Campus Visits?

Need some info from those of you who have been through the process and have kids playing or have played in college.

Now that June 15th has passed and my DD will be a junior this coming fall, she's had a couple coaches reach out directly to her, encouraging her (and us) to come for an official recruiting visit. Never been through this before. What usually happens on these visits? What sort of contact and interaction will our DD get with the coaches and/or players? Should there be an in-depth phone call before with the coach? Any particular advice with regards to the type of questions she will face, and questions we should ask? Especially curious to understand at what point in the conversation should scholarship money be brought up, if it hasn't already been mentioned.

We've been to one of the campuses already for an ID camp, but nothing official. Have not even seen the others yet. All insights greatly appreciated. Good experiences, bad ones, what to expect, etc.

Thanks
 
Need some info from those of you who have been through the process and have kids playing or have played in college.

Now that June 15th has passed and my DD will be a junior this coming fall, she's had a couple coaches reach out directly to her, encouraging her (and us) to come for an official recruiting visit. Never been through this before. What usually happens on these visits? What sort of contact and interaction will our DD get with the coaches and/or players? Should there be an in-depth phone call before with the coach? Any particular advice with regards to the type of questions she will face, and questions we should ask? Especially curious to understand at what point in the conversation should scholarship money be brought up, if it hasn't already been mentioned.

We've been to one of the campuses already for an ID camp, but nothing official. Have not even seen the others yet. All insights greatly appreciated. Good experiences, bad ones, what to expect, etc.

Thanks

My younger son was invited in his junior year to many sites across the country, by e-mail and telephone. We also got some less-specific inquiries by mail. I let him sort out which ones to pay attention to - although I may have inadvertently scotched one when I told the recruiting assistant from Akron that I didn't know they had a D1 program (they won the NCAA tournament the following Fall).

We actually attended 2 at local colleges, and he stayed overnight at one of those. Those coaches knew him by reputation as a high school and club player (there is a lot of overlap among those camps) and because he was an ODP selectee. There was enough talk among them that both coaches knew about the visit to the other school before we went.

Over the summer we made a day visit (technically an unofficial visit, but we got a tour lasting several hours from the head coach) at a big midwestern school because we were in the area for a tournament. My son had set that up with the recruiting assistant who had seen him play at an ODP event.

In the Fall of his Senior year, we visited two UC schools, which had been in his target band all along, and where there were friends and/or former teammates already in attendance, one of them playing as a Freshman. He stayed overnight both places while I camped out at a nearby hotel.

The older son didn't get much college attention - in his Senior year he was among 16 Seniors, all of whom started some of the games that year. He was asked by the coach at the CC he attended after HS to try out, but he stuck with his local club team that was playing U19 that year. He did well enough at that to get an invitation to his coach's D2 alma mater. We traveled there for two events (an ID camp and a Spring fundraiser/tournament). He made the team and the coach pushed his case through the admissions office, but he chose not to go after the coach and a couple of former teammates left the school after the school year.
 
Need some info from those of you who have been through the process and have kids playing or have played in college.

Now that June 15th has passed and my DD will be a junior this coming fall, she's had a couple coaches reach out directly to her, encouraging her (and us) to come for an official recruiting visit. Never been through this before. What usually happens on these visits? What sort of contact and interaction will our DD get with the coaches and/or players? Should there be an in-depth phone call before with the coach? Any particular advice with regards to the type of questions she will face, and questions we should ask? Especially curious to understand at what point in the conversation should scholarship money be brought up, if it hasn't already been mentioned.

We've been to one of the campuses already for an ID camp, but nothing official. Have not even seen the others yet. All insights greatly appreciated. Good experiences, bad ones, what to expect, etc.

