Do you (or your children) typically answer questions such as “Other schools of interest” and “Top 3 College Choices”, etc on the questionnaire? What would be the benefit of providing this information?
We always answered this. Probably no direct benefit to the recruit unless you are a highly desired athlete and it creates some urgency on the part of the recruiting schools/coaches (but if a coach wants you, they will ask where else you are looking directly). But I don’t think the info hurts the recruit and is something that the school/coach wants, so why not give it to them and follow instructions?
We never did, b/c my son was filling them out in 9th and 10th grades, and he had very little clue then about what he was looking for in a school, and therefore had no idea of what schools he would be interested in. And at that point, for him, any coach interest was very preliminary.
I kind of wondered whether putting the questionnaire school’s rival in the “Other schools” part would increase interest by the coach reading it, as the last thing they want is to lose a recruit they want to their primary competition?
I typically name the other schools if asked, unless the kid is relatively young, as in Cinnamon’s example. Some coaches definitely want to know if some high level recruits are looking at schools in the same conference…whether or not that makes the coach act faster, or with a higher level of early seriousness, I couldn’t say, probably depends on a lot of factors (need at that position, academic strength, etc.).
Some questionnaires also ask to name the best 3 uncommitted players in your area (in whatever sport we are talking about). I think that one’s tricky, and usually only encourage kids to put in names of kids who play different positions in that spot.
Generally, one should try to complete as much of the RQ as possible.
There are a couple of old threads on this topic. My suggestion is to think through how the answer might look to a coach.
The main risk of naming other schools is in the application process. Say that a given stellar applicant is applying to Bates, and identifies other schools of interest as Yale, Columbia, Stanford, Williams, etc. In this scenario, the Adcom almost certainly would conclude that Bates is a safety, and if concerned about yield, might waitlist an otherwise fully admissible candidate.
I doubt that putting that information into recruiting questionnaires would hurt a recruit, but it might direct focus to other candidates. Take for example, the recruit who identifies only Division I schools in a Division III recruiting questionnaire. A coach might draw the conclusion that the athlete isn’t all that interested in a Division III college.
As far as coaches go, we left that inquiry on the questionnaire blank, but always were honest if asked. Usually that would occur later on in the process after coaches had expressed sincere interest.