If you’ve identified a college that may be of interest to you, make a special point to visit that school. While on campus, why not make a little time to visit with the coach? Meeting with a coach is a great opportunity to ask questions about the school and the athletic program that you are interested in.

Not only will it give you more insight into the program and help you decide if you like the coach. But it’s also an excellent chance to market yourself. Be sure to contact the coach in advance of your visit to schedule an actual appointment. You don’t want to show up on campus hoping to speak to a coach and have no one there to see you!

Before you go, it’s also good idea to do a little bit of research about the college so that you can highlight to the coach the particular reasons why the school appeals to you. Spend some time on the school’s website. Read up on the school in one of the guidebooks to colleges. Check out YouTube to see if the school has a virtual tour, or go to one of the websites that offers virtual campus tours such as ecampustours.com  or Youniversitytv.com.

For your appointment, be sure to take:

• A copy of your transcript, so the coach can see what kind of student you are
• A copy of your athletic resume

When you go, there’s no harm in having a parent be there with you. It may even be beneficial since your parents will ask questions that you won’t. Be nice to your parents, however! The coach will be observing you, and you want to leave the best possible impression. Coaches don’t want disrespectful players on their team.

Because you have initiated the contact with the coach, and you are paying for everything having to do with your visit (i.e. transportation, food, lodging). You are considered to be conducting an “unofficial visit”. “Official visits” are those where the athlete is invited by the coach to spend time with the college’s team and the athlete’s expenses are paid for by the school. (Note that “official visits” can’t happen until after a student’s junior year in high school.) There is no such thing as an “official visit” in NCAA Division III sports, since those schools will not pay to recruit athletes.

If you are on an early “unofficial visit”, and you don’t really know where you stand with respect to the team and the recruiting process at that school, frame your questions as exploratory (e.g., “Playing my sport in college is very important to me, so I’m interested in understanding your approach to the team and the student experience on the team and at the school.”)

If you are further along in the recruitment process, and you appear to be clearly on the coach’s radar for recruitment. Then you can be more direct and specific with your questions. Either way, don’t be afraid to ask questions of the coach when you meet. You need to have as clear an understanding as possible about where you stand as an athlete with that school. And, if you attend, what your experience will be like when you get there.

For a great list of possible questions to ask the coach, see my colleague Mark’s blog post here.

Andrea Aronson
College Admissions Counselor
Westfield, NJ

The post Athletic Recruiting: Plan an Unofficial Visit first appeared on Great College Advice.

The post To Play or Not to Play: College Sports and Academics first appeared on Great College Advice.

The first thing I said was that participation in sports was often an indicator of success in college. As varsity athletes tend to have higher GPAs and are more satisfied with their college experience.

However, these parents’ basic concern is valid. Being a Division I athlete is a huge commitment. One must eat, sleep, and breathe one’s sport, and a D1 athelete can plan on training throughout the year to stay in tip-top condition. Further, Division I athletes must commit to playing all four years if they want to keep their athletic scholarship.

But I spent a lot of time explaining that while Division III schools do not offer athletic scholarships, they do recruit athletes in a different way. Every school with a volleyball team (for example) wants to fill its roster with good players who can take a league championship. Thus many colleges offer other forms of scholarship money to entice an able player to join its team–and its student body.

For you see, colleges have needs that they are trying to fulfill. Not only do they need to round out their volleyball roster. But they need a tuba player, an editor of the school newspaper, and a tenor for the glee club. Think of admissions officers as social engineers: they need to populate the campus with a variety of folks to fill certain prescribed roles. The whole process is not quite so neat and clean as that (it’s not very scientific). But the art of the admissions officer is to build a well-rounded class. And in order to do this, they have to meet the needs of the coaches (among others).

So my advice to parents was to relax a bit. Their kids can still find colleges at which they can have a satisfying varsity athletic experience. And still focus on their school work and also allow them to explore other activities (study abroad, a new social cause, artistic pursuits, etc.).

While some kids are seeking the rush and excitement of serious competition a the Division I level. The majority of players that I met today at the Colorado Crossroads volleyball tournament will never be able to achieve that level of competition. But as I explained to these parents, their daughters will have myriad opportunities available to them. If they learn to play the college admissions and athletic recruiting games like a pro.

Speaking of a pro, I have been very fortunate to have Nancy Nitardy, author of Get Paid To Play, working with me at Colorado Crossroads. She is a former Division I swimming coach at Dartmouth, Harvard, and Indiana University. She works with me in advising athletes on their best athletic options. While I help the same students identify their best academic options. Together, Nancy Nitardy and I are able to provide great college advice for college-bound athletes, whatever their level of play.

Mark Montgomery
Montgomery Educational Consulting
Great College Advice

The post Division I vs. Division III: Sports or Studies? first appeared on Great College Advice.