Free guide from Adult IQ · College Recruiting

10 Mistakes Families Make in College Recruiting

What to avoid, what to do instead, and how to find the right fit. A free guide for student-athletes and their families.

Read it right here, free, no account needed. Every chapter ends with a short Do This Instead list of action steps.

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Before You Read Another Recruiting Email

If you’re reading this, there’s a good chance your kitchen table has turned into a recruiting office. Maybe there’s a laptop open to a spreadsheet of schools. Maybe there’s a pile of camp brochures and a phone that buzzes every time a coach’s email comes in, and you can’t tell which ones matter. Maybe you’re the parent who just realized your child is a sophomore and you have no idea what you’re supposed to be doing yet.

I wrote this for you.

College recruiting is one of the most confusing things a family will ever go through, and nobody hands you a manual. The rules change. The money changes. The advice you get from other parents in the bleachers is usually a mix of one family’s lucky break and three rumors. And the whole time, you’re trying to help a teenager make a decision that will shape the next four years of their life.

Here’s what I’ve learned from watching this process up close: the families who end up happy aren’t always the ones with the most talented kid. They’re the ones who avoided a handful of very common, very fixable mistakes. Talent gets you noticed. Good decisions get you to the right place.

So that’s what this guide is. Ten mistakes I see families make over and over, why they happen, and what to do instead. Some of them will sting a little. A couple of them you might already be making. That’s okay. Every one of them can be fixed, and most can be fixed this week.

A quick word on how things work now

If the last time you paid attention to college sports was a few years ago, a lot has changed. In 2025 a major court settlement reshaped Division I athletics. At schools that opted in, which includes every school in the biggest conferences, the old sport-by-sport scholarship caps went away and were replaced with roster limits. Colleges can also now share revenue directly with their athletes. A year earlier, the NCAA got rid of the National Letter of Intent, the document families used to sign for decades.

I’ll explain what all of that means for your family in the chapters ahead. For now, just know this: some of what you remember about recruiting is out of date, and some of what you’re hearing from other parents is too. When in doubt, go straight to the source and ask the college coach or compliance office directly.

How to use this guide

Read it straight through once. It’s short on purpose. Then go back to the chapters that hit closest to home. At the end of every chapter you’ll find a short list called Do This Instead. Those are the action steps. If you only have ten minutes, read those.

And please read it with your son or daughter. This is their recruiting process, not yours. The best thing you can do as a parent is understand the game well enough to coach them through it, then step back and let them play.

Let’s get started.

Mistake 01Waiting to Be Discovered

There’s a story almost every sports family has heard. A kid is playing in some regular-season game, nothing special, and a big-time college coach happens to be in the stands. The coach sees something, walks over afterward, and a few weeks later there’s a scholarship offer on the table.

It does happen. It just doesn’t happen very often, and building your plan around it is the single most common mistake I see.

Why families wait

Most parents assume that if their child is good enough, coaches will find them. It’s a reasonable thing to believe. Your kid is one of the best players on the team, maybe in the area. The local paper has mentioned them. Their club coach says they have a future. Surely somebody’s paying attention.

But think about it from the college coach’s side. A coach might be recruiting for several positions across multiple graduating classes, with a small staff and a limited travel budget. They can’t be everywhere. They rely on lists, on video, on tournament schedules, on recommendations from coaches they trust, and, more and more, on athletes who reach out to them first.

Talent gets you noticed. But only if someone is looking in your direction.

If your child isn’t on any of those lists, a coach may never know they exist. Not because your kid isn’t good enough, but because nobody told them where to look.

Know the calendar

The NCAA puts limits on when college coaches can contact recruits, and these dates trip a lot of families up. In most Division I sports, coaches can’t start calling, texting, or emailing your child about recruiting until June 15 after their sophomore year of high school. A few sports run on slightly different dates, so check the specific calendar for your child’s sport.

What surprises people is what is allowed before then. Your child can email coaches any time they want. They can fill out recruiting questionnaires on college athletic websites. They can attend camps. Coaches can watch them play and can talk with their high school or club coach. The coach just can’t reply directly about recruiting until the date arrives.

That means the work you do in ninth and tenth grade matters a lot. Coaches are quietly building their lists long before June 15. When that date hits, the phones start buzzing for the kids who are already on those lists. The ones who aren’t often hear silence and assume it means something it doesn’t.

