The Importance of College Visits
Prepare, prepare, prepare.
StraightShot Inc. encourages high school athletes and their parents to schedule unofficial visits as early as possible. These initial visits as early as sophomore year are a terrific way to begin a college search to find the right fit. Official visits cannot take place until the first day of an athlete's senior year for NCAA Division I schools and that's very late in the game for first visits!
There is nothing like an upfront and personal view of a campus, coach, team and academic program to get you evaluating what you want from the college experience. And, an early visit provides invaluable information on ACT and SAT requirements that will have you focused on good test scores and grades.
Nothing turns off a coach or administrator more than an athlete not being prepared for the visit. The following are a few tips before your college visit:
Do not wear jeans. Khaki pants, belt, dress shirt for guys. Dress pants, sweater skirt etc. for girls
Be engaged and ask questions. Look coaches in the eyes when speaking. Practice with friends, coaches or parents on your speaking skills
Have a notebook with questions and take notes
To learn more tips and questions to ask the coach on your college visit, purchase my 10-part video series on the College Recruiting process.
Betty Baird Kregor is an LPGA Master Teaching Professional and owner of StraightShot Inc., specializing in the DISC personality system to mentor and advise athletes of all ages and abilities.
In 2014, Kregor retired from over 27 years of teaching golf to consult athletes in the mental aspects of sport an serve as a "performance coach" for goals, scheduling, practice programs, college advising and more.
Her LPGA education in DISC profiling allows an athlete to maximize their performance with "self awareness" of their strengths and weaknesses. It is also an important tool in finding the right college fit. College athletic consulting is a service that benefits 9-12th graders in learning how to market their talents, schedule college visits and value the importance of academics.