<p>(Note: Well, technically, we’ve met other coaches. But this is the first time we met and talked to a coach in my D’s sport at a school she is considering applying to.)</p>
<p>The coach asked my daughter a lot of questions, both about her athletic and academic stats, and said he was interested.
He told her to call him in two months and schedule an unofficial overnight visit (this is a Div III school).</p>
<p>This is very heady stuff. I can see how this could make a 16-year-old HS student feel.</p>
<p>Also, as noted in another thread, I don’t know how she’ll go on overnights without missing school and practice.</p>
<p>Golf,
I don’t remember if your D (I think) is a jr or sr, but I’m guessing from this posts, she’s a jr. HS/Club coaches are aware that kids will miss practices for visits, and are more lenient when they miss them senior fall during the OV season. That said, I’ve never had a coach mad my D was missing practice for an Unofficial visit either. Any relationship your D is building with a college coach bodes well for your HS/club team.</p>
<p>We used a lot of our county school teacher workdays to go on the unofficials. pres day/mlk day were useful too.</p>
<p>Senior Fall, it is VERY VERY hard to miss 5 Fridays of school (often 5 consecutive Fridays) for OVs. I don’t know how kids do it. My D spent junior year doing the unofficials, so she only had to go on the one OV to the school she had committed to in August.</p>
<p>Other kids (and parents) swear that the only way to get a true feel of the school is to return for the OV and they completely advocate taking all 5. Besides, they say, it’s fun.</p>
<p>I say, you have to gauge your own sense of commitment and comfort zone. My D felt very uncomfortable leading on any coach once she really knew where she wanted to go.</p>
<p>I know we’ve “talked” on other boards - is your D a rower?</p>
<p>Golfdad- enjoy, its fun!!! It is great to be wanted… just think of all those kids out there who can’t/won’t get that opportunity. I like that you are going along, that is what I did so I could get a feel myself. Definitely let my son do the talking because that is what the coaches want but I learned a lot by being there myself. Trusted my gut too, son picked the school that I also felt was best fit for him and he is now a Jr. and its been a great ride so far!! Good luck…</p>
<p>imafan, yes, my D is a junior and yes, rowing.
Her stats will most likely not be Div I OV worthy (but we’ll see as this year progresses.)
And, yes, exactly, the upcoming teacher workdays are already highlighted on the calendar.<br>
But those are only two days … and if we get any snow they might be put back as regular school days.</p>
<p>Thanks ‘mom.’ Yes, it is indeed nice to feel wanted. But also very stressful as a lot of you know.</p>
<p>Also, just to be clear - I went along with my D on a regular college visit. She’ll do the overnights by herself of course. Though, guess who will be doing the driving. ;)</p>
<p>I agree that 5 was too much. For d2, we will try to get in as many UVs throughout her high school yrs before the senior yr. if we can narrow it down to 3 top OVs choices, that would be great. d1’s grade was getting me worried when she missed so many classes during OVs and she was not doing all that great in her first few meets of the season due to missing practices. Her coach was not happy. But hopefully now that’s over,she can get back in shape and do well.</p>
<p>Imafan, I’ve seen a different take on hs coaches “understanding” or not! Situation: a relatively local female hs fall sport athlete spent an OV day at Georgetown. The hs coach penalized the athlete for taking her OV in season. The good news is that the athlete was accepted at Georgetown and has enjoyed her time there.</p>
<p>I highly recommend talking with the coach now about visits. Let him/her know you’re thinking ahead to schedule things around the season; it may help later if/when she has to miss something for an OV. We did like another poster–did unofficials starting in Sophomore year, visiting the school as a normal student tour/admissions session but always meeting with the coach to start getting a feel for the team. Don’t be afraid have her ask what the team’s recruiting expectations are. That helps a lot if you are trying to sort out DI and DIII and what they want for erg times (or if they are not focused so much on ergs.)</p>
<p>We were able to give the HS coach 3 different OV dates as options and let him pick the event he least minded her missing.</p>
<p>Also, five visits is really a lot if your daughter has a tough academic load. Mine only took one OV but had other time away from classes and that made the early Fall really hard. There is enough to do in Fall of senior year with applications coming–if the workload is hard it will be doubly bad if her team also rows in the Fall. That was why she did not take other offered OVs–no point in wasting time if it wasn’t a serious interest.</p>
<p>And for rowing, another consideration for 5 OVs is the impact that might have on the team and Fall events they have, especially if she’s in an 8.</p>
<p>PM me if you want to talk more about rowing specifics</p>
<p>Yeah, what I should have also pointed out is that my D can surely get away during winter erg conditioning (which just started) but not once boats get in the water (around mid April).
No, we don’t have a fall rowing season at our school.</p>
<p>But the biggest factor will be missing class. Yes, my D is carrying a very tough academic load (lots of AP classes).<br>
As was discussed in another thread, most teachers at our HS doesn’t allow students to leave class to talk to a visiting college rep. I can’t imagine what they’d say about leaving for a whole day.</p>
<p>I thought about contacting the coaches before we went on all of our school trips this fall but my D didn’t seem overly excited about the idea so I didn’t push it. I did happen to ask most of the time anyway if the coach was around and it turns out (I guess since all of the visits were on weekends) the coaches weren’t on campus that day anyway.</p>
<p>I thought of something else–some colleges do day long or overnight “mini camp” sessions in the winter for promising HS girls. If your daughter has filled out the recruiting questionnaire at schools she might consider, she would likely then get an invite. They cast the net pretty wide. Iowa did one last weekend, for example. DD attended one in Jan last year at Bucknell. This might be a good way, even if it involves more actual trips, to see the college in something more like an OV without being one. And it would give her and you a better idea of the athletic fit.</p>
<p>I think in any case it doesn’t do harm to fill out each school’s questionnaire.</p>
<p>Yes, now that we have a SAT score in hand, she is planning to fill out the online recruiting forms either later this month or early next month once she gets a reliable 2k (and 6k) time.</p>
Good luck…</p>