When is the latest I can fill out D3 Questionnaires?

Hi everyone!

I am currently a Junior and want to join either a D3 soccer or track team in college. However, I have yet to fill out the questionnaires on their web sites and I am getting a bit worried that I am running out of time.

I have a few reasons I haven’t filled out the recruitment form as yet:

  1. On the questionnaire it asks for my GPA. Currently my GPA is on the low side (3.5ish with major improvement) and I want to submit my latest GPA at the end of my trimester (1 more week).
  2. Similarly, it also asks for my SAT score. I took the test in December and am retaking it in March. I've taken multiple practice tests and a better score is developing. I want to send my best score
  3. Track season has yet to start and my school is getting a new coach, one who does not know me as yet and therefore can not include him or her as a contact.

At the moment I am really scared that I wont be able to play in college. Most of my D3 schools are reaches/matches and I want to get these questionnaires done. Throughout my junior year I’ve been worried that I am not good enough to play in college, but I am ready to see how this process plays out.

Other questions:
What happens once I submit the questionnaire?
Do D3 schools offer prospect days?

Thank you in advance for reading! I apologize for the really bad writing… It is nearly 2 AM and I am panicking.

It may be hard to be recruited for soccer this late in the year for a junior. I assume you played soccer for your high school or club last fall? If you are in an upcoming soccer showcase with a club team near some of your target D3 schools, that might present an opportunity to let the coaches know when and where you are playing. D3 coaches don’t do much traveling to recruit, but they may be heading to a showcase tournament anyway or have assistants to watch.

However, you have much more time and opportunity heading into the spring of your junior year with track, since the track times that you achieve this season are likely to be the marks that can get you recruited. If you have good times from last track season, fill out the questionnaires ASAP and try to improve them as best you can this spring. You can leave the GPA spot blank and fill out the rest for now. But then as soon as you have your new and improved GPA, resubmit the entire questionnaire AND if you want to maximize chances, then also mail a resume to the programs you think may be the best fit for you. If your school does not have a track coach yet, perhaps you can list your school’s athletic director (assuming you have one) as a contact. Either ask or submit the questionnaire with that spot blank…and resubmit entire form later once you have permission to use the new coach as a contact. Good luck!

Prospect days will differ by team and school. D3 schools do allow official and unofficial visits which sometimes will simply consist of several recruits from different schools come for an overnight at the same time. And as to “what happens once I submit the questionnaire?” also depends. If your track times are sufficiently fast, you may get a response. Note that not all programs monitor their electronic questionnaires regularly, so follow up with a paper resume to be sure they have received your info. As your times improve this season, resubmit. By looking at the team’s past track times, you should be able to get a pretty good idea whether you have a chance to be recruited at a particular school.

Relax – first of all, the questionnaire is not the “be all and end all” of D3 recruiting. Most programs want a direct email from the student containing academic and athletic information. If your gpa goes up in a week, great, wait and send the email then. But don’t wait much longer than that. You can indicate you are testing in March in your email, and not identify your prior score, if you prefer. Coaches want to see that the academics is not an obstacle, and then are interested in what a student can contribute to their program.

The email is the first step in the student and program getting to know each other, and learning whether they might be a good fit. In D3 soccer, many programs either run their own camp or participate in other, larger camps. It is tough to get recruited from being seen only in camp the summer before senior year, not impossible, just uphill. Our experience with D3 soccer recruiting, especially with east coast schools, was that programs had been watching players on the Academy circuit for some time before the kid came to camp so there was already a smaller group of players of interest. Some programs will run single day, spring camps. Get on the website of the programs you are interested in, and find our what their camp schedule is.

Can you visit these schools in the spring, meeting with coaches? I’m not familiar with track recruiting, presumably coaches are involved in spring season so have less availability for prospect meetings. D3 soccer coaches are more available, as they have their own spring training and are focusing on recruiting, traveling to showcase tournaments etc. You won’t know if you are competitive for recruiting at specific schools until you make contact – better to start that process and see where it goes, than wait. Good luck!

Just submit the questionnaire. Some coaches don’t even use them and you have to get yourself in front of the coach by another means - email, call, letter, high school or club coach. My daughter did complete a questionnaire and got an immediate response (like within 30 minutes) but that was just luck.

If you don’t fill in the questionnaire now, don’t just submit one in the summer and hope that the coaches see it. Coaches have summer vacations too. They go to camps, they run camps, they go on recruiting tours. You need to follow up and make sure the coach actually gets your information.

Timed sports are simpler from a recruiting POV, so while you’re late for soccer, you are right on time for track. Coaches really only need meet results to know if they’re interested.

You can try to get to ID camps for soccer this spring and summer for your top choices, but the general consensus is what @Midwestmomofboys notes - you’ll have to have a great camp to displace someone who’s been on a coach’s radar for a while, at least at many schools.