Athletic Recruiting

What parent of an athlete doesn’t dream of that photograph on “Signing Day” when the big athletic scholarship for their child is real? After all those practices and games in the freezing cold and the blazing heat, after all the carpooling, snack assignments and cheering, as well as the consolation, you’re sure your kid deserves a scholarship, right? Well, we can all dream but reality tells us a different story.

According to the NCAA, there are a few million high school athletes, more than 460,000 NCAA student-athletes, and fewer than two percent of them will go pro in their sports. The probability of competing beyond high school is daunting. A chart on the site demonstrates just how challenging it is for high school athletes to become members of the NCAA and shows the percentage who then move on to professional sports. We’ll take a more in-depth look at these statistics later in this article.

Here’s what you need to know if you are interested in playing a sport in college. Your first order of business is to spend some time doing your homework on the following websites:

www.ncaa.org - The official web site of the National Collegiate Athletic Association. Read the NCAA guide for prospective collegiate athletes.

www.naia.org - The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics, another governing body of college sports.

www.ncaaeligibilitycenter.org - the place where student athletes need to go to register and begin the recruitment process. The site helps students and families determine academic eligibility and amateur athlete eligibility status. Prospective student-athletes must register with the “Eligibility Center” to be considered for scholarships and financial aid.

Here are some things you’ll need to think about as you consider entering the athletic recruitment process:

• Think about the concept of “fit” – make sure the school is a solid academic fit for you as well as a sports/social fit. You want to make sure you will be able to graduate in four years with a solid major and a strong transcript.

• Talk with your coach to help determine at what level you may be able to play (DI, DII, DIII).

• Be responsible for the process and don’t forget to return questionnaires, send film if requested, take standardized tests, send transcripts when asked.

• Visit as many colleges as possible (unofficial). Spend some serious quality time with the coaches and other players and ask how they are treated, how well they’re doing in classes and what their life at college is like.

• Be honest throughout the process and follow the rules diligently. Be straight with the coaches recruiting you and expect coaches to be honest with you.

Here is the back-up research on the percentage of high school players who continue in their sport in college and beyond.

Football • About 6.5%, or approximately one in 16, of all high school senior boys playing interscholastic football will go on to play football at a NCAA member institution. • Less than two in 100, or 1.6%, of NCAA senior football players will get drafted by a National Football League (NFL) team. • Eight in 10,000, or approximately 0.08% of high school senior boys playing interscholastic football will eventually be drafted by an NFL team.

Men's Basketball • Approximately one in 30, or approximately 3.3%, of high school senior boys playing inter-scholastic basketball will go on to play men's basketball at a NCAA member institution. • About one in 75, or approximately 1.2%, of NCAA male senior basketball players will get drafted by a National Basketball Association (NBA) team. • Three in 10,000, or approximately 0.03% of high school senior boys playing interscholastic basketball will eventually be drafted by an NBA team.

Women's Basketball • A few more than three in 100, or 3.7%, of high school senior girls interscholastic basketball players will go on to play women's basketball at a NCAA member institution. • Less than one in 100, or approximately 0.9%, of NCAA female senior basketball players will get drafted by a Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) team. • One in 4,000, or approximately 0.03% of high school senior girls playing interscholastic basketball will eventually be drafted by a WNBA team.

Men's Soccer • Less than three in 50, or about 5.7%, of high school senior boys interscholastic soccer players will go on to play men's soccer at a NCAA member institution. • Approximately 20 in 1,000, or about 1.9%, of NCAA senior male soccer players will be drafted by a Major League Soccer (MLS) team. • About two in 2,000 or approximately 0.09% of high school senior boys playing interscholastic soccer will eventually be drafted by an MLS team.

For Parents: Helping Your Child Succeed

In the midst of worrying about college admissions, it can be easy to forget that your child’s high school years aren’t just about getting into college. High school is also an important time for developing the life skills necessary to do well in college. Here are five ways parents can help their high schoolers prepare for success in college.

