5 Things I Wish I Knew During My College Process

In this post, I want to list the 5 things I wish I knew during my college process before I left.

5 Things I Wish I Knew During My College Process

College recruitment in the U.S. is constantly evolving, just like everything else in the world. Many years ago, I graduated from college, having stumbled into this adventure!

In this post, I want to list the 5 things I wish I knew during my college process before I left.

Start the process earlier – Only YOU benefit from it!

For me, college didn’t even come up until a month before Christmas break in my senior year! I didn’t start my process until January of my last semester in high school. That was way too late! Not only was it too late to find options and schools, but it also made it hard for me to understand what I was actually getting myself into. With so little time, so much needed to be done that I didn’t have the time to assess what college really was.

My lack of time also meant I had fewer options to choose from, which led to quicker decision-making. As most of you know today, that eventually led to me transferring schools after just one year.

I definitely believe that if I had started earlier, my first year of college would have been much better!

Talk to more than one agency – It’s so important that you choose the right one!

By now, it’s no surprise that I wasn’t particularly happy with my agency! Now that I’m an expert in the field, I know that much of the information I was given was outright wrong. The information provided was to minimize their workload, which ties back to the point above—they wanted my process to move quickly since I was behind schedule.

I never heard from my agency again, and it was a huge disservice. That’s why I’m very thorough in my conversations today, always asking potential clients to compare me to others. It’s so important that you feel comfortable with your agency, and it’s easier to make that judgment if you compare!

Put more time into your profile – You can influence your future!

I did, like many of my athletes, exactly what I was asked to do. But I never did more than what I was told to do! Now, when I look back, I realize how silly that was!?

You only benefit from:

• Continuously updating your video

• Sending in action shots regularly

• Sending more recommendation letters than required

• Studying more for the SAT & TOEFL

• Retaking these tests if needed

The truth is, only you can make your profile great. We as an agency can only communicate the information we’ve received and then do our best with it. If you can make sure to stay proactive and submit new things that can boost your profile, do it!

I didn’t do that. I only did what I was told, and nothing more. That’s something I wish I had done!

Prepare better for conversations with schools – Be interested!

One thing I didn’t fully grasp when I went through this myself was, what does my competition look like? How many people is the coach talking to for my position? It’s still, to this day, impossible to predict, but there are a lot!

Do everything you can to stand out—study the school, ask questions, be responsive! Just as I explained last week, the coach will choose the athlete with the best grades, they will also choose the one who is most engaged in the program.

If you’re competing with someone who is just as good as you, but you’re the one who responds the quickest, shows the most interest, and leaves the best impression? It’s obvious that the coach will choose you.

Here I’ve written about ways to show attention and engagement on social media – advice regarding social media in the college process. It can also make a huge impression!

Don’t procrastinate, never delay – It only makes it harder!

This is my motto with a lot of things in life, and something I’ve learned as I get older. Never procrastinate! Have you decided to go to college? Start now! Once you’ve gotten started, and have a checklist from me, begin right away! What are you waiting for?

Once you’ve signed with your school and have tons of paperwork to do, why wait three weeks to start it? It’ll only mean you have even more to do during graduation season when you’re supposed to be enjoying prom and graduation parties. Those are things you want to enjoy! So don’t put yourself in the situation of delaying things.

This is something you’ll learn in college—time management. It’s essential! College truly taught me to never procrastinate and to do things when they need to be done. It will make your college process (and life) so much easier and better!

Learn from my mistakes and follow the advice we give you at Athleticademix. It’s with my journey, but also the other 150 athletes I’ve helped over the past 4 years, that I also learn! What I learn, I’ll advise you to do. Listen to the advice you’re given, and this process will go smoothly!

I hope you enjoyed reading about the 5 things I wish I knew during my college process!