Starting the D3 Recruiting Process

[ToddFather]

Hi All,

Our son is currently a sophomore and we're just starting to explore the D3 recruiting process.  His ideal targets are high academic schools (e.g. NESCAC, UAA, Liberty, Centennial conferences).

This is our first time going through the process, so we had a few questions that we were hoping to get some insight from others who have gone through it:

1) When is the ideal time to start reaching out to schools?  Will D3 schools pay much attention to sophomores (2025s) or are they mostly looking at their 2023s/2024s?

2) How wide of a net would you suggest casting on the initial reach out?  Is it better to start with a smaller list of schools and expand depending on interest/lack thereof?  Or is it better to start with a large number of schools (cast a wide net)?

3) How important are ID camps for schools in the above conferences?  Is it better to go to the individual school camps or some of the "multi-school" camps?  Any schools where you know that ID camps are "essential" (e.g. 80%+ of roster attended the school's ID camp)?  We live on the West Coast and a lot of his schools of interest are on the East, so trying to figure this out while still managing club, school, etc.

We welcome any other insights/recommendations you have as we get started on this process. 

Thanks very much!

[Another Mom]

My son was a '21 high school graduate, and is a current sophomore in college.  We went through recruiting starting before covid and then covid hit his junior year in high school, so undoubtedly some things have changed for the better.  I felt like understanding college soccer recruiting was difficult, yet important to master to have the best outcome, so I put a fair amount of effort into the learning process, starting from absolute zero knowledge.

First of all, I recommend two things at the outset.  A book called THE COLLEGE SCHOLARSHIP PLAYBOOK which is the single best source that sets out the recruiting process in a concise and organized manner.  It applies to all recruiting, not just if you are aiming for a scholarship.    The other resource which I found invaluable, but which is scattered, disorganized, and sometimes incorrect, but on the other hand also extremely valuable with info you really can't find anywhere else (except maybe here, now! (but not in 2019 or 2020 when I was looking)) and that is the Athletic Recruiting forum on College Confidential.  There are many men's soccer-specific threads.  I got to "know" a bunch of soccer parents on the board, one the parent of an Amherst player, another who's son played at Denison, and I'm probably forgetting others.  One of them held my hand as we navigated the fraught last week of recruiting in the run-up to offers/final decision. 

More general points:   everyone's recruiting journey is different!  So what works for one family may not work for another.  Also, now is the time to get some feedback from your son's club coach as to the level he projects to play at (understanding things can change for a sophomore boy). Targeting the right level is key, in my opinion.

To answer your questions:

1. The time to start reaching out is now.  Most D3 schools won't pay much attention to sophomores, but they will start paying attention to them. 

2. Cast a REALLY wide net!  Like, 50 schools isn't too many.  You can never tell which coach/schools are going to be interested or not interested.  Perhaps they already have their eyes on a player in your son's position, but you can't know that, so no response from one school is no indication of how a peer school will respond.

3.  Individual school ID camps are really valuable, but later in the process (Junior year).  You want to do them, but since you only have so much time and money you certainly can't start going to 25 schools' camps.  So, I would start out emailing coaches with a highlight video/grades/any accolades/tournament schedules now.  If you get positive responses from some coaches, and you think that school is one your son might really like, then consider attending an on-campus ID camp.  I will say that one of the schools that recruited my son pretty hard and made him an offer ID'ed him at an ID camp the summer after sophomore year.

One thing the Middlebury coach told the parents at one of their ID camps:  the player does NOT need to be seen at more than one camp -- they'll see the player, make their assessment, which they don't think seeing more playing time will change.  Some families fall into the trap of feeling that if they go to three ID camps at a particular school, it increases their son's chances.  It doesn't.

My son was focused on selective academic schools (in the conferences you mention) so feel free to PM me and I'd be happy to share specifics about the programs he got to know. 

As I said, learning the college soccer recruiting landscape was such a steep learning curve for me that I'm very happy to share my knowledge!  Other parents are on the boards as well and hopefully will chime in.  As are some coaches :-)

Very best of luck -- it is a marathon, and it can be a real rollercoaster with highs and lows.  It is *harder* than the regular college admission process, but the payoff is better too.  And when it works out, it is a great feeling!