Help your child choose the appropriate level of academic challenge. High school academics lay the foundation for academic success in college. However, this doesn’t mean that piling on a full slate of AP courses is right for every teen. Encourage your child to make thoughtful course selections, taking into account both individual strengths and weaknesses, and a reasonable work-life balance. Also discuss how high school coursework aligns with what he’ll be studying in college. For instance, strong quantitative skills are a requirement to do well in many college courses; taking math through senior year in high school can help make the transition to those courses go more smoothly.

Cut the reins. It’s nice to be needed, but as your child nears the end of high school, your goal as a parent should be to be needed less. Gradually give your child more freedom to make her own decisions and manage her own schedule. Sure, it’s likely that she’ll make a few mistakes along the way, but it will be better for your child to make those mistakes – and learn how to fix them – before she goes off to college.

Make reading a family affair. Remember reading story-books to your young child? That activity likely helped your child learn to read. Even with teens, reading together as a family is just as important. Few teens, of course, want to be tucked into bed with a story, but there are ways that you can help your child continue to develop the strong reading skills he’ll need in college. Clip articles that might interest your child and suggest you discuss them. Ask your child about the books he’s reading in his English class; what does he like or dislike about the books, and what is he learning from them? Better yet, get a copy of a few of the same books, read them yourself, and talk to your child about your thoughts and impressions of the books.

Travel. College introduces students to many new ideas, cultures, and ways of doing things. Travel is a great way to help your teen get comfortable with new environments and new people. You don’t have to go to the other side of the world on a fancy trip for your child to reap the rewards. Even a quick trip to a new city an hour or two from home can help your child begin to see the larger world that awaits her in college.

Teach life skills. Academic success is important, but in order to live independently in college, your child still needs to know how to do things like his own laundry, balance a checkbook, and make simple meals. Make a list of all of the basic day-to-day tasks you do for your child today, and gradually teach your child how to do each one on the list for himself. Don’t wait until the summer before college to get started. The sooner your child is able to confidently handle these tasks on his own, the easier the transition to college will be.

Searching for Scholarships

Scholarships provide gift money that does not have to be repaid. That makes scholarships an attractive way to help pay for college. Most scholarships are awarded directly by the college you attend, but there are also other sources of scholarship aid. Federal and state governments, employers, credit and professional organizations, some private companies, foundations, individuals, and religious and civic organizations offer scholarships. But how can you find out about these?

To search for scholarships, choose a couple of the free scholarship search engines noted below. And remember, any scholarship service that requests money is likely to be a scam.

• FastWeb (fastweb.com) connects you to targeted scholarships based on your profile (strengths, interests, skills, groups).

• Mach25 (collegenet.com) is a free web version of Wintergreen/Orchard House Scholarship Finder database.

• SRN (studentscholarshipsearch.com) matches students to appropriate scholarships based on strengths, talents, field of study, sports, achievements, background.

• College Resource Network (collegeresourcenetwork.com) also includes many minority scholarships in its database.

• Cappex (cappex.com) comprises a database of scholarships worth over $11 billion.

• BigFuture (bigfuture.collegeboard.org) offers a searchable scholarship database.

• Salliemae (salliemae.com) includes over 3 million scholarships in its database.

• Scholarships.com (scholarships.com) compares your background with its database and identifies good matches.

Happy searching!

Acing That Interview

Students who interview with admission officers or alumni from American colleges are often surprised to find that the interviewer made the process much less intimidating than they had anticipated. Interviewers are not trying to trip you up; they simply want to get to know you and will try to determine if you and their college are a good match. Remember that part of the interviewer’s job is to get you excited about the school. After a good interview, a well-intentioned alumni interviewer may tell a student that the school would be lucky to have her, and it’s natural to believe that means good news is coming. Whether the interviewer is just saying that to reassure an anxious student or genuinely thinks she should be admitted, the student may be in for a major disappointment if she puts too much stock in the interviewer’s words.

