Unofficial visits over the summer

Our daughter is a committed D1 track athlete and we started unofficial visits the summer between her junior and senior year. She had already been in contact via email with coaches and when we made a trip out east for a national track meet, we made arrangements to stop at 3 different colleges. Each visit included a personalized tour by the coach and a sit down to answer any questions. 2 out of the 3 schools fell off her radar following these visits but it helped her solidify what she was looking for when the official visit offers started coming in. She then took all 5 of her official visits, plus 2 additional unofficial visits where we paid for all expenses. Exhausting process but well worth it in the end!

Just an update. Things are going pretty well as planned. We sent out a resume/video link in April. He followed up with an email asking 4 coaches for a meeting, and also got his HS coach involved since technically the D1 coaches aren’t supposed to email him yet. We have 4 days to visit, and all 4 coaches he contacted have set up meetings with him. We got a bit lucky with our days, 2 fit very well, 2 not ideal but coach still meeting with us. They were probably his top 4 choices, at least at this point in the process. He also will see a decent variety of places and that might affect where he wants to go after he has that experience.

In the last month or so he has gotten what I would call a soft offer of a full ride to a very good D2 program, so I guess we have that in our pocket. That isn’t really the direction I think either of us are intending for him to go, but it does alleviate some of the pressure to know that if the higher level doesn’t work out he still has a decent back up plan. That coach is aware that he is the back up plan.

Sounds like things are going well. I have been to so many unofficial visits, and they have been all over the chart from a one hour courtesy meeting to the coach trying to talk us into an overnight. It is perfect that you have no expectations. I would just plan on a full day with each coach and be flexible about much less than a full day you spend. It may feel like it stinks when it is going on, but in the rear view mirror most feel that the unofficials were very informative. Make sure to ask: 1) will my kid get in; 2) will he make the team; 3) do you cut recruits; 4) will you submit a pre-read to admissions; and 5) whatever financial aid questions you may have. These are okay questions to ask even before an official visit. The coach should be honest and say he doesn’t know if he isn’t sure.

Thanks for the advice. I would be lost without this board. I know one kid who went Ivy and no one who went to a high academic D3. And the Ivy kid’s dad said that they did everything wrong and just got extremely lucky that they found a coach very late in the game desperate for an uncommitted kid in his position with a 30 ACT score.

I would have good help if we wanted to go NAIA or D2, or even regular D1, lots of people in his school with that experience. But hardly anyone around here is ever shooting to leverage sports into high academics, just scholarship money. My kid can probably get a full tuition scholarship to the state flagship with his ACT score anyway. Why would he take on the commitment of a college sport just to take a smaller scholarship from the athletic dept?

The ironic thing is that after financial aid the Ivy kid’s dad ended up paying about 1/2 of what he would have with a typical partial scholarship that the local D2 gives in that sport. And I bet people talk about what an idiot he was to walk away from a $5,000 scholarship to a $20,000 a year school and went to a high priced Ivy instead.

I think luck plays a big part even with a lot of planning. Right place, right time, right skills…

I second @twoinanddone as it often comes down to luck. You can do all the right things; plan, research, contact coaches and it may not all come together…ant then sometimes it does. You sound as if you are on the right path. Good luck and enjoy the visits. It’s so helpful for the students to see these schools in person and get a feel for what resonates with them.

Agree, with headcount sports, you have to know going in what weight classes the coach has needs for, and for NESCAC schools make sure DS’s test results profile at his target schools as it’s unlikely that wrestling will have slots allotted to it and only have tips to utilize - it’s very likely that AI banding at Ivies could make it easier if DS is a top-caliber wrestler.

Thanks for advice. I’m hoping to have a better idea about what academically will be required after this trip. I have heard that there is a bit more flexibility on scores for wrestling, because it is a very different demographic from crew or swimming, there just aren’t the# of kids with 32+ ACT scores so you might get a couple point leeway. I guess we will find out.

The weight class issue is a bit difficult to assess without talking to the coach. My son is a smaller guy, and those guys frequently but not always bump up a weight class or more during their career. I have a friend who is a college coach that thought he had 2 permanent 125# guys a year ago. He had to sign one again this year at the last minute, because both of last year’s recruits had an unexpected growth spurt.

My roommate in college wrestled 118 all four years. In the many years since, he has “balooned” up to about 135. I really hate wrestlers, lol.

And you are correct that you should have a solid idea about the academic thresholds after the unofficial visits. Ask direct and clear questions, and in my experience more often than not you will get direct answers. you need to always keep in your mind that academics are the beginning of everything in the Ivy and the NESCAC. If your guy is not in the ballpark initially, the coaches aren’t going to have the time to waste on him. The sooner everyone understands what those thresholds are, the better for everyone.

Very informative trip. The one I thought was a throw away visit and the one son thought was a waste of time might be the top 2 on the list now, although it’s pretty early. Frankly they were all great schools he would be happy and successful at. Most coaches gave us 2-3 hours and a ton of info. They all gave a range on test scores, i.e. If you are #1, you probably still need this score, most guys need higher score, developmental recruits need this score. All were clear about how many slots they have to fill.

This is stressful, but I can’t imagine how it will be in a couple years with his unhooked sister. It’s actually kind is sad to sit in the info sessions and look around knowing that most of these kids won’t ever have the opportunity to attend, even if they act their SAT’s

^^ trust me, @dadof4kids , it is really discouraging to be a regular person visiting when recruits are. One quickly realizes there are different classes of passage and that your ticket is for steerage. As stressful as it is, enjoy the advantage it confers!

