2018's: How is the college recruiting process going?

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obbay

Banned
Aug 21, 2008
2,199
0
Boston, MA
DD isn't aggressively contacting college coaches lately as school and softball are filling her days. within the next month, we should be updating her video and hopefully this summer will be seeing the coaches she's been in touch with.
I mentioned before that she is looking at a mix of DI, II and III schools but it looks like the DII school is the one she is most interested in school-wise.

where are the rest of you in this process?
 
Jul 12, 2010
47
8
Full court press for past 15 months, including multiple camps, emails, calls, unofficial visits. Narrowed down to a couple of mid-major DIs that showed the most interest. My DD toned down contact a bit during college season. Now needs to ramp back up to get coaches to come see showcases in early summer. Hope to get offer by July. It's a stressful process that relies heavily on athlete to do all the legwork, and then luck plays a huge part as well.
 
Jul 3, 2013
438
43
Been sending emails on and off for a little over 2 1/2 years. She'd usually send a them out in groups, every couple of weeks she would sit down and send out 5 or 6. Been to dozens of camps- skills, futures, elite, recruiting. She's not a fan of schools holding skills camps for high school kids. Driving 3 hours then being told how to play catch doesn't quite do it for her. She never had a huge list of schools and she's really only very recently established a list of things she wants in a school. She had 3 D1 on her list, but kind of counted them out after attending camps. Either wasn't really taken with the coach or met girls (catchers) that had already verbaled to that school. I told her that shouldn't rule those schools out, but what do I know. Narrowed down to a handful of D2 schools and 3 NAIA. Spoke with coach from one of the NAIAs last week and got a pretty generous offer. The other two are probably on what you might call a 'just in case' list, honestly. They don't really fit the criteria she has come up with. She's started really emailing the D2s with her summer schedule. Convenient for her and the schools as most of her tourneys will be within 45 minutes of all of them.

On the subject of luck- DD picked up to play with a team in late March. After her first game with them, their coach called an assistant coach at a D2 that had not even been on our radar. She spoke very highly of our DD (and us as parents apparently) to him and convinced him to take a look at her. He did a social media search and found some clips of her from HS ball last fall. DD emailed him, he responded quickly to set up an unofficial visit. It a couple of weeks to find a date that worked for us and them. The visit was great. 90 minute generic campus visit, followed by 3 1/2 hour visit with the coaches. DD absolutely loved it. It has set the bar pretty high for any other schools. AC came and watched her last week and said he liked what he saw. She's going to their camp in a few weeks and we all feel hopeful about what's to come.

We hope to have a couple of more offers by early June and have a school picked by mid to late July. School ball starts July 31st.
 
Apr 11, 2013
52
8
DD was lucky enough to commit to a P5 conference back in October. Couldn't be more excited as it was where she wanted to go to school even if softball wasn't involved.

Now moving on to my DD that's a 2022...start the process all over again. This one might be easier with a 60mph fastball and a 71 ball exit speed as a 12u player.
 
Jul 4, 2014
141
0
DD received a verbal commitment from one school (School A) several months ago. Coach hasn't pressured her for a commitment as she hadn't visited yet. Planning to visit sometime this summer. I think a verbal commitment from a school without the kid committing back is very unusual (but what do we know since this is our first time to the dance lol!) In the meantime, DD is also speaking with 2 other schools. One (School B) told her that she's on their very short list. They'd like to bring in 2 pitchers and she's one of 4 girls vying for a spot. The other school (School C - and dd's top choice) has told daughter that they too are looking to bring in 2 pitchers and that they're very interested in bringing her in. All 3 are D3 schools. Academically, she's qualifies for all 3 schools and all 3 coaches have said the same. Softball-wise, since she plays for a no-name travel team that does not complete in large national tournaments, other than school A, School B and C would like to see her this summer before any commitments are made. School B and C are also waiting for test scores on the other girls on the shortlist to see if they'll even make the cut. DD is also communicating with another small handful of other D3 schools but they rank much lower on her list so she's not focusing much on them. Not sure if we're on target or not... but that's what's happening on our dd's recruiting front.
 
Last edited:
Jun 17, 2014
97
8
My DD is frustrated because she emails and doesn't get responses from many. She is a 5'4 lefty - fast (2.9 to first), with a high batting average and sometimes power hitter, but not a slapper. Last year's 18U A travel team she batted first on, this year's 18U Gold team she bats second. High level D3s (in the top 15 nationally) have all shown interest and made it clear she would have a place if she wants to go to those schools. Thankfully she is very interested in one of them. But she's frustrated that she hasn't had interest from any of the higher division schools. She's a very good player but i think her size is a disadvantage. Her teams all like her playing first base but with her size that doesn't translate well for a lot of colleges. She's a great outfielder too, but doesn't play there often due to coaches' preferences. We also don't have her in the outfield on her video. I'm thinking we should update the video with some outfielding and her improved hitting (which was good on the video to start but is better now) - maybe that will help get more interest from others. No time to waste - we better get started on that!
 
Last edited:
Mar 3, 2016
47
0
My DD is waiting...clearly not the top of anyone's list, plus her schools are late committers(Ivy, NESCAC, and other high academic schools), who are of course just finishing their seasons-as are we!
DD is a fast slapper(2.8) and switch hitter, and her top 5 schools email her back every now and then(ratio 4 from her, one from them), which is discouraging at times. She was given a "you commit to me and I'll commit to you" type offer in April after an unofficial, but she hasn't decided if it's her first choice school yet-so she thanked the coach and said she thought she'd be ready to decide in July or August...it's in her top 3, but the order moves around.
She took her ACT last fall, and did extremely well, and keeps sending the transcript with the 97 average, so we don't have to wait for that! I suggest anyone with high academic hopes make their DD test in June of sophomore year-if it's high, you get more attention, and if it isn't, you can motivate her to study all summer, retake in Sept, and have that acceptable score at the beginning rather than the end of the process.
We are going to a couple key camps/showcases this summer, and updating her video from the fall this month. She also sends mini-clips (15-30 seconds) linked to her emails periodically, and we can tell from You-Tube analytics that they are being viewed...Just a couple hits from the pro-batter, or front toss, or a great play at a game...

Luck to all!
 
May 7, 2014
59
0
DD has been getting positive feedback and offers to tour campuses from a few division 3 colleges. We're hitting the camp circuit hard this summer in order to hopefully expand her options list. These colleges have all expressed desire to watch her play over the summer as well. Hopefully we get even more colleges on the radar.

Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk
 

obbay

Banned
Aug 21, 2008
2,199
0
Boston, MA
I suggest anyone with high academic hopes make their DD test in June of sophomore year-if it's high, you get more attention, and if it isn't, you can motivate her to study all summer, retake in Sept, and have that acceptable score at the beginning rather than the end of the process.

That's worth repeating!

the other thing is not all DI and DII schools have scholarship money to give out, so if you're considering any of those or schools at DIII, good grades and good scores can get you Academic Scholarship money- which you won't lose if you get injured, but will lose if you can't keep your grades up.
 
Last edited:

rdbass

It wasn't me.
Jun 5, 2010
9,131
83
Not here.
so if you're considering any of those or schools at DIII, good grades and good scores can get you Academic Scholarship money- which you won't lose if you get injured, but will lose if you can't keep your grades up.
DD plays DIII because of the amount of Academic monies she received because of her high grades. So, grades are important. DD has to maintain a certain GPA or you can lose the scholarships. DD was named to the CSAC All-Academic Team.
 

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