College recruiting process becomes more important and more challenging. By David Galehouse - Director of www.varsityedge.com - Student-athlete resource center for high school and college bound athletes and author of The Making of a Student-Athlete: Succeeding in the College Selection, Application, and Athletic Recruiting Process. Researching and applying to college can be one of the most difficult processes high school students go through. In today’s competitive college environment where students are pressured to think they need to get into the best schools possible, many would argue that the college application process is far too daunting for the average high school student to handle alone. When you throw in the challenge of finding and applying to schools that are also a good fit athletically, the process becomes even more daunting. Students don’t really understand what college is about, or what the admissions criteria are, and they go through the whole application process apprehensive about what the end result is going to be. They get information and advice from so many people, that they often become confused about who to trust or what to believe. For parents and student-athletes, the college recruiting process has changed in the last ten years What was once a state or regional process has become a sophisticated national and global process often with huge financial implications on both schools and families. As the cost of college spirals out of control, the need for families to receive some type of athletic scholarship aid has never become more important (and more difficult!). This basic fact has led to many changes. More, more, more...While there is more scholarship money available, there are more families vying for scholarship money, and more competition means less of a chance for you as an individual to receive aid. After a small slowdown in graduating high school seniors in the 90's, the numbers of students graduating and going on to college is rising and expected to keep rising for several years. There are more opportunities for women, more recruiting services aimed at promoting athletes to colleges, more specialized consultants assisting families with the college application process. There are more student-athletes taking private instruction, going to athletic camps, and participating in AAU & traveling teams and "specializing" in one sport. There are more knowledgeable high school coaches and guidance counselors assisting student-athletes, and there is more general recruiting information available than there was ten years ago both in books and online. Despite all this, many families still do not know what to do! Perhaps the biggest change in the process, however - the one that has taken the recruiting process to a national and even global level - is the birth of the Internet. The Internet has literally allowed every school in the entire country, whether public or private, big or small, to become available to any and every high school student at the click of a mouse. What was once a $1,000 plane ticket and a flight across the country to visit a school can now be replaced by sitting at a computer for ten minutes. The Internet has also transformed the recruiting business into a highly lucrative (and controversial) commercial market for online services that promote student-athletes This has meant changes for college coaches as well, as they now have to consider athletes from across the country and now have to compete for athletes with hundreds of other schools that otherwise would have never been found by students ten years ago. Coaches now have to find a way to evaluate talent when they have no chance of seeing players perform in person and now all coaches are heavily involved in recruiting players. In order for you to be successful in this environment, it’s important you understand not only the recruiting process but the entire process of identifying and selecting schools you can be successful at and will enjoy attending. Remember, you are now competing with more student-athletes from all over the country, who are better trained, and more motivated to win a spot on a college athletic team. How will you stand out? Your Goals Your goal in the recruiting process and the college search should be to use your athletic talent to gain admission to the best academic school you can get into, to play at the highest level you can successfully compete at, at a school that you enjoy socially. This is three goals in one - a high level of academics, high level of athletics, and a good social atmosphere. You can factor a schools location only if you think it’s going to be a problem, meaning that you cannot afford plane tickets back and forth or if you think your family will want to watch you play on a regular basis. While athletics is important, it’s really only 1/3 of your college experience and while finances are important, the majority of student-athletes at best might receive a partial athletic scholarship that may be worth a few thousand dollars and most will receive no athletic scholarship at all. According to the NCAA only about 49% of division 1 and division 2 athletes receive some athletic scholarship money. The rest play for the love of the game. The Witch Hunt - Scholarship or Bust! After parents invest thousands of dollars in athletic participation for their children with league fees, equipment, lessons, camps (and most of all - time), they look to justify those expenses by receiving an athletic scholarship. This often leads to a witch-hunt and causes a loss of focus on the bigger picture of college. Once they have the slightest notion that an athletic scholarship is possible, common sense goes out the window. Families become so focused on athletic scholarships and think about all the money they might save, that they fail to accomplish the 100 other steps that go along with researching, selecting, and applying to college. Consider your athletic talent as a gift and a key that can open doors to colleges that you otherwise would have no shot gaining acceptance to. While a pro career might still be within your imagination, realistically, you are going to college to give yourself a better chance in the working world and you might as well get the best possible education you can.
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