[Yankeesoccerdad]

A couple of caveats.  Our son's process was pre-covid (he took a covid gap year and is now a junior) and we are based in the northeast, which is where our son was focused.  Feel free to message me if you want to follow up.

Your process will be affected by distance/geography.  Our son's team (NESCAC) has many players from the west coast so it is very do-able, but probably requires more planning.  I agree with Another Mom, have your son send emails w/ videos as a start.  Ask coaches when they will be on the west coast or what is the best opportunity to let them see your son.

Our son attended one ID clinic as a sophomore and then a handful as a junior.  It all worked out and he loves his college and team, so it was the right process for him.  But in his first year I learned most boys on the team started attending ID clinics earlier and attended many more than our son did.  Having said that, ID clinic attendance seemed to have more to do with parental obsession more than anything else.  Do what you can given your means and other constraints.  To the extent your son can connect with players from his school or club team that are at colleges he is considering, he should do that.  Coaches right now are looking at 2024 and 2025 classes, as the 2023 class has  largely been admitted through early decision.

Although colleges increasingly are test optional, test scores are still often used for screening student athletes since they are evaluated before the reglar applicant pool.  You likely won't have test scores yet, so casting a wide net is the way to go.  Your son's eventual test scores could broaden or narrow your focus.

Individual college ID clinics are important in that they show specific interest and it is easier to stand out relative to a broader ID clinic. The individual clinics also let your son see the college and meet players on the team. I don't think most coaches view attending their clinic as essential.  But i have heard coaches say they want to see a player more than once before committing a slot to the player.  That doesn't mean you have to attend that college's ID clinic more than once but coaches have only so many slots so it is natural they don't want to make their decision on what might be a single, outlier performance.

Overall, we thought it was kind of a kooky process and not entirely intuitive.  Agree that everyone's process is a little different and there is no one obvious right path.

Good luck!

[Kuiper]

ToddFather - nice to have someone else from the Best Coast on the Board!

On timing, I think sophomore year is actually a great time to start reaching out to DIII coaches.  DI coaches can't talk to you or respond to your emails (other than to invite you to an ID camp) until June 15 before your junior year.  So, DIII coaches have you all to themselves in sophomore year.  Don't be discouraged if not all of them take advantage of that.  The best recruiters are very aggressive with sophomores, arranging Zoom calls and making connections, while others will basically ignore you until you get closer to actually being ready to get a pre-read in the summer before your senior year.  Even the latter group, however, can sometimes look back at a recruit they like at a showcase or ID camp and be encouraged to see that you have contacted them multiple times already with updates.  By then, your son may even have experience speaking with coaches because of those initial connections he started in 10th grade.  Moreover, by starting early, your son will learn how to craft the emails to make them personalized and how to cut the video to emphasize his best qualities up-front.  He also will be compiling a set of highlights he can select from later on when the videos become more important.

I also think East Coast DIII private schools like to hear from kids on the West Coast.  Virtually all the top liberal arts colleges cloistered in the upper Northeaast quadrant of the country have to recruit from the other three quadrants and their admissions departments want their coaches to serve as ambassadors for the schools for those areas.  Since it's often too expensive for them to attend events widely on the west coast, they need kids to contact them to help them make their recruiting more cost-efficient.  Some will even recruit just on the highlight videos because of the costs for both parties in making the cross-country trips.

Having said that, the ID camp can be an important tool, but I wouldn't go national until summer before junior year.  Try to go to ones in your area this spring if you just want to give your kid a chance to see what an ID camp is like and to get a sense if your kid is targeting the right level of schools.  I'm not personally a big fan of the multi-school outside provider ID camps (e.g., Exact etc), especially as a sophomore and especially if it is not on the campus of a school.  One of the reasons to go to a DIII school's individual ID camp as a younger player is just to get a sense for whether your kid really knows what that means in terms of being on a smaller school and what the facilities might look like for soccer.  As a practical matter, at many schools, they will divide up the camp between seniors and juniors (who go with the head coach) and sophomores and younger (who will go with an assistant coach).  It's not worthless, but it's not really about ID for the younger kids.  If you're looking for options on the West Coast, Whitman has one scheduled for April 15 that might be worth checking out if you're in the Pacific Northwest.  Willamette in Salem, Oregon also runs ID camps every six weeks in the spring and summer.  I think those are a bit more about making money than anything else (4 camps between April and August is a lot), but it's a good soccer program and you'll learn something about the program, the school, and the level.  In SoCal, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps and Pomona-Pitzer usually have camps at some point that are pretty small, while Occidental has a multi-school camp that has the virtue of attracting D1 and D3 kids if your son wants to see where he stacks up and sometimes brings in coaches from east coast schools (Swarthmore and Bowdoin were at the winter ID camp in Los Angeles).  UC Santa Cruz is having a camp April 2 if you are in NorCal.

