D3 College Visit

2016Academic,

Congrats on the upcoming visit.  This is standard operating procedure for someone they want to get to know better and understand their interest level in their school.   This can be the bridge between a coach being interested and seriously interested in you.  If you can,you (or parents) may want to stop by the Financial Aid office to get a feel for the Finances involved as well.   This is something my wife or I did when the opportunity presented itself, but there is typically some financial homework that needs to take place before meeting a FA Officer. 

You can expect to learn a lot more about the school history, baseball program and academic opportunities.  This is your time to ask questions about what it is like to be a student/athlete at XYZ and their process to be admitted.  I would be very straight forward with your questions.  In my son's case, I was concerned about his baseball time comitment relative to his major.  While they were not able to give us specific time commitment details, they did tell us they would work around his lab time and there were other engineers (2 juniors) on the team.  They confirmed it was a difficult to major in engineering and play baseball at their school but it could be done (and had been done).  I recall my son asking questions about mentors, college sponsored internships, summer college baseball requirements & opportunities, and semester study abroad.  All of these were important to him.  

I hope that helps and good luck.  Also, ask about their recruiting timeline and when they look to begin making offers to the class of 2016.  Ask them if it would be alright for you to call or email them.   These responses will help you gauge how interested they are.

Good luck!

My son will be attended a D3 this year.  The scenario you described is exactly what played out for us.  They invited us up to meet HC and RC, we took a tour of the school the same day and they told my son they wanted him to come play for them. 
We asked if we could have a little time to decide as he had visited a few other schools that had some interest in him.  They said fine, about two weeks later my son called them and told them he was committing to them.  While the discussion on where to attend college is a family decision, the communication between athlete and HC or RC needs to be handled by the athlete, not mom and dad.  Questions that I wish I would have known to ask would be... do you have a jv team?  do you recruit junior college transfers or primarily high schoolers?  how does the coach handle labs that son may have to attend that might conflict with practice?  The HC was very upfront with us, he made no promises about playing time, etc.  He said that sons first priority was grades and that would be in study halls each week etc.  BTW, our son attended a prospect camp at the school, about a week after the camp they called and invited us up for the visit.    

I cannot add much more to what Preston and Fenway have already said. But the fact that the coach is running you past admissions is a good sign. Now depending on the result, and whether the coach will need to assist getting you through admissions will be telling about how much love they have for you. 

If admissions result is that the coach will need to Help (Depending on the school/conference he may be allowed to help or not.) and he is willing to use a precious tip/spot to help you get in, then he really likes you. If you do not need his help he will probably like you as well, it is just harder to determine how much. 

As Fenway said this is a bridge to start the next steps in recruiting. Time will tell, but it is a good start. Congratulations. 

I suspect that the coach is probably trying to gauge your interest as much as you are trying to gauge his.  Since there is no NLI and no scholarship money to hand out, D3 recruiting is a trickier recruiting dance.  One thing that the coach will encourage you to do, if he is really interested  -- and your son has the grades for it --  is to apply either early decision or early action. (Our son, unfortunately, didn't have the grades for that.  Needed those first semester senior grades.)  

We knew that they were serious not during our summer visit, like the one you're taking,  but when they actually checked up on his application in the fall, realized that it wasn't yet complete (this was several weeks before the deadline), and wrote to him to  double check that every thing was going  to be in on time. At the same time, they invited him  down for another visit to watch a game and meet some players and the rest of the coaching staff.   (We had already done the kind of visit that you are about to do the summer before so this was the second visit). Once we were there the second time, they gave him a pretty hard sell.   Made him feel very wanted. At that point, he hadn't yet gotten in, but they made it pretty clear that they wanted him.

(Not sure if the coach had an influence on  his admissions decision -- the kid was definitely not a slam dunk -- but I have the hunch that it helped at least a bit. )

I would only add... they do seem to be interested in you, but try to determine why they are interested in you. With no baseball scholarships and and no roster size limitations (some conferences do have limits), it can be difficult to assess their interest in you as a player. Start thinking about how important playing time is to you. Would you be ok with very little playing time for 2 or 3 years, or are you anxious to play ASAP? Could you get into this school without baseball, or are you counting on baseball for support with admissions?

This is still early for DIII "commitments". Since they aren't pledging scholarships to recruits, there isn't the same pressure for you to commit. Unfortunately, they may even continue to recruit for your position right through May-June next year. If you have the patience, it's often better to wait. They might want you now, then find someone they like better next winter. At least if you wait, you'll have more information to make your decision.

Have fun on your visit!

2016 Academic: Based on your e-mail, it is clear that your son is "on the board" with this school, and there is interest. I wouldn't say INTEREST but having them say they will run your academic info by admissions is positive. In any case but especially looking at the high academic schools KEEP YOUR GRADES UP. As Fenway noted, the touring of their facilities and meeting with coaches is a meeting for both sides. Do you research which shows your interest in their program. Look at the roster (do you have any commonalities--same state, school, size?). . Look at what majors offered..what would you take. What interests you most about THEIR program.  Good luck to you.