FAQ'S

Specific Questions:

 

 

Q. To how many schools should I market myself?

A. As many as possible. You probably can’t name more than ten or fifteen colleges/universities; but there are literally 1,087 colleges and universities in the NCAA. If your sport is sponsored at the majority of these participating schools, you should let virtually every coach know about you.

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Q. How do I decide which of the schools to apply to?

A. We recommend that you first decide which parts of the country you won’t go to school (everyone has their least favorite areas of the country).  RecruitU2 will identify every school you qualify for academically and select them.  These will be schools nationwide and will include all divisions (DI, DII, DIII).  Only de-select schools you are absolutely positive you don’t want to contact (usually no more than 5%).

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Q. How does RecruitU2 help?

A. We give you the tools to actively market yourself to coaches at all the colleges at which you are academically eligible.  We help you create a one page profile (your resume), an introductory letter that is automatically personalized to each coach, a free method to upload and share your videos, pre-identified colleges where you qualify academically and the ability to send all of this information directly to every coach at every college.  If requested, we also provide guidance throughout the entire recruiting process.

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Q. How many schools should I visit?

A. You should visit schools where coaches show a genuine interest in you and where, after some research, you think you might be interested in attending.  Since cost is always an issue, you need to continually grade and rank the coaches who are recruiting you to ensure you visit only the schools where there is the greatest mutual interest.

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Q. Can I leverage my athletics to get into colleges where I might not otherwise qualify (academically)?

A. In a number of cases, yes. Many schools recognize the amount of time and commitment it takes to be a successful athlete and give students and the coaches recruiting them a specific range for admittance that would, otherwise, be less forgiving for non-athletes. Don’t be afraid to ask this question of the coach.  Be careful, however, if you are asked by a coach to apply Early Decision.  You are bound to attend the school if accepted, so you have to be sure you have to best offer and this is the right school for you.

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Q. Why market myself to schools throughout the U.S.?

A. You want to introduce yourself to as many coaches as possible in order to find all of the coaches who have a specific need for an athlete with your abilities. Since coaches needs change every year due to graduation, injuries and competition, you need to make sure that coaches looking for an athlete like you are aware that you’re available.  Limiting yourself geographically means fewer coaches know about you and the number of offers is reduced.  Maximize your potential.  Don’t limit it.

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Q. How does distance affect the recruiting process and cost?

A. Not many people realize that colleges and universities are actively encouraging students from great distances to apply. They do so to ensure that their mix of students come from as wide a demographic as possible. Because of this, the further you are from a school, the more appealing you are to the admissions department of the school. Applying to schools further away from you actually enhances your admissions and recruiting opportunities.

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Q. When should the recruiting process be started?

A. Not many people realize that colleges and universities are actively encouraging students from great distances to apply. They do so to ensure that their mix of students come from as wide a demographic as possible. Because of this, the further you are from a school, the more appealing you are to the admissions department of the school. Applying to schools further away from you actually enhances your admissions and recruiting opportunities.

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Q. Some schools already have written me.  Should I continue to make new contacts?

A. For athletes who play basketball, soccer and ice hockey you should begin promoting yourself the second semester of your sophomore year.  For all other sports the general rule is no sooner than the beginning of your Junior year.  Coaches routinely begin compiling their recruiting lists of student athletes when the athletes are in their Junior year of high school. Sending information during your Sophomore year for non-basketball/soccer/ice hockey sports will only result in coaches requesting you contact them your Junior year.

Many students question whether they should contact coaches during their Junior year before they’ve taken their SATs or ACTs and possibly haven’t competed in their sport during the Junior year. We actually recommend that you contact the coaches during your Junior year, regardless of test taking or competing, because you want to establish coach interest early. Since you will have ample opportunity to update the coaches throughout your Junior and Senior year, it is to your advantage to generate interest earlier rather than later.  For colleges within traveling distance from your high school, generating interest early allows college coaches to come to games and watch you compete.

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Q. My high school coach knows a number of college coaches. Will that help?

