Athletic Recruiting

Figure out which schools could benefit from your athletic abilities, and which ones you would reap the most benefits from. 

When you have worked hard and have excelled both on and off the field as a star athlete and scholar, deciding which school to attend among thousands may be difficult. When your goals include potentially playing sports for the college of your dreams, the stakes can be even higher. No matter which division or school appeals to you most, athletes are being asked to make their decisions earlier and earlier, leading some schools to ask for the NCAA to issue rules limiting the early decision-making process for athletes.

You will likely need guidance both leading up to and during the process so that you can choose the school that will help you to meet your academic and athletic goals.

Going Ivy is a team of experts who have attended the most exclusive colleges and universities in the country. We understand how high the stakes are for student athletes when they are trying to figure out their goals and choose the school that is the best for them. We can help you to prepare throughout, helping you to narrow down your list of schools to those that match both your abilities and your goals. While the process may differ for each student, there are some general steps that you might expect to occur during the recruiting process.

Steps of the Athletic Recruiting Process

Your recruiting process may differ depending on how large your school is and how well-known you or your sport are. In general, you can expect some specific stages to occur as the process commences and continues.

Coach Contacts

It may be clear as early as the ninth grade that you could go to college as an athlete, and at Going Ivy, we understand the difficulty that is faced by high school athletes when they are trying to figure out which schools they should target so early. If you are a stand-out player and participate in varsity sports, you should begin thinking about which schools interest you early in the junior year of high school. It is important that you honestly assess both your academic and athletic abilities so that you understand which schools are in reach, as well as which schools might be open to you because of athletics. Assess which schools could benefit from your athletic abilities, and which ones you would reap the most benefits from. You can control when the athletic recruiting process starts, because it is normally you who will be contacting the coaches, not the other way around. Going Ivy can help you research all the schools you are interested in, and guide you in your communications with the coaches.

After making initial contacts with the coaching staff and asking your questions, you will then likely visit a number of different college campuses. You may have the chance to talk to the athletic staff in person and to learn more about how their programs are run and what the expectations for the athletes are. Coaches who are interested in you may then schedule visits to your high school in order to watch you play and to assess your ability.

Offers and Letters of Intent

Coaches who want you to play for their teams may contact you with financial offers. These might include partial or full scholarships. If you agree to accept a financial aid offer based on athletics, you will be presented with a letter of intent to sign. It is very important that you are sure that you want to attend the school. Once you sign the letter of intent, you cannot be recruited by another school and must notify them all to withdraw you from consideration. The letter of intent is a contract between you and the school in which you agree to enroll and to play for the school’s team in exchange for the tuition aid that is being offered to you.

Preparation Before the Athletic Recruiting Process

If you are a nationally known top prospect, doing your homework is vitally important. Schools may try to tell you that they offer more to you off the field than they do in all actuality.

For star athletes, it is not expected that you have the best grades and test scores. However, the Ivy League and other selective schools still expect you to meet certain academic standards. If you need to bring up your grades, you can benefit from getting help from tutoring. You should still aim to get the top scores on your SAT or ACT while also maintaining an excellent GPA in rigorous courses in addition to your sport. This can help to tip the balance in your favor, helping you to gain admission into your top-choice school.

Going Ivy counselors are available not only for college admissions guidance for student athletes, but also to help you to bring up your grades with tutoring and to prepare for your ACT or SAT. Contact us today to learn more about all of the services that we offer and to get started on your journey toward excellence.