D3 Time-line

Tough question to answer because D3s are so diverse.  To answer your question directly; it could be now until next May for recruiting.   In addition, many D3s hold tryouts in Sept looking for additional talent after they have been admitted and enrolled.   

D3 recruiting mostly depends on the school, their academic selectivity and the baseball talent they seek.  Some recruit national talent while others get regional or local talent.  

If you can offer more specific questions, the board may be able to elaborate.

My son had two D1 offers, one school was not an academic match and the second school was too expensive.  We are moving to the D3 option and will need merit scholarship money.  We are starting to follow-up with coaches that have been emailing and requesting visits.

Do we work with the coaches or with admissions?  The merit money will be the biggest factor left in the schools we are interested in.  I don’t want to go down the path again and learn at the end we are not able to afford the school.

Also,the Early/ Regular decision is something I don’t quite understand.

From my sons experience. D3 recruiting is a long process. My son now through November was applying early action at the schools he was interested in.

Fill out yhe Fafsa and  css profile (not all d3's require the css profile.) As soon as you can. You will need tax returns and w2's. Most schools will not release the financial packages until next March or April. 

You want to have more than one option, the more the better. My son had no less than 7 offers. He narrowed that down to 4. I used those against each other to get yhe best offer. In my sons case that was not the cheapest. Different schools differ in how much pull the coach has in improving the financial package. These can range from none to help with addmissions,at a academic reach school, to some financial help. The latter can not be based on leadership or athletic ability. The student must have some other talent the coach can leverage.

Do not fall forgive us your best offer and we will match it. It is a ploy. Remembervthe coach knows your academics, he has an idea what the other schools will offer. Most of my sons offers were pretty close except one. The schools were up front that they could not match that school. Unfortunately the school was not a fit for his chosen degree. You want each schools best offer.

The first offer is not usually their best. We made the schools tell us no at least twice. In many cases the financial aide officer can only give so much. Try and deal with their boss or kick it up to a committee. 

There is also something considered summer melt.

http://www.fastweb.com/financi...n-earn-you-big-bucks

I would also go out to the financial aide portion of each school in question, many have calulators based on grades and test scores. That should give you an idea for a starting point.

Sometimes D3 coaches want you to work the admissions process through them. It's when the player might be one of the caoch's academic exception chips.

Thanks for the information BLD.  Did he receive the offers in the Fall (based on pre-read type information) or after January 1 ? 

What is typical?

My son is. D3 player. He was contacted by the coach who became his head coach in July before his senoir year. He was all set by November, but he heard fromother coaches for a longer period.

I know players who didn't get it worked out until the summer before they started college.

Good luck.

Fenway and BLD did a great job providing an overview. I agree with Fenway that there are so many programs there is not really one model. For players who have made up their minds and have been recruited early then early decisions can help solidify their selection early in the timeline. For borderline D1 players the process starts later, typically after the NLI signing period in November. That is when players who have not signed NLI's and are still searching for a match. Some nationally ranked programs recruit regionally and some nationally so it is not possible to categorize them all the same. In general D3 programs tend to be delayed time wise from D1's by 3 months. My son did not commit until May 1st of his Sr year, although most probably committed in the Dec-Jan time frame.

Trout,

I have walked a mile in your shoes.  My oldest son was offered by some D1s that we did not purse for the same "not an academic match" reasons.  By far it was the most difficult thing to do, but it was absolutely the right thing to do for our situation.  My son continued looking at more academic fits including many D3s.  I read up on the topic and found many of the authors tips to be true.  First, if your son is in the top 25% of an incoming class he will get monetarily incented by the school (academic aid).  Schools need these students to boost their published numbers.  However, when you get to the most academically competitive schools (low admissions rates) there isn't much academic scholarships because everybody is pretty smart and economic forces of low supply and high demand takeover.  So, based on your post I would begin looking at D1/D3 schools where he is among the top 25%, they have his major and they have a baseball team that wants him.  You can use College Navigator to determine where he is statistically.

You will work with both Admissions and the Coaching staff, but mostly through the Coaches.  In our experience the coaches had a liason between the coaching staff and Admissions that everything was funneled through  Follow the coaches lead.  In our case, we worked directly with a Financial Aid officer directly with anything related to Financial Aid.  Get to know these people is my advice. 