As for the number of schools, I agree with others that you should cast a really wide net.  Unless your son is focused on a DIII school that offers engineering or something very specialized like that, there are tons of schools that might fit the bill and you don't have enough info to distinguish among them yet.  Once you have the highlight video, might as well spread it far and wide.  The one caveat is if your son, as a sophomore, is not organized and willing to check his email regularly and respond to coaches promptly, then limit it to what he can manage.  Bad first impressions are lasting in the recruiting world.

Best of luck to your son!

[jknezek]

ToddFather - nice to have someone else from the Best Coast on the Board!

On timing, I think sophomore year is actually a great time to start reaching out to DIII coaches.  DI coaches can't talk to you or respond to your emails (other than to invite you to an ID camp) until June 15 before your junior year.  So, DIII coaches have you all to themselves in sophomore year.  Don't be discouraged if not all of them take advantage of that.  The best recruiters are very aggressive with sophomores, arranging Zoom calls and making connections, while others will basically ignore you until you get closer to actually being ready to get a pre-read in the summer before your senior year.  Even the latter group, however, can sometimes look back at a recruit they like at a showcase or ID camp and be encouraged to see that you have contacted them multiple times already with updates.  By then, your son may even have experience speaking with coaches because of those initial connections he started in 10th grade.  Moreover, by starting early, your son will learn how to craft the emails to make them personalized and how to cut the video to emphasize his best qualities up-front.  He also will be compiling a set of highlights he can select from later on when the videos become more important.

I also think East Coast DIII private schools like to hear from kids on the West Coast.  Virtually all the top liberal arts colleges cloistered in the upper Northeaast quadrant of the country have to recruit from the other three quadrants and their admissions departments want their coaches to serve as ambassadors for the schools for those areas.  Since it's often too expensive for them to attend events widely on the west coast, they need kids to contact them to help them make their recruiting more cost-efficient.  Some will even recruit just on the highlight videos because of the costs for both parties in making the cross-country trips.

Having said that, the ID camp can be an important tool, but I wouldn't go national until summer before junior year.  Try to go to ones in your area this spring if you just want to give your kid a chance to see what an ID camp is like and to get a sense if your kid is targeting the right level of schools.  I'm not personally a big fan of the multi-school outside provider ID camps (e.g., Exact etc), especially as a sophomore and especially if it is not on the campus of a school.  One of the reasons to go to a DIII school's individual ID camp as a younger player is just to get a sense for whether your kid really knows what that means in terms of being on a smaller school and what the facilities might look like for soccer.  As a practical matter, at many schools, they will divide up the camp between seniors and juniors (who go with the head coach) and sophomores and younger (who will go with an assistant coach).  It's not worthless, but it's not really about ID for the younger kids.  If you're looking for options on the West Coast, Whitman has one scheduled for April 15 that might be worth checking out if you're in the Pacific Northwest.  Willamette in Salem, Oregon also runs ID camps every six weeks in the spring and summer.  I think those are a bit more about making money than anything else (4 camps between April and August is a lot), but it's a good soccer program and you'll learn something about the program, the school, and the level.  In SoCal, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps and Pomona-Pitzer usually have camps at some point that are pretty small, while Occidental has a multi-school camp that has the virtue of attracting D1 and D3 kids if your son wants to see where he stacks up and sometimes brings in coaches from east coast schools (Swarthmore and Bowdoin were at the winter ID camp in Los Angeles).  UC Santa Cruz is having a camp April 2 if you are in NorCal.

As for the number of schools, I agree with others that you should cast a really wide net.  Unless your son is focused on a DIII school that offers engineering or something very specialized like that, there are tons of schools that might fit the bill and you don't have enough info to distinguish among them yet.  Once you have the highlight video, might as well spread it far and wide.  The one caveat is if your son, as a sophomore, is not organized and willing to check his email regularly and respond to coaches promptly, then limit it to what he can manage.  Bad first impressions are lasting in the recruiting world.