Silence isn’t a verdict

That silence doesn’t mean your child is out of the running. Division I schools tend to move earliest, but Division II, Division III, NAIA, and junior college programs often recruit well into junior and even senior year. Plenty of athletes find a great fit later in the process. The point isn’t to panic early. It’s to stop being passive.

What getting started actually looks like

Starting early doesn’t mean pushing a fourteen-year-old to commit. It means putting a few simple things in place so your child is ready when the window opens:

• A short athletic résumé: graduation year, position, height and weight if relevant, key stats or times, GPA, and contact information for the athlete and their coaches.
• A highlight video (we’ll talk about how to make a good one in Mistake 5).
• A first list of schools that might be a good fit, across more than one level.
• The team’s upcoming tournament or showcase schedule, so coaches know where they can see your child play.

Then your child sends a short, personal email to the coaches at those schools. Not a mass blast with fifty names in the “To” line. A real note that shows they know something about the program and explains why they’re interested.

Most of those emails won’t get an answer right away. That’s normal. The goal is to get your child’s name in front of the people making decisions, so that when a coach is building a list, your kid is already on it.

Mistake 02Aiming at Only One Level

I hear some version of “Division I or bust” all the time. Usually it comes from parents, sometimes from athletes, and almost always from people who haven’t looked closely at what the other levels have to offer.

I get it. Division I is what’s on TV. It’s where the big stadiums are. When your child has been the best player on every team they’ve ever played for, it feels like that’s where they belong.

But setting your sights on a single level of college athletics is one of the fastest ways to shrink your child’s options down to almost nothing.

The numbers are tough

Millions of kids play high school sports in this country. Only a small share of them go on to compete in college at any level, and a much smaller share play Division I. Depending on the sport, the odds of reaching a Division I roster can be a few percent or less.

That doesn’t mean your child can’t do it. It means that when you limit yourself to one tier, you’re competing for the smallest number of spots against the largest number of talented kids.

And the Division I math just got harder. Under the new roster limits that took effect in 2025, many programs had to trim their rosters, and walk-on spots in a lot of sports got harder to come by. More scholarships are possible at those schools, but there are fewer total places on the team.

The question isn’t “What’s the highest level my child can reach?” It’s “Where will my child actually play, grow, and be happy?”

What the other levels offer

Here’s a quick look at your options. Each level has its own rules and personality, and the best program for your child might be at any of them.

• Division I. The highest-profile level, with the biggest budgets and the most demanding schedules. Athletes often train and travel almost like it’s a full-time job. Athletic scholarships are available, and the rules around them changed significantly in 2025.
• Division II. Very competitive athletics, often with a little more balance between sports and the rest of college life. Athletic scholarships are available, though they’re frequently partial awards combined with academic aid.
• Division III. The largest NCAA division by number of schools. Division III schools don’t give athletic scholarships, but many of them offer generous academic and need-based aid, and the level of play is often much higher than families expect.
• NAIA. A separate association with its own schools and rules. NAIA programs can offer athletic scholarships, and the recruiting process is often more flexible.
• Junior college. Two-year schools that can be a great path for athletes who need more time to develop, want to improve their grades, or would like to save money before transferring to a four-year school.

Get an honest evaluation

The best way to figure out where your child fits is to ask people who know. Your child’s high school and club coaches have seen a lot of athletes move on. Ask them directly: “Where do you honestly see my child playing in college?” Then actually listen to the answer, even if it isn’t the one you were hoping for.

You can also compare your child’s numbers against current college rosters. Look up a few programs at each level and check the heights, times, stats, and backgrounds of the freshmen. It’s one of the most eye-opening things a family can do.

Build a balanced list

Think about your school list the way college counselors think about admissions: a few reach schools, a solid group of good fits, and some options you feel confident about. Twenty-five or thirty programs across several levels is a healthy starting point. You’ll cross plenty off as you go, and that’s the whole idea.

Mistake 03Treating Grades Like a Side Issue

If there’s one chapter I wish every freshman athlete would read, it’s this one. Families pour hours and dollars into training, tournaments, and travel. Then the transcript shows up and it’s a mess, and suddenly a whole list of colleges is off the table. Not because of anything that happened on the field, but because of what happened in second period.

Coaches are recruiting students, too

Every college coach has to get their recruits admitted to the school and keep them academically eligible once they’re there. A player who struggles in the classroom is a risk. They might not get in. They might not stay eligible. And every one of those problems eventually lands on the coach’s desk.

