Sorry, I couldn’t come up with a better title.
My D21 is a track athlete who would like to continue competing in college. She filled out questionnaires for a few (NE D3) colleges she is interested in attending. She has exchanged a few texts with the coach of one, and gotten a few robotexts from them, but that’s about it so far.
I don’t think we’re really interested in having her be “recruited”, at least not in the sense of getting admissions help. We would rather have her go someplace where she’s in the “A band” organically. We’re mostly interested in scoping out the various coaches and teams to see what kind of fit she might be.
All of a sudden she’s been getting texts/emails forwarded to her from her coach and HSAD from schools (a couple of small D1s and a NESCAC which hadn’t been on her list, for no particular reason). These were not places she had attempted any contact with.
For those of you who are more experienced with this than we are, I have some questions.
First, how seriously should we be taking this? Do these tend to be fairly targeted or more along the lines of “lets send a bunch and see what comes back”? She, of course, is all excited, but I’m trying to walk the line between getting her all amped up on the one hand, and being a stick in the mud/fun sponge (more my natural self) on the other.
Second (and probably more important), what is considered proper etiquette for dealing with places you aren’t really interested in? Do you just ignore them? If it’s asking you to fill out the questionnaire do you just not do that? Or do you respond with a “thanks, but”?
My recruited child (different sport) has never dealt with coaches or recruitment over text, so I can’t be helpful there. I know a couple track kids and they received info unsolicited from coaches based off their posted times starting in sophomore year of HS (mainly D3) and it was more a of a mass contact - but exciting for the kid!
For many D3 schools when you fill out their website form requesting more information it usually has a place to check if you are interested in participating in a sport or two - could she have done that ? When that happens, a coach may reach out.
Again, based on friend’s experiences, D3 coaches and players are happy to meet when you visit campus and unfortunately that is not a reality for you right now. Sounds like your daughter is more interested in being a “walk on” at a school verses recruited and just wants to find the right fit school with a nice team too.
Regarding replying, it does sound like she could ignore if not interested. I do tell my child that you never know where a coach will end up (they move a lot) and she should also be polite and respond, but this has been when she has received direct emails that “appear” to be personalized or spoke with the coach at an event. My child wants to be a recruited D1 athlete at a top school and it is a VERY small world. Manners matter.
I agree with you and I am also a bit more cautious in this process, I have seen many kids get burned thinking that a D1 spot is going to come through and getting dumped right before ED apps are due because the coach found a better/faster/more qualified athlete (even after going on a paid official visit) or that D3 coach is going to “support” them in the ED round and then they get passed to RD or rejected.
Not sure if this is helpful - many more parents on this forum have experience with track recruiting. There is a current tread called U Chicago recruiting - or something like that about track - you might find some points of interest in those strings too.
Different sport, but I always have my son reply to all contacts expressing interest as it is polite – and how I would want him to be treated by coaches. (Not that it is). I don’t think he’s ever gotten a generic text – he’s certainly gotten lots of generic emails, and if it is an email going to thousands of kids, no he doesn’t reply. But he has gotten a number of unsolicited emails, and one text, and he replies along the lines of “thank you for reaching out. Right now I’m focused on NESCAC schools. Can I ask how you heard of me? Thank you again”
One thing, if you haven’t already thought of it – why not be a recruited athlete? That doesn’t prevent you from being in the “A band” at all! At a school where kids with A band qualifications are routinely rejected, why wouldn’t you want your A band kid to have help getting in? She’s still very qualified, and still has “A band” qualifications, she would just also have a bit more assurance of being admitted. Just a thought, and one you may have already had –
@cinnamon1212 @coffeeat3 I apparently got the delivery method wrong. They were emails sent to the coach/AD that were forwarded by them to my D, who the emails were specifically in reference to. The original emails asked things like “are you okay with sending us her contact info” and “is it okay if we contact her”. They didn’t appear to be generic, although they certainly could have been.
The thing I’m looking to avoid is having her choose a college based on T&F. I really don’t want her going ED based on that. We are also not full pay, although she’s been making that clear to them. Track is part of the equation, but somewhat down the line in terms of importance (she gets this, for the most part).
Hopefully we will actually be able to visit some of these places. We saw a few last fall, and I’m glad we did, things being what they are.
Good advice so far.
It’s somewhat common in track for college coaches with some extra time to send emails or texts to a long list of potential recruits, based on a filtered Milesplit list or something similar. Hard to say if that’s happening here. I agree with the advice to always be polite. If it feels like spam I’d just ignore it. But if it seems like there might be a bit more to it, but at a school your daughter has no interest in, I’d just thank the coach for her interest, let her know she’s focused on other schools right now, and will circle back if this school enters the picture.
I’d second the comment above asking why you wouldn’t want to be a recruited athlete. If you don’t want athletics to drive the search, there really can only be advantages to chatting with coaches. If there’s a good fit and coach support is part of that, there’s no real downside. If you find that there’s no overlap between the academic fits and athletic fits, then just drop it.
To get a sense of athletic fit, go to tfrrs.org to see performance lists for schools and conferences in which your daughter might be interested. This will give you a sense of how recruitable she might be and whether coach support might be possible.