It is expensive to have admission officers interview all or most applicants, so few colleges actually require interviews. But more schools are encouraging interviews as a way to help distinguish among all the students who have similarly impressive grades, test scores and extracurricular activities. While a face-to-face interview on campus is ideal, it’s not always possible to travel to every college during the application process. Expecting students to interview on campus would be especially burdensome to lower-income students, which is why many schools have alumni around the country conduct interviews with local applicants. In addition to on-campus interviews, some colleges offer applicants the option of a Skype or other web-based interview, or possibly a phone interview.

The interviewer may write a glowing report, but interviews are rarely a major factor in admission decisions. Smaller colleges, which can interview more of their applicants, are likely to give interviews more weight than large public universities. But even if an interview won’t be a major factor in your admission prospects, it’s good practice. You will be interviewing in the future for internships, jobs, and possibly graduate school programs, so developing strong interview skills is important. Never turn down the offer of an interview! If you do, it looks as though you are not a serious applicant.

Before you go to an interview, research the school so that you can say why you and this college are a perfect match. Also have several questions ready, as interviewers always ask if there is anything you want to know. Engage the interviewer in conversation, and the meeting will be a more pleasant experience for both of you. If it’s an alumni interview, remember that alumni interviewers love their school, so asking about the interviewer’s experiences at the college can help get the conversation going. Show your enthusiasm for the college and you’ll both enjoy the experience. And don’t forget to write a thank you letter to the interviewer as soon as you return home.
 

Big Fish or Little Fish?

Would you rather be a big fish in a small pond, or a little fish in a big pond? When it comes to choosing which college to attend, this is an important question for both students and parents to consider.

Many people assume that it’s better to attend the most selective college possible, even if your high school grades, test scores, and other measures place you towards the lower end of the college’s student body. The rationale behind this “small fish in a big pond” line of thinking is that students will always benefit from being surrounded by smarter peers, as well as enjoy the perceived prestige of the more selective school.

Yet, research suggests otherwise. Multiple studies have shown that students who opt to be a top student at a less selective college (in other words, a big fish in a small pond) tend to feel more competent, have better college GPAs, and higher career aspirations than students who just squeaked into a more selective college. This is true even when the student attending the less selective college had a less impressive admissions profile (i.e., high school GPA, test scores) than the student who picked the more selective school.

Author Malcolm Gladwell also points out how being a big fish in a small pond can be especially beneficial to students planning to pursue STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) degrees and STEM-related careers. At a presentation at Google Zeitgeist, Gladwell discussed how many students who begin college intending to major in STEM fields switch to non-science and math majors. The students least likely to switch majors are those whose high school SAT scores put them in the top third of their classmates, whereas students with SAT scores in the bottom third are the most likely to switch.

The equation doesn’t change based on the selectivity of the college, noted Gladwell. A student’s SAT scores may put him in the bottom third of peers at a highly selective university, or at the top of his peers at a less selective school. But, the odds of the student persisting through to graduation in a STEM major will be greater at the less selective college where he is in the top third.

“As human beings, we dramatically underestimate the cost of being at the bottom of a hierarchy,” said Gladwell in his presentation. “We form our self-assessment and confidence based on our standing relative to the group, not the entire world.” So, a student’s math SAT scores may place him in the top percentile of all high school students, but whom he compares himself to is the student who sits next to him in math class. If he’s towards the top of students in a college – regardless of its selectivity – he’ll be more likely to see himself as capable of keeping up with the group.

Of course, there are many reasons for choosing a college. A student and his parents may prefer the programs, location, financial aid, extracurricular activities, or a host of other characteristics of one college over another. A motivated student can also succeed at a variety of institutions, regardless of how he or she compares to campus peers. Students who are likely to be “big fish” among their classmates at a highly selective college will reap the same benefits as they would by attending a less selective school. And, some families value the perceived prestige of attending a more selective institution, even if it means their child will be a small fish in the big pond. There are no absolutes that will apply to all students when it comes to deciding where to attend college.

Deciding if you’ll be better suited to being a big fish in a small pond or a small fish in a big pond is an important part of finding a college that will be the best match for you.

See Malcolm Gladwell’s presentation online at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UEwbRWFZVc