I have been looking at the questbridge program and considering applying, however I have a few problems/questions:
My top school (as far as recruiting goes) is not a questbridge school. I really think that this school is the one; in this sense I would essentially forfeit the questbridge scholarship if I was on that path?
Should I even bother with the program?
Could someone perhaps simply go over the entire program/ the 2 different programs?
Athletic Recruiting: So this has been confusing: I talked with a college coach and they talked about the whole “counter” thing. I am pretty confused about this - could someone explain it. If I was offered, for example, $10,000 in athletic aid and $30,000 in merit, I would only be able to choose one of the two because otherwise the 30k would count towards the recruiting fund?? I then read that there is an exception to this rule - it was like a high SAT, class rank and/or something else? I probably did not cover this question well, but I hope you get the jist and can explain it to me.
I have been pretty frustrated with the D3 and D1 recruiting time table not matching up. The D1 schools are practically done by the end of the junior year and the D3 schools are saying basically to come April-senior year. If interested in both, how do I juggle the different time tables as D1 schools will not wait forever for you to decide - they want to finish the process?
Could someone also explain why some D3 schools are simply not responsive yet D1’s are?? Do not get me wrong, I understand there is an overlap in the level of play between bottom tier D1 and top tier D3, however no response from mid-tier D3’s is confusing me!
Camps: A waste of money? Are they actually worth all of that money?
For anyone who knows someone or went through the experience of recruiting: How long did you communicate with the coach of the school you committed to till you got a scholarship offer/verbal commitment. Did it happen fairly quickly, was it prolonged? How many unofficials did you take? Does an overnight unofficial indicate you are a top-prospect?
Don’t confuse the NCAA rules with a school specific rule. The NCAA rule is that you can accept a merit scholarship as well as athletic money if you meet the requirements for the merit money like other students (non-athletes), plus the NCAA minimum standards. Those minimums are different for D1 and D2, but are:
Division 1
Top 10% of the high school graduating class
Achieve a cumulative high school GPA of at least 3.50
Score 1200 or higher on the SAT or ACT sum score of at least 105
Division 2
Top 20% of high school graduating class
Achieved a 3.5 cumulative GPA out of 4.00
ACT Sum score of 100 or SAT of 1140
(these are old numbers, so check on current requirements)
So for your example, you could keep the $10k in athletic money and the $30k in merit money (if you qualify). However, some schools make the athlete choose, merit or athletic. It is totally up the school or coach to allow stacking once NCAA standards are met.
Counters are usually in head count sports like football and basketball (men) and the 4 women’s sports. That when you are first in contact with a coach, any money you receive for athletics or need, it will count against the team. Usually merit doesn’t count because there are the other rules that protect the NCAA from schools awarding more athletic money than allowed and disguising it as need based aid.
I have no idea how Questbridge impacts athletics. It is a need based scholarship, so I think you then couldn’t accept any athletic money. The ‘counter’ thing could be a problem.
The sport is field hockey? There are some threads here specifically on field hockey, so mine those for information.
D3 recruiting for many sports generally starts to pick up in winter- spring of 11th grade. Emails to coaching staff (head coach with copies to all assistants) introducing yourself as a student and as an athlete, starts the conversation. Google “sports resume” for examples of a document you can put together and include as an attachment. They may respond asking you to complete the recruiting questionnaire on their team website. If you can manage to visit D3 schools of interest, for tours, info sessions, and email the coaching staff to tell them you will be on campus and ask if they are available to meet, many coaches will meet with you for 20 min meetings where they describe their program and their needs and can start to see if you and the program might be a good fit. Depending on the sport (I know D3 soccer, not field hockey), camps may or may not be big part of the process. It sounds like there are major tournaments for field hockey, and those sound more worthwhile than camps. Recruiting budgets at the D3 level can be slim to none, so give the coaches a break. A student who wants to get on their radar would be well-advised to be persistent, respectful, and reach out in multiple ways. If you are playing at a tournament where coaches will be, email the coaches at schools of interest to let them know when you are playing, your jersey number, and other identifying info.
D3 schools cannot give athletic scholarships, but many do give merit awards based on academic stats and contribution to campus. Generally, the NESCAC schools do not give merit awards (though I’ve heard Trinity and Conn Coll are starting to). Dickinson gives merit, up to about $20k, St Lawrence gives merit awards, the Ohio schools like Kenyon, Oberlin, Denison also give merit awards.
Among the top 40-50 D3 LACs, an athlete may be expected to apply ED to hold a spot on the team as a recruit. For a student who also needs to weigh competing financial aid offers to make a decision, that can be a challenge, though we did hear from coaches who would shepherd through both an admission pre-read and a financial aid pre-read.
Addition – regarding schools’ recruiting questionnaires – some schools use them to create a database for all mailings, announcements etc. so completing it early on in the process can be helpful. Other schools seem to rely on them less. You can’t know going in who uses them more, so generally is useful to complete them early on so that you are in their database.