For a specific bullet point checklist of responsibilities that are applicable for the month of February, login to your My GAMEplan page and click on My Calendar - Things To Do This Month (March).  Don't forget, if you are running late and need to see last month's Things To Do list, click on Contact Us and call or email College GAMEplan right away.

Do you have a College GAMEplan for Spring Break? 

By now, most seniors will either have made their college commitments, or will have narrowed their choices down to the last few colleges.  If you are a senior and still waiting for final financial aid offers, including scholarship, grants, loans, etc., most colleges will be sending their offer letters over the next several weeks.  Be sure to stay up to date with college deadlines that include specific dates for financial aid applications, scholarships applications, housing applications, acceptance deadlines and deposits, etc.  If you are applying for any kind of financial aid, be sure to submit your FAFSA before the college's financial aid deadline.  These all vary by school and state so pay close attention to all of them.  

While the recruiting process is wrapping up for most seniors, it is really beginning to heat up for juniors.   

Spring Break is one of the most treasured breaks on the high school calendar.  It is also one of the most overlooked as far as college preparation.  If you are fortunate enough to be traveling over your break, take advantage of your travels and visit a few college campuses while you are away.  Because many colleges have different Spring Breaks than high schools, it is one of the rare holidays where you may have the time to visit a campus while it is alive with its student population.  With the weather changing, it is often an ideal time to get a feel for campus life – and as you’ll see when you use our college evaluation worksheet to compare campuses, that “gut feel” is an essential tool that you should pay special attention to when it comes time to make your choice of college.   

Many parents and students make a big mistake in thinking that since they may be traveling to a state where they have no particular desire for their child to attend, it is a waste of time to be visiting a college campus for which they have no intention of ever attending.  Remember that these visits are not official.  You don’t even need to let the coach know you’ll be stopping by.  Unless you have particular interest in spending significant time on campus, you can likely limit your entire campus visit to anywhere from a few minutes to a couple or few hours.  You’ll probably find that you’ll spend as much time as you feel like spending there.  Again, don’t think of these visits as a means to necessarily determine where you’ll be going to school - the most important thing about these informal visits is to get a sense of what each different school offers.   Keep a log of all the things you liked, as well as the things you didn’t like.  For instance, once on campus, you may find that what you might have previously considered to be too small a school for you, is in fact perfectly sized.  Or after spending twenty five minutes walking from one side of campus to the other, you may decide that a big school is just way too big!  These types of things will not become evident to you until you tour several schools – whether you plan on attending them or not.  Prepare for your campus visits by reading our College Visits page and keep track of your college campus visits by completing our Campus Evaluation Tracking Form.  

So enjoy your Spring Break.  Relax with your family and/or friends.  But find some time while you are there to visit a couple of schools, even it’s just for a short time.  You won’t regret it.

Update your resume and send your Spring schedule 

Another critical Spring time element of the college recruiting process is updating your resume/player profile.  Follow up with interested college coaches by sending one of our range of templated letters listed in the Letter Templates section of the My GAMEplan page.  If you are playing a Spring sport, take the time now to send the college coaches a copy of your upcoming season schedule.   

Marketing yourself to colleges is no different than companies that spend millions of dollars marketing their products to potential customers.  You are probably aware that some companies spend in excess of $2 million to run a thirty second commercial during the Superbowl - just to keep their name in front of potential customers.  You must do the same (although you won't need to spend $2 million!).  Most talented juniors will have a wide range of schools that either will be interested in you or that you’ll be interested in.  Keep your name in front of them as often as possible.  If you play a fall or winter sport, send the coaches on your target list an updated resume or player profile with your latest statistics from both your sport and in the classroom.  Emphasize your well-roundedness.  Feature extra curricular activities.  If you participate in student counsel, or if you belong to a church youth group, add it to your resume.   

If you play Spring sports, contact the college coach with a simple letter introducing yourself and telling them that you would like more information about their program.  Include your season schedule.  Or if you've already made contact, send them a follow up letter and include your schedule.  Even though the coach may not have a chance to watch you play this Spring, it gives you a terrific reason to contact the coach again later.   

Video Highlights

Interested in an online video highlight film - along with player stats and coach contact information?  Simply send an email to potential coaches with a link to the the video website and let the coach watch your game and practice film at his or her own convenience.   It's a tremendously powerful tool and for a limited time only, it's on sales for the incredibly low price of just $150.  For more information, click here or call us at 314-322-1920.  

Financial Aid for Seniors 

Last month, we repeated January’s article about financial aid.  As important as the subject is, since we have discussed it in each of the last two newsletters, we won’t repeat it again.  However, if you are a high school senior and you are still negotiating and finalizing your financial aid package, you may wish to review these articles.  To do so, simply email us at info@collegegameplanonline.com and we’ll forward the article to you along with other relevant financial information and links.