A. The answer to this is “potentially” yes and “potentially” no. While your high school coach may know a number of college coaches and have close relationships with those coaches and schools, the actual needs of those coaches may or may not fit your abilities. There may be interest ranging from mild to intense, but betting your entire recruiting effort and final results on only a handful of schools known by your high school coach puts you in a vulnerable position. You are relying, entirely, on your coach to find the best opportunity for you at the best cost and that could backfire. You should consider your high school coach connections as an addition to your efforts to be recruited rather than your entire recruiting effort.

Also keep in mind that high school coaches truly don’t have the time to help every one of their athletes get recruited by colleges. Most high school coaches are teachers as well as coaches and their teaching and coaching time commitments are extensive. Assuming they have the time to focus a substantial amount of their energies on getting you recruited is both unrealistic and unfair to the coach.

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Q. Should I focus my attention only on schools in which I am interested?

A. You should always pay attention to how coaches from schools you’re interested in treat you as a possible recruit. If the coach from your number one choice is actively recruiting you and is offering you a financial support package that meets your needs, you don’t need to go any further. But if you are not convinced that your top choice schools are going to recruit you or offer you any form of scholarship, you need to actively pursue being recruited by other schools.

An offer from a school you’re not ultimately interested in attending is still a bone fide offer.  It can be used to help leverage a better offer from the schools of your choice. Maintaining interest from as many coaches as possible, until the final decision, is the best approach to maximizing your opportunities.

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Q. What if I go to a small high school? Are coaches still interested in me?

A. Yes. Just because you go to a small high school or your conference is made up of high schools with small enrollments doesn’t mean there aren’t a number of college coaches who are going to actively pursue and recruit you. Remember, college sports programs vary in levels of competitiveness and size as well, so college coaches appreciate and value what you can bring to their program.

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Q. My high school doesn’t sponsor my sport.  Can I get recruited having played only at the club level?

A. Yes. Many student athletes are recruited every year having never played their sport in high school. By showing the college coaches your results at the club level and using your club coach as a reference, you should have little problem being recruited.  Just make sure to keep your statistics and results for inclusion in your profile.

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Q. I play two sports. Can I get recruited for both?

A. Yes. In fact, at many colleges you will be actively recruited by coaches from both sports.  As long as there are no scheduling or coaching restrictions on playing two sports at the college of your choice, you should be able to both be recruited and allowed to play two sports at the collegiate level.

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Q. How can you tell if a school is “marketing” itself or “recruiting” me?

A. The easiest way to determine if a college and coach are marketing the school rather than recruiting you is the level of personalization shown in any correspondence.  Receiving generic letters addressed to your full first and last name or addressed to “Dear Future Tiger” or other mascot designation is a sign that you’ve received a marketing letter.  A coach truly recruiting you will send a personalized letter, email or note, will sign it and will usually have some hand written comments added as well.  Emails that show the coach email address as both the originating email address as well as the destination address are blind carbon copy emails sent to numerous high school student athletes.  These are “marketing” emails, NOT recruiting emails.  Any email sent to numerous email addresses are NOT recruiting emails.

Only personalized letters and emails addressed to you and you alone, signed by the coach and that include personal information about you are true recruiting correspondence.  Anything else is part of a marketing campaign.

Just like with a job offer, if the coach can get you at “no cost” (e.g., no scholarship money or guaranteed admission) and you turn out to be a good athlete and contributor, he gains a valuable asset. If, as a walk-on, you don’t turn out to be a good athlete he’s lost nothing. You want a coach who recognizes your talents, your potential contributions and is willing to do whatever it takes to convince you to play for his team and attend his college. That is the essence of being recruited – true choice, true leverage and the opportunity to attend the best school possible at the best price.

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Q. When can a coach contact me?

A. There are three rules for coach contact:

  1. Any coach may write you, email you or send you literature and information about his college and sport program any time he chooses. He is NOT, however, allowed to initiate or participate in any form of verbal contact until a specific point in your high school career.
  2. Any coach may RESPOND to an email, a letter, a text or a phone call from you at any time as long as you are the initiator of the contact.  Sending your information, your profile, your video links and showing interest in his team, even as early as your Sophomore year, is perfectly acceptable and he is allowed to correspond at length with you.  You just have to start the correspondence.
  3. Initiating personal, voice contact with you varies with a few sports, however, the general rule is that coaches are not allowed to initiate verbal contact with recruits until July 1st following their Junior year. Even if they are at one of your athletic contests and are introduced to you, they are only allowed to greet you and then must break off contact.