Thanks

MT,

Best wishes as your daughter enters the meat and potatoes of the recruiting process. You should be able to learn alot from each visit, especially how much interest the school has in your player. In each of my daughter's visits, she met with the coaching staff in the athletic office, and then took a tour of the athletic facilities, and then the rest of the campus. She spent 2+ hours with the head coach of a Pac12 school and that coach even walked her all over the campus. No assistant coach was involved...that indicated a serious interest. A Big West school had the assistant show her around, and she had about 20 mins with the head coach. And at a Big10 school, she barely got a 1/2 hour meeting and a 15 min snapshot of the campus with the assistant. Very little interaction with the players in our experience. (She met some of the players at the Pac12 school during a tour of the conditioning facilities.)

She spoke with each coach prior to the visit to set it up. Much of these phone conversations revolved around specific game performances, and what they were looking for, and how she would fit in. The face to face meetings were a continuation of these conversations. History of the program, and their expectations of the future. Here are some of the stock questions we took with us to get answered:

-What style of play do you utilize, and how do you describe your personal coaching style?
-What is the team GPA?
-How does the school support their student athletes academically?
-What is a typical day in season? Out of season?
-Where do you see me playing?
-When is your coaching contract up?

The ACC coach at the school she picked met with her for an hour in his office in the athletic building. He spent another hour with her walking around the practice facility, soccer stadium, and student union. He answered all of her questions in a very forthright manner and made her feel very comfortable. We talked about scholarship opportunities briefly and he mentioned that they would be able to provide a substantial offer.

After the visit, she indicated her high level of interest in the program. After a couple of additional tournaments attended by the coaching staff, they made the offer, which was accepted about 2 months later. She never attended a college-sponsored ID camp, but she did participate in the Legends College Showcase and January College ID Camp. She also never made a video of game performances. Every route is different. After she made a list of college characteristics with her mom and myself, we made a list of interested schools that matched her preferences. Those are the schools we targeted, and it just worked out that she ended up at her #1 choice.

Hope you find this useful...Good luck with the process.
 
Now that June 15th has passed and my DD will be a junior this coming fall, she's had a couple coaches reach out directly to her, encouraging her (and us) to come for an official recruiting visit.......

We've been to one of the campuses already for an ID camp, but nothing official. Have not even seen the others yet. All insights greatly appreciated. Good experiences, bad ones, what to expect, etc.

Thanks

By the statement "encouraging her (and us) to come for an official recruiting visit" are they officially inviting for the player to come during fall season? Or essentially saying that you should come by and talk to us and see the campus type of comments?

The official visit is structured such that the player stays with one the players during the fall season in the dorm room and attend some classes as well as a home game. There is no training, scrimmaging or instructions/eval by the coaching staff. It can last up to 48 hours over the span of a weekend and depending on the school, they may pay for the parent to travel with the player.

Also, the player usually ends up going to one or more of social activity that the college players are already doing. In my kids case, one of the visits, they took him to a off campus party. I know several other kids who experienced the similar situation of attending some party on Friday night.

The other kind of invite goes something like come to the game, we'll put tickets for you to attend and spend a bit of time at campus - all at your expense and on your own. An unofficial visit with a planned interaction. We had few of those too but didn't go to any of those.

Since you've mentioned June 15th, after 10th grade, it must be D2? Or NAIA? Not sure how much travel costs D2/D3/NAIA pays so its maybe that you have to absorb the total travel costs.

In our case, the official visit was essentially the "seal the deal" event and served as the final decision support activity for the both sides - coaches and us.
 
By the statement "encouraging her (and us) to come for an official recruiting visit" are they officially inviting for the player to come during fall season? Or essentially saying that you should come by and talk to us and see the campus type of comments?

The official visit is structured such that the player stays with one the players during the fall season in the dorm room and attend some classes as well as a home game. There is no training, scrimmaging or instructions/eval by the coaching staff. It can last up to 48 hours over the span of a weekend and depending on the school, they may pay for the parent to travel with the player.

Also, the player usually ends up going to one or more of social activity that the college players are already doing. In my kids case, one of the visits, they took him to a off campus party. I know several other kids who experienced the similar situation of attending some party on Friday night.

The other kind of invite goes something like come to the game, we'll put tickets for you to attend and spend a bit of time at campus - all at your expense and on your own. An unofficial visit with a planned interaction. We had few of those too but didn't go to any of those.

