Contributor Rick Paine is an expert on the college recruiting process. He is also the Director of Swimming at American College Connection (ACC). AAC is a SwimSwam Partner.
It is a great honor to get recruited by college coaches and even a greater honor to receive a scholarship offer. Less than 5% of the swimmers in the world who want to swim in college receive any kind of scholarship offer.
If you are one of the fortunate ones to receive an offer, it will probably come with a deadline to decide. If it doesn’t….DON’T ASK FOR ONE! If a coach gives you an offer and says something like “we will need your decision soon”, don’t ask what soon means.
Once you get a deadline, then the pressure starts to mount. Most coaches won’t give your scholarship to another swimmer without first coming to you with a deadline. I say “most” coaches because there are some that truly live by the first come first serve mentality.
We had a high school junior receive a verbal offer of 90% from a very strong D-I program. The coach told her that she had 7 days from the time she received the email to take it or leave it. She took it.
You have to understand that college coaches have thousands of U.S. and international recruits to choose from each year. They don’t want to sit on a scholarship any longer than they have to.
It is possible to get a deadline extended, but you have to know the right things to say to the coach if you don’t want to lose the offer entirely.
Courtesy of ACC Recruiting, a SwimSwam partner.