So when a coach is choosing between two athletes with similar ability, grades often decide it. A strong transcript opens doors at more schools, including academically selective ones where the coach may have only a limited ability to help an athlete through admissions.

Good grades don’t just keep doors open. They open doors you didn’t know were there.

The eligibility basics

If your child wants to play at a Division I or Division II school, they’ll need to meet the NCAA’s academic requirements and be certified through the NCAA Eligibility Center. Division III schools don’t use the Eligibility Center to certify initial eligibility, but they’ll still look closely at your child’s academic record.

Here’s the short version of what matters most:

• Core courses. Both Division I and Division II require sixteen approved core courses in subjects like English, math, science, and social studies. Not every class on a transcript counts, so check your school’s list of NCAA-approved courses.
• Core-course GPA. Division I requires at least a 2.3 GPA in those core courses. Division II requires at least a 2.2. Those are minimums, not targets.
• Timing. Division I requires ten of the sixteen core courses to be finished before the start of senior year, with seven of those in English, math, or science. Once senior year starts, those ten are locked in and can’t be retaken to raise the GPA.

One change that catches families off guard: the NCAA no longer requires an SAT or ACT score for initial eligibility in Division I or Division II. That doesn’t mean test scores don’t matter. Many colleges still use them for admission or academic scholarships, so talk with your school counselor about whether your child should test.

Register with the NCAA Eligibility Center early in high school. It doesn’t cost anything to start an account, and it’s much easier to fix a scheduling problem as a sophomore than as a senior.

Grades can be worth real money

This part gets overlooked more than anything else. Academic scholarships can be every bit as valuable as athletic ones, and sometimes more. At Division III schools, which don’t offer athletic aid, academic and need-based aid is often how families make the cost work. At Division II and NAIA schools, coaches frequently combine a partial athletic award with academic money to put a package together.

Every grade point your child earns can turn into dollars. That’s not a lecture. That’s just how the math works.

Mistake 04Letting the Parent Do the Talking

I want to say this gently, because I know where it comes from. You love your kid. You’ve driven them to every practice and sat through every tournament. You know their strengths better than anyone. Of course you want to be the one to make the case.

But when parents take over the recruiting conversation, it almost always hurts the athlete.

What coaches are really evaluating

A college coach isn’t just recruiting a player. They’re recruiting a person who’ll be on their team, in their locker room, and representing their school for years. They want to know if your child can handle tough coaching, communicate like an adult, manage their own schedule, and speak up for themselves.

They can’t learn any of that if you’re the one answering every email and every question on the phone.

When a coach calls and a parent picks up and starts talking about stats and potential, the coach learns plenty, just not about the athlete. Some coaches will tell you plainly that an overbearing parent has cost a recruit a spot on their board.

Coaches aren’t only evaluating your child. They’re often quietly evaluating you, too.

Coaches watch the bleachers

College coaches pay attention to how families behave. They notice the parent yelling at officials, the one coaching from the stands, the one who storms off after a loss. They also notice how your child handles mistakes, talks to teammates, and responds when they’re taken out of a game.

None of this means you need to be perfect. It just means the whole family is part of the recruiting picture, whether you like it or not.

What your role actually is

Stepping back doesn’t mean disappearing. Parents play a huge part in recruiting. It’s just a different part than most people think. You’re the organizer, the researcher, the driver, and the person who asks the hard questions about money and fit.

Here’s a simple way to split it up:

• The athlete writes the emails, makes the calls, answers the coach’s questions, and asks their own questions about the team, the position, and playing time.
• The parent helps keep track of deadlines, researches schools, sets up visits, and handles the conversations about cost, financial aid, and academics, usually toward the end of a call or visit, after the athlete has had their turn.

If your child is shy or nervous, help them practice. Do a mock phone call at the kitchen table. Have them write the first few emails while you sit next to them. Building those skills is one of the best things that will come out of this whole process, no matter where they end up.

Mistake 05Making a Highlight Video Nobody Finishes

Your child’s highlight video is often the very first time a college coach sees them play. In a lot of cases, it decides whether that coach ever looks again.

Most coaches watch a lot of video, and they watch it fast. If they don’t see something worth their time in the first minute or so, there’s a good chance they click away. That’s not rude. That’s just the reality of how much they have to get through.

So let’s make sure your child’s video earns a second look.