The specific start and cutoff dates for initiating personal, verbal contact with student athletes is explained on the NCAA web site (www.ncaa.org).

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Q. Can coaches talk with me during my Junior year?

A. Coaches are allowed to answer any questions you pose as long as you initiate the conversation.  They are not allowed to initiate verbal contact with you but can email you, text you and write you letters and cards.

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Q. When I visit a campus should I contact the coach?

A. When you are planning on visiting a school on an unofficial basis (e.g., not arranged by and paid for by the college), it is always recommended you contact the coach or athletic department prior to your visit to make them aware of your interest in their school and sport program. It gives them the opportunity to re-review your profile, arrange for tours and provide you with an informative and positive visit to the school.

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Q. How important are my grades to being recruited?

A. Your grades have a direct impact on the number of colleges that actively recruit you. The better they are, the more opportunities you have. Remember, a coach needs to be sure he can get you admitted to the school before he will spend the time and effort to recruit you. Some athletes assume that coaches can get them in the college because they are good athletes and the coach wants them. In some cases, usually borderline, this is true. But in 99% of the cases, if your grades are well below those required for admittance to the college, you will not be recruited or able to attend the school. Keep your grades as high as possible.

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Q. How important are extracurricular activities?

A. Extracurricular activities are very important. They represent your involvement in your school and your community outside your academics and sport. They are an indication that you have varying interests, are committed to giving back to the school and your community and that you enjoy participating in and excelling at other activities. Colleges and universities view extracurricular activities as a sign of a well-rounded student who is able to participate in a variety of areas and manage his time to be successful in all.

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Q. What role do sports camps/clubs have in being recruited?

A. Playing a club sport or attending various camps to fine tune and improve your athletic abilities is ALWAYS highly regarded by college coaches. Any camps or clubs that help you strive for continuous improvement are going to be viewed positively by college coaches. Camp and club coaches are viewed as credible sources of information in regards to your athletic abilities and value to a team. Exposure camps and traveling clubs/teams that allow you to be viewed by multiple coaches in various cities are also highly thought of for obvious reasons.

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Q. One or both of my parents played a sport in college. Will that help me?

A. As a general rule the answer is “yes” this can help you. Many superb athletes are offspring of previously successful athletes and coaches recognize this and take it into consideration when determining who they want to recruit. RU2 always recommends that you put this in your profile to make the coach aware of your parents previous inter-collegiate athletic history.

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Q. What role should parents play in the recruiting process?

A. Parents are absolutely critical to the recruiting process for a number of reasons. They are experienced in organizing a project, are experienced in talking with and negotiating with other people, they can remain more objective in looking at the programs and offers, in many cases, than the student athlete because they aren’t as easily swayed by the coach’s recruiting efforts and, finally, because the parents are going to be more experienced in comparing costs and offers of support. If that isn’t enough reason to be involved, parents should also be heavily involved to give moral support to their student athlete. Being recruited, choosing the right school and program and accepting an offer from a coach and college is a big, sometimes overwhelming process and teenage student athletes need their parents for help, guidance and support.

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Q. Do I need to wait until I have SAT or ACT scores before trying to get recruited?

A. No, absolutely not. Your GPA is sufficient for being recruited.

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Q. Should I take prep classes for the SAT and ACT.

A. We ALWAYS recommend either taking a preparatory class for the SAT and ACT or, at least, buying preparatory software courses for use at home in your spare time. The SAT and ACT scores you receive will dramatically affect your eligibility to be recruited by coaches.  RecruitU2 has negotiated a special discount with Princeton Review for ACT and SAT tutoring programs.  We recommend you look into these programs.

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Q. Can I do this recruiting program on my own?

