<p>The questionnaire asks: Letters won track & field and cross country. My son's schools doesn't have letters, but he has run all three seasons of track each year since freshman year, and has run varsity since sophomore year. he is now a senior. How many letters does that correspond to? </p>
<p>Also, when the questionnaire asks other colleges you're interested in, should you list all of them? Thanks so much!</p>
<p>I’m pretty sure “letters” just means how many years on Varsity, even if the school doesn’t award letters. So for your son, that would be 3. </p>
<p>For my D, we listed some but not all of the other colleges. I don’t know what’s best on that. We tried to list schools that had something in common with the questionnaire school–conference, geographic location, school size, etc.</p>
<p>“Also, when the questionnaire asks other colleges you’re interested in, should you list all of them?”</p>
<p>A list of the top 6 should be sufficient.</p>
<p>Do not assume that since a college has a recruiting form on the web that they actually use it. When we started out, I had no knowledge and had not found this forum. I assumed that if my daughter input her info, the coaching staff would see it. Was surprised when a few coaches said they never even look at it. So, also email the coaches of the schools–don’t assume like we did that they received the info through the form. Include it all in intro emails too. </p>
<p>Thanks Sanmin: So if he does 3 different sports each year: cross country, indoor track and outdoor track, and is varsity for all, would that be 3 “letters” per year? </p>
<p>^ yes</p>
<p>I would put a footnote explaining how you calculated “letters”. Your methodology sounds OK, though in some schools, being on varsity does not get you a letter. Performing at or above a defined level (qualifying for State Championships, for example, in swimming) is required in addition to being on the varsity team. It may be a non-issue, since you are obviously trying to translate to their reality in the spirit in which they intend, but a footnote would keep anyone in admissions from feeling like you somehow “cheated” if they did dig into it.</p>
<p>I really would not worry about the recruiting form that much. It is an administrative tool for them, but not significant.</p>
<p>What is significant is making direct contact with the coach while there is still time.</p>
<p>I agree. The questionnaire is not that significant. It is an early way to get a look at a recruit. I know coaches that only use them to supplement their real recruiting efforts. They just skim them and look for one of two things (1) a potential stud of an athlete they didn’t have a lead on or (2) really solid test scores they can attract to the school.</p>
<p>Letters are awarded differently at different schools. In general, all seniors on varsity will get a letter. In track, the rules at my son’s school are that if you aren’t a senior, you have to place in at least three events to get a letter.</p>
<p>Thus, only perhaps five to ten student athletes on a track team of forty or more get letters each year. A single outstanding performance may lead to a coach awarding a letter to a runner.</p>
<p>Conversely, most team sports give letters out to anyone who has played at least one varsity game in a season.</p>
<p>Answer the question correctly - if he has no letters, it would be zero.</p>
<p>That’s not how team sport letters work around here. You have to play a certain amount of time in a certain number of games (at least half of them I think? could be more) to get a letter. There are varsity players who don’t get much playing time and don’t get letters if the coach is not paying attention to their stats. This is the case for both the sports my Ds played at least. It was certainly not just one game.</p>
<p>Well, it’s too late in any case because my son already submitted the form with the estimate. My son runs tracks and runs in all the races, so I don’t think participation is an issue. If the coach contacts him, he’ll explain. Thanks for the input!</p>
<p>I think coaches know that there is a difference in how letters are awarded, so take it all with a grain of salt. We have a girl on our college team whose write up says she was an All American, and I know she wasn’t. To give her credit, the coach may have misinterpreted another award and the girl may have been an XXX All American, but not have been awarded THE big all american award that everyone thinks of when they see it listed as All American. Still irks me, even if is was a mistake.</p>
<p>If he is interested in the school, he should not wait for the coach to contact him. Make the first contact yourselves, right now. You have nothing to lose. An email takes a few minutes.</p>