<p>kttmom: Good luck in this process. Sounds difficult! Just want to add that my D has a very good friend who is going to Cornell in the Fall to play baseball…great opportunity for him to go to an Ivy League school. Great kid - I am so happy for him. Hope it all works out for you!</p>
<p>My athlete just received another official invitation for a visit in the autumn - a top (non-ivy) D1 school that would be a great fit in many ways… OK, if we were happily stunned by the first invitation, this is exciting as it means the first one was not just a fluke (lol)…and she really is being invited on multiple officials - not just hopes and dreams, etc.! (Can you tell I like to keep one foot on the ground?!)<br>
Again, though, we are surprised about how early these invitations are going out. Another coach (ivy) she spoke with said they are sending out their first round of official invitations to priority recruits within the next couple of weeks, and then there is another round of invitations that they give in August - I suppose to fill in for the priority recruits that don’t consider this school to be a top choice, or to fill in for transcripts that can’t get past admissions…?</p>
<p>^^ Congrats, mayhew! It’s always nice to know you haven’t been completely wrong about how this might work out :)</p>
<p>Since she can only go on 5 visits, she should definitely figure out which schools are her favorites, not among the schools that have contacted her, but in general. If she hasn’t heard from some of her first choices by mid-July, she should definitely let them know of her interest. No big hurry on this- after school is out for summer, she can do a little on-line research and fine tune her list. </p>
<p>I’ve seen kids use up their trips before they knew what they were really looking for. Not a good situation. Some kids will go because “they’ve never been to X city” even though they already know they have no intention of going to the school. This doesn’t sound like something mayhewdaughter would do, but I’ve been surprised by some of the random processes some kids come up with to make visits.</p>
<p>Thank you for the very good advice, riverrunner. Interestingly, a few coaches that my daughter has spoken to have advised on not going on more than 3 Official Visits. The rationale was that these visits take time (travel, etc.) and you will be busy your senior fall with all of your existing school obligations. Also, I suppose by that time you should know which are your top 3 choices? What are your thoughts on that advice?</p>
<p>Fortunately, we have visited almost every school that my daughter is actively in touch with - as in, schools that she really did like and could see herself being happy there. In March, I made her “cut loose” all the schools that had contacted her that she was corresponding with while having no interest in going there. This got rid of LOTS - much better! Of the schools that she is now “talking” with - has established a record of correspondence with the coaches where they are all friendly, interested, etc. - there are probably about 7 that she would be very happy to go to. Happily, the 2 invitations so far fall into that group 
As a result, she does have a pretty good idea of her favorites amongst those, and where the other non “top 7 favorites” fall in her mind - still places she would be lucky to go to.</p>
<p>Funny to think of taking an official visit just to check out some new city, but I can see how that makes sense to a flattered and curious teenager - not so great for that poor coach though, and his team hosting the student, being totally used like that! I suppose they must be somewhat used to that by now, but to just a small extent, I hope! No doubt that is a big exception to the rule.</p>
<p>Congratulations Mayhew. So is that 3 officials she has offers?