Once your son and coach agree to verbally commit to each other, the coach will want your son to apply Early Decision.  Most EDs are Nov 1.   Early Decision is binding....that is the reason the Coach wants recruits to apply ED.  In addition, he may be required to sign an National Letter of Intent for D1 if he receives any athletic money.  ED is also a time where the Coach can influence admissions or give an athlete a boost with Admissions during a smaller candidate pool.  Regular Decision is a large candidate pool and athletes have to get in on their own.

Good luck.

Trout,

My son was in similar situation.  Only D1 and D2 offers he had were not an academic match.  He was trying to go Ivy, but had no takers.  By the end of his rising senior summer, he had his pick of a dozen or so D3's that were offering Early Decisions slots.  His academics were such that admission anywhere was not really an issue if baseball was in the mix.  He was more concerned with academic opportunities and the commitment from the coach to offer the ED slot.  Dropped him off over the weekend and he could not be happier.

Fenway knows about 100 times more about this than I do but I want to clarify one point about highly selective schools:  most colleges in this category are well funded private schools, and many claim that they meet 100% of "demonstrated need", even if they offer little or no merit aid.  What that means can vary,  IE in some cases schools meet some of that need with loans, while in others it is all met with grants. Looking at the schools' websites, along with a little Googling can let you know which colleges are well-endowed enough to truly meet the demonstrated  financial need of all applicants who apply for it, what the average award is, and what percentage of students are receiving aid.  The other factor there, of course, is what kind of need, if any, your personal situation indicates. You can get a ball park on that by using the calculators embedded in most school's websites.

Thanks all for the insight and information.

I am grateful for the detail and personal experiences provided.

JCG made me chuckle... Just remember your definition of "need" will not be the same as the college's definition of your need.  I told my middle son's school last year they were off by a magnitude of at least 5 in what "extra" grant money they offered ($1K) after I complained their numbers were absurdly low. Their response - well either you choose to figure out a way to pay or drop out. Remember - they are not the coaches and once they have you there - well they've got you...

When you visit - pay attention - are they remodeling?  A lot?  Does the tour guide talk about all the new facilities and the such? How is that funded? Assume they aren't putting that money towards making sure incoming students get more finaid. Ask to set up a visit with someone in financial aid.  When you see your first FAFSA results and the "Expected Family Contribution" (EFC) - you will wonder where *that* will come from and how it can be such a large number.  The shock wears off eventually.  Some schools will very strictly follow the EFC - it's something you should be able to ask about though.

While ED is "binding" - the only way out is that you cannot make the financial numbers work; however, you find out *way too late*... And by that time your child is really looking forward to going. Going through the process again is painful...

One other factor to consider - the "earlier" you decide the more likely it is you may get "some sort" of aid.  Once it runs out, well it's not like they're going back to the first 1000 and lowering their numbers just because you need a bit extra...

If you find a school that also wants a CSS/Profile a/k/a the Colonoscopy of your finances - have fun with that too.  Digging out two years of history... For some ED schools this needs to be done within a couple weeks of the ED acceptance.

Yes the CSS profile is Lots of "Fun". I dealt quite a bit with my sons, number 3 choice school and my sons request was escalated up the chain to until I was talking to a financial aid officer higher up the food chain. He really wanted my son to go there. He was a baseball fan and the team really was looking for lefty pitchers. Alas even there best offer was well above our EFC. In talking to the very nice gentleman, he admitted that not many students in my sons, socio-economic class usually attended that school. We made too much to get enough need based aid, and we did not make enough to afford the yearly tuition. In fact only one school offered to meet our EFC. 

To the OP, There is one other option besides Early Decision, and regular decision. It is called Early action. 

Early action means you fill out and apply for Colleges earlier than the regular rolling decision. Most 2015's that are going Early Action will start applying to schools shortly and get acceptances sometime near the end of this year. 

Early Action does not commit you to a school but you may be second in line for Financial aid after the Early Decision. It is another option.

Lots of wisdom here.

When my son went for his admissions interview, the coach asked that he stop by his office beforehand. The coach then escorted him to the admissions office. It was a nice touch.