<p>S is a strong student, now a hs senior. 2200, 3.8 uw at a very competitive school. A year ago our situation was complex; considering D3 football and baseball, with the possibility of Ivy baseball. Not until the end of summer was it clear that if he played in college, it would be D3 baseball. He also had a long non-sports college list.
This site has been so helpful and I'd like to share what we learned; many are the same lessons others have mentioned:</p>
<ul>
<li>Even for casual "checking out the campus" trips, contact the coach beforehand to try to meet.</li>
<li>Large summer camps were not worth it, unless perhaps you are a true star. Money makers for the colleges that sponsor the camps.</li>
<li>Select camps at the schools you're really interested in, and try not to over schedule, so that you are at your best. This can be difficult when you live far away but so important.</li>
<li>Headfirst Baseball highly recommended!</li>
<li>When it gets down to D3 ED decision time, you must ask the coach VERY direct questions. D3 is tricky; you have nothing firm. Doublecheck with the coach again, right before submitting your ED app.</li>
<li>Even when our son was not sure if he wanted to play in college, we encouraged him to keep pursuing the baseball contacts. Glad he did, because during senior year he realized that he truly wanted to be a scholar-athlete!</li>
</ul>
<p>He's now happily looking forward to playing his sport at a school that seems an excellent fit. Thank you CC and good luck to all embarking on this process.</p>
<p>lftcoastmom: your post implies your S went ED D3. Any more advice on strategies of how to get there? Just started the process with my Jr. D. Going on our first visit in April–made contact with the coach by email and got immediate positive response. We’re embarking! But already feeling overwhelmed by having to narrow this down by Nov. For D3 (which offers no LL), what do you fall back on? the coaches word?</p>
<p>lftcoastmom,</p>
<p>Great advice & tips for baseball. I agree 100% on all points. Best of luck to your son.</p>
<p>Yes, he went ED for D3. Some schools have ED2, which gives you more time.
With no LLs,For D3 you are relying on the coaches’ word as to their support, and certainly at the most selective schools, it is ultimately an Admissions decision. You should look at the roster and ask the coach what positions (if relevant to your sport) they need and where you stand on their list. But also ask for a preread with Adm. and be realistic about your child’s stats vis a vis that school.
The process can seem overwhelming but there are several experienced posters on this forum whose advice is sound. Fenwaysouth is one!</p>
<p>In D3, especially the NESCAC, it is not rude to ask the coach directly “Will you be supporting me for admission?” His/Her answer will tell you where you stand. We found most coaches very honest in their response. </p>
<p>If they say they are using a “slot” on you, that’s very good. A “tip” is better but not a guarantee. Any other than those two answers and specific verbage, I wouldn’t count on anything.</p>
<p>lftcoastmom,</p>
<p>Thanks for your kind words. I learned about this stuff just like everybody else. First, reviewing what others taught me, making my own mistakes, and passing on what I learned to the next group of folks! The recruiting part makes so much sense now looking back. I have another baseball playing son coming up in 12-18 months, so I hope I don’t forget it all. ;-)</p>
<p>Our lessons learned from investigating many d3 colleges, including NESCAC:
-don’t assume that one coaches level of interest can be tied to your student’s recruitability at similar schools, meaning a coach at a better program with higher ranked academics could be more interested in your student than a “lesser” school
-because of above don’t be tentative about exploring colleges that you think might be out of reach
-all coaches seem to operate differently - some are much much better at communicating - don’t take lagging communication to be lack of interest
-that being said, we found that good communicators seem to be good coaches!
-if a program is say near the bottom of a conference, investigate! If the coach is relatively
new and seems to be on the rise, take a closer look!
-ask current athletes when visiting how they like the coach. You can tell
who are genuinely loving their coaches
-students, really pay attention during your overnight visits. Do the other
students seem happy? One college at the top of my son’s list went straight
to the bottom because he felt they didn’t seem happy
-make sure academically this school is for you - would you attend if you could not compete<br>
-parents, especially moms, be prepared to go out of your comfort range geographically!
-keep checking this site - INVALUABLE!</p>
<p>Our D, too, has been through this process and will head to D3 soccer next year. The most important things we learned about recruiting include:
- if you are interested in a school, keep reaching out to the coach even if they don’t respond right away. A D3 coach said “I don’t have the staff or budget that a D1 program has. You have to help us recruit you.”
- you can get a sense of how many spots there will be in child’s year by looking at the current roster. How many seniors graduating? How many juniors? And so on…
- at least for D3 soccer, we found that spring/summer camps at the individual schools D was interested in were far superior to bigger, broader camps
- ASK what the academic requirements are. Make sure you get test scores and transcripts to coaches early, and ask if they are doing a pre-read of the application. We found D3 coaches to be honest about the requirements and if D had the academic record for admission with/without a tip.<br>
- If the coach says you will need a tip for admissions, ask if you are getting one.
- Also, if you decide to apply ED to a school where the coach has indicated he/she will support you, ask what their track record is for getting supported athletes in.
