College Recruiting: What to Do if You Don’t Get Phone Calls on July 1

Contributor, Rick Paine, is an expert on college swimming and the college recruiting process. He is also the Director of Swimming at American College Connection (ACC). ACC is a SwimSwam Partner.

You are a high school senior and it is the evening of July 1 and the phone hasn’t been ringing, what do you do?

• Panic and assume that no one is interested in you
• Start calling the college coaches
• Give up on your dream of swimming in college
• Change sports
• Email the college coaches your cell number
• Have your coach call the college coaches
• None of the above

The correct answer is……………none of the above.

There are a lot of D-I coaches who won’t even pick up the phone on July 1 because they assume that everyone else is. D-II coaches can start calling on June 15. D-III and NAIA coaches are not limited on phone calls.

Here is what American College Connection does for our swimmers (you can do most of this yourself).

In June:

• We ask our swimmers for a list of schools they are interested in and we contact each coach from their list to let them know they are interested in their school and try to find out if they are interested on our swimmers.
• We receive a response from approximately 80% of the coaches. For the 20% who don’t respond we re-contact them until they do.
• Many of our swimmers will schedule a call with us to do some role playing for when the coaches call.
• We provide our swimmers and parents with a list of questions for the coaches and we provide them with tips on how to engage a coach when they call to personalize the conversation.
• We advise them on how and when to commit to an official visit and how to ask for scholarships.

In July:

• Near the end of the first week in July we ask our swimmers for a list of all the coaches that have called. We re-contact the coaches who have not called and continue to do so until they call or let us or the swimmers know they are not interested.

Most coaches will call to get to know you better and in most cases ask if you are interested in taking an official recruiting visit in the fall. Remember, you must have taken the SAT or ACT before you can go on an official visit.

Make sure you have your list of questions to ask the coaches and be sure to take notes.

We recommend taking calls at home where it is nice and quiet and where you have your notes. Give your cell number out sparingly.

You should feel honored to receive a call from any college coach. If they take the time to call you, be sure to show respect and find out more about what their school and swim program have to offer. Don’t assume you know it all.

If you are sure you are not interested in a program it is advisable to let the coach know when they call. You won’t waste your time or theirs by being honest.

Have fun and enjoy all of the attention. You can let this be overwhelming or you can enjoy the process.

Remember, it is far better to be overwhelmed than underwhelmed.

This is a once in a life-time opportunity and you will never go through anything like the college recruiting process again.

Finding out if you have what it takes to compete in swimming at the college level is easy, and many swimmers do have the potential considering all of the options. Go to www.ACCrecruits and submit a Free Profile.

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