@politeperson
TFRRS has been a great resource for us in trying to decipher this. The recruit/not recruit issue is really just a matter of degree. I don’t want her picking a college based on track, but because she wants to continue it in college I don’t want her just showing up and hoping it all works out.
I think we’ve reached a decent equilibrium when it comes to her making a college list and contacting the coaches/filling out the questionnaires. The unexpected part was when she started getting emails from places she hadn’t been considering, but might, and from some others that were good schools but not a good fit for her.
Some just ask you to go fill out the questionnaire, which seems silly to do for a place you aren’t considering. On the other hand, I guess she could email the coach and politely decline. The original intent of this thread was to get a feel for where these emails fall on the targeted/spam continuum.
@ThisNameNotTaken Got it, makes sense. I think it’s always hard to know where the emails and texts sit on that continuum. I do think that most of the time, if an athlete is being specifically targeted by a coach she’ll know it. A lot of coaches these days are skilled at finding kids on IG and elsewhere, and if there’s really specific interest (beyond “looks like you’re in that range of 2:20-2:30 for the 800m that we often recruit”) they’ll find ways to make that clear.
For the schools she might consider, I’d follow up. For those she wouldn’t consider, for generic emails sent to the coach, I’d likely ignore.
@politeperson
My inclination at this point is to not have her even start the conversation, since the case we’re talking about is a reach athletically and not a good match academically (great school, but doesn’t really offer the major she currently wants).
@ThisNameNotTaken, I have a rising junior running D3 and the recruiting letters that were directed to her AD were schools that she was not really interested in. The high school AD would sometimes pass the information on to me directly (I think when the AD had gotten an email) or directly to my runner when the contact had come in the form of a letter. From what I recall, my daughter pursued none of these. Still, I would not call them “junk mail.” I am sure these can lead to fruitful recruiting. I did hesitate for a week or so when one of these requests came through the HSAD, and he had to ask me a second time, so in the end I did have to explain that my runner was not interested.
If your D is truly interested in continuing running, then be proactive in the recruiting dance. Don’t expect her to “just walk on.” Everything is more competitive today. Even if she is not a top recruit seeking help with admissions, she will want to feel recruited. It is also nice being absolutely certain that there is a spot available. Summer training and practices may start before school begins, and in today’s tech culture your daughter will want to be in whatever group messaging apps the captains use. There were many online questionnaires to fill out in order to find the correct fit. Expect to fill out 20-30 questionnaires and spread them around “fit” schools in both D1 and D3. You may have to assist with this if your D is busy with studies. There is a lot of fitting times and dates and race links into online forms. You may find it helpful to prepare an athletic resume as well which will include all available academic info as well. These can often be submitted through the questionnaire portal but can also serve as a calling card send direct to the coach’s email address.
Additionally, if applying NESCAC and your talented runner has NOT been in contact with the coach… I wonder if the admissions committee might hold that against her application. They could assume she is being recruited elsewhere.
@Sam-I-Am
Thanks for sharing your experience. She currently has a list of about 9 schools she’s interested in applying to (could use a few more safeties, though). We are in New England and not interested in having her go more then 5 or so hours away, which is limiting.
School ends at the end of next week, which will give her more time to think about this whole thing. In theory we are waiting to hear from 2 coaches, but if that doesn’t happen soon I will suggest she email them. I’m pretty sure she can compete for most of the places she’s looking at, but having the wrong fit would be a disaster.
Given your experience, what kind of timeframe does this work on?
Your timing is likely fine as she is finishing up junior year. But that may depend on the sport and how seriously the sport is taken at target schools. If she is a soccer keeper and the team already has depth in that position, well the chances may be less.
What sport and specialty? Also NE has plenty of schools and she should probably not be waiting on just 2 coaches at this point in time. Expand the search, even within NE. And how about mid-Atlantic States?
@ThisNameNotTaken, a couple of thoughts. I agree with the others that you should be proactive in recruiting. It doesn’t hurt to go through the process. Come application time, your D will apply where she wants to apply. However, schools that would be a “fit” may be harder to get into than you think. It can help to have an extra boost.
Here, is the interesting thing. At NESCAC schools with football, there are 14 slots for football and 2 slots for every other sport – it ends up being about 66 total slots for most. Having 2 slots per team really doesn’t translate into much of a dip for athletes. Those 2 slots per team are the only “inorganic” applicants (excluding of course legacies and minorities). That means that most of the athletes are tips – that is, that they have the same academic stats as the bulk of applicants. What I am trying to say is that the majority of recruited athletes are in that “organic” A Band mix. I am aware of a lot of unrecruited NESCAC applicants that were in that sweet spot for admissions (all As in Honors/Ap and Act of 33-34) that either got waitlisted or rejected.
Put differently, elite colleges do not want well-balanced applicants. They want a well- balanced class. That means they are looking for standouts in many categories, including athletics. Unfortunately, being a standout athlete without coach support means very little.
One final note, I found that the most important factor creating “fit” was participation in varsity athletes. It was the “alternative fraternity,” a group of close friends that helped each other navigate higher education, and have stayed in touch through grad school and beyond.
