What Does It Mean When A College Sends You A Questionnaire?
If you’re playing high school sports and are serious about playing college athletics, you’ve likely gotten a recruiting questionnaire in the mail. Schools send out hundreds of these questionnaires every year to student-athletes. But what does it mean when a college sends you a questionnaire?
Generally, if a college sends you a questionnaire, it means that you’re on the coach’s radar, but does not mean they are recruiting you. Colleges send out many questionnaires at the beginning of the recruiting season to gauge interest from student-athletes across the country. It’s one of the first things they will send student-athletes.
NCAA regulations restrict college coaches from sending recruiting materials to Division I and II student-athletes before June 15 of their sophomore year or September 1 of their junior year, depending on the sport. Fortunately, recruiting questionnaires and general information about the school is not considered recruiting material.
What Is A College Questionnaire?
The number of materials you’ll be getting as a high school student-athlete can be overwhelming. There’s brochures, pamphlets, questionnaires, letters, emails and even invitations flooding your mailbox or inbox. How do you separate the serious inquiries from the rest? Questionnaires, especially, can be confusing. Depending on the division you’re targeting, they can mean different things.
Non-Recruiting Materials: Because questionnaires are considered non-recruiting materials, receiving one is not a sure sign that you’re being recruited. Questionnaires include questions about your athletic skills and academic achievements. Questionnaires help coaches collect all the data that is important for administrative and bureaucratic purposes without having to ask each recruit for all their information in an email.
Division I And II: Depending on when you receive this mail, it can mean different things. If you’re receiving a recruiting questionnaire as an underclassman, a college coach is more likely to be interested in you, as this is the only way to communicate with you. If you receive a questionnaire as an upperclassman, it’s less likely that a coach is seriously recruiting you, as the coach is allowed to email or call you. Your sport may have a later recruiting timeline, so this is not a hard and fast rule.
Division III: Division III coaches aren’t subject to NCAA regulations and can send out questionnaires at any time. They generally follow the same timeline as other divisions but focus more on finding student-athletes that are a good cultural fit for the college.
College questionnaires are tools for coaches to gauge interest in a wide range of student-athletes. They help coaches build a database of recruits based on answers to relevant questions. They are an early sign that you are on the coach’s radar, and your skills are comparable to other recruits.
Do Colleges Look At Recruiting Questionnaires?
Now that you know what a recruiting questionnaire is, you may be wondering if college coaches even look at them. So how detailed do you need to be when and if you decide to answer the questionnaire?
Coaches Do Look At Questionnaires: Coaches start the recruiting process with hundreds of prospective recruits that could fit on their team. To narrow down that list, they have to filter prospects through some standards. Questionnaires, especially ones that are available online, are often distilled into databases that record which players would fit on the team depending on their answers to the questions.
Complete The Questionnaire: If you decide you’re interested in a school, you should complete the questionnaire. To fill it out, you’ll need to provide general contact information, high school information, your NCAA eligibility ID, standardized test scores and highlight video link if you have one. By sending in your questionnaire, you maintain your position on the coach’s radar.
Research Schools: By the time colleges start sending you questionnaires, you should be thinking about what your top schools are. Think about what your priorities are for your college experience and start researching schools that fit those criteria. A good strategy is to make a list of your top schools and email the head coach at each of those sports programs.
Start Emailing Coaches: One of the most critical action steps to take after receiving a college questionnaire is to email the coach at the college. You can stay on their radar by introducing yourself, expressing interest in their program and asking a few questions. It’s important to personalize these emails and reach out individually to coaches to show your attention to detail. Emailing coaches is a great way to start building a relationship with a coach and keep them updated on your progress as you develop athletic skills and improve your performance.
While a coach may look at your recruiting questionnaire, the recruiting process is more involved than filling out the questionnaire. You will have to put in work to be recruited, especially if you are playing below an elite Division I level. Starting to research schools and thinking about what you want out of your college experience will help you start a successful recruiting journey.
How Do You Know A Coach Is Recruiting You?
So you know that if you receive a questionnaire in the mail, it means you’re on the coach’s radar. But how will you know that a coach is actively recruiting you? A general rule of thumb is, the more personalized the communication, the more likely it is that the coach is actively recruiting you.
Phone Call From A Coach: If you receive a phone call from a college coach, you can be confident they are recruiting you. They could have emailed you, but they chose a phone call to connect with you faster and learn more about you. Coaches don’t share their phone numbers very often, so getting a call from their cell is a sure sign that the coach is serious about having you on their team.
Coach Comes To See You Play: College coaches attend tournaments and home games to gauge a player’s skill level and see how they interact on a team. Your highlight video likely attracted their attention, and they wanted to know how you perform in real-time. Coaches may also invite you to play at a sports camp to watch you play. It’s a big ask for a coach to travel to see you, so having a coach take the time to watch you play in person means they are serious about recruiting you.
Invite On An Official Visit: If a coach invites you on an official visit, it’s a great sign that you’re being recruited. Official visits are campus tours planned by the school’s athletic department and paid for by the school. Official visits often include one on one meetings with the college coach when they make athletic scholarship offers. An invite to an official visit usually happens toward the end of the recruiting process when coaches have narrowed down their list of recruits.
If you’re getting this level of interest from a coach, whether it’s a phone call, official visit invite or traveling to see you play, you can bet that they’re interested in having you play on their team. It’s your job to reciprocate the interest and show the coach you’re the right candidate for them to choose. You have a much better chance of being recruited by a coach if you have developed a relationship with them. By communicating with the coach over time and starting with filling out a questionnaire, you can prove you have what it takes to play college athletics.
Things To Keep In Mind
If You Don’t Receive A Questionnaire: If you didn’t receive a questionnaire from one of your top schools, you might still be able to fill one out by looking at the school’s website. Most schools will have an online version of their questionnaire available to anyone. Filling out an online questionnaire is an excellent step to take before cold-emailing a coach so that they have all your information in one place already.
If You’re Not Interested In A School: If you’re not interested in attending a school or playing for that team, there’s no need to fill out the questionnaire. You don’t need to waste your time by filling out a lengthy questionnaire when you could be contacting coaches at schools you are interested in.