Looking for a scholarship

L-D You should mount a e-mail/mailout campaigne with a DVD. You also might consider a showcase although we never did one.
We also didn't rely on the elite team my son played for. We did attend a showcase they pu on but we already had schools lined up. We had several schools interested from that showcase but non of the schools we were interested in. Essentially my son attended that one because his team put it on.
One mistake we made was starting the campaigne too late. We were getting calls and BB programs from several schools but my son had criteria that non of them fit so we had to email etc several colleges we identified as fitting these criteria.

Lefty,

I've posted this in a few different places, this should help you out.

Registrations;
1ai.) Register to take the SAT or ACT-You can get info from your guidance councilors at school
1aii.) Check with schools to see what the minimum mark requirement is to get on this test to be accepted by the school.
1b.) Register to take the TOEFL (if needed)-You can get info from your guidance councilors at school
2.) Register with Clearinghouse (if you plan on playing NCAA DI or DII)Can be done at http://www.ncaaclearinghouse.net

Showcases:
Be is Perfect Game, College Select or any other major recruiting service
It's advised that you do attend a showcase because that way you will have knowledge of where you stand in relation to others as well it allows for you to know what level you are able to play at

MLB Open Tryout Camps
1.) They are free, you might as well go to them
2a.) Looks good on a letter to a Coach
2b.) Gives you a scout(s) name to include in the letter to the Coach
3.) Great experience gained from attending these

NOTE* ANY Showcase or Camp you attend (be it PG, College Select, MLB or College Specific) you gain invaluable experience from. Going to these not only shows you the talent you're competing against and where you stand, but how to control yourself and your emotions while being at a high profile event.

School Searches
1a.) NCAA DI DII & DIII http://www.ncaa.org
1b.) Keep in mind that you can not workout with a team during a visit for NCAA. Check out the site for more info
1c.) Keep in mind that there are Dead periods and Early signing periods for NCAA. Check out the site for more info
2.) NAIA http://naia.collegesports.com/
3.) NJCAA http://www.njcaa.org/
4a.) Inquire about Other scholarships i.e. Entrance Mark Schollys
4b.) Inquire about International Student Financial Aid

Looking At Schools
This is the hardest thing to do
Do your research on the Coaching Staff as well see what they have done not only as a Coach but as a player, this can help you determine whether or not you want to go to that school.

Here are some of the Most Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What type of school do I look at?
A: Approach it like you would search for a school up here. Look at Education FIRST then look at Baseball SECOND. IF the school is appealing to your EDUCATION needs and you think it would be a good school put it on your list. REMEMBER-You are a STUDENT-ATHLETE, Student comes BEFORE Athlete

Q: Where do I start?
A: Just get a list of schools found on any of the sites provided on this post and pick one school at random and start there and work your way through the list

Q: How do I cut down on the number of schools to look at?
A: Some people don't want to be far away from home so do a proximity search within the distance that you are comfortable of being away from home. This will automatically rule out a large number of schools. If you know you can only attend schools with Athletic schollys and Financial Aid run a search and get your new list. A note NCAA DIII Doesn't provide Athletic Schollys, Keep this in mind when doing your search

Letter to send out to Schools
Use the shell that is found on the good ol'HSBBW it's one of the best I've seen and I used it myself to send letters out to the schools that recruited me
http://www.hsbaseballweb.com/intro_letter.htm

Visits
1.) Find out if it's an official visit or not
2.) See what expenses they can cover for your trip
3.) Talk to Players while you're there to get a feel for the program, school and coaching staff. Talk to as many players as you can, don't be shy they'll talk to you and tell you their honest impression of everything
4.) See if your able to work out when you go on your visit, and what all is going to be required of you on the field

Clothing, and Etiquette on a Visit
5a.) Wear dress pants and a nice shirt, don't show up in jeans and a t-shirt
5b.) Remember you're making a first impression about yourself
5c.) The Coach wants to make sure that the players he brings in are guys who will represent the school in a professional manner
5d.) Speak properly, no slang or jargon unless you're on the field
5e.) Watch the profanity, keep it at a minimum if any at all

Some Questions to ask Coaches (either on the phone or during a visit)
1a.) What's your Coaching Philosophy?
1b.) How much playing time would I be looking at getting?
2.) What type of role do you see me playing when I come to this school?
3.) Is there any other way I can get more Financial Aid from the school?
4.) What's the living arrangements like?
5a.) Hazing, is it allowed?
5b.) What happens if it does happen?
6a.) What's the teams policies in regards to drinking and drugs?
6b.) How often is there Drug testing?
7a.) How do you get to away games?
7b.) How are you supposed to get to home games and practices (if diamond is not on campus?)
8a.) What's the policy to missing school?
8b.) What's the policy to missing school due to Baseball?
8c.) What's the teams policy on the different holidays ie our Thanksgiving vs. theirs?
8d.) How does the program handle class schedules ie do all players need to be done school at a certain time during the course of a week and what happens if a class can't be scheduled prior to the time that the Coach has requested?