Since you've mentioned June 15th, after 10th grade, it must be D2? Or NAIA? Not sure how much travel costs D2/D3/NAIA pays so its maybe that you have to absorb the total travel costs.

In our case, the official visit was essentially the "seal the deal" event and served as the final decision support activity for the both sides - coaches and us.

For non-committed girls, the visits are always unofficial. The official visits are usually reserved for committed girls during their senior year, when all of the commits are brought in the same weekend for bonding. The school paid for her plane ticket, provided her with lodging, and gave her the NCAA approved per diem. All of the commits stayed with freshman/sophomore members of the team, and they had limited interaction with the coaching staff during the weekend. They attended the Saturday football game as a group with field access, and the girls soccer game on Sunday. It was like an extended slumber party that exposed the commits to the dorms, food, and facilities of the school. My player had the time of her life that weekend.
 
For non-committed girls, the visits are always unofficial. The official visits are usually reserved for committed girls during their senior year, when all of the commits are brought in the same weekend for bonding. They all stayed with members of the team, and they had limited interaction with the coaching staff. They attended the Saturday football game, and the girls soccer soccer game on Sunday. It was like an extended slumber party that exposed the commits to the dorms, food, and facilities of the school. My player had the time of her life that weekend.

I concur (omg, we actually agree on something) :eek:
 
For non-committed girls, the visits are always unofficial. The official visits are usually reserved for committed girls during their senior year, when all of the commits are brought in the same weekend for bonding. The school paid for her plane ticket, provided her with lodging, and gave her the NCAA approved per diem. All of the commits stayed with freshman/sophomore members of the team, and they had limited interaction with the coaching staff during the weekend. They attended the Saturday football game as a group with field access, and the girls soccer game on Sunday. It was like an extended slumber party that exposed the commits to the dorms, food, and facilities of the school. My player had the time of her life that weekend.

I don't believe the NCAA would agree with that interpretation.
 
By the statement "encouraging her (and us) to come for an official recruiting visit" are they officially inviting for the player to come during fall season? Or essentially saying that you should come by and talk to us and see the campus type of comments?

The official visit is structured such that the player stays with one the players during the fall season in the dorm room and attend some classes as well as a home game. There is no training, scrimmaging or instructions/eval by the coaching staff. It can last up to 48 hours over the span of a weekend and depending on the school, they may pay for the parent to travel with the player.

Also, the player usually ends up going to one or more of social activity that the college players are already doing. In my kids case, one of the visits, they took him to a off campus party. I know several other kids who experienced the similar situation of attending some party on Friday night.

The other kind of invite goes something like come to the game, we'll put tickets for you to attend and spend a bit of time at campus - all at your expense and on your own. An unofficial visit with a planned interaction. We had few of those too but didn't go to any of those.

Since you've mentioned June 15th, after 10th grade, it must be D2? Or NAIA? Not sure how much travel costs D2/D3/NAIA pays so its maybe that you have to absorb the total travel costs.

In our case, the official visit was essentially the "seal the deal" event and served as the final decision support activity for the both sides - coaches and us.
Thanks. I didn't know the difference between unofficial and official visits. One coach specified the visit during the summer, but wants to speak with her and us during the visit.

D3 and NAIA have no restrictions on communication, so she's already had direct comm with some coaches at that level. These are D2.
 
For non-committed girls, the visits are always unofficial. The official visits are usually reserved for committed girls during their senior year, when all of the commits are brought in the same weekend for bonding. The school paid for her plane ticket, provided her with lodging, and gave her the NCAA approved per diem. All of the commits stayed with freshman/sophomore members of the team, and they had limited interaction with the coaching staff during the weekend. They attended the Saturday football game as a group with field access, and the girls soccer game on Sunday. It was like an extended slumber party that exposed the commits to the dorms, food, and facilities of the school. My player had the time of her life that weekend.
Thanks for the clarification. Sounds awesome.
 
That's odd to me that the NCAA even mentions NAIA schools in that blurb. As far as I know, NCAA has zero jurisdiction/control of NAIA schools. Anyway, they must be pretty lax on enforcing those contact rules at the D3 level.

