Highschool can be stressful! We all know the difficult time period between sophomore year and senior year. Figuring out where we want to go, get recruited by their coaches, and what we may want to study.
Applying for colleges is an event in itself.
On top of that, getting recruited by your favorite university in hopes you can play for them while you study is a whole other battle. Although not every school will love you back, being prepared for anything will help you succeed regardless of the outcome.
It’s not the end of the world if your top schools decide not to bring you onto the squad! But understanding these pieces of advice may give you a chance.
There are a few things that will make your shot at playing college ball and getting accepted with possible scholarships a lot easier.
To start,
remember that you are not the only one trying to go to this school! You have to keep in mind that they have hundreds of other applicants/recruits that have dreams of going there as well as you. So, standing out is definitely the main goal to aim for when dealing with recruiting.
How do you do that you ask?
Well, BE PREPARED. BE CONFIDENT. and BE READY.
Being prepared means getting all your ducks in a row! Don’t wait till they ask you questions about your career to try to gather all the info. Have it already put together. Make a spread sheet! On this spread sheet or document, you want to have all your information already prepped for applying or recruiting purposes.
Examples of information you should have:
Positions you play, career history, experience, stats, references, etc.
For the non-soccer spread sheet:
GPA, academic awards, extracurriculars, etc.
Study the images below for my two examples of these documents that I made sure to include when emailing the schools of my choice.
Soccer Profile with Academics Included
Academic and Extracurricular Profile
Notice how these profile examples makes reading about me so much easier.
Rather than being just another player sending an email, coaches have the ability to read about everything that makes me stand out in comparison to students/players who reach out with little to no information. They don’t even have to ask me for additional info. These make it possible to know every part of my career and why they should choose to recruit me.
Additionally, HAVE TRUSTWORTHY RECOMMENDATION LETTERS!
Creating relationships with teachers, coaches, and any other elders or family friends is so so so important. You want to present yourself as a trustworthy, hard-working, and responsible young adult. So having a respectable personal life is very crucial. Making connections with others and them having a good outlook on you is very important when it comes to applying for colleges. Every college requires recommendation letters and a lot of scholarships do as well.
Having a couple adults in mind who you can ask to write you recommendation letters is a big step in your process to getting accepted. I recommend having these people in mind as early as your sophomore year of high school. You do not want to be scrambling to get recommendation letters at the last minute because these people are probably very busy as well. The last thing you want is to ask someone last minute and to receive back a letter that is poorly written or does not exactly highlight you properly.
BE PREPARED!
Speaking of being prepared, you must know that COLLEGE IS NOT HIGHSCHOOL. College brings a lot of distractions, difficulties, and change. It is easy to get overwhelmed with all of the factors that come with transitioning into university. Get ahead of the game by getting as many college credits as possible. The best way to do this is taking accelerated program courses. Whatever courses are offered at your high school to get early college credits is extremely helpful.
For me I decided to take AP psychology, AP art history, and two semesters of college composition.
These ended up allowing me get credits for college while still in high school.
Making my freshman year a whole lot easier than for other students. I did not have to take an extra psychology or art class for my degree because I transferred these credits from high school. Additionally, I did not have to take any English/literature courses like most freshman had to, which made my workload substantially easier. This makes applying to colleges also a lot easier because it shows that you have work ethic and excel past the normal student.
KNOW WHAT YOUR TOP SCHOOL’S DEGREE GUIDE LOOKS LIKE!
It is crucial to know what you are getting yourself into. Each school has slightly different requirements for their degrees, so knowing what they require is super important beforehand. This helps you choose the correct classes to take in high school so that you can transfer the credits and make a difference in your upcoming curricular requirements.
Do this by going to the university website of your choice and finding their degree guide. You may want to create folders on your laptop to save these documents or print out these papers to give you a guideline of what your next 2-5 years may look like. Knowing what your workload may look like is a key aspect of being able to prepare and balance your upcoming college/athlete life.
Here are two examples of what kind of things you want to look at for a degree guide.
Furthermore, when applying to colleges, don’t get down if a college turns you down or the coach does not want you. Life is hard but the best way to overcome this is have options! Don’t get tied down to a school without looking at all other viable options.
There are hundreds of schools and sometimes you come across schools that you did not even know existed. Be ready to look at other options when things don’t go your way.
Still having trouble? CAP Rush or College Advisory Program has an amazing platform to help players who are looking to get recruited by colleges! They offer tons of services, as well as podcasts and information. They want to help you get to where you want to be!
Pick multiple schools to look at and to reach out to when trying to get recruited. For the best ways to find the perfect schools for you, check out my blog > Find the Perfect University <. It will take you step by step on your journey to choosing the best fit colleges for you. It is a whole lot easier than you think! Don’t be overwhelmed!
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