XC / T&F Recruiting advice that I can offer

<p>Thanks mortgagebkr for all the info!</p>

<p>I’m getting a little more than nervous about my son’s situation. He is a senior but ran only three years- has a 16:02 5k and a 9:37 3200m. (I think his 5k time would have been even lower but we discovered he had an injury so was off a couple of weeks and didn’t start competing until 9/21) He has 34 ACT, 10 writing with 4.1 weighted. The problem is since 10th grade he has really been focused on a great state school. It’s D1. He applied ED and has a good chance to get in. He is not getting support from coach. He will pursue a walk-on position. Thanks to the problems with Common Application, the school is pushing back its ED notifications to another week or so out leaving very little turnaround time to apply to other schools and make connections to other coaches. He has one NESCAC that he has made contact with in the past. </p>

<p>While he has a BeRecruited profile and has filled out a few questionnaires, he has felt funny about making serious outreach to other coaches when his heart is set on a school and planned to apply ED. There are no obvious guarantees in college admission and I am just so worried he has backed himself into this corner. I plan to have him work on other applications but feel unsure about outreach to other coaches when we have an ED application sitting out there. I do think at this point he should touch base with the NESCAC school just to update his stats, etc. He also likes that school/cross country program and it would be his second choice if financials worked out. </p>

<p>I am not sure that there is anything more that he can do at this point. It has been a learning experience and mistakes have been made. Still, if he gets into to the ED school then everything will work out. I will just be miserable until we get word.</p>

<p>VA Hockey - I would definitely start to reach out to schools - he sounds like a real good solid runner - just like my son (with much better accedemics). Not a top Tier D1 recruit but definitly one that can help out a team on the D1 level. </p>

<p>I would be filling out as many athletic questionaires as possible and emailing the coaches - he wil be invited on OV’s and who know’s maybe the school that he thought he always wanted won’t be after he goes and see’s what else is available to him.</p>

<p>The letter of intent does not get signed until Feb 5 so: 1) you have plenty of time between now and then and 2) coaches might think they have a kid locked up but all of a sudden they go in a different direction maybe opening a door.</p>

<p>I would be real hesitant about a coach that is not looking to give any support to your application.</p>

<p>Good Luck</p>

<p>I would but we will be getting our ED decision this week (or give me xanax, the following week). It is a binding agreement so there is no wiggle room. He loves the school, first and foremost, and the running is second. He is an avid runner, loves to run and wants to run in college. But, he picked the school based on where he fit academically and personally rather than the sport. (Don’t get me wrong, he wants to run for them desperately but we knew it would be tough given that he was just breaking into D1 times his senior year.) It is a high mileage program for XC/track so I am less than thrilled with that aspect. </p>

<p>But he has to follow his heart. If we get a no, then we will be very aggressive in outreach to other schools. Still, lesson learned that he should have done more outreach before doing ED to at least be known to other coaches and to see other options. Thanks for your input though. My other kids play travel hockey so there is zero chance of them going anywhere in their sport so college sports are not something that is on our radar. It has been a definite learning experience.</p>