DD starts HS this fall. Plays travel and, due to BD, plays with girls already in 9th grade. She is starting to receive info on college sports camps, etc. She is a strong player, but definitely not best on her travel team. Possible that she will be best player on school team for senior and maybe junior year. Also a very good student. She is interested in NESCAC schools, especially her dad’s alma mater. Will not need financial aid. How can I learn more about recruitment? Any sites, etc? TIA.
You didn’t specify what sport.
My daughter is going to college in the fall as a soccer recruit. It was a interesting journey. The entire college search is hard enough and adding recruiting into the mix makes it that much more stressful. That being said, we wouldn’t change a thing. Junior year she had offers from 3 schools and the decision was made last October. She is at her first choice with a full ride and couldn’t be happier.
Grades and test scores cannot be stressed enough. If the grades and test scores are not there she will not be recruited.
As she gets older the emails with invites to ID camps will become constant and unrelenting. Most of them are just wanting to fill up their ID camp and get your money. If there is a school she is interested in then definitely go to the ID camp and she also needs to make it known that she is very interested in attending that school. If a coach is interested in possible recruitment the email will be very specific and will noticeably different from the generic emails or they will call her.
College coaches cannot approach your daughter about recruiting until junior year. They can invite her to ID camps and receive messages and highlight videos from her but cannot contact her themselves. If she wants to play in college she will need to get on the coaches radar for the schools she is interested.in. Coaches will be specific about what they are interested in and why and if they are not interested she will be told that also.
Being a freshman she only needs to worry about grades and improving in her sport. Her coaches should assist with recruiting and reaching out to schools she is interested in when the time comes.
Thank you. FWIW, fairly certain her grades and scores will be fine - not sure if her soccer skills will be. She plays on top travel team, but does not start. Coach likes her, believes she is a good team player and has a good work ethic. Did your daughter play travel all through high school?
Grades and test scores play a big role in sports recruiting. Especially at NESCAC type schools. For example, a coach might need to have a certain avg SAT score for the recruiting class and therefore kids with great scores are needed to balance the class. Also grades and scores can earn your daughter merit based aid, and that is the only type of scholarship at NESCAC schools.
As a senior in high school that played soccer since 5 years old, played in competitive club team since 10, and had just quit top level club team this year (quitting soccer overall due to burn out), here’s what I’ve gathered based on my personal experience.
Freshman is way too early to worry about recruits. Up until junior year, it doesn’t mean anything. Even if you receive verbal commitment from a coach during junior year, it could be taken away soon as they scout someone better. Nothing is set in stone unless you sign the letter of intent.
You will receive lots of flyers and invites for ID camps, summer camps ran by prestige’s Europeans clubs etc. it’s all for business. I’ve attended some of them while I was your daughters age, it’s a business and they are out for your money.
If she’s on a top team and does not get play time, leave. Go to another team that actually NEEDS her. She will shine there, improve on her soccer skills to get ready for her junior and senior year recruitment. Truth is, if you’re on a team of everyone equivalent or even better, you will not be seen. For example, we played a #1 team from another state last year, we had a hard time against them. We got scored on 2 goals. Soon as the game was over, the D1 scout sitting on the field headed straight for our coach and said he would like to talk to 2 of our defenders, myself included. While my coach also mentioned that the other team was a great team, he said he will probably approach the striker and that was it. But to me the team had more than one great attackers. Game time is important, no matter what the coach tells you and how much he likes your daughter, truth is he doesn’t like her enough to play her.
I ignored lots of calls and emails from scouts, because I know in the back of my head that I wasn’t going to play soccer in college. I want to focus on academics which was a little difficult to do in high school with rigorous schedule between high school and high demand travel team, not to mention all the injuries and time taking out of school to go to therapies and doctors. I did not contact any coaches nor signed up for anything, just played my games. Even with that I had a few D2 coaches contacting me, colleges out of state offering full ride, etc.
Conclusion, don’t go crazy right now. Let her live it and enjoy it without pressure. Starting junior year is when you should start looking for the right team if yours isn’t going to big tournaments where the scouts are. There are plenty of great schools with D1, D2 and D3 teams, she will ultimately find a team that fits and wants her.
Good luck with everything. My parents said that they would’ve approached things differently knowing what they know now, and I hope I’m helping by sharing.