@Sam-I-Am
Track (specifically sprints/jumps/relays), which probably works a little differently than position sports. We have a “soft” limit of within a 6 hour drive, which opens things up a little. Closer would be better, though (her as much as us).
@gointhruaphase Thanks for the info. I think of her as more of a tip than a slot. We’re already having the ED v RD discussion. I really, really want her to choose a college based on the college, not on the track team, even though that will figure into it at some level. She’s not fixated on NESCACs, though, and understands how hard most of them are to get into.
@ThisNameNotTaken, thanks for those details. So definitely consider Middlebury for its track program. Beautiful new indoor track and the outdoor track with mountain views is incredible. The indoor track must be about the newest in
NESCAC. Facilities and overall education is terrific and the coaches are nice. For comparison to a D1 program check out Dartmouth where the facilities are historic but don’t feel as luxurious as Midd’s. So if Johns Hopkins is not too far of a drive for you in New England, check that out as well as a way to expand the search and your D’s options. Excellent coaching and top university, still D3 though they do not have an indoor track. Don’t need it in Maryland and JHU really supports its runners.
@Sam-I-Am JHU is probably too far for us. Middlebury comes and goes from the list. It’s not super far from here as the crow flies, but it’s a little bit “ya cain’t get theyah from heah”. It tends to fall off the larger list of NESCACs for no single good reason. We have it on our list to visit if we ever can. Both of those schools have very good T&F programs, but I’m not sure if that’s a plus or a minus (the “big fish, small pond” theory).
She has had a lot of indoor league meets at Dartmouth, so we are very familiar with Leverone, It was the standard of excellence for her until she had a meet at Phillips Exeter. Wow.
What we really need are matches and safeties. Not too far from here, decent economics and env studies programs. Financially stable (me), in her dreams a horizontal jumps coach. So far we have Wheaton (MA) and St Lawrence (which isn’t close to anywhere). Neither of those check all the boxes but they seem close enough. I tried to talk her into PA but got a face. That is at our outer limit anyway.
A few thoughts. For context, S19 was a wrestler, so some differences.
I would reply at least with “I think I’m headed a different direction, but if anything changes I will let you know. Thanks for the message and good luck next season!” for 2 reasons. As stated above, the coaching profession is an endless carousel, and one of these coaches may well end up being her coach at a different program. 2, they all talk. Especially when you get to your horizontal jump coaches that is going to be like wrestling. VERY small universe and they all know each other. Frequently it came up that coaches I thought wouldn’t know/like each other were in each other’s weddings. And when I talked to coaches I could tell they were talking to each other about random kids they were recruiting. Better to have the reputation for being polite and respectful.
S had a couple of those generic letters addressed to him at HS turn into very serious recruiting. At least one I know several kids who got the same letter, but when S replied it turned into a fairly serious conversation and the coach watched S at an all star type event that was a plane ride for him. A different contact that started that way ended up telling S he was one of their top recruits shortly before he made his decision to go elsewhere.
I get what you are saying about not letting the sport drive the process. We went back and forth on that. S got a lot better his junior year, which changed our process somewhat. There were times he was getting good contact from top D1 programs that were a bad fit academically. Ultimately he got back on track but it did make the process messier than it needed to be because some schools ended up getting considered that probably shouldn’t have.
His teammates are his core social group, as they are for most athletes I know, whether they are national championship level at D1 or 3rd string practice partner level at D3. So I would keep that as a consideration. I know some kids who don’t really fit in with their teams, and I think they are having a less fun college experience than those who considered fit with the coaches and teammates and not just for the school. Coaches can change, but more likely than not it won’t happen and even if it does the culture will remain similar.
I have heard that some programs do not allow walk ons period. So you want to at least be talking to the coaches if you want that option to be available.
I assume that like 99.9% of college athletes Olympic/professional career are not in the cards. So probably look for programs where she can have fun. College and athletics can be a grind. But it doesn’t have to be.
Middlebury does indeed have an amazing facility.
Colby though is opening up a new facility next year that appears to if not actually exceed it at least rival it.
Every other NESCAC and all north eastern d1’s will be jealous of those two facilities!
@arbitrary99
She would be a 2x legacy (me and my mom) at Colby. I would like to get her up there when the new facility is closer to done. It’s a lot harder to get into than when I went, though.
She may end up not caring, but I want to see it.
@dadof4kids (that could have been my name, too). Thanks. I sometimes forget about the “built in social circle” part of this. She has at least one friend/former teammate at one of the schools, which will hopefully help us get a better feel for that, at least at that one school.
@ThisNameNotTaken, I can’t think of a person who has gone through athletic recruiting who would recommend choosing a school solely based on sports. Most recommend choosing a school based on fit, for the obvious reason that so much can change in athletics (injury, coach leaving, change of interest). The exceptions are the top ranked D1 athletes in revenue sports – but those are not the bulk of recruited athletes.
As I see it, athletic recruiting is not a process that ignores fit, rather it helps a student find a school with the best fit. Sometimes, you have a sense of what school would be best for your kid, but athletic recruiting opens up unanticipated vistas. I would take a dive into it and see where it leads – maybe no where, but at least you have explored it.