Should You Use an Athletic Recruiting Service?

Two vintage scales; one shows a clock on its tray, and the other displays stacked coins. Text at the bottom reads, "Should You Use an Athletic Recruiting Service?" This image prompts a thoughtful consideration of time and investment when deciding on an athletic recruiting service.

scales with time and money represent athletic recruiting serviceAs students and parents start to wade into the college athletic recruiting process, they’ll soon see all kinds of advertisements, websites, and offers from athletic recruiting services. All promise to help you with getting an athletic scholarship because, they’ll tell you, they have access to people and information that you don’t. And as the wading starts to feel like drowning as parents begin to realize how much college costs and how many colleges are actually out there, paying for a recruiting service doesn’t seem like such a bad idea.

Is it?

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Beware of Best Colleges Lists

fallen skier representing why to beware of best colleges list

Fallen skier representing why you should beware of best colleges listsRecently I was profiling Saint Michael’s College in Vermont and learned about their Ski and Ride program for students. They offer various discounted passes to the Sugarbush ski resort along with a free weekend shuttle. I thought it was a pretty appealing program and did a quick web search for other colleges for skiers. I found several sites claiming their lists had some version of the best schools for skiers. They ranged in length from 10 to 30 schools. Saint Michael’s didn’t show up on a single list. Why not?

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51 Questions to Ask College Coaches on College Recruiting Visits

coach with scorebook representing questions to ask college coaches

coach in dugout representing questions to ask college coachesThe following is a list of questions to ask college coaches during in an interview whether on a college visit, at a game, or at a camp. These questions won’t be relevant for all sports or all colleges. For example, D3 colleges do not give out athletic scholarships so there’s no point in asking about them. Some questions may be more appropriate for a second visit than a first visit. After all, if a coach is just meeting you for the first time, he probably can’t rank you among recruits for specific positions.

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6 Tips for Making a Better College List

A person's hand is tapping on the screen of a tablet device, meticulously creating a college list.

person using table to make a better college search listIf you want to make a better college list, don’t limit your potential list of colleges to just schools you have heard of. There are over 1,600 four-year US colleges-there is no reason to start off with a short list of five institutions. Having a larger list of colleges opens up opportunities you haven’t even considered at prices you didn’t think possible.

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6 Essential Items Baseball Players Must Have on Their Athletic Profile

baseball player representing what needs to be on athletic profiles

baseball player representing what needs to be on athletic profileThere are a variety of ways to format an athletic profile for baseball. And, yes, you want to have an athletic profile, also called a player or baseball profile, you can print out or email to coaches. Having a baseball profile in PDF form is very handy to attached to an email or text to a coach, especially if the college doesn’t have an online recruiting form. Just be sure to compress it as small as possible before sending.

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