The most common video mistakes

• Too long. A highlight video isn’t a season recap. For most sports, a few minutes is plenty. If a coach wants more, they’ll ask for full game film, and that’s a good sign.
• Best plays buried. Lead with your strongest clips. The first thirty seconds should make a coach want to keep watching.
• No way to tell who your child is. If a coach can’t immediately pick out your athlete, the clip is wasted. Put a simple arrow or circle on your child before each play starts, then let the play run clean.
• Distracting extras. Long intros, flashy transitions, slow motion on everything, and loud music don’t help. Many coaches watch with the sound off anyway. Keep it simple.
• Missing information. Coaches shouldn’t have to hunt for basic details. Open or close with a simple title card.

A coach should know who your child is, what they play, and how to reach them before the first clip ends.

What a strong video includes

A good title card has your child’s name, graduation year, position, high school and club team, jersey numbers, key measurements or times if they matter in your sport, GPA, and contact information.

Then come the clips: your child’s best plays, starting with the strongest, showing the skills a college coach at that position cares about most.

If you don’t know what those skills are, ask your child’s coach, or look up what college coaches in your sport say they look for. A goalkeeper’s video should look different from a striker’s. A pitcher’s should look different from a shortstop’s.

Keep it current

A video from freshman year won’t help much when your child is a junior. Update it as your child improves, and make sure the newest version is the one coaches can find. Keep the link easy to share and include it in every email signature and on the athletic résumé.

Mistake 06Misreading What Coaches Mean

Few things get a family’s hopes up faster than a coach’s email. And few things cause more heartbreak than finding out later it didn’t mean what you thought it did.

Recruiting has its own language. Learning to read it is one of the most important skills your family can have.

Not all contact is equal

Some of what your child receives is real interest. A lot of it is marketing. Camp invitations, general questionnaires, and emails that start with “Dear Athlete” are often sent to large numbers of kids at once. They’re not bad. They just aren’t a sign that your child is being recruited.

Real interest usually looks more personal. Signs of genuine interest include:

• The coach mentions specific things about your child’s play, a game they watched, or something in the video.
• The coach reaches out directly and follows up more than once.
• The coach talks about their roster, their needs at your child’s position, and their timeline.
• The coach invites your child to visit campus, or asks about academic records.
• The conversation moves toward a written offer.

Verbal offers and commitments

This is where a lot of families get burned. A verbal offer is a coach saying they’d like your child to come play for them. A verbal commitment is your child saying yes. Neither one is binding. The coach can change their mind, and so can your child.

Most coaches are honest people trying to do right by recruits. But coaches also have bosses, budgets, and rosters that change. A coach might leave for another job. A transfer might suddenly become available. Plans shift, and verbal agreements shift with them.

Until it’s in writing, it’s a conversation, not a contract.

What makes things official now is different from what many parents remember. In late 2024 the NCAA eliminated the National Letter of Intent. In its place, the commitment becomes formal when your child signs the school’s written athletics aid agreement. Read it carefully. Ask exactly what’s included, for how long, and under what conditions.

Ask the direct questions

The fix for confusion is clarity, and you get clarity by asking. It can feel awkward, but good coaches respect it. Teach your child to ask questions like these:

• “Where do I stand on your recruiting list?”
• “How many athletes at my position are you recruiting for my class?”
• “What’s your timeline for making offers?”
• “Will there be any athletic aid, and will it be in writing?”
• “What would you need to see from me to move forward?”

The answers won’t always be what you hope. But an honest “We’re not there yet” is worth much more than months of guessing.

Mistake 07Forgetting Who’s Watching Online

Before a college coach invites your child to campus, there’s a very good chance they’ll look them up online. Many coaches will tell you they’ve stopped recruiting a player because of something they saw on social media.

This chapter is short, but please don’t skip it.

What coaches look for

Coaches aren’t hunting for reasons to drop a kid. They’re trying to get a feel for character. They want to know how your child treats people, how they handle frustration, and what they find funny. A single post can tell them more than a dozen emails.

The obvious problems are easy to spot: profanity, crude jokes, cruelty toward others, anything involving drugs or alcohol, and complaints about coaches, teammates, or officials. But coaches also notice the less obvious things, like reposts, comments on other people’s pages, and the accounts a kid follows.

Your child’s social media is the first interview, and it’s happening whether they know it or not.

Use it as a tool

The good news is that social media can help just as much as it can hurt. A clean, positive profile can show coaches the things a stat sheet can’t: work ethic, leadership, community service, team spirit, and good grades. Some athletes keep a public account just for their sport, with highlight clips, schedules, and links to their video.

Think of it this way. If a college coach looked at your child’s accounts right now, what would they learn?