Best of luck to your son!

I don't know squat about recruiting, and none of my kids are going to play college sports, but these last 2 sentences... that's a life skill and one of the most important things you can learn for the long term.

[PaulNewman]

A few thoughts from Robert LeRoy Parker (aka Butch Cassidy, aka Paul Newman)...

I agree with the other posters.  Targeting accurately, academically and athletically, both in terms of what your son wants, and what is realistic, is absolutely critical.  I think you want to limit how much time you spend on safeties that in the end you really won't choose even if you land major merit aid (which feels fantastic but you have to be honest about whether you're going to take that over "more selective" admits ["more selective" I've realized is the more proper wording versus "better"] or on reaches that are out of reach. You also have to decide whether you're OK with a bit of reach academically or a bit of a reach athletically, although typically folks seem to think "using" soccer the access an academic reach is really smart and justifies the investment in all those years of club soccer.

I agree with the sending some video to coaches where you think you have a strong interest to see if the coach thinks you are in the ballpark at least (or better).  Why waste a bunch of money on travel and ID camps if the coach can already steer you in a particular direction? 

I agree with casting a wide net as long as your son is the one casting the net perhaps with your assistance rather than a scattershot approach where you show up places and then see who knocks on your door.  You decide what doors to knock on and then they can decide if they want to open it.  My other caveat here, and this may be a point where I'm more in the minority, but in my view it's a mistake for soccer to drive the train.  I think you want to identify your favorite schools and ideally in the end have 4-6 that you love pretty equally in terms of what they offer (socially, academically, size, urban/rural, vibe, etc), and THEN at that point soccer can be an ultimate deciding factor (including whether you think you're going to have fair chances to play or not, which coach really wants you among your top choices, etc, etc).  To state the usual line, you want to go somewhere where you'll be reasonably happy if the soccer does not work out (for whatever reason), and even when someone goes through this process "perfectly" there is a certain amount of good fortune involved in having a good outcome.

[Ejay]

I think you want to identify your favorite schools and ideally in the end have 4-6 that you love pretty equally in terms of what they offer (socially, academically, size, urban/rural, vibe, etc), and THEN at that point soccer can be an ultimate deciding factor (including whether you think you're going to have fair chances to play or not, which coach really wants you among your top choices, etc, etc).  To state the usual line, you want to go somewhere where you'll be reasonably happy if the soccer does not work out (for whatever reason), and even when someone goes through this process "perfectly" there is a certain amount of good fortune involved in having a good outcome.

Bingo!
But I will say this comes with its own challenges. My kid was offered a spot at a few Top 20 schools. He decided to attend a school outside the Top 20 with a coach who never saw him play and offered him a spot primarily on the suggestion of one of the Top 20 coaches who recruited him. He chose the school because it was one of the very few that offered his major.  But because he wasn't really recruited there, he struggled to make an impression and played sparingly his freshman year. He was hoping to turn some heads in the spring season but picked up an injury that kept him out all spring.  That injury nagged him through fall pre-season and he missed those scrimmages too. Shortly after making it back on the field, he picked up another injury and was out for the fall season.

So the soccer piece isn't really working out for him, but he likes the school, his teammates and friends, and his happy with his major.  As a parent it's a win! As a soccer parent it's tough to watch your kid pick a school that never really loved him in the first place and you know just wasn't the right fit soccer-wise.

[PaulNewman]

Too many thoughts to get into one post especially when interrupted.

Also want to say that it's easy fall in love with all the usual suspects...like yeah, give me ALL of the NESCACs.  And then give me all of the UAAs.  Not saying a kid who loves Haverford might not also love 4 years at Carnegie Mellon or Rochester but those ARE different experiences. Even within what is usually viewed as the relatively monolithic NESCAC there are significant differences.  Wesleyan is different than Amherst and Tufts is different than Hamilton.  And there are even bigger differences in some of the other conferences.  Kids applying to Swat and Hopkins probably aren't applying to Muhlenberg, Ursinus, or Wash Coll.  I personally would go more for vibe of school than conference....for example, a group like Kenyon, Colby, Macalester, Grinnell, Whitman, Pitzer...