I wasn't responding to NAIA restrictions, which, by the way, is very little like NCAA D3.
 
I wasn't responding to NAIA restrictions, which, by the way, is very little like NCAA D3.
I know. In my initial comment I said there were "no restrictions" and you were correcting that point. Yes, there are some restrictions, they just don't have the June 15 Junior year thing. In reading the link you supplied, I noticed that the NAIA schools were mentioned. I found that odd. That's all.
 
I know. In my initial comment I said there were "no restrictions" and you were correcting that point. Yes, there are some restrictions, they just don't have the June 15 Junior year thing. In reading the link you supplied, I noticed that the NAIA schools were mentioned. I found that odd. That's all.
Just some friendly advise, don't ever believe Espola.
 
Need some info from those of you who have been through the process and have kids playing or have played in college.

Now that June 15th has passed and my DD will be a junior this coming fall, she's had a couple coaches reach out directly to her, encouraging her (and us) to come for an official recruiting visit. Never been through this before. What usually happens on these visits? What sort of contact and interaction will our DD get with the coaches and/or players? Should there be an in-depth phone call before with the coach? Any particular advice with regards to the type of questions she will face, and questions we should ask? Especially curious to understand at what point in the conversation should scholarship money be brought up, if it hasn't already been mentioned.

We've been to one of the campuses already for an ID camp, but nothing official. Have not even seen the others yet. All insights greatly appreciated. Good experiences, bad ones, what to expect, etc.

Thanks
Official visit to my knowledge means the university pays for everything and those are usually reserved to committed players and the visit is sometime during their senior year with as many girls in that class that they can get there. All other visits are unofficial and the cost is born by the player/parents. I also don't think with the new rule you can have a unofficial visit until after Sept 1.

For my daughter they were all fairly similar. She visited mostly power 5 schools from 4 of the 5 power conferences. You will usually get some type of itinerary from the university of what will be happening on the visit. Most of them included the following: 1. visit with academic coordinator - they will tell you what their policies are. They will give you an idea of what coordinator does and how often the player reports into them, tutoring requirements or not, study hall or not etc. 2. Tour with one of the coaches or multiple coaches of the athletic facilities they are all very similar at that level, but some do something that might be different that they will point out. 3. Some will have a coach take you on a tour of the whole campus as well and maybe take you to the college that your player might be interested in. 4. watch a team training season may be on the pitch or in the weight room depending on when you visit. 5. Lunch with coach/s, you have to pay, they can't pay on unofficial visit. sometimes they will have your dd eat with the team and you will sit with the coach's 6. Some will have you meet with Strength and Conditioning coach. 7. many times they will try to schedule your visit when their games are going on or other athletic events. Generally they will try to get you on the field for football games during warm up and they will do the same and have you on the field during their warm ups. Once the game starts you have to go to the stands. 8. We always asked to see the dorms that they were in the first year, most would accommodate that. There is a wide variety of of dorms from the old school prison type dorm room with communal bathrooms to 2 bedroom suites with a common bathroom for the suite. 9. Some had my dd stay with players in their dorm others did not. 10. some will have you go to a class with a student. 11. At the end of the visit all of them had a final meeting where the head coach was always there and driving the meeting. They would tell us what their interest was and this interest was generally expressed to my daughter with an offer. We believe that most of the schools knew at least vaguely what my daughters offers were from other schools as most were similar if not identical. They obviously had talked with her club coach's. For my daughter most of her offers were made and left out there. we believe this was due to the fact that she was made her first offer at the very beginning of her freshman year. we let them know that she would not be making a decision until the following summer. There were 2 or 3 that didn't make offers but told us to let them know when she was close to making a decision and they would make their offer at that point. She ended up choosing one of the schools that didn't make the initial offer and frankly didn't seem as interested. Once she let them know that she was going to make a decision they came on strong.