I know you mentioned two schools have verballed to her already as well…</p>
<p>So of those officals and verbals–assuming they match–and are in her top 3…she really is on her way, isn’t she! Congratulations. How exciting. Her summer and fall promise to be alot of fun and excitment…she will be able to really choose for herself the fit/match given there are so many wanting a slot on her dance card!</p>
<p>mayhew, as far as how many trips to take, so much depends on the logistics. For my daughter, three was all she could have possibly managed, but from where we live to New England involves about 8 hours of travel, and that’s if you make all your connections. </p>
<p>You may not have complete control over the travel schedule: some coaches and sports invite kids for specific weekends, especially if this is a fall sport and their players are traveling or hosting competitions, AND trying to host recruits. Don’t be surprised if they have a strong preference for the weekend they expect her to visit. If that works, do it, but if you have to do this differently, just be aware that the coach is trying to have her come on a weekend when she will have a good chance to see the current players.</p>
<p>I would try not to have her travel on consecutive weekends, but otherwise, make sure she gets to the ones highest on her list so she can meet the team, go to class, and so on. If travel isn’t a big deal, doing five wouldn’t be impossible. I know I and others have mentioned that the EA/ED schools are often willing to delay their application deadline into November for recruited athletes. If she is clear with all coaches and says she needs to make one more visit before deciding, that can be OK. You must make sure the coach has OKed this with admissions, though. She would have submitted everything for a pre-read, probably been offered a likely letter, but not accepted it, or pushed the send button on an early application yet. </p>
<p>We were worried about getting everything done by Nov 1, but there is often some wiggle room.</p>
<p>We did 2 sets of officials-2 sets of 3 schools near each other-and then my son had had enough-cancelled the last 2-and focussed on keeping his GPA above 4.0. He found them fun, but exhausting, and with his schedule(all IB plus BC Calc)really couldn’t miss class easily in the fall.</p>
<p>^^ I thought they were limited to 5 officials</p>
<p>does that depend on the sport or has the rule changed at all?</p>
<p>You can go on unlimited D3 officials, but they can’t pay transportation.</p>
<p>fogfog - you are right - limit of 5 Official Visits for Div. 1. </p>
<p>The more I think about it though, I can’t see how my daughter would be able to take 5 anyway, due to her school schedule, class work, etc. Plus, she is going to want to make a decision - I know that she won’t be able to make it through 5 visits without committing anywhere!! She is already looking forward to having a decision made… She started this process in late October, which turned out to be beneficial for her, I think (started relationships with some coaches before they got inundated with material from her recruiting class), but the unescapable result of starting the process on the early side is that it does make the whole game/experience that much longer, from beginning to end. </p>
<p>I too look forward to seeing how this will all end up - and being able to start thinking about other things - !</p>
<p>^^</p>
<p>Daughter of a friend did all 5 officials–It was exhausting to handling sr yr academics, sports and officials–and
Teachers do not cut the kids a break for being on a recruiting trip (not that they should or shouldn’t…)</p>
<p>If our student gets officials to top choices–I think we will ask our student to consider which are top 2-3 if possible…</p>
<p>Fingers crossed</p>
<p>^^^fogfog: Sounds like a good plan. My fingers are crossed for you too I look forward to hearing how it all works out for you too!</p>
<p>Official visits can be a real hardship for students with rigorous schedules, particularly for fall sport athletes. The teachers at my daughter’s school don’t cut them any slack and district policy does not guarantee excused absences for officials, although they can be excused by the prinicpal. I am hoping my daughter only does 2 or 3 officials in the fall also.</p>
<p>We kept in mind CCer’s warnings about not doing officials back-back-back, but between working around D’s schedule and the schools’ schedules, D ended up with 3 OVs in row anwyay. It was definitely very tiring for her, not only because of the travel involved and the excitment of the experience, but because the recruits get taken out to late night activities on campus. Additionally, because of her courseload and having to catch up on missed work, D wasn’t able to rest once she returned home either. She got sick with a bad respiratory virus and was so run down she couldn’t shake it for weeks. It affected her athletic performance significantly. Several of the girls going on the same circuit with her also got sick with swine flu and mono. </p>
<p>All the same, unless your child’s recruitment is resting on a precarious foundation such that a minor academic decline or athletic performance decline would completely derail it, I’d recommend going on all 5 visits. The kids really don’t know what they don’t know about a school until they spend an extended period of time there. One recruit D knows eliminated her previously first choice school because she noticed the girls gossiping a lot about their teammates. That’s the sort of information you won’t acquire on a short, casual visit. For D it was important to see what the team did on evenings and weekends. Even though she was intellectually aware of all the variety of activities available on a given campus, she did not want to be on a team where there was a monolithic affection for partying with fake ID’s every weekend such that if she didn’t want to, she’d be left out. The OV was the vehicle through which she got a good sense of social stuff like that.</p>
<p>And even though D thought she already knew what her first choice school was prior to the OVs, that is not the school where she ended up. Furthermore, the coach and team still have to like your kid once they see him or her close up on the OV. One girl D knows did not get offered a likely after her OV based on the Ivy’s perception she was not a good fit for the team. An Ivy coach also told D he had decided not to offer likelies to some of the recruits who visited, based on what they had observed on the visit. So if you only take 3 visits, you could get left with fewer than 3 choices.</p>
<p>^^ Good pt.
