Managing the Flood of Mail and Questionnaires

Keep in mind you do not know who will be at your door with an offer down the road---my advice is to not turn anyone off this early in the game

There is no unnecessary work here--it is all necessary until such time the decision is made

Do you know a certain school cannot make your economic needs happen?

Does your son , who is just into his HS junior year, truly know what he wants in terms of a college?

One never knows what will happen--perhaps all of your sons favorites will disappear from the race

My advice, for whatever it may be worth to you, is to keep all the doors open as long as you can

MD,
That's a personal decision. Mine didn't fill out many, only the ones he was interested in. Remember, at this point in time, it is a marketing program for many schools to introduce the player to their program. You have no way of knowing who is really intrested and who is not.

This is what I did. I put all letters in a folder and they sat there for a bit, let son go through them and decide which ones he wanted to answer back, letting him do his homework on his own. Most are introductory letters, the second wave might come after they read the questionaire.

I also wanted to highlight something TR said, because we finally understood it part-way through the recruiting process.

"Do you know a certain school cannot make your economic needs happen?"

There was at least one school (actually I think two) that my son looked at initially where I thought the cost would be WAY too high - almost $40K per year compared to just above $20K at the college he now attends (total cost before any kind of aid/scholarships). But then when I started checking into the true costs, I learned that the more expensive school had so much more money available to give to students (academic aid, grants, etc.) So don't completely rule out a college your son likes before you check and see what the real financial picture might be.

I agree completely with TR's thoughts. I've always thought the process should be approched as though it was a business venture that any adult may encounter. Besides the fact that it is good practice in communication skills you never know what door might open as a result of filling out a form. This site frequently mentions that coaches network between themselves. If you think about it what is there to lose by filling the questionaires out versus ignoring them?

Good points made by TR and Rz. Just my opinion, still remains a personal decision for player and his family.

Julie,
You made a great point. With instate tution awarded to my son, we figured it was much more affordable to keep son instate but out of state schools made offers that were pretty much inline with our costs if he stayed here in Florida. One never knows.

Midlo Dad,
My "pat" answer is to complete all questionairres, return them and keep those options open for future developments but there is also a practical side to all this. TPM's son probabally had more options than the majority of high school players and he could have "wasted" a lot of his time and the recruiting college's time on trying to "develop" a recruiting relationship with a college he had NO intrest in. I can tell you that while I advocate returning all college questionairres I doubt if my son returned more than two or three. The recruiting process “develops” in stages and some players aren’t required to spend time being proactive. Some player’s recuiting can get very intense very quickly. I made sure my son returned all pro questionairres. The pro vs college process, while it seems similar on the outside, is completely different than the college selection process and prompt attention to all questioairres is of upmost importance.

Another couple of suggestions: we created a spreadsheet that let us know when we got stuff, when we responded, etc. It also had the head coach's name and the address of the school. For handling the paper, I got one of those accordion folders with alphabetically tabbed slots. Makes for easy filing!

Agree with TR and RZ, too.

Be inclusive and not "ex-clusive".

As a point of reference, Midlo Dad’s son is among the top 08 prospects in the country. Over the course of the next year he’s likely to get serious recruiting interest from a large number of the highest level colleges that he is the most interested in.

Yes-sir-ree,

I imagine Midlo dad will need an additional extra large mailbox in the year to come.

Good point of reference Jerry.

Peace,
Shep

Midlo Dad,
I am sure that if what PG says is true, you need not worry much. All good things will come and I think that you have made a good plan for your son to be seen by the schools he is interested in.

Fungo,
My son didn't receive half the letters that most people think he did! I remember that some came after Jupiter, after coaches had seen him play. And he did have some offers without ever having gotten a letter or questionaire, one certain school being in Alabama. Of course didn't hurt that one of his coaches had a son that played on that team.
Point is folks, answer the questionaires, answer as many as you wish, but unless you are out and about somewhere being seen, showcase, tournament, camp, having a coach who is willing to help because he knows someone, it doesn't mean much. Don't let the amount of mail you get now be overwhelming or disappointing. JMO.

Hey Y'all who are receiving all these letters, can always re-label them and send them on to us! Congrats!!

We have heard from one DIII that son's on the 'watch list' for '08, but that's it so far. And that may BE it!! Hope not, though......

Krakatoa- us '08's are still young there's no need to worry about getting the letters. Just keep playing and playing hard, and they'll come. I got a letter the other day and I can't for the life of me figure out where they saw me, especially when the coach said specifically in the letter "I enjoyed watching you pitch this summer". Sometimes they come, sometimes they don't. But there's no need to worry about it. Just keep playing hard

I am not trying to steal this thread but does anyone out there have any experience with FOOTBALL offers from schools where your son might be interested in playing baeball? For some reason the Ivy Leagues and smaller DI Northeastern schools are interested in my son for football. Yale, Princeton, Bucknell, Columbia, U of Penn Boston University and several others have sent him letters of interest with camp invitations, campus visit offers, etc. but only regarding football. We have replied back that he is not interested in playing football but would be interested in baseball and we never hear from the school again. Anyone have a similar expeience and, if so, what did you do, if anything, to get these schools on track for baseball?

TW344

Midlo dad:

Since I have not seen anyone else's post touch on one of your questions, I will tell you what we do. Don't fill out the questionnaires for schools your son "knows for a fact he's not going to" [which I take to mean even if given a full ride he will not go] BUT do have your son write them back thanking them for the whatever [offer to visit campus, camp invite, etc.] and telling them flat out that he is not interested. You do not NEED to give a reason. If they still write after that: ignore them. That is what we have done with the football stuff.

TW344

We made a notebook with the letters in the clear sleeves so additional mail could be added to it. In the beginning of the book was a sheet with the colleges name, contact/coach, and date of correspondence. He initially filled out all questionaires but ended up only answering those that he was really interested in. We had alot of fun with it and mail-time was always an adventure. The notebook(s) made for a nice souvenir when it was all over.

quote:

Originally posted by puma1:
We had alot of fun with it and mail-time was always an adventure. The notebook(s) made for a nice souvenir when it was all over.

Puma1, nice touch. I have promised myself that I would organize and do the same thing with my son’s mail but they continue to wait in the “dead letter file”. I have re-read many of the old letters and they do bring back fond memories. My son, after three years of college baseball at Auburn University and one full year of professional baseball, got what will probably be his last piece of “recruiting mail” this past month. Coach Ron Polk of Mississippi State University sent him a letter telling him how much he enjoyed playing against him in the SEC and will continue to follow his career. I thought that was special coming from an opposing coach.
Fungo