Since he's a legacy at an Ivy, we know what he'll be dealing with academically, and he's already in the most advanced program at his HS (all honors no AP yet but is set to take five AP over the next few years). I think we'll start sending out letters now, and it looks like there is a residential summer soccer camp he can attend which the college of choice coaches run. I assume that is of course allowed, it is off-campus but they do note the coaches' affiliations. I hope it would not be weird, like the coach couldn't talk to him at all because he will be between freshman and sophomore years...

Looking at their previous recruited freshman classes, it will be tough to get in purely on soccer. There are more than a few national team players who go to Ivies. And we feel that things like out and out speed and fitness/stamina will matter a lot so he is doing track and working on fitness even though he is probably the most fit on his club and state team.

What is really confusing is that talking to admissions consultants from my college, they say that most athletes are recruited by early junior year, and commit verbally around January of junior year. The recruiting window is before students need to apply for early decision. If the coach can't contact the player in either freshman or sophomore year, how does the recruiting happen - just through scouting or is it whiz bang from June of sophomore year until January of junior year?

It's too bad that we can't at the same time look at trials for lower division English clubs, because it seems like if he really wants to pursue soccer, that might be a better path and college can wait. The college I work at has a lot of undergraduates in their 20's and older.

We're going to have a tough time picking other schools, as both parents couldn't afford to visit schools and only applied to three schools each. It seems nowadays kids have to apply to ten schools to guarantee a spot somewhere, especially if athletics are on the agenda. I have friends with older children who have visited 20 colleges in the space of three months.