<p>What kinds of questions do coaches typically ask during a first meeting (unofficial visit)?</p>
<p>In our experience, they ask about your HS, your sport, how you and your team did last season, etc. About college, they ask where else you are looking, what you want to major in, what you are looking for in a school, etc. It’s been pretty general and conversational. We found that the coaches do a LOT of talking about their programs and their facilities.</p>
<p>My son sent his films, transcript and academic/athletic resume after filling out on-line questionnaires, but in advance of meeting with coaches. So in addition to coaches selling their particular programs during the initial meetings, they also spent time talking about S1’s abilities and likely contributions to their teams. The coaches asked general questions about his academics, preliminary test sccores, team dynamics, his wants and needs in a coach, where else he is looking, etc… to get a feel for his confidence levels and to try to learn more about him as a person - trying to gauge fit maybe? He met personal trainers, assistant coaches, had lunch with some existing team members, and received personal tours of the athletic facilities and an invitation to watch a spring practice session. It was a mixed bag of feeling one another out. </p>
<p>Try to relax and be yourself …and take the lead in answering questions directed at you, Vs. any parent guardian answering.</p>
<p>Oddly enough, none of the coaches of the colleges we visited asked my son a thing about his sport (golf), and only 1 asked about his grades/test scores. He had filled out all the online recruiting forms so grades, test scores, other sports played, and golf index were all there, but there was no followup at all about any of this. We met one coach at the college’s home course. My son had brought a couple clubs and was on the driving range when the coach walked up. The coach had no interest in watching his swing but instead took him off in a cart for a tour of the course.</p>
<p>In general, the coaches did most of the talking (and boy could they talk!) My son was prepared with some questions if the conversation lagged. They all wanted to know what other colleges my son was visiting.</p>
<p>I guess in golf, it’s not so much about being a team player or what you’ve done lately. It’s what you can do when you show up on the first day of practice, which is typically a year or maybe even two after that first meeting, so a lot of things can change. No promises were made by any coach about a spot on the team for my son.</p>
<p>This is for Division 3, by the way. No doubt D-1 and D-2 are very different.</p>
<p>vballmom - congrats on your son’s handling of the situation. as soon as i starting reading your post i knew it was a d3 school. typically, this is how they handle recruiting. first, they want to know he can get into the school because most coaches have little to no pull with admissions…there are exceptions, but this is the general rule. they will sell you hard on the school, and most are really, really good schools from our experience. we had one coach tell us nothing about his baseball program, but could tell you anything about the school, majors, classes, teachers, etc… it was like he was purposely leading us down a path of academics first and sports second. he closed the meeting by telling us he had no pull with admissions, and that my son would have to get through admissions just like everybody else.</p>
<p>In terms of follow up, we found the D3 coaches have their own timetable. They will keep in touch, and will want to know if you have committed to a D1 yet. If you haven’t, they will keep you on their list and want you to apply for Early Decision or Early Admission so they can try to get you to commit to the school. </p>
<p>Yes, D1, D2 can be very different. D1 Ivy is more like D3 in a lot of respects. Good luck.</p>
<p>Our D2 and D3 meetings included an athletic facilities tour, one-on-one meeting with the coach and lunch with some existing team members (for those schools we visited while school was in session).</p>
<p>Like everyone else’s experience, the coaches did most of the talking. My daughter asked each coach the same questions (in an effort to compare apples to apples) primarily about the team’s training regimen, game day strategies and how she’d fit into the coach’s plan. As parents, we sat silent aside from the general exchange of pleasantries. </p>
<p>Our common questions asked by the coaches included:
- What other colleges are you considering?
- What is your intended major?
- What is your upcoming club showcase schedule?
- Will you be willing to apply EA? (where applicable)
- Would you like to come overnight during the season to meet the team and see a game?</p>
<p>Our daughter did NOT find any of the meetings intimidating. In fact, our experience was that the coaches made very effort to make her comfortable and therefore didn’t drill our daughter with questions since they already had the pertinant player stats, GPA/SAT scores and had seen her play.</p>
<p>The NESCAC coaches also encouraged S1 ro apply ED, and wanted to know whether we would be applying for FA…making sure we understood the chance of being admitted without confirmation of financial awards.</p>