Mistake 08Counting on Money That May Not Be There

Let’s talk about money, because almost every family starts this process with the same picture in their head: the full athletic scholarship. Tuition, room, board, books, all of it, covered.

For a small number of athletes, that’s exactly what happens. For most, it doesn’t, and planning around it can lead to some painful surprises.

The truth about athletic scholarships

Only a small share of high school athletes ever receive an athletic scholarship, and many of those awards are partial. For years, most sports operated with a fixed number of scholarships that coaches divided among a larger group of athletes. A player might receive a quarter, a half, or a little more, then rely on academic aid, need-based aid, or family savings to cover the rest.

The 2025 settlement changed some of that. At Division I schools that opted in, there’s no longer a sport-specific cap on how many scholarships a team can give. Instead, there’s a limit on how many athletes can be on the roster. A football roster, for example, is now capped at 105. Baseball is limited to 34, and softball to 25.

That sounds like great news, and in some ways it is. But being allowed to offer more scholarships isn’t the same as having the budget to do it. Every athletic department decides how to spend its money, and many programs still can’t fund every athlete fully. Fewer roster spots also means more competition for each one.

Being allowed to offer more scholarships isn’t the same as having the money to do it.

Revenue sharing and NIL

You’ve probably heard about colleges paying athletes directly and about name, image, and likeness deals. Both are real, and both are changing fast. But for most families, they won’t be the deciding factor. The largest shares of that money tend to go to athletes in the highest-profile sports at the biggest programs. Treat anything beyond a written aid agreement as a bonus, not a plan.

Compare the real cost

The number that matters isn’t the size of the scholarship. It’s what your family will actually pay. A big athletic award at an expensive school can still leave you with a bigger bill than a modest package at a less expensive one.

When you compare offers, look at the full picture:

• Total cost of attendance, including tuition, housing, food, books, and travel.
• Athletic aid, academic scholarships, and need-based grants added together.
• What your family will owe each year after all aid is applied.
• Whether the aid is guaranteed for one year or for multiple years.
• What happens to the aid if your child is injured, the coach leaves, or your child decides to stop playing.

Ask every one of those questions, and get the answers in writing. Don’t be shy about it. Coaches and financial aid offices answer these questions all the time.

Don’t forget the free money

Fill out the federal financial aid form every year, even if you think you won’t qualify. Many schools use it to award their own aid. And remember Mistake 3: strong grades are often the single biggest source of college money a student-athlete has.

Mistake 09Paying for Promises

Recruiting has turned into a big business. There are services, showcases, camps, combines, rankings, and consultants, and all of them would be happy to take your money. Some of them are genuinely helpful. Some of them are selling hope.

The trick is knowing the difference before you pay.

Recruiting services

A good recruiting service can help an overwhelmed family get organized, build a profile, make a video, and learn how the process works. That can be worth something, especially if you’re new to all of this.

But no service can make a coach want your child. No one can guarantee a scholarship, a roster spot, or a certain number of offers. Be careful with any company that:

• Promises results or uses words like “guaranteed.”
• Pressures you to sign up on the spot or claims the price is only good today.
• Asks for a large fee before explaining exactly what you’ll get.
• Tells you your child is a sure-fire Division I prospect without seeing them play in person.
• Can’t give you names of families you can call for references.

Remember, everything a service does can also be done by a motivated family with some time and a laptop. That’s what this guide is for.

No one can sell you a scholarship. Be very careful with anyone who acts like they can.

Camps and showcases

Camps can be a great way for coaches to see your child in person, and for your child to see a campus and a coaching staff up close. But not every camp is created equal.

Before you sign up, ask a few questions. Will the coaches who actually recruit your child’s position be there? How many athletes will attend? Is this a camp where the school evaluates recruits, or is it mainly a fundraiser for the program? Focus your money on camps at schools that are realistic fits and have shown some interest in your child.

The same goes for showcases and tournaments. Ask which college coaches typically attend and whether they’re from the levels and regions you’re targeting. Traveling across the country to play in front of coaches who won’t recruit your child isn’t a good use of anyone’s time.

Mistake 10Picking a Team Instead of a School

Here’s the last mistake, and in some ways it’s the most important. After all the emails, visits, videos, and phone calls, it’s easy to forget what this process is really about: choosing a college.

Your child isn’t just picking a team. They’re picking a place to live, learn, and grow up for the next several years. If you get that part wrong, nothing else in this guide will matter much.

