Our partner Matt Hunt from College Hunt helps students successfully navigate the college selection process. In his latest blog post, he explains what steps you need to take when receiving multiple admissions offers from the schools you applied to.

Congratulations, you’ve earned multiple admissions offers from the schools you applied to! This is a time in your life that’s filled with excitement, happiness, and I’m willing to bet a little confusion on the ultimate next step…where to enroll? With some careful planning, you can lessen the confusion while increasing your confidence on which school is best for you.

Begin by revisiting your reasons for applying to each individual school. Is there a particular major or program that sparks your interest? Do they offer internship or co-op opportunities that could lead to a future career after earning your degree? Remember, while having a wonderful college experience is important the main goal is to come out prepared and ready to compete in the job market. If one of the schools provides something different and unique that you believe would provide incredible learning and training you may be able to eliminate a few off the list.

The cost of higher education continues to skyrocket every year. Do not underestimate the value of each individual financial aid package offered by the various schools. Now is the time to break down what each school is offering and compare and contrast those offers. One of the biggest misconceptions students and parents have is the admission or the financial aid offices frown upon communicating with students who were offered admissions. Contact the financial aid office and discuss the package, don’t be afraid to ask for more or if there in anything else available to lower the cost. Trust me, the admissions offer will remain; it will not be rescinded because you or your parents inquired about the possibility of accessing more aid. In the end, the less debt a student can encumber the better, any money saved can be put towards numerous expenses in the future.

Make time to revisit the campuses, mainly the ones at the top of your list. Now that you’re “in” you may have a different perspective or feel for the campus. Similar to when you first considered and saw the school, work on scheduling a time with a professor in the department you plan to study, observe classes, check out the housing, meet with students in the desired major, and what a perfect time to stop by the financial aid office (see above) to learn more about the offer.

Once you’ve made the final selection on where you’ll attend, congratulations, but you’re not done yet. Best to quickly and appropriately communicate with the schools you’ll not attend so they may offer your spot and financial aid to another student. Showing professionalism and gratitude is best and something you will do throughout life so start now by letting those schools know you’re respectfully declining.

Gaining admissions into multiple colleges and universities is a wonderful experience and the culmination of a tremendous effort by the student and parents. Take time to review the different opportunities and make the best decision for you!

For more information about the college selection process check out his blog!

When a student-athlete becomes serious about playing their sport in college, it helps to understand when a college coach is truly recruiting them. Many families have difficulty interpreting the various types of correspondence from college coaches. They just can’t tell the difference when a coach is genuinely interested in developing a relationship versus one who is just marketing their school’s sports program.

Understanding this difference is not only vital to your success, it saves you valuable time, money and resources on chasing opportunities that will never be realized. When your efforts are focused on the coaches and schools that really have an interest in you, the results tend to reflect more offers, higher scholarship amounts and a shorter recruiting cycle.

At SportsForce, we like to help our families visualize this process. The diagram below shows a person climbing a mountain. This represents your son or daughter. They’re ascending the college recruiting mountain with possibly several hundred thousand other student-athletes also competing for a college roster spot for their particular sport. But on average, only about 5-6% of those few hundred thousand make it to the top of the mountain with an offer or scholarship.

The areas listed on the right are the basic steps and communication that takes place along the way. More specifically, the areas in red are what we call “Base Camp One” on the mountain. That’s where a lot of student-athletes stop in terms of their college recruiting. At this point, they have no contact with college coaches. Another key indicator of being at Base Camp One is they might attend or be invited to a big tournament, combine or camp. They might also receive generic emails, questionnaires or form mailings from a coach. But that’s about as far as it goes. The red color means they have not advanced their recruiting progress.

The key to knowing when you’re being “actively” recruited, is when your son or daughter have an ongoing personal dialog with a college coach. The area in yellow highlights some of these types of activities and communication. If they’re receiving personal texts, phone calls, emails or hand-written notes, this means they’re being actively recruited. If they are invited for an unofficial visit or Junior Day event, this also aligns with active recruitment. The yellow color means caution. Just because your student-athlete is actively communicating with college coaches does not automatically mean they will receive a written offer from them. College coaches are also pursuing other players, not just your son or daughter.

Once in the green area, student-athletes (if they have not already) may begin receiving verbal offers. Those may lead to further official visits, which may produce written offers and ultimately a signed National Letter of intent. The green color means go and your student-athlete is receiving offers and probably achieving their college recruiting goals.

Where is your son or daughter on the college recruiting mountain? Do they need assistance in building personal relationships with college coaches or deciphering their communication?

Contact us today for a personal college recruiting evaluation. Our highly trained team of college recruiting advisors have either played or coached their sport at the college level. Our entire team of professionals dedicates their passion, time and attention to properly evaluating, educating and successfully guiding qualified student-athletes and their families through the college planning and recruiting process.

For a personal college recruiting evaluation and honest estimate of your potential to compete at the next level, contact us at:

Phone: 1.888.9787084
Email: scouting@sportsforceonline.com

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