5 Ways to Get Smart About College Baseball Recruiting

player sliding into base representing ways to get smart about college baseball recruiting

player sliding into base representing ways to get smart about college baseball recruitingAs you start the college baseball recruiting process, you need to know what you don’t know. And sometimes it feels like you would rather not know than try to make sense of all of the information out there. Not only is there so much information out there, so much seems contradictory. Since the recruiting process will be different for each family, you can’t necessarily make your plans based on what happened to someone else. Sometimes you just need a baseline to start with so that you can make sense of the rest of the information. So before drowning in Google search results, try these resources first.

Read more

What Athletes Need to Know Before Starting the College Recruiting Process

Female athlete tying shoe representing the start the college recruiting process

Woman tying shoe representing what you need to know to start the college recruiting processThis is a basic introduction to the college recruiting landscape. I’m sure there will be many who will read this and think, “you’ve got to be kidding-how could you not know this?” Yet, you would be surprised at how many families don’t know that D3 schools don’t offer athletic scholarships or that some rules will depend on the college’s conference. Consider this a review of the basic college athletic terms that you need to know to even start the college recruiting process.

Read more

5 Ways to Get Smart About College Softball Recruiting

A college softball recruit in a navy and yellow uniform prepares to field a ball on a grassy field.

picture for college softball recruitingLooking for information on college softball recruiting is a frustrating experience. It seems that there are lot more websites out there interested in selling you their recruiting services than providing information. But such informative sites do exist and some of them are actually recruiting services. However, before you decide to hire a recruiting service, use the following sites to educate yourself on the college softball recruiting process.

Read more

How to Start the College Athletic Recruiting Process

foot kicking a football representing how to start college athletic recruiting process

football kickoff representing start of college athletic recruiting processYou’ve heard the saying, “you don’t know what you don’t know?” It’s relevant to college athletic recruiting–when starting out, many families don’t know where to begin or what to ask. So I put together this list of posts for athletes and their families just starting the college athletic recruiting process. After reading these, you should have a basic understanding of college athletic recruiting that will allow you to start asking the right questions.

Read more

5 Ways to Get Smart About Financial Aid Award Letters

Overwhelmed woman surrounded by financial aid award letters, examining documents intently, camera angle from above.

Person trying to understand financial aid award letterAfter diligently reporting their families’ financial information as accurately as possible in the FAFSA under the threat of a $20,000 fine and/or prison, high school seniors are anxiously waiting to receive their financial aid award letters. Now, even though each student’s family situation is different, applicants all completed a standard form for financial aid. Major financial factors such as loss of job or health issues have to be addressed in a separate letter to the financial aid office.

So why will the student probably receive financial aid award letters in as many formats as colleges applied to and often designed to deliberately mislead families on how much money they will have to pay?

Read more

Create a Recruiting Video with Your Phone in 5 Easy Steps Resource Center

creating a recruiting video with your phone resource phone

Hand holding phone representing Creating a Recruiting Video with Your Phone(Updated 2021) If you’re an athlete trying to get recruited to play in college, then you KNOW you need to have video. You have several options for creating your video from doing-it-yourself to hiring someone who specializes in recruiting videos. I’m a big believer in starting with the cheapest option first. If nothing else, after you create a video with your phone, you will appreciate that much more the professional’s product that you eventually get. So I’ve collected a list of resources you can use to shoot video with your smart phone. (I may receive a small commission for some of the products.)

Read more

14 Unique Reasons to Attend SEC Schools Besides Sports

Quarterback representing bigtime sports at SEC Schools

Quarterback representing bigtime sports at SEC SchoolsIf big-time college sports are an important consideration for your college list, you’ll need to take a look at the Southeast Conference (SEC) schools. If I have to tell you why you should consider SEC schools for big-time sports, then we are definitely working with different definitions or you have been living under a rock since sometime in the last century. SEC schools claim 43 national football championships, 21  basketball championships, 13 College World Series, and 20 gymnastics championships among many others. Yet, the 14 universities that make up the SEC Conference, actually have a lot to offer other than sports.

Read more

5 Ways to Get Smart About Filling Out College Applications

Pen and college application representing how to complete a college application

University Application Form representing how fill out a college applicationFilling out college applications is just one step of the college search process. But students and families quickly find out that this one step isn’t as simple as you might think. And there is a lot advice out there on how you should complete the college application process. Before you swamp yourself in page after page of internet search results, use the following websites to orient yourself and figure out what information you really need to complete the college applications.

Read more

5 Ways for Getting Smart About Financial Aid

Sign post representing questions about financial aid

sign with questions about financial aidThe internet is a wonderful thing, you can find the answer to just about any question including “what is financial aid?” The problem is that are usually so many answers that it’s overwhelming and it’s almost as bad as not knowing the answer at all. So here are five ways for learning about financial aid without wading through page after page of search.

Read more