Coaches change

The coach who recruited your child is a big part of why they want to go to a school. That’s natural. But coaches leave all the time. They get promoted, take other jobs, or get let go. If your child chose a school only because of one coach, a single announcement can turn a dream into a hard situation.

Rosters change, too

The transfer portal has made college rosters move faster than ever. Programs now recruit high school athletes and college transfers at the same time. That means your child might arrive as a freshman and compete with older, more experienced players for the same spot. It’s worth asking coaches directly how they balance high school recruits and transfers, and what that might mean for your child’s playing time.

The broken-leg test

There’s a simple question I think every recruit should ask about every school on their final list:

If I got hurt tomorrow and could never play again, would I still be happy here?

If the answer is yes, that’s a good sign. If the answer is no, think hard about it. Injuries happen. Plans change. Some athletes decide halfway through college that they’re ready to stop playing. The school needs to be a place your child wants to be even without the uniform.

What to look at besides athletics

When you visit, look past the locker room and the training facilities. Talk to current players away from the coaches, and ask them honestly about the team culture and the time commitment. Look at the academic programs your child is interested in. Ask about graduation rates for athletes, academic support, and what life looks like for players outside of their sport.

And pay attention to how your child feels. Sometimes a teenager can’t explain why a place feels right. That feeling is worth listening to.

One Last Thing

If you’ve made it this far, you already know more about recruiting than most families ever will. That’s a big deal. Let me leave you with the most important thing I know. This process isn’t really about getting a scholarship or making it to a certain level. It’s about helping your child find a place where they’ll grow as an athlete and as a person, and getting there without losing your relationship along the way.

Recruiting can be stressful. There will be emails that never get answered, coaches who go quiet, and days when your child feels like nobody wants them. There will also be moments you’ll never forget: the first phone call from a coach, the first campus visit where something clicks, the day your child signs their name and becomes a college athlete.

Through all of it, keep perspective. Your child’s worth isn’t measured by a recruiting ranking. The kids who handle this well are almost always the ones whose families made it clear that they were loved no matter how it turned out.

So be the organizer. Be the researcher. Be the person who asks the hard questions about money. But most of all, be their parent. Let them lead. Let them make some mistakes and learn from them. Celebrate the small wins. And when the decision finally comes, make sure it’s one they’re truly excited about.

Then go buy the sweatshirt. You’ve both earned it.

AppendixThe Year-by-Year Game Plan

Every athlete’s timeline is a little different, and every sport has its own calendar. Use this as a general guide, and adjust it based on your child’s sport, the levels you’re targeting, and how quickly things are moving.

Freshman year

• Focus on grades from the very first semester. Every class counts.
• Meet with the school counselor to make sure the schedule includes NCAA core courses.
• Keep developing as an athlete, and start saving good video from games.
• Talk as a family about what your child wants from college, both on and off the field.

Sophomore year

• Create an NCAA Eligibility Center account if Division I or II is a possibility.
• Ask coaches for an honest evaluation of the levels where your child could compete.
• Build a first list of twenty-five to thirty programs across several levels.
• Make a first highlight video and a one-page athletic résumé.
• Have your child start emailing coaches and filling out recruiting questionnaires.
• Clean up every social media account.
• Mark June 15 after sophomore year on the calendar if your child’s sport follows that date.

Junior year

• Update the highlight video and résumé with new results.
• Keep emailing coaches, and send them tournament schedules ahead of time.
• Take unofficial visits to schools that are showing real interest.
• Attend camps at realistic schools where your child’s position coach will be working.
• Ask coaches the direct questions: where your child stands and what the timeline is.
• Talk with your counselor about whether SAT or ACT testing makes sense.
• Start comparing real costs using each school’s net price calculator.

Senior year

• Stay in touch with programs that are still recruiting. Many schools recruit late.
• Complete college applications and file for financial aid as early as possible.
• Compare every offer side by side, based on what your family will actually pay.
• Read every athletics aid agreement carefully before signing.
• Give each final school the broken-leg test.
• Finish strong in the classroom. Final transcripts still matter.
• Celebrate the decision together.

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This guide is intended for general information only. College athletics rules, including NCAA, NAIA, and junior college recruiting calendars, eligibility standards, and financial aid policies, change often and vary by sport and division. Before making any decision, confirm current requirements with the college’s athletics compliance office, the appropriate governing body, or your school counselor. Information current as of October 2026. © 2026 Adult IQ. All rights reserved.