A. Yes, you can. Be aware that it takes a great deal of time doing research, creating a database, a profile and cover letter and then sending everything to every coach at every school in the U.S. that supports your sport.  RU2 has already identified which schools support your sport, the enrollment of each school, the academic requirements, Division level, room, board and tuition and the coach names and email addresses.   Your time will be better spent focusing on how you want to manage the coach responses you will receive when you use RU2 instead. 

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Q. What does RecruitU2 charge for its services?

A. RecruitU2 has three levels of service:

  1. $99 for a one time national coach introduction
  2. $199 for a national coach introduction mailing and up to 7 additional updates, Sophomore- Senior year
  3. $349 Our staff assists you until you choose a college, up to 8 mailings between Sophomore and Senior year

Additional sport - $99

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Q. How does a typical scouting service differ from RecruitU2?

A. Scouting services operate on the premise that you need an objective, unbiased look at your skill sets and a write-up on those observations to obtain the most interest from coaches. They do this by making a detailed, statistics laden packet of information on you and your athletic ability.  RU2, on the other hand, operates on the premise that only YOU can best describe your abilities and present them to the coaches.  The biggest difference between the services is in how many coaches are exposed to you.  RecruitU2 is a pro-active promotion of you directly to every coach.  Scouting services wait and hope for coaches to visit their website and sort through all the athletes in your sport until they find you.  The second big difference is cost.  Scouting services charge anywhere from $750 to $5,000 depending on the package.  RecruitU2 ranges between $99 and $349.

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Q. Specifically, how does a typical scouting service work?

A. A typical scouting service will first determine the level of service you are willing to purchase.  They then have you provide them with the information necessary to put together a profile and the raw video footage for your video tapes.  Once a profile is built by the scouting service, they post it on their website and send out a blast email to coaches they think will be best suited for your specific athletic and academic abilities.  You and the scouting service then wait.  Wait for coaches to come to the site.  Wait for the coaches to sort through the profiles and wait for the coaches to decide that you might be a viable candidate to recruit.  Additional charges to highlight your profile, do additional video editing and additional charges to promote you on the website or update your profile are frequently suggested in order to get you higher results.

It is, ultimately, a passive approach to marketing you to coaches.  And it is expensive with questionable value.

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Q. How does a sport social networking site differ from RecruitU2?

A. In much the same way scouting services operate, sport social networking sites offer to put your profile on their web site and wait for coaches to come to the web site, sort through all the posted profiles and find yours. These services charge low monthly fees to participate and they tend to draw a large number of high school student athletes to their sites. Most sites have discussion forums, local and regional results and tend to be user friendly sites for student athletes and parents to discuss their sport.  They just aren’t a reliable means to get recruited.

The reality is, these sites are ultimately nothing more than bulletin boards for resumes.  If college coaches don’t know about the site, don’t visit the site and, ultimately, review every single profile, you stand little or no chance of being recruited.  The monthly fees to remain on the site, when taken in total, usually are significantly higher than the one-time fee of RecruitU2.

You can post your profile on a bulletin board web site and hope a number of coaches find you or you can send your information directly to every coach, at every college with RecruitU2.  Logic says that marketing yourself directly is more effective than waiting for coaches to find you.

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Q. When can coaches initiate contact with me?

A. Coaches are not allowed to initiate contact with a high school student athlete or his family, except in certain situations (see NCAA guidelines), until the month of July after the conclusion of the athlete’s Junior year in high school. Prior to July, coaches are allowed to respond to high school athlete’s emails, texts and phone calls, but are not allowed to initiate any verbal contact.

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Q. What’s the difference between an “Official Visit” and an “Unofficial Visit”?

A. The difference between an Official and Unofficial visit to a college or university is based on a high school student athlete being invited, in writing, to visit a campus and learn about their athletic program at the expense of the school. For Official visits the school usually arranges for and pays transportation to and from the school and room and board while the student is at the school. Most Official visits occur on specific days (frequently Homecoming weekend or other important athletic event weekends – to showcase the school’s athletic program) and include spending time with the coaching staff, other athletes and other current students on campus.

An Unofficial visit is usually also coordinated by the coach or his/her staff and is also on important athletic weekends, but the cost of transit to and from the school is the responsibility of the student. Room and board is usually provided as well for Unofficial visits.

