5 College Athletic Scholarship Recruiting Myths & Truths

There is a lot of bad information out there inregardless of grades, if you can play is over. The
regards to college athletic scholarship recruiting. ItNCAA has tightened its restrictions and raised the
is hard to tell what advice will actually help youminimum test scores and grades. Individual schools
and which will hurt your athletic scholarshiphave also raised their minimums for athletes. While
chances. Here are 5 common myths we hereit is true if you play sports you can get in with
every year and what the truth is behind them.lower G.P.A. and test scores than non-athletes,
1. Can you play at the next level?there are only a few "reserved" or "provisional"
Sounds easy to you, right? Well it can be and weacceptance spots ear-marked for athletes. More
show you how but surprisingly there are reallyand more schools are eliminating these every
talented high school athletes that don't get theyear as pressure builds from the non-athletic
opportunity to play in college.community. We take you through the critical
Making the step from high school to collegesteps on what to do year by year in your high
requires more than talent. Talent can get you farschool academic career to pass the Clearinghouse
in high school without a lot of dedication andwith ease.
determination. But in college, having talent is not4. Student Athletes who only want to play at the
enough.Division I level.
2. Pay to Play Recruiting Services will do it for me.There is so much focus on DI colleges and
This is a top misconception in college recruiting.universities. Many feel that it is a DI scholarship
These websites and services are everywhere.for them or nothing.
We know they sound great, just pay us everyLimiting yourself to DI schools is a sure-fire way
month, put up a profile and college coaches will beto not playing in college. You can walk on in some
knocking down your door offering scholarships.DI programs but expect to pay full price. Often if
We wish it was that easy. Do you really thinkan athlete drops a level from what their ego tells
college coaches sit on the computer looking atthem to play, it will open up scholarship money to
profile after profile? Have you ever looked atpay for school. And would you rather be on the
those online profiles? Every athlete looks thebench for 4 years or be a 3-4 year starter?
same, you can't tell the difference between one5. You get a letter from a college coach- What
and the other. Recruiting is about separatingdoes it really mean?
yourself from the masses. Become and individualToo many athletes think a letter is the true
that colleges need to recruit!beginning of a scholarship offer. It is really up to
Don't waste your money on these services. Theyyou to get the scholarship you deserve! Colleges
send colleges hundreds of faxes a day. A coachhave amasses databases from many different
doesn't have the time or the patience to callsources, high schools often give this information
these players back and search for a needle in ato college admissions officers who then forward
haystack. These sites do look great, no doubtthis info to the athletic departments. Most athletic
about that, but we show you how to recruitoffices have students working in work-study
yourself better, certainly cheaper, and faster!capacities whose job is to compile lists of
You can't depend on anyone else to recruit youthousands upon thousands of students.
except yourself!While it can be a good sign to get a letter from a
3. You don't have the grades.coach. It is really only the beginning of building a
There are thousands of talented high schoollong recruiting relationship with this school. It is up
athletes every year whom would have been ato you what you do with this letter. Most athletes
scholarship athlete, but could not even pass thesit back and wait for the coach to start recruiting
NCAA Clearinghouse.you from this point, and for 99% it never
The old days of getting into any college,happens.