I don't think you can overstate factors like luck, attitude, timing, injuries, etc. I've seen alleged studs coming from the highest levels of club not start and struggle to get meaningful minutes and I've seen no-name recruits (or the basically non-recruited) have objectively decent and personally rewarding experiences.   

[soccerpapa]

Agree with everything said so far....

Use your club coach/their contacts in the recruiting process.
Follow-up on all emails and keep offers on the table - my son was actively being recruited by several D1 programs but always responded to all coaches and kept in contact with programs that he could himself attending.  Finally realized he would rather play/be wanted than just be a number (of course once he committed to D3 school - 2 D1s made an offer and I had had to convince him he made the right choice
Don't go into more debt just to play soccer - grades matter.
Look at rosters to see who is graduating, player turnover etc.
Attend ID camps where he is interested in going (once the number is narrowed down and the school is actively showing interest)
My son was actually recruited to his current school while he was attending a camp for a different school (coaches talk and wont "take" a recruit without first talking with hosting coach)
Talk with players on current team (as school choices are narrowed down)
When your son knows he knows - it will feel right.  Committed to current school within 2 weeks and hasn't looked back. 
Go where you are wanted and can see spending the next 4-5 years. 

Remember for college soccer players the end game (including D1) is not a professional contract - its about the comraderie, competitive fire, discipline, time management....its playing  sport they love a little longer. 

enjoy the ride - it goes quickly

[ToddFather]

Thanks all for the wonderful and insightful comments!  Truly appreciate it and it definitely helps us provide some good guidance as we get started on the process.

@Another Mom - we will definitely check out the book and I already took a look at the College Confidential board - great stuff.  Thanks for the suggestion!  And appreciate your insights on timing, outreach, and ID camps.  I'll shoot you a DM as well with some follow up questions - thanks for the offer!

@Yankeesoccerdad - appreciate your advice on reaching out to coaches first with video highlights and your comments on "picking and choosing" ID camps.  I think our initial inclination was to try to get to many places, but it's tough to from the west coast, so appreciate your voice of reason.  We were concerned that it was "essential" to get to ID camps for every school he's interested in, but based on the comments here, it doesn't sound like it.  You also answered our question on test scores as we were wondering how much this factors for recruited student-athletes now that many schools are test optional.  I'm curious if that even factors in any more in the high academic schools?  Or unless a recruit has test scores that match/exceed the average test score at the school, are they even considered?

@Kuiper - this is great to hear about east coast schools and their interest in west coast kids.  I never considered that, but it makes sense!  Great advice on the ID camps.  We're in SoCal, so perhaps we'll check out some of the local/California ID camps this spring.  And 100% agree with you and @jknezek on the conversations/follow-up - these are great life skills to learn at an early age.  Thanks for all the wonderful tips and suggestions.

@PaulNewman - appreciate the honest and direct advice.  Agree that he must find the school that is the best fit for him.  Starting with sending video to schools of interest makes a lot of sense.  And yes, I totally hear you on paying attention to the school vs. the conference.  I think our son is still in the stage of trying to determine what exactly he is looking for in a school...so it will be somewhat of exploratory process early on I think.  But your comment provides a good lens for trying to understand the "experience" when evaluating schools.

@Ejay - sorry to hear of all the injury challenges your son has had!  But it certainly sounds like he found a good fit from a school perspective, which I agree, as a parent, is really what you want at the end of the day.

@soccerpapa - thanks for all the great guidance.  For camps, did your son only go to ID camps when coaches expressed interest or did he preselect any based on his interest in the program?  I like the suggestion of talking to players on the team.  And at the end of the day - what you're saying makes total sense about the experience.

If there's any other advice or things you think of, I'd welcome it at any time.  Can't thank you all enough for the time you spent to provide your thoughts and suggestions!

[soccerpapa]

I am not sure what level your son plays for club.  My son played for an up and coming mid size club but was lucky to have a coach that has been a youth national team coach, very involved in coaching education, former college coach etc  therefore he had contacts.  We focused D1 schools within our geographical region and went to their camps.  Notified his club coach which we were attending and he would contact coach on the backside.  So I guess you could say he wasn't "invited" but he attended the camp with some background information already provided by his club coach.  Because of this he always had a little more attention on him during the camps.  Personally I would not pay to "cold call" a camp.  He was subsequently then invited to come back to 3 camps.  At one of those camps was where he was identified by his current D3 coach.   Best outcome of a camp he/we could have hoped for.   Checked off all his boxes with school (location, major, scholarship $) and still able to play competitive soccer while meeting lifelong friends.

