Unofficial visits to college campuses are one of the most important, helpful tasks prospects can do during high school.<\/p>\n
These key outings give prospects something they cannot glean from online virtual tours, admissions tour guides or chest-pounding alumni \u2013 an authentic, personal feel for a college campus.<\/p>\n
Unofficial visits are baseline discovery missions, gut-check expeditions. \u00a0Unlike official visits whereby a prospect must be invited by a school’s\u00a0coach, these short trips can either be pre-arranged through a coach or admissions office, or they can be anonymous, spontaneous and unplanned. \u00a0Regardless of the type, prospects should have a pointed reason for making unofficial visits \u2013 to find out if a\u00a0campus passes that aforementioned \u201cfeel\u201d test.<\/p>\n
Of course, it\u2019s not entirely about how a prospect feels about a school, but it is an integral part of it, to be sure. College student-athletes often say that the first time they stepped on the campus they chose that something special, something indescribable happened internally\u00a0as if the campus spoke to them and made them feel at home.\u00a0 Almost instantaneously, they knew the school was right for them. Still, for many high school student-athletes, finding that state of nirvana could take dozens of campus visits.<\/p>\n
Personal interaction and experience with a variety of campuses are at the heart of unofficial visits. \u00a0At NSR, we want prospects to know what small, big and medium-sized campuses feel like. \u00a0Athletic prospects should see for themselves if they want to walk a couple hundred yards to class or if they are comfortable taking a ten-minute shuttle three miles from their dorm.\u00a0 We want them to walk into the dining halls and see not just the quality of the food, but the dynamics among the students. \u00a0And we want them to stand inside a small biology lab or classroom as well as large ones and ask which setting the best learning environment for them?<\/p>\n
When student-athletes, whose time is attached to so many demands, could be spending the four years on those grounds and in those hallways, it’s extremely important to do everything possible to find the model campus. \u00a0Here\u2019s the thing: it really doesn\u2019t matter if prospects are going to consider attending the specific campuses they visit.\u00a0 What counts is that they discover, through firsthand familiarity, which setting best suits them.\u00a0 Once that is uncovered, an athlete can search out schools that offer similar surroundings.<\/p>\n
At NSR, we encourage our families to get on as many college campuses as possible.\u00a0 We believe that the more information they can gather\u00a0prior to signing date the better decision they are capable of making. \u00a0That has proven a reliable strategy over our 37-year history as the world\u2019s top recruiting authority while working with high school student-athletes who are legitimate college prospects.<\/p>\n
Making time for visits is not as hard as it may seem.\u00a0 Most high school athletes play club sports.\u00a0 During tournaments, there can be a lot of downtime between contests.\u00a0 Those pauses offer perfect opportunities to cruise over to a local college campus and just walk around.\u00a0 Then, too, there are free weekends when families can see several, targeted colleges.<\/p>\n
Insider tip: \u00a0As of April 25, 2018, prospective D-I student-athletes first opportunity to take unofficial visits isn’t until September 1<\/a> of their junior year for all sports other than basketball and football.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n Our best advice? \u00a0On pre-arranged visits, prepare well. \u00a0Listen intently. \u00a0Take notes. \u00a0Ask questions. On unannounced drop-bys, forget about preliminary online research. \u00a0In both, let a\u00a0campus speak for itself.\u00a0 Walk around.\u00a0 Step into the buildings.\u00a0 Speak to the students and professors, even if only to say hello or to ask a quick question or two. \u00a0Stop, stand still and ask: Can I see myself here?<\/p>\n Expect the more formal, guided variety to take about 90 minutes. \u00a0An impromptu visit? \u00a0A half hour or so should do it.\u00a0 Not much more is needed. \u00a0Whether in the ninth or twelfth grade, prospects benefit from these brief excursions far more than, well, not doing them.<\/p>\n Want more info on how to make these unofficial visits more impactful? \u00a0Call the NSR<\/a> scout near you.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Unofficial visits to college campuses are one of the most important, helpful tasks prospects can do during high school. These key outings give prospects something they cannot glean from online virtual tours, admissions tour guides or chest-pounding alumni \u2013 an authentic, personal feel for a college campus. “Feel” tests Unofficial visits are baseline discovery missions, … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":14082,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1299],"tags":[1055,301,11,1053,27,1056,767,31,1050,56,57,1057,1054,1058,79,1052,1051],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13942"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13942"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13942\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15104,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13942\/revisions\/15104"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14082"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13942"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13942"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13942"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Prep then go and go!<\/h2>\n