Tell me about the myths of softball recruiting

[MNDad]

Biggest myth is “If you’re good enough, coaches will find you”. Families have to take control of the process or their kid will sit waiting by the phone forever.

 

[marriard]

Um, no. It doesn’t work that way. Maybe one kid and one coach had that scenario, but it’s not a normal occurrence.

I agree it is not normal - but not that unusual either.

For the talented player who could have played D1 but decides to play say D3, doing the regular admissions tour and showing strong demonstrated interest is a fairly normal occurrence. Going on a campus tour unprompted and telling the coach you are going to be there is a big part of that.

The hardest part DD faced with her school was convincing the coach she REALLY wanted to be there and they were her #1 choice. They were worried that the moment a D1 (especially any of the Ivy schools) showed interest she would go there as many others have done to them in the past. Until she put her Early Decision application in I believe they still were not 100% convinced.

 

[Rolling Hard]

Early Decision App. ??? How binding is that??

What I dont understand is why cant there be a binding contract? School presents offer to player. Negotiate. Agree. Sign. Done. Kinda like real life.

 

[MNDad]

I agree it is not normal - but not that unusual either.

For the talented player who could have played D1 but decides to play say D3, doing the regular admissions tour and showing strong demonstrated interest is a fairly normal occurrence. Going on a campus tour unprompted and telling the coach you are going to be there is a big part of that.

The hardest part DD faced with her school was convincing the coach she REALLY wanted to be there and they were her #1 choice. They were worried that the moment a D1 (especially any of the Ivy schools) showed interest she would go there as many others have done to them in the past. Until she put her Early Decision application in I believe they still were not 100% convinced.

I agree.

What isn’t normal are coaches not inviting recruits to attend camps or visit the campus. It’s definitely not the case where if you tell the coach you’re coming to visit the famous you’ll get an offer.

I know some kids do get offers during their first visit or even after tournaments or camps. For DD it took visiting some 25+ campuses until she received her only offer and that came only after telling the school it was definitely where she wanted to go and submitting transcripts and test scores.

I think the key is the kid telling the coaches that’s where she wants to go. Most of the schools asked where she was in the process and she always said still looking. Coaches have so many kids wanting to go to their schools it makes more sense to put their energy in a kid showing a strong interest in going there. In hindsight that probably cost her some money, but it all worked out.

 

[marriard]

Early Decision App. ??? How binding is that??

What I dont understand is why cant there be a binding contract? School presents offer to player. Negotiate. Agree. Sign. Done. Kinda like real life.

Early Decision Application is part of the admissions process at many schools and not directly related to softball (but a big part of it at many schools).

This if from another post I wrote about DD's committing.

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For those who haven't got there yet, if you apply early decision to a college this is BINDING (unless you show you financially can't do it) - that means you can only apply to ONE school for early decision and if they say yes, this is where you will be going. If a school offers Early action it is not binding. Some schools have both types of applications, some have neither and have just general admission or rolling admissions.

Some have multiple - for example, DD's school has Early Decision 1 (decision mid-Dec), Early Decision 2 (decision early Feb) and General Admission.

DD's school is a good example - the published admission% is around 30%
The incoming class for DD's school is going to be around 600-630 students.

• They took almost 300 of these in early decision 1 - close to 60% of those that applied early decision were offered.
  • Note: Every athlete we talked to at the school applied Early Decision 1.
• In 2019 they took 120 in early decision 2... a somewhat similar % offered.

So that leaves only 200 or so spots for General Admission - so your admission rate for General Admission is actually right about 8%
And it may not even be that good... There is a big difference between 60% and 8%

 

[clarity]

Um, no. It doesn’t work that way. Maybe one kid and one coach had that scenario, but it’s not a normal occurrence.

I certainly didn't expect it to work that way, but is the one offer we've received to date. But, like you said, it could be just one coach and just one kid. It just happens to be us.

 

[let it be fun]

For D3 private schools with a high price tag it is hard for some players to commit until they get their final financial aid offer. Oftentimes that is not until well into their senior year. I have talked to several D3 private school coaches who aren't worried about losing a player to a "better" school, but are more worried abut losing them to "sticker shock" when the cost is upwards of $60K/year before financial aid is applied. Many of these schools can get the price down to below the cost of a public school (with no loans involved) but a player might need to bump her ACT a point or two and has to be willing to wait until the winter of her senior year to find out how much financial aid she can get. The other thing coaches worry about is recruiting good players who just decide not to play ball because their financial aid is in no way tied to softball. My brother just found out he will be on the hook for all of about 4K per year for my niece, currently a HS senior, at a very expensive private D3. The softball coach had absolutely nothing to do with any of the financial end of it. If she chooses not to play softball she still gets all of her money.

 

[Top_Notch]

The softball coach had absolutely nothing to do with any of the financial end of it.

Is financial aid (to play softball or whatever) sometime given in lieu of a "softball scholarship"? i.e. If the kid is really good at softball will the school look the other way and maybe lower tuition to that student (substantially) to recruit that kid? Or is it STRICTLY based on grades and parent's income? DIII I'm referring to

 

[corlay]

For D3 private schools with a high price tag it is hard for some players to commit until they get their final financial aid offer.

A lot of high-academic DIII's have a "cost calculator" on their financial aid websites.
These calculators do give a fairly accurate indication of what your aid package may look like.
(as long as the info you input is accurate... of course)

Also, many of these schools have a specific policy with regard to how they aid the "Expected Family Contribution".
A lot of schools' policy is to aid 100% of this number via grants (no loans!). Others aid 100% with a combination of grants and guaranteed student loans to fill the gap (no private loans!). And still others cover much less. So it pays to do your homework. Why chase recruitment with a University you can't reasonably afford?

There are rumors... that recruits at DIII's and Ivy's are often awarded private "grants" that basically serve as non-athletic, athletic scholarships. I have no first-hand knowledge about the truthfulness of this.

 

[mmeece]

The softball coach had absolutely nothing to do with any of the financial end of it.

Is financial aid (to play softball or whatever) sometime given in lieu of a "softball scholarship"? i.e. If the kid is really good at softball will the school look the other way and maybe lower tuition to that student (substantially) to recruit that kid? Or is it STRICTLY based on grades and parent's income? DIII I'm referring to

In theory they (D3) can't offer a softball player financial help that isn't offered to other students, but there are times when there are little known scholarships or grants that they can direct a recruit towards. Sometimes there are also on-campus jobs that they can direct their players to.