LET COACHES KNOW YOU'RE INTERESTED
During your sophomore year, send a letter of interest to each head coach on your Target List. The purpose of the letter of is to let each coach know that you would like to attend his school for academic reasons and to compete for his team.
It is extremely important to personalize your letter of interest. Make sure you spell the coach’s name and address correctly, and include something specific about his team (i.e., team’s record, top rivals, facilities) so he know your interest is based on knowing something about his program.
You want a coach to understand that you have genuine and specific interest in his school and that you have devoted a lot of time to researching his lacrosse program. So make each letter of interest an original, from start to finish!
Begin the letter by explaining your interest in the school’s academic program. Perhaps the school boasts some famous professors whose classes you’d like to attend, or famous graduates who had similar interests to yours.
Discuss your educational and career goals, leadership ability, and your personal values. These characteristics demonstrate to the coach that you are a well-rounded person and that you plan on staying in school all four years. Avoid the temptation to discuss only athletics in your letter. Athletes who treat academics just as seriously as sports impress coaches.
But don’t forget to emphasize your athletic accomplishments and why you feel you can contribute to the team!
In all correspondence with college coaches, you can include the link to your LacrosseRecruits.com profile so the coach can view your profile and video with the click of a button. This sets you apart from other recruits. Instead of just being another letter or e-mail alerting the coach of your interest, the coach is provided with an action point to see your profile and video right away. This increases your odds of being recruited by getting you on the coach’s radar.
Create Your Player Profile
Create a player's profile with LacrosseRecruits.com. In each message you send to a coach, you include your personal URL, www.lacrosserecruits.com/yourname. As mentioned above, this gives the coach all information he needs in one central place and allows the coach to watch your high definition video right away instead of waiting for a DVD that may never make it to his / her desk.
Telephone & E-Mail Contact
After you mail or e-mail your letter of interest and Player Profile to coaches on your Target List, it is important for you to maintain periodic telephone and / or e-mail contact with the school’s coaching staff. This will let the coach know that your interest is strong and sincere. It will also give you an opportunity to evaluate where you stand on the recruiting depth chart.
Make sure you have a purpose to each contact with a coach or school. For example, you can inform the coach of an event you are attending, ask questions about the program, request information about the school that cannot be found from published sources, or find out if the coach would like to see your highlight tape. Remember, it is illegal for NCAA coaches to call you or to return your phonecalls until July 1 before your senior year. However, if you call the coach and he answers the call, he is permitted to speak to you.
You are permitted to phone and e-mail the coach as many times as you like. Just use common sense. The last thing you want to do is annoy a coach by calling of e-mailing too often. One last piece of advice… you should place the phone calls, not your parents. This will demonstrate that you are a mature and responsible young adult who can speak on his or her own behalf.
Develop Your LacrosseRecruits.com Profile
Once you are a high school sophomore, you should create a personal LacrosseRecruits profile to give college coaches an easy and informative way to learn about you and follow your accomplishments. If gives coaches a way of viewing contact information, lacrosse information, academic information, video highlights, and what lacrosse camps and tournaments you are attending. You can send messages to any college lacrosse program in the country using LacrosseRecruits.com’s integrated messaging feature.
Avoid Rushing to Judgment
Do not reject a school too early in the process. Wait until you have thoroughly researched all of your options before telling a coach that you are or are not interested in his / her school. It’s difficult to predict how the recruiting process will evolve, and an offer you turned down in August may be your best and option in December. Fill out and return everything you receive from a school. If a coach makes the effort to contact you, respond promptly. Do not burn any bridges.
Emphasize Your Unique Selling Point
Although they hate to admit it, many selective colleges target certain groups of applicants for admission. They might want to increase the diversity of the student body, expand the physics department, or recruit a few potential future donors. To have the freshman community they want, colleges need musicians and athletes, leaders in publications and student government, a certain percentage of alumni children, minorities, and international students.
Students in the targeted groups may have an easier time getting through the admissions process, and there is often special scholarship money available for people from certain backgrounds or those applicants who are interested in specific programs. You should emphasize what is unique about you!
A Strong Essay Can Make the Difference
Admissions deans often push hard for the writers of their favorite compositions. On the other hand, they also note the papers that are riddled with typos or grammatical errors. Generally speaking, typos reflect sloppiness. Even if you do have a tendency to be light on the spell check, there is no excuse for these kinds of errors. They can be eliminated entirely by careful and repetitive proofreading. Eliminate the mistakes and show you care about how you are perceived. Choose a topic you feel passionate about. Be creative!
On-Campus and Alumni Interviews Matter
Interviews are the only personal interaction in an otherwise paper-driven process. Admissions committees frequently consider whether of not you bothered to set this up, and what the interviewer though of you. Aggressively seek out any official or unofficial representatives of your Target List schools. You never know which contact you make will be the one that will move your application from the “Rejected” to “Maybe” to “Accepted” category.
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