There are specific rules that govern how many Official visits a high school student athlete can accept during their high school career. The general rule is that a prospective athletic scholarship candidate can only accept five total Official visits to DI and/or DII schools.

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Q. Should I send a videotape or CD with my information?

A. No. Never send a tape or CD unless a coach asks for one. Those who send them find out later that the tapes or CDs are frequently stored somewhere, unseen by any coach or assistant. Instead, you should upload your video to a free video storage site and provide a link to the video on your profile or cover letter.

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Q. What type of video do coaches want to see?

A. The general rule of thumb is no more than 5-15 minutes of video showing you in various plays, scenarios and action situations. Most coaches will want to see you in active competition and with your team (if a team sport). If your videos are full team, make sure to include your uniform number in the video description.  Coaches are looking at your technique, your athleticism, your understanding of the game and your role, and in how you respond to various competitive situations.

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Q. Should I have my videos edited?

A. This is another frequently asked question. The answer is one of taste and available funds. If you want a professionally edited video and have the funds to spend on this effort, you should do it. It won’t hurt as long as the video isn’t solely focused on you and you alone. College coaches want to see you in action with your teammates and competitors. Editing everyone else out of the video ruins its value to the coach. Showing only successful plays also diminishes its value. Coaches want to see not only your best plays but also plays where you had to react to an unexpected situation or competitor. How you adapted and responded is valuable to the coach in assessing your skills and potential value to his team.  Never send a video that includes commentary unless it is from a television/cable broadcast of the event.

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Q. Should I post my tapes on a web site that hosts videos for athletes?

A. We would never discourage you from promoting yourself to college coaches in order to get recruited, but there is little evidence that a large number of college coaches visit these sites to watch video.  Do NOT rely on a video posting site as your sole promotion vehicle.

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Q. How many DI, DII and DIII schools are there in the NCAA?

A. Depending on the year there are between 345 and 350 DI schools, between 290 and 295 DII schools and between 445 and 450 DIII schools for a total of between 1085 and 1090 total NCAA schools.

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Q. What are the NCAA academic eligibility requirements?

A. The NCAA has a minimum set of academic eligibility requirements for any high school athlete who would like to play at the collegiate level.  The requirements are frequently updated and outlined on the NCAA site (www.ncaa.org) and we recommend you visit the site, type in “eligibility requirements” in the search field and print their requirements.  Take these printed requirements to your high school guidance counselor and discuss your core courses and what you need to do to ensure you meet at least the NCAA minimums.  You cannot get recruited or participate in inter-collegiate sports unless you meet these requirements.

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Q. Do I need to take the SAT or ACT?

A. There are some historical regional and geographical biases that have evolved in regards to each of these tests. Some schools require only one of them, some both. In order to have the greatest opportunities available to you (e.g., the highest number of coaches interested in recruiting you), we recommend you take both tests the second semester of your Junior year.

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Q. Am I better off sending information to coaches early in my Junior year, later in my Junior year or early in my Senior year?

A. There are two thoughts on this topic : 1. Send your profile and information to coaches early in your Junior year (or Sophomore year if you play basketball, soccer or ice hockey), establish a line of communication with the coaches, let them tell you what they believe you need to do in order to become a top target recruit of theirs and then update them frequently on your progress., or, 2. Wait to contact them until after you have finished your sport season your Junior year. The thought here is that you will have had the opportunity to put in three full years of athletics to show the coach and leverage your successes to win a recruiting offer.

We believe each student athlete is different and should seriously think this through for themselves. The experience and results we’ve had in this area support earlier rather than later contact with coaches. We have found that when a student athlete sends information earlier in their Junior year of high school to college coaches, there tends to be more communications between the coaches and student athletes (via email…… not coach initiated) and they develop a better feel for each other. This usually is a big benefit to RU2 athletes – coaches know them better and tend to recruit student athletes they believe they can communicate with and who are coachable. If you’ve taken the coach’s advice throughout your Junior year and had success with implementing his recommendations, you both will feel comfortable with the possibility of playing for him in college.

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