Not sure about true D3 camps related to the schools your son is looking at - others on this board are more familiar with the East coast recruiting process.  I would guess most are recruited through word of mouth/contacts etc.  If you are invited, and its a school he is seriously interested in, then go. 

Ultimately camps are money makers/supplemental income for coaches.  Only a handful are truly being looked at/evaluated.  Its the rest of the resume that matters - grades, soccer league in which they play, club coach recommendations that help the most

[d4_Pace]

I think another element that is really important are the marquee showcase type tournaments. Whether he's playing MLS next, ECNL or some other league there are going to big a few big events throughout the year where many college coaches are going to be in attendance. As soon as you get your schedule for those events you should be reaching out to all the coaches at schools where you are interested telling them who and when you are playing so that they can make a note of it and see you in person.

I also do think the relationships and word of mouth is a huge factor. I ended up playing at Tufts but the coach at the time had never actually seen me play in person when he offered me a spot. But a few coaches at big time D1 programs that he trusted had been recruiting my teammates for a while and vouched to him on my behalf, so that with some video he was confident offering me a position.

Finally, when it comes to picking a school try to schedule in person official visits during the teams season. I ultimately made my decision pretty much entirely on the culture and fit I had with the team during my visit and how that compared to my visits at other programs. Its going to be hard to predict how the soccer aspect will work out so you want to make sure you are at a program where you like the guys and fit in with the team even if you aren't getting the playing time you wanted or have injuires etc.

[d4_Pace]

Once you have narrowed it down to a few schools I do think the camps can be a big determining factor. I stayed and coached at Tufts and worked the camps every summer as a player and we often would have 2-3 kids that we were very interested in who played a similar position. I think their performance at camp and personality on campus often was a big factor in which of those kids ultimately ended up getting offered first. 

My advice in terms of camp though is don't overdue it. They are long long days with more soccer than you really should be playing in one day. We would have kids who would be coming for their third camp in three days and they simply couldn't compete from a physical perspective because they were so gassed. So make sure you are strategic and put your best foot forward. Finally, during those camps be aware that you are being evaluated at all times not just on the field. There were kids who were rude to staff or didn't clean up their plates after lunch and that stuff gets noticed.

[Hopkins92]

Don't mean to stick my nose in, because I haven't had a kid go through this process and my "recruitment" took place in the dinosaur age, but...

Check your kid's weather tolerance. Like... Coming from SoCal, you need to make sure that if you get things narrowed down that you visit some of these midwestern and northeastern schools during February. When it's 12 degrees out and it gets dark at 4pm. Not even kidding a little. Lots and lots of folks are going to nope right out of that situation.

A lot of people go on campus visits in the spring and summer and have no idea what an east coast winter can look and feel like.

[jfreddys]

Don't mean to stick my nose in, because I haven't had a kid go through this process and my "recruitment" took place in the dinosaur age, but...

Check your kid's weather tolerance. Like... Coming from SoCal, you need to make sure that if you get things narrowed down that you visit some of these midwestern and northeastern schools during February. When it's 12 degrees out and it gets dark at 4pm. Not even kidding a little. Lots and lots of folks are going to nope right out of that situation.

A lot of people go on campus visits in the spring and summer and have no idea what an east coast winter can look and feel like.

Great thread and advice.   Will say it's a shame there aren't more out west when it comes to the high academic DIIIs, but it is what it is.   If your son wants to continue playing and is looking for that high level academic school, options are just limited out west...still some great schools...just not the numbers like the midwest and east coast.   Really, think there is a bit of envy as to the number of programs/schools that exist as you move farther east.

Would definitely agree on the weather...some of those captain training nights are flat out cold right now but as far as snow, he still hasn't seen anything significant (but he's in the mid-atlantic region).   

One thing about the process is to be prepared for some rejection...good life lesson.   And if a coach doesn't respond immediately to emails, etc., doesn't necessarily mean not interested (maybe not ranked the highest on the totem poll), so continue sending periodic updates/videos, etc if its a school your son is interested in.  Funny how things work out sometimes.