So we felt we had a pretty good handle on the D3 recruiting process so far. Son has focused on identifying schools he is interested in, then looked at soccer programs once he had list of schools he liked. He has done admissions visits, met coaches, followed up, sent tape, is going to camps now and throughout the summer. He has a good list of 8-10 schools, with admissions safeties to reaches, with varying degrees of soccer competitiveness. All good.
Now we are at the camp/pre-read process, and not sure how to read the next steps. While we realize it will vary among programs, are there general parameters about how to interpret requests for pre-reads?
We realize additional steps include invitation to visit in the fall and indication by coach that player is a recruit and should apply ED. And obviously, a request for a pre-read is better than not being asked to submit materials. Is there any common wisdom about how broad the request for pre-reads are, vs. how many kids are serious recruits? We have read the articles which suggest that a coach will go after 3-5 players for every spot he needs to fill, knowing that players and programs have a lot of moving pieces during the fall.
Thanks for your insight and experience.
This is just such a hard question to answer because as you said, it does vary so much from one school to the next. The best thing to do is ask a lot of questions of each coach. There is nothing wrong with being very specific - where do I rank among your recruits? Will i play if I make the team? When do you make decisions? What is my next step? etc.
if the coach is really interested he should have no problem answering all of your questions. If he is vague or doesn’t get back to you he may not be that interested. Unfortunately with D3, there is no true recruiting since there are no scholarships. Coaches will probably ask your son to apply ED which puts a lot of pressure on him w/ no real commitment from the coach. Verbal commitments by coaches seem to work out often but there are plenty of stories about coaches who have either left a school or gone with a different player after an athlete applies ED. I think the most important thing is to have a back-up, communicate constantly, ask a lot of questions, and to make sure coaches know that your son is interested. Best of luck!!!
Ask the coach the probability of being accepted ED. How many don’t make it through ED? The sleepover is very important. Are these the kind of kids you want to be with for four years?
@Midwestmomofboys, as you may remember (because you posted on my thread a few months ago), we’ve recently been through this process with my son. A request for a pre-read is a serious indication of interest. They will take the info to the administration to see if your son can be admitted. The answer to the coach could be “yes,” “no,” “maybe, if he improves his test scores (or something similar),” or “only if he’s really important to you and you’re willing to use your limited chits on him.” That answer could therefore significantly affect the coach’s interest. My husband (the soccer guru in the family) confirms a guesstimate that they may ask for 5 pre-reads for each position they are trying to fill. It’s important to follow up with e-mails and/or phone calls afterward to see what the coach says. You should be able to get a read at that point as to how interested they are. Don’t hesitate to ask them point blank. You can ask their timeline and when they expect to give you more precise feedback. I agree w/ all of @takeitallin 's advice. We found many coaches to be straight-shooters. There were others who were trying to game our son and string him along (but mostly those were D1 coaches, to be honest). DS was usually able to tell which were which. We also found that some coaches could be half-hearted in their interest until they were convinced that DS was seriously interested in their school – all the more reason to be proactive in contacting them instead of waiting for the next step. We’re in the Northeast. If you have any specific questions about D3 schools in the Northeast, let me know in a private message and I’ll see if I can add anything else. Good luck!
Thank you, very helpful and reassuring. One coach has been very straight up, quite specific about exactly what happens next, when it happens, what a recruited player should expect as a freshman etc., hopefully he is not a rarity, but we will see as my son hits a few more school-specific camps in the next few weeks. He is not looking at any real academic reaches – they are all matches (well, one is closer to a reach than a match but still not crazy reach) so we don’t expect any surprises in the pre reads, though not much about this process is truly predictable. He has gone about the process by focusing only on D3, and first on academic/fit grounds, and only then looking at soccer so any of the schools on his list are schools he would be more or less happy attending.
We came from a camp recently where there was lots of parent chatter about recruiting services, going where the program wants the kid, rather than the kid wants the school. Quite an eye opener for us.
I think what is throwing me right now is the waiting . . . . until now, there have been tasks to monitor – research schools, contact coaches, send film etc. Now it is wait for response from camps, wait for pre read, wait for invitation to come one campus. I appreciate the insight from families who have been through this, thank you!
It sounds like you have your priorities straight to me MWM! Our son did it the same way- made a list of schools he liked academically and then researched the soccer teams. He looked more at D1 &2 than 3 only because he wanted a large school and D3 tends to be smaller, but it worked out well for him. We learned to generally not listen to the chatter at camps and try-outs as it did seem that many were going for the soccer as a priority ( and where parents often mentioned that whatever function we were at was only a formality since the coach had already offered their freshman son a spot, ha ha) . We never used a recruiting service either, and don’t know many who did. The waiting is the hardest part no doubt, but now that my son will be a junior and loves his school and soccer program, it is strange to look back and think that we ever worried! I’m sure it will work out for you too-best of luck!!!
In our case the pre-reads came back rather quickly, all within a week, except one where we knew Admissions was closed for several weeks after we submitted. Hopefully that will be the case for your family as well. Good luck!