When are most official visits?

My kid has a 4.00 gap, top 10% of his class and over a 30 act. We got no academic money where he is going! I guess what I'm saying is that good grades may not get you money at the top institutions. At least from our experience so far. We are hearing that he may get a 1000.00$ per year for some aid. And that is from some parents with kids already there with similar grades. Some of the other schools said he would definatly get academic aid at their school.

Several different stories here:

1) Have a girl who got her offer in August before her senior year. Don't know how much was athletic, but the total package came out to 100%.

2) My daughter took 3 unofficial visits and 1 official visit before she was totally sold on the school she's committed to, which happened in early September. Since then we've just said no thank you to all inquiries. She's getting @40% athletic and stands a very good chance of getting the rest in academic aid (4.27 GPA and 33 ACT). She's a very good runner (18:30 xc pr), but she's not Footlocker level, either.

3) Have a girl at a good track school who is making a considerable amount of money to run track when you add up athletic aid, academic aid, and Pell Grants. (She's from a very poor family.) This was decided in September of her senior year.

4) Have a male state champion at a traditional xc power who got about 15%. Good credentials (<9:20, state xc champion). Took a number of official visits and got great offers from several good schools. Offers ranged from 100% in September to the 15% in February. He's happy where he is.

5) Have a male <9:05 guy who didn't get his offer until late March of his senior year. He's at a great track and distance school. Not a huge offer, either.

6) Same thing happened with a <1:53 guy who kind of waited until the last minute and didn't seal things until April of his senior year.

From my experience, the ones who limited their choices as early as possible, posted up good results junior year, and made good grades had the best options at the best time. For some, recruiting was a very frustrating process, while others love it.

Obviously if he's at a top school he won't get as much aid as if he was at a lesser school...why do you think schools that are lower in rankings give out more merit to high performance - they want those students to attend their school. Not that hard to figure out

My kid has a 4.00 gap, top 10% of his class and over a 30 act. We got no academic money where he is going! I guess what I'm saying is that good grades may not get you money at the top institutions. At least from our experience so far. We are hearing that he may get a 1000.00$ per year for some aid. And that is from some parents with kids already there with similar grades. Some of the other schools said he would definatly get academic aid at their school.

Sorry for the double post. Yes that's true, I was justpointing that out in a different way ( our experiences). With some of the replys the OP could believe great grades automatically will get you aid, which we have pointed out isn't always true.

And I bet he is going to a large public school, am I right?

I have learned a couple things going through the process with my first kid:

1) most academic money comes from private colleges, and if you have good grades and test scores you can get your net cost below most publics.

2) colleges pay to attract students that will bring up their average GPA/SAT/ACT. The higher that average already is, the less likely you will see academic money.

Your best chance of getting scholarship money is choosing a place where you will be an asset to the team (athletic $) and school (academic $).

Wondring wrote:

Sorry for the double post. Yes that's true, I was justpointing that out in a different way ( our experiences). With some of the replys the OP could believe great grades automatically will get you aid, which we have pointed out isn't always true.

Yep--very true. Depends on a lot of factors:

1) The competitiveness of the school and even intended major. My daughter is going to a school that specializes in her major and is very good in that field yet is not at the same level as a Duke or Stanford.

2) Like it or not, race and gender are factors. I know of a school that has a well-funded scholarship for African-American students that enables them to get some good African-American athletes there on an academic ride. It's a great deal for the kid (because academic aid is a much better form of aid than athletic, since YOU control whether you keep that money) and a great deal for the school. Women seem to have an easier time getting things sowed up early, in my experience. I'm not sure why that is--maybe just that my guys have been worse procrastinators.

Even many of the most prominent high school runners are not getting huge offers every time--which is good. That means to me that the pool of athletes they can choose from is very broad and very deep, which is good for the US.

tanto wrote:

What schools offer athletic scholarship? I know D3 and Ivy League doesn't, so which ones do? (And I'm assuming you have to be like 4:15 miler or 9:10 2 miler to get decent athletic money right?)

You really don't have to be a Footlocker qualifier to get decent athletic money... Like I stated before, I got a full-tuition scholarship to a D1 school. My PR's are 17:53 (3miles), 11:23 (3200) and 5:28 (1600). *By the way, I am female. I am fully aware that these are not exceptional times by any means. My GPA is slightly higher than average, and my ACT was pretty average as well. I have a 3.75/4.0 GPA and got a 27 ACT.

On the other hand, my circumstances are a little bit different, and the coach at the school I have committed to knows that my potential is a lot higher than my PR's tend to show. My PR's are mediocre at best, but this upcoming track season *should* be the start of a good running career.

My point is, if you (or your child) isn't running a 9:15 3200, don't worry about it too much...unless of course, the kid is running 90 mpw and running a 9:15. -Not too much potential there.

I go to a d2 school that goes to nationals every year. I'm 100% anyone that runs under 9:30 for the 3200 can get a FULL RIDE to this school.

At my D1 school about 90% of official recruiting trips occur January through March.