- Remember that with D3, ultimately it is an admissions department decision and each year some recruited athletes are disappointed.</p>
<p>It goes without saying that all the above comes into play AFTER the athlete has tried to figure out the best fit for them academically, socially, and for their sport. Use the visits to spend time with the team, make sure they are a good fit, make sure the school is the right one overall.</p>
<p>Great info from soccermomz. My D’s D3 recruiting experience (current freshman) was based on sending a video to about 8 or 9 schools she was interested in, the summer after junior year. She had all her scores, resume, grades, sports references, etc., so it was easy for the coaches to learn more about her if they liked the film, or decide to watch the film if they liked the profile. </p>
<p>After that, communicating with the coaches who responded was key; in her case, her favorite LAC was the first to respond, and communication from the coach was candid and informative. D was invited to visit based on the film and references; visit was a huge factor for her.</p>
<p>D and I both asked a ton of questions. As many parents on this forum have said, the parent should not shy away from asking the tough questions. It takes an unusual 17 or 18-year-old to really pin down the coach’s intentions regarding the player, so don’t shy away from taking on that role. </p>
<p>This was admittedly a very easy process for my D, because she had a clear first choice academically and location-wise, and then really liked the coach and team when she visited. She had no trouble saying no to the other coaches who were interested in her. She was admissible even without the sports angle, but it clearly helped tip the scales in her favor, and the coach’s advice to apply ED was sound. One and done - yes!</p>
<p>All good advise, not much to add except to emphasize again to ask direct questions, and if the answer sounds like hedging, BEWARE. Either press harder, or have a back up. Absolutely ask for that “walk-thru” or “pre-read” before you hit the SEND button on that ED app.</p>
<p>Overall, 80% of recruited athletes who apply ED1 in NESCAC are admitted. That means 20% are NOT, and obviously you don’t want your child to be suffering from that heartache.</p>
<p>My S was very heavily courted by Williams. Told by coach " I can pretty much pick my kids", etc etc etc. ACT 31 and transcript-no prob, everything good to go, application complete. We all believed it was a sure thing. But we learned from this site to “ask for a walk-thru”(our HS coaches are useless) and then the troubles started-“admissions people all away”…“didn’t have a chance yet”…I had made a bond with an assistant coach, sent her a pleading e-mail, and the next night(4 days before the ED deadline)the coach called-“Sorry, it doesn’t look so good for your son…Used up all my slots and a tip isn’t enough(in a lot more words)”. S was DEVASTATED. Luckily, he hadn’t burned all his bridges with Midd(or Carleton, MacAlaster, etc), called the coach(himself)-“Is it too late?” “Nope, love to have you, will have admissions look at your app tomorrow…” and as everyone knows, he had a great first season at Midd, and we hope we wiped the eye of that Williams coach.</p>
<p>So again, in D3, you have NOTHING til you get the official letter.</p>
<p>That last post was kind of bitter-so I want to add-and it is relevant to “what we’ve learned”…</p>
<p>Do I think the coach is a bad person who set out to deliberately mislead my s? No.
“Overly optimistic” would be my description.</p>
<p>What really kept my S out of Williams:
At his training trip, he said 2 things he shouldn’t have: He was thinking of deferring a year if he was admitted(so why waste a spot on him?)
He was likely to take a semester to study abroad(don’t mention it)
AND the kicker:He did not get 700s on his SAT2s-so he needed a full slot.</p>
<p>My son is a freshman and nationally ranked in his sport. The colleges that he is currently interested in are mostly Div3 schools. He is our oldest, and neither H or I played a sport in college. What is NESCAC? How soon in the high school career did your children start contacting the coaches of the colleges they were interested in attending?
Thanks.</p>
<p>New England Small College Athletic Conference-Midd, Williams, Amherst, Hamilton, Trinity, Bowdoin, Bates, Tufts,Conneticut College, and Wesleyan…
For swimming, spring Junior year with those first SATs is fine.Apparently Baseball and Football, earlier.</p>
<p>Photogirl makes some great points that apply to D1 coaches as well as D3. A coach from a top 20 athletic program and top 20 academics might be interested even though a coach or coaches from lower level athletic programs or lower level academic schools might show no interest. Why? I have no idea, but it happens, so a player should never assume that a particular school won’t be interested based on responses from other schools.</p>
<p>Also some coaches are friendly and responsive, others are not, but you can’t determine their interest based on friendliness or responsiveness alone. In fact I would recommend you be wary of a coach who is friendly and writes often but never really says anything to pin himself or herself down.</p>
<p>From a swimming point of view- we sent out a stat sheet in the spring of her Junior year. It had her contact information, a brief personal statement, times, academic information, including AP classes, SAT scores, awards, GPA, etc. and height/weight information. We were told by our coach to send out the letters to 10 “dream schools” where she would go in a second but may not be fast enough, 10 schools where she was middle of the pack, and 10 where she would be the star. Most coaches responded, a few with no thanks, but most with interest. We used this information as well as the recruiting letters she received to start narrowing down her choices. </p>
<p>We were also told by our coaches to send back all recruiting questionaire requests, even if not interested. One of the swimmers on our team ended up at a D1 school she had no intention of attending early in the process, but fell in love with the team and the coach during recruiting. </p>
<p>Good luck to you and your athlete. It is a really interesting time of your life and can be a lot of fun.</p>