Blog – Page 6 – Sports & Study USA

03Mar 2023 by admin No Comments

Can I go visit a college before making my final decision?

While the answer to this question technically is yes, it is not always that simple to set up a visit and sometimes there just is not enough time. First of all, when talking about campus visits, it is important to differentiate between an official and unofficial visit. Unofficial visits are typically fairly easy to set up as it simply means that you fly over to the US at your own expense and whenever it is convenient to you. The downside of an unofficial visit is that there are restrictions on what you are allowed to do when you are on campus and how much you can actually interact and do with the coaches and team members. Also, when considering an unofficial visit, make sure that it does not slow down…

24Feb 2023 by admin No Comments

What makes a good student-athlete?

Once you arrive on campus with your sports scholarship, you have already accomplished something amazing. You are one of the few student-athletes competing in the US college system, which is something to be very proud of. While you are about to embark on an amazing 4-year journey, you still need to take care of what your coach and university expect from you. So what are these expectations and what should you avoid doing so you do not jeopardize this great opportunity? First and foremost, do what brought you here. Be yourself and treat everyone with respect. This does not only apply to your coaches, but also to the professors, your tutors, the trainers, and basically everyone that you will encounter on campus. Secondly, take care of your academics. While you…

16Feb 2023 by admin No Comments

When is the ideal time to start the recruiting process?

While it is difficult to give an exact answer to this question in terms of a specific date by which you should start the process by, you really can never begin early enough. Ideally, you want to take your time with every single step of the process and prepare certain tasks such as the SAT test thoroughly. However, we understand that things do not always work according to plan and that sometimes athletes start the process late. But don’t worry, that is ok! Starting early definitely makes the process smoother and in most cases will generate more scholarship offers. Since coaches have a certain scholarship amount available each year, the more you advance in the calendar, the more scholarship money they will have given out. So if you look at…

02Feb 2023 by admin No Comments

What are the biggest benefits of being a student-athlete in the United States?

First and foremost, the United States is arguably the only country in the world that allows athletes to combine their academic careers and their sport. Because of the unique setup and schedule that the universities have over here, student-athletes do not have to choose between one or the other and they can continue to follow both career paths with the exact same intensity. This is not the case in most other countries, as athletes find themselves at a cross road when they finish high school, and they have to choose between university studies or continuing the sport they love. Besides this very important benefit, there are numerous other advantages that you have when you are a student-athlete in the American college system. For example, you will find some of the…

20Jan 2023 by admin No Comments

3 things to do during the recruiting process to maximize your chances of a scholarship offer

The recruiting process has gotten more and more competitive over the last few years. So if you are looking to maximize your scholarship and the number of offers that you will receive, you need to present yourself in the best possible way. How do you do that? The answer to that is not as simple as people might think, because every coach might be looking for something slightly different when recruiting a player. However, there are a few things that you should definitely do and some you should definitely avoid during the recruiting process. Here is our top 3:1. Clean up your social media! Believe it or not, one of the very first things that coaches do, is go look for you on social media. Your Facebook or Instagram can…

13Jan 2023 by admin No Comments

How important is college sport in the United States?

The answer to this question is a very easy one! MASSIVE, and in capital letters! For Americans, a sports scholarship is a huge honor and something that young athletes start working towards very early. Even just receiving a walk on spot on a team very often brings athletes and their parents to tears, as you can see from many videos gone viral when these athletes are told by their coaches that they will have a spot on the team. Furthermore, the interest level to follow and watch college sports on TV is something that is unheard of in countries outside of North America. College football or basketball games regularly receive high TV ratings with an audience in the millions. And other sports have started catching up as well. Sports like…

04Jan 2023 by admin No Comments

How do I know whether a school is the right fit for me?

While this might seem like an easy question to answer, it is actually not that simple. The reason for that is that every athlete is different (both academically and athletically) and also might be looking for totally different things. To begin with, every athlete and his or her parents should always be realistic when considering his or her options. For example, if you are a below average student, you should not be looking at Ivy Leagues. Or if you have not at least competed at the very highest level in your country, you also probably won’t receive a massive scholarship to one of the absolute top programs for your respective sport. However, here is the good news! If you do that and look at things from a realistic perspective, there…

23Dec 2022 by admin No Comments

What is the difference between the NCAA, the NAIA, and the NJCAA?

The very simple answer to this questions is that those are three different governing bodies who each run their own divisions. The NCAA is the oldest one of the three and also the one with the most amount of teams. The NCAA has three divisions, each with its own set of rules and its own scholarship limits. While teams are allowed to give out sports scholarships in division 1 and division 2, division 3 colleges are not allowed to give out any type of athletic scholarships. The NCAA also has its own set of rules for amateurism and to be academically eligible. Just like the NCAA, the NAIA also has its own strict rules in order for athletes to be able to compete for one of its teams. Each athlete…

05Dec 2022 by admin No Comments

What does the academic calendar look like in the United States?

This is a question we get asked by international students very often. The reason is that there are definitely some very important differences in the way the school year is structured in America compared to other continents.Most schools will start the school year towards the end of August. While some schools might start a bit earlier or a bit later, that is the time when a majority of colleges and universities will start with their fall semester. Now, as an international student it is recommended to arrive a few days prior to the official start date of the semester so thatr you can get settled in and so you can get familiar with your new surroundings. There are also some sports where coaches will require you to arrive earlier than…

08Nov 2022 by admin No Comments

When should you start the college recruiting process?

While it is difficult to pinpoint an exact date or time frame, we always recommend to all athletes to start the process as early as possible. If going to college in America is an option for you, then there really are not any disadvantages of starting the process early. And here are a few reasons why: First of all, it is very important to know how scholarships in the United States work. The governing bodies have certain scholarship limits that every team has to follow. That means that for every school year a coach will have a certain limited amount of scholarships available. These are constantly given out to athletes so as time progresses and you get closer to your actual start date, less and less scholarships will be available.…