We noted a cohces temper when doing an unofficial–
I expect our student would see how coaches relate to their teams too…something thats helpful even if everyone is in the courtship phase…</p>
<p>All good points ^^^^^. Funnily enough, a school that had verballed my daughter (she has not verbally committed to anyone) earlier this year told her that she didn’t have to come for the Official Visit. That she was all set in that regards, if she should choose this school - “we can really see you here”, etc. This is an excellent school with a strong athletic culture, and that did surprise me. I told my daughter that I thought she needed to go on that official anyway just to really live the culture for a couple of days, and she agreed. </p>
<p>TheGFG: So interesting that what was your daughter’s first choice was not by the end. That is a great example of the value of these Official Visits. I too have heard about recruits no longer being sought out as they weren’t “fits”, the current team members didn’t take to them, coaches didn’t like what they saw close up, etc. Also, so good to see the dynamic of the team, experience their social lives, drinking culture, etc. It sounds as if a very good well-rounded picture is seen, for both sides. </p>
<p>And fogfog is right too, about how one gets to see how coaches relate to their teams for more than the 2 hour practice you might have watched. That is an element that is going to REALLY affect your life every single day as a D1 athlete - training with this person around 6 days a week all through the school year. Very provident that you got to see a coach’s temper on an unofficial, and didn’t have to waste an official to find out that important characteristic!</p>
<p>My D’s list of colleges changed after officials as well. GFG’s post covers the importance of OVs perfectly. I’d add that the kid is generally more perceptive, mature and objective during OVs than they would have been on the unofficial visits the prior year. They’re still growing up, after all, and understand subtleties more over time. Also, on the second visit, they can look past the superficial, distracting things like the campus layout, travel logistics, and so on, and focus on the details like team dynamics, coaching style, and so on.</p>
<p>My S went on all 5 officials which meant four trips back and forth across the country (he combined two into one long weekend). Adding in a trip to Boston for the Head of the Charles meant he was back East for five out of seven weeks in the fall of his Senior year. Luckily, he had teachers who were willing to work with him and a school that was very understanding. Theoretically those long plane rides should have afforded him plenty of time to study but … didn’t quite work out that way! We had not done any unofficial visits as he didn’t want to get his hopes up about schools until he knew he would be highly recruitable. As a result, he had a firm idea of his number 1 going in which changed during the course of his officials. I think there is great value in the officials (even if S did sleep through most of the classes he visited!). The quality of information they get during the officials - about the school, team, coaches, program, academics, housing, party scene, etc - is absolutely unparalleled.</p>
<p>Quick update on S:</p>
<p>Cornell coach came to see him at 2 games and called last night to say he like what he saw and wants S to play Fall ball with them and will then decide if he get a spot on the roster. S was happy with that since he wasn’t even on the coaches radar a few weeks ago.</p>
<p>S has been in contact via email and phone with the Rice coach and is going for an official visit (with H) this Thurs - Sat. mostly to see if he likes the school/coach/team. Will not be trying out, but watching the team play 2 games and whatever else the coach has planned. Rice says he is guaranteed a spot on the roster, but I am still skeptical - in one of the emails coach mentions S coming to summer camp in July so they could see him… S is planning to bring some video with him on visit.</p>
<p>Any advice on what questions to ask / what to look for on this visit would be greatly appreciated!</p>
<p>Hi kttmom,
I’m so glad he (and your husband) are going to make this visit. I don’t think there’s a perfect set of questions at this point, but really trying to soak up the feel of the school, the team, the coach, and so on will help him make a good decision. We were always trying to make decision trees, matrices, critical path diagrams, and so on. Finally it came down to throwing out the lists, and choosing X just because she liked it best, even though I made some great logical arguments for some other schools. She was right, and I wasn’t…</p>