Anonymous wrote:How about tennis? If kid is doubles, and interested in D3 LAC, good enough or don't even bother? I would think with under 2000 kids, it is like a high school team, and will look at a typical varsity player, don't need to be national or state level?

This is sadly untrue if you want an academically strong D3. Strong D3s like Emory, Tufts, Chicago, Vassar, etc are not that much weaker than D1. You’d better have a UTR above 9 to have a shot. With all the international students and strong American tennis players, it’s quite difficult. Even UMW and CNU here in Virginia are extremely competitive and if your kid can do better academically it’s hard to justify going there instead of a better school.

There are definitely D2 and D3 schools that would take kids with lower GPAs but you have to decide if those are kind of schools that are the best for your kid. They’re typically both expensive and not very prestigious.

Anonymous wrote:So this is all new stuff to me.
My ds, class of 2027, is interested in running track in college. He’s short-mid distances, not XC.

Yesterday he announced he created a profile for himself on the NCSA site. within an hour a rep from NCSA called me. I spoke with him and answered basic questions about ds. Rep explained next step is a lengthier call with me, DH, DS and a recruiting specialist - there is no cost to speak with this recruiting specialist initially. Apparently we can opt to pay for recruiting help, above what is offered for free.

I’m unfamiliar with NCSA but sounds like it connects HS athletes with college programs that may be good fits? This sounds extremely helpful, as I don’t think my DS could manage this on his own. Am I missing something, that we don’t have to pay for this?
Does anyone have experience with the recruiting guidance from NCSA that has a fee?

Thanks!

NCSA is a scam owned by the same PE group that owns IMG. You want nothing to do with them.

How about tennis? If kid is doubles, and interested in D3 LAC, good enough or don't even bother? I would think with under 2000 kids, it is like a high school team, and will look at a typical varsity player, don't need to be national or state level?

Track is for sure the easiest sport. The site runcruit can help your son find schools that might be athletic fits, or he can start with schools he is interested in and use runcruit to see what their recruit times look like.

We didn’t use NCSA but used a consultant for lower cost and DC got in a top choice school. The consultant mostly helped DC reach out and stay connected with coaches, analyze coaches’ interest levels, and pick ID camps, etc. It’s not track.

This is all very helpful!

Track is very easy to research because it's all based on times. Look at times for his events and contact those coaches if he's in the ballpark. Easiest recruiting sport out there

We signed up for the full package of NCSA. They weren’t terribly helpful, so not sure it was “worth it.” But if you have money and not time/interest it could help.

What was super helpful on NCSA was the platform itself. Really helpful to be able to check what schools had the the sport, what level, and check recently recruited athletes to compare stats. Also has coach info, so you don’t have to research yourself.

Chat GPT can help your kid write the recruiting email template. Then he needs to start emailing coaches on his list.

We were told that college coaches don’t want to hear from a recruiting service, they want to hear from your kid. You said “I don’t think my DS could manage this on his own.“ Tens of thousands of high school students do, in order to be recruited. It’s a lot of work but he needs to do it himself. Check out the FB group “Educating Parents of HS Athletes on the College Recruiting Process”, buy the accompanying book by Renee Lopez, and have your kid follow the steps it outlines. It worked for my kid and many others I know.

It's not a scam. It's a service that some find helpful in the recruiting process. Your child can do the work themselves by filling out recruiting forms on the college websites, emailing coaches etc., but NCSA does provide a platform that allows colleges to reach out directly to recruits. NCSA also offers helpful webinars and other resources and a recruiting coach if you pay. This is NOT a necessary service to get recruited but many families find it helpful. We did but we were not cost-sensitive. Our DS got a lot of outreach for track on the platform and did engage with a lot of coaches and committed to one of the schools. Others may be comfortable doing it themselves with lower cost resources (there are books, Facebook pages, etc). Also the NCSA marketing is very annoying (they call so much) so you have to deal with that upfront. But it's not a scam, they have a real service (although expensive).

They call constantly until you block them - spam all the time on text too.

oooh for real? Damn. I posted here to get this very scoop. So there's nothing good that can come from doing the initial free call?
It appealed to me, as DS is kind of in denial that literally this year he is applying to colleges.
I was looking forward to having an outside person tell him "the time is now" to get organized and think about what he sees himself doing in college - it's likely track, but maybe not.
Will speaking with them not serve this purpose?

all the kids who make spreadsheets of their desired colleges, coaches, who they've emailed etc... will not be my ds. Nor will it be me or dh.

Does it ever make sense to get outside help with this?

Anonymous wrote:Change your phone number. Turn off the lights. Hide under the bed.

This. It is a scam.

Change your phone number. Turn off the lights. Hide under the bed.

So this is all new stuff to me.
My ds, class of 2027, is interested in running track in college. He’s short-mid distances, not XC.

Yesterday he announced he created a profile for himself on the NCSA site. within an hour a rep from NCSA called me. I spoke with him and answered basic questions about ds. Rep explained next step is a lengthier call with me, DH, DS and a recruiting specialist - there is no cost to speak with this recruiting specialist initially. Apparently we can opt to pay for recruiting help, above what is offered for free.

I’m unfamiliar with NCSA but sounds like it connects HS athletes with college programs that may be good fits? This sounds extremely helpful, as I don’t think my DS could manage this on his own. Am I missing something, that we don’t have to pay for this?
Does anyone have experience with the recruiting guidance from NCSA that has a fee?

Thanks!