Grades
1.) Buckle down and get your marks up to a good level or make sure to keep them at a good level if they already are there
2.) Aim as high as you can, most schools will give you a scholly for your marks as well

Working out both Offseason and Inseason
1.) Make sure your lifting weights and doing cardio work all the time during the school season, most High schools have a gym that they allow for students to use for a minimal cost. If this isn't provided go to a local gym like Goodlife which costs roughly $24/bi weekly
2.) Throwing and Hitting. This is probably the hardest thing for us to do. If there's not a place that you can use indoor then there's really not much you can do except for dry work

Crossing the Border
1a.) If you get a scholarship, you can only cross the border to attend school if you have received your I-20 (international student visa) they mail it out to you, normally by express post. This allows you into the country to study at the school, this process can take from 30 mins to 2 hours (it varies)
1b.) Subsequently each and every time you cross the border you need to have this with you while your attending school.
1c.) You have to have it resigned by your Admissions Officer on a yearly basis.
2.) At the border claim any electronics i.e. TV, Stereo, Computer etc. that you will use while your down there so that when you cross back home you won't be questioned or in some cases charged if you can not produce receipts.

Networking
Just like in business knowing the right people pays off.
1.) Don't be afraid to go out of your way to talk to people if you're at a Showcase, Camp or Workout.
2.) Sometimes the best way to find out whose looking for what type of players comes through talking to people who are at the event you're at.
3.) The more people that know you the more you get talked about, all you have to worry about is that they only say good things about you, which is something that you can control.

Miscellaneous
1.) Passport->Get it as soon as possible
2.) Extended Health Care->Go to the Ministry of Health Office and inquire about it. You NEED to have a letter of acceptance when you go and get this extended
3.) Any school that you talk to make sure you have a list somewheres of who you talked to when you talked to them and what was discussed during each and everytime

I just want to thank both BobbleheadDoll & Doc_K for your responses. Bobblehead, your advice starting early is great. I wasn't sure if the DVD would be a waste of time, but now I'll move in that direction as every little bit helps. Doc_K, I have to say you are a wealth of information and advice. Your link to the shell letter is terrific. I did know about the clearing house and we have been categorizing all of the colleges and universities via state, baseball programs and of course the academic courses offered.

Our coach is very particular about which Perfect Games we are attending and my son has already attended two MLB tryouts and an MLB team specific tryout. If anyone else has any other insight to offer, I'd appreciate it.

I would recommend going to this site. They have all the US colleges listed according to type.
What team does your son play for ? you can PM me if you like.

http://www.collegebaseballconnect.ca/home/default.asp

Keep in mind that academic money is often the larger amout of any scholarship package.

quote:

Keep in mind that academic money is often the larger amout of any scholarship package

Not trying to hijack the thread, but from my experiences, all the offer's that I've gotten the Ball money was more then the academic money. Mind you this might fall under the exception to the sugestion that you state.

Thanks for the kind words Lefty. Starting early is the BEST advice, be glad that you found this site when you did. I didn't find this place until the final semester of my Senior year, boy oh boy would I of done things differently. Which is why I created that post a few years ago, to help any Canadian get a leg up on the whole process.

L-D try this site. It lists all the Canadian players and where they went.

http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Baseball/Canada/college_canadians.html

That's a GREAT site, I'd like to know how complete it actually is though.

Personal connections to a school baseball program can be a huge help. I'd suggest finding out about boys who graduated from your son's current team in the last few years. Find out where they went to college and consider getting together with some of them when they come home during the Christmas holidays. If these other boys are doing well at their colleges, they could put a word in to the coach about your son and then the coach will pay more attention when your son sends a letter/DVD.
If you are late trying to find a school, or if you think your son is capable of playing division one but he hasn't had opportunities to be noticed, he can always enroll in a Junior college that is in the same state as the colleges that he is interested in. If he is good, he will get noticed during his one or two years at Junior college and then he can transfer to a good division one program. (however beware of lots of transfer rules)

Doc that site is very up to date. It will be up dated when the spring rosters are posted. The LIs are updated reagularly. If they miss some people we uesually let them know but that is rare.
Ontario teams usually have a few Colleges they are tight with. Most of their players go to certain schools unless like we did go out on their own to get noticed.
The relationships are developed by the teams because they attend US tournaments and keep in touch with the coaches they talk to. If you play elite ball you should see who they are tight with. Some contacts are better than others but of course thier is a price.

Bobble,

Just wanted to pass along some info about that site. It's now closed down. The last update for the NLI Signings for 07-08 season was on Nov. 02.

The people at SLAM! Sports shut it down for some reason.

Bob Elliott said he's trying to get a new site going shortly.

Lefty,
College Baseball Connect is a good resource, it is pricey (about $500 with video), but you can access their website and get e-mails for a lot of colleges.
Don't discount the possibility of paying for your son's first couple of years, JUCO is about 1/3 the price of Canadian schools and baseball is included. The "out of the way" schools don't have the resources to recruit as well as the bigger schools. The quality of coaching and baseball are still very good. My son opted for Kansas at a price about 1/2 of a community college out here. The conference is strong but the numbers at each tryout are low which translates to some playing time.