coaches can talk about “tips” and “slots,” at bottom that involves a very private conversation between the coach and admission office that recruits will never hear. Thus, a safe “green light” for me would include a likely letter. But, as they say, YMMV.</p>
<p>Now I am confused, h2ocows. Prior to all official visits offered (at least in D’s case), there was a pre read done by Admissions. If the coach offers a spot at the end of the Official, hasn’t the student already passed the admissions hurdle?</p>
<p>Well, in the D3 world, there are no “Official” visits as a recruit can go to an unlimited number of visits and schools can invite as many recruits as they want. In the D1 world, both recruits and schools are capped per NCAA rules. Thus, the term “Official” visit really only has technical currency in the D1 world. That said, and linguistics aside, I understand your question.</p>
<p>Again, it all comes down to trust, at least in the NESCAC. Also again, unlike the Ivy League, recruits have no independent commitment from the admissions office. In the D3 world, all that recruits have, at bottom, includes what the “coach” tells the recruit about how much he/she wants him/her as a recruit and what the “coach” tells the recruit about what the admission office liaison told the “coach.” Obviously, it’s far better (than not) to have a coach tell you the admissions committee has “green-lighted” your application. But, again, this is “telephone tag” thrice-removed and requires a certain amount of trust. Stuff–sometimes important stuff–can get “lost in translation” along the way.</p>
<p>Also obvious is that coaches risk jeopardizing reputational harm should they get a rep for misleading, misrepresenting, etc. That said, every Dec (for early admission) and April (for regular admit) a handful of folks (some on this Board) get “surprised” (read: burned) and ill-will lingers. For my money, a recruit’s biggest leap of faith involves trying to assess with some level of precision just how badly a coach “wants” you. By definition it’s a fluid process for most recruits (except truly national-level talent) that evolves over time and as a coach’s “wish-list” evolves. Think musical chairs–except without the Likely Letter system, the recruits cannot even “hear the music.”</p>
<p>Bottom-line: Common sense and a willingness to assess your recruit with brutal honesty will take you a long way. The academic criteria (SAT & GPA) for most schools are well-understood and you must obviously know your D’s raw academic profile. Depending on the sport (“stop-watch”-- e.g., track, swim) versus “team” sports (e.g., soccer, field hockey), one’s ability to brutally assess how your D’s athletic talent “stacks-up” is, while difficult, not impossible. And the key point of reference is with respect to the universe of other plausible recruits in your D’s sport that the coach is actively recruiting (along with your D). From the coaches perspective, they have to cover their risk (and roster spots) as they do not know what recruits “truly” want to go to their school. I’ve heard of recruits telling multiple schools that each one is the recruit’s “first-choice.” Coaches go to this rodeo every year; for recruits it’s a one-shot experience.</p>
<p>Again, the Ivy League has found a better way through a limited number of Likely Letters, allocated by sport. Setting aside a kid who does something truly stupid, this is the only way to truly know whether your daughter has passed the admission committee “pre-read” and just how badly the coach wants the recruit. Without it, the D3 world necessarily invites more confusion and more risk.</p>
<p>@acemom
In the case of D3 schools a successful pre read does not mean the student has passed the admissions hurdle. It’s much more complicated than that. At MIT, for example, getting a successful pre read puts the student on a “list” and only some of those will ultimately be admitted. Admissions still holds all the power. At NESCAC schools the pre read may identify how much support the coach will have to offer in order to get that student admitted. For years coaches at schools like Pomona had little or no power in getting the athletes they were interested in admitted. It appears that is no longer the case at Pomona, and now the coach may be able to get specific athletes admitted. You just need to remember that a positive pre read is still no guarantee of admittance.</p>
<p>so, the upshot is, that the the Nescac, there can be OV without a clear read from admissions.</p>
<p>In my student’s case, the coach has said it is doable; application went through a pre-read. </p>
<p>I suppose at the sit downs at these OVs, there will be a clearer indication. I am only glad the OVs are before the ED application. </p>
<p>Also in the case of a likely letter Admissions has seen the complete application before the likely letter is issued. The pre read, however, is a first step and not a contract. The best you can get at D3 schools is a successful pre read along with a proclamation of support from the coach. As @h2ocows said, with some common sense and a lot of trust you can get through this experience.</p>
<p>GrudeMonk, that is not true for all sports at Pomona. My D’s coach was quite disappointed last spring that a couple of her recruits were not admitted, even though their numbers were in the range for accepted students.</p>
<p>So D3 schools never pay for the recruited students to visit a la the D1 OV? </p>
<p>They can pay, but to my knowledge it is rare that they do.</p>
<p>We did one OV at a D-3. I paid for the transportation, my daughter stayed overnight at the school and received lodging and meals. I don’t know if they have to follow the OV rules, but I was told she could be on campus no more than 48 hours, which is an NCAA rule.</p>
<p>My D was offered a plane ticket to a D3 school just last week. We decided to drive so mom and dad could be there since the interest is so high. She declined the airfare because there was no point after we decided to drive (the offer was for the student only). She had to fill out a separate form and provide her unofficial xscripts to get it approved by Admissions which took just a day for the decision. She has not yet applied for admission. I didn’t realize it was so rare for a D3 to offer to fly a prospect out. They did say funds were limited so she let them know to use the $ for someone else.</p>