Caliklines questions are good except the one that asks the style of play. You should already know that if you have an interest in going to the school IMO. your daughter should come up with questions that are important to her, and most of them will be asked in the normal course of a visit. The coach's and my daughter would drive most of the conversations. the exception was for the academic adviser, i wanted to make sure that they were keeping an eye on her and of course they are. They don't want to lay out $'s to have kids be academically ineligible. From that standpoint they were all great and probably keep a better eye on them, maybe more so than many parents would, so as a dad i love that.

Hope this is useful. Good luck to your daughter and your family. Have fun with the process and take pictures and make notes.
 
Official visit to my knowledge means the university pays for everything and those are usually reserved to committed players and the visit is sometime during their senior year with as many girls in that class that they can get there. All other visits are unofficial and the cost is born by the player/parents.

This is not correct. In the past, official visits in women's soccer were not allowed until the start of the student's senior year in high school. By then, most of the kids were committed, so it seemed like it was only for committed players - it was not. The rules were changed this year to allow official visits after the start of the junior year. It doesn't matter if your kid is committed or not, an official visit simply means that the schools is inviting your daughter and you on campus for a visit of up to 48 hours in duration and are covering both of yours travel/lodging/food expenses during the visit (http://www.ncaa.org/student-athletes/resources/recruiting-calendars). For division I schools I believe you are allowed up to 5 official visits, 1 per school. D2 and D3 don't seem to have those restrictions.

Most kids talk to the coach on the phone prior to the visit, but it's not strictly required. In my experience the visit typically involves a tour of the campus and the athletic facilities, opportunity to talk to and spend time with the current players on the team, a visit to a sporting event at the school, and finally an opportunity to talk to the coaching staff about your daughter's fit for their program and possibly an offer of a scholarship.
 
MT this is an exciting time in the process. In contrast to what some others have said, Please realize the "official"and the "unofficial" visit have nothing to do with being "committed" or "not committed"

See the NCAA website for confirmation here: http://www.ncaa.org/student-athletes/future/eligibility-center/what-official-visit

The executive summary is basically that the "unofficial" visit is on your dime and is a great chance for you and your daughter to bond and see the school and learn more about the campus environment and the soccer program in person. At the D3 level it is also a way to signal to the coach that your player is taking the school seriously. The "official visit" involves an overnight stay and travel and the costs and expenses covered will differ from school to school. If you are looking at D1 they can roll our more perks and $$ for the travel. If it's D3 then they will cover travel to and from the airport to campus but no airfare. This is where a D3 coach will be showcasing the school and soccer program and your player will not be with you at all during the visit. You get some "Dad time" while she interacts with the players and coaches and stays in a dorm overnight. I am speaking in generalities. In general there is a big difference beteeen D1 and D3 so please keep that in mind as you hear other people's experiences since they may or may not apply to your situation. Best wishes as always. This was a lot of fun for our family and provided some great bonding experiences.
 
MT this is an exciting time in the process. In contrast to what some others have said, Please realize the "official"and the "unofficial" visit have nothing to do with being "committed" or "not committed"

See the NCAA website for confirmation here: http://www.ncaa.org/student-athletes/future/eligibility-center/what-official-visit

The executive summary is basically that the "unofficial" visit is on your dime and is a great chance for you and your daughter to bond and see the school and learn more about the campus environment and the soccer program in person. At the D3 level it is also a way to signal to the coach that your player is taking the school seriously. The "official visit" involves an overnight stay and travel and the costs and expenses covered will differ from school to school. If you are looking at D1 they can roll our more perks and $$ for the travel. If it's D3 then they will cover travel to and from the airport to campus but no airfare. This is where a D3 coach will be showcasing the school and soccer program and your player will not be with you at all during the visit. You get some "Dad time" while she interacts with the players and coaches and stays in a dorm overnight. I am speaking in generalities. In general there is a big difference beteeen D1 and D3 so please keep that in mind as you hear other people's experiences since they may or may not apply to your situation. Best wishes as always. This was a lot of fun for our family and provided some great bonding experiences.

D1, D2, or D3 - How much expenses the school will cover depends on the school budget and customs and how badly the coach wants to impress your kid (and you).
 
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