As we like to mention regularly in our blog posts and in our conversations with athletes and parents, you cannot really start the recruiting process early enough. Once you start being interested in college sports in the US, you should immediately look at starting the process. Now, we know that things do not always work out that way and life can get in the way of the “ideal plan”. But when is it really too late to even start the process? At what point should you maybe focus on another path or on maybe enrolling one year later?
Well, the answer to those questions is not that straight forward and there is no specific deadline after which we cannot help you anymore. However, here are a few important things to keep in mind:
- Every coach has a certain number of scholarships (or a certain amount of scholarship money) available each year. The later you are in the recruiting cycle, the less scholarships and the less money coaches will have available to offer to you.
- Some schools might have application deadlines. This is mostly the case for your top notch academic institutions such as the Ivy League colleges. While those deadlines might eliminate some potential options for you, most schools will still accept students all the way till the summer.
- As an international student, you still need to apply for and receive your student visa, which can sometimes be a lengthy process. US embassies in different countries have wait times that can range from a few days to several weeks in order to get interview appointments. So the later you start the visa process, the more difficult it will be to get your visa in time.
- Booking flights and arranging your trip to the US can be a bit challenging if it is done last minute. Prices for flights might very well go up if you book them just a few weeks prior to departure. You should still be able to find flights, but it might just cost you a bit more or you might not find the ideal connections that you are looking for.
Now, having said all that, there are still options out there at the moment, and there actually will be pretty much all the way until late April or early May. There is also still plenty of time to get a student visa as that process typically should not take more than a few weeks in a worst case scenario. We are currently still starting the process with several athletes and are still able to provide a great service to them with some amazing scholarship opportunities. So even if you are maybe a bit late in the game, don’t be scared to still give it a shot and don’t be intimidated by still having to do a lot of things in a short period of time. We are here to help you every step of the way and we guarantee you that we have worked with numerous athletes where we started the process in February, March and even April, and things worked out great for them! So don’t worry, we got your back and we can still get you to the US this fall!