I just finished this process. Athlete son now a rising junior, non athlete daughter now a rising freshman. You are right in one sense. I found it very frustrating that my daughter had no real way to gauge which schools might be interested in her and which were not. Much clearer process with my son. That was the biggest thing to me. Another huge factor was it would have been great if my daughter could have spent even half the time talking to students with her interests that my son was afforded at the various schools recruiting him. The visits were nice, but in reality they were also much more important to the athlete because of the nature of being an athlete. He spends way more time in the weight room/locker room/meeting rooms/practice fields than a normal student would spend in any one place. Similarly, not sure my daughter cares too much what the hours are for meals or whether they cater in food when there are late meetings, etc.

Your daughter will have some advantages as well. She can apply to a wider variety of schools for one. No striking Penn State or Okla State off the list because it is maybe out of her athletic league, or pulling Lehigh because they have two 125s already rostered. Another point to remember is that no matter the admissions rate at a given school, the admissions rate for an athlete is in reality far lower, when you consider the athletic bar that you have to clear in the first instance along with the academics.

I think this is a long winded way of saying both processes suck, and you will be stressed either way, lol.

Not to mention the stress levels if the coach who recruited your child leaves their position before the NLI is signed. While it has probably been less stressful at any given point than the craziness Juniors go through for 6 months, the low level of worry is pretty constant from the day you commit to the day you sign. I guess there are some coaches who are pretty much untouchable (Duke basketball), but most athletes are not lucky enough to be recruited by those programs.

I don’t think any coach is safe anymore. Oklahoma football coach resigned this week. Dartmouth lax coach fired last year after 20+ years. Mich women’s and men’s lax coaches fired this year, and the programs aren’t that old.

One coach who recruited my daughter hard would have been there if she signed an NLI, but gone before my daughter stepped foot on the campus. In fact, 4-5 coaches who recruited her are gone from those schools now.

Luck plays a big role.

I never went through the process without an athlete, my experience is skewed. The general sense that I had was that the process is just accelerated for athletes. Even the D3 recruits started thinking about what they were looking for in their sophomore year. It forces more organization and sharpens the focus of the college search. That said, procrastination is not all bad. It is somewhat romantic to be the college senior who is juggling hopes and dreams when picking between 5 regular decision offers. It is true that the recruit gets a red carpet of sorts during official and unofficial visits. On the other hand, the non-recruit can take one look at a school and say to his or her parents “nope, not doing it, let’s go to the next one on the list.” Tougher to do that when you have a meeting scheduled with a coach.

Wrestling isn’t quite as crazy as some sports, but coaches definitely turn over. We were planning on visiting Penn, but their coach was fired. I don’t think anyone outside the organization probably even thought he was in the hot seat, it looked from the outside like he was turning the program around and doing some good things. They have a new coach now, but when we were scheduling they were without a coach. I’m glad we didn’t go there a couple weeks earlier and waste a visit.

One other benefit of this trip was just getting S exposed to some of these schools. He has traveled quite a bit for training and competition, but mostly he is just learning that gymnasiums and auditoriums look pretty much the same on the inside no matter what state or country you are in. If you asked him a couple weeks ago to compare any 2 ivy schools, he would have had a fuzzy and probably inaccurate answer. Now he has at least an idea of some of the differences, as well as the similarities. He still isn’t sure what he wants, but he at least has a better idea in his head of what the differences are. Lots of differences between the coaches and their philosophies as well.

Also good for him to hear the stories about alum support. I’m sure that we heard the cherry picked good outcomes, but lots of very successful alums from all of the programs we visited. Also alums that seem very willing to reach a hand down to pull the next generation up. I think he is finally starting to see the long term advantages that his athletic success will provide for him in his professional future.

I’ve done an unhooked and am now in the process with my high school junior/almost senior athlete. The athlete process is A LOT more stressful than the non-athlete. You’re adding a whole set of factors to consider that just isn’t there with a non-athlete. Makes the pro/con a lot more convoluted.

And this is huge. Don’t discount this part of it at all. I know it is hard to think this way, but you have to remember that recruiting is a two way street, and it is very likely that your son will draw interest from schools that he just isn’t interested in. Just like the coaches spend the first phase of recruiting gathering a ton of information on a ton of kids, you are right to be doing the same. Now the process will start to narrow, from both sides. But your son will be in a far better place to make decisions on where to place his focus with the groundwork you have done.

And alumni support, particularly from the various “friends of” or “varsity club” groups is certainly a thing. It is a huge advantage in fact.

My S did one unofficial visit which played out like an OV: spent the night, had a host, attended classes, dining hall, team practice and a game. Met separately with the coaches for an in depth interview. He was allowed up to five OV and this LAC really wanted my S. He was really undecided if he even wanted to attend this school. After checking out the school, team and coaches online he agreed to do the visit but both parties decided it would be best if we did it as an UV. We wanted to save the five for non LAC schools and thought this would be good practice for our S. In the end, it was a great visit and he was offered a spot and a specified athletic dollar amount for scholarship. He eventually went on other OV and went with another school that was the best fit for him.

My S also did an unofficial @ Harvard for their Junior Day. He, along with other junior recruits, were invited by the coach to tour the school and get information on how the process works. It took about 2 hours and was over the summer. By fall of his senior year, he was in the works to do an OV at Harvard.