Yes, my daughter played club soccer all through high school. My daughter had a similar problem as yours with play time and starting. Not that she was a hot shot soccer player but the reasons for her not starting and less than adequate play time were because other players had connections, not because of skill. Luckily there was a merge of clubs and change of coaches and long story short she became a starter so it worked out for her
You may want to consider changing clubs where she will get more play time, unless it is a situation where she can earn more playtime/starting if she shows the drive/improvement. Play time is important and practice is no substitute for time in a game. By junior year if she is not on the field, she is not being seen by college coaches. She also needs to be on a team that plays teams that are competitive where she will be challenged on the field.
Also it helps if her coaches/club are proactive as far as college recruiting goes. Daughter was lucky that her club coach was a prior college coach and has many connections so advocating for his players is easy for him.
She has time, plenty of it right now. Good luck.
@AlwaysMoving, I think you meant to say that “needs based” aid is all there is in the NESCAC. The availability of merit aid technically is based on the individual NESCAC schools, but most in the NESCAC do not offer it. Who would get merit aid at Williams? The kid with a 3.95 GPA and a 36 ACT or the 35 ACT and the 4.0?
I disagree that you should not think about recruiting until your junior year. The difference between being an athletic recruit and a non-athlete is that the non-athlete has much more time to evaluate and decide where he or she wants to go. Moreover, most NESCAC schools do want their recruited athletes to apply ED – yet another reason to start early. And, around my neck of the woods, soccer is a fall sport. You can imagine that there will be NO time to visit schools during the fall before the admissions cycle.
You have taken a good first step – she has a sense of where she wants to go. I would start by getting together an excel spread sheet list of colleges of interest. It is fine that dad’s alma mater is the first choice, but then I would put together a very long list of possible colleges, dream schools and what may seem like also rans as well. This is not the time to weed out, but rather a time to keep an open mind. This will be your record of your communications with various colleges, recruiting profiles, camps, emails and calls.
Then start drafting up a college CV, and it really isn’t too early to work on that. It is so hard to remember all the awards and tournaments, so getting an early start on the CV is a good idea. Revise it as the years progress, updating it with GPA, board scores, and academic and athletic awards.
Invest in a cheap HD video camera and tripod and tape all of her games. From that, put together a 3- 5 minute tape of the various skills for her position. Make sure that you have at least one tape for each year. Coaches may be interested in progress and skill development.
If you live near an LAC, go watch a few games. Ask the coach if your daughter can watch a practice. You will learn a lot from this.
You can start contacting and meeting with coaches during sophomore year.
Much has been asked about “demonstrated interest” for recruited athletes of late. I would make sure to visit the admissions office of every school you visit and fill out the card asking that the school mail you information (this can be done even if the office is closed). Leaving the card lets admissions know that you visited the school, even if you did not take the official tour.
This may not seem like a lot to do, but these activities can be very time consuming, so you will not regret getting an early start.
My advise is to take the ACT at the end of sophomore year. Then you know what you have to work with. If it’s a 30 or higher, you have a chance at some NESCACs, even with just above average skills. If your DD can study her way up to a 32 or higher, she’s got a lot more options. Below the median score for a NESCAC school, the coaches won’t even look at her without really awesome skills. Above the median score, they might recruit her with above average skills to get their average ACT score of recruits higher for the AdCom.
Below a 30, you should probably re-evaluate your hopes for DD. Williams Coach has said she needs a 29 minimum at camps, but I think that would be for candidates with other “hooks” like URM or 1st generation. Amherst wanted a 31, and Georgetown “give me something with a 3 in it”(And not a 23!). Yale coach “wasn’t looking at my daughter until she got a 32 on the ACT.”
That’s also why no one gets serious looks til Junior year at the high academics-how can you tell you are a “high academic” til you’ve been in HS for a couple years?
thanks for your response. very, very helpful, especially how above average skills + high ACT may be attractive. DD would also be 3rd generation @ one NESCAC. have no idea, but guessing DD will have a solid ACT score. did well on her ISEE for middle school. thanks again
thanks for sharing your story. we can’t change clubs due to logistics. her club does have favorites, but if she has a shot of making a team because of strong grades, then they will be probably be helpful.
My DD played on a mediocre club and our HS is in the middle of nowhere. The local community college sends a coach sometimes. No college coach at any schools my DD would ever consider would ever be at any of her tournaments. She was recruited from the NECSA at Babson and Headfirst, both of which I highly recommend for mere mortals with high test scores.
We used a college athlete placement and consulting firm that we were very pleased with when our son was being recruited to play football. They are selective and will provide an honest evaluation of the level your student can play at in college. They focus on highly selective academic schools and have relationships with coaches at these schools. Son ended up with multiple Ivy, Patriot League and NESCAC offers and now attends one of the Ivies. PM me if you are interested and I could connect you with the consultants we worked with.