Setting Your Perfect Summer Visit Schedule

I've had a lot of interactions with parents and athletes recently about creating a smart and effective summer visit schedule. I've heard things like, "I've been invited by multiple teams on the same weekend, which camp should I visit?" and "We're just lost. We're not sure where to go or when to visit."

I've been helping high school athletes succeed academically and in the recruiting process for over seven years, and I've met plenty of families who were stressed and frustrated with the recruiting process.

Accordingly, I've decided to put down some of my general thoughts on summer visits. As always, you can reach out to me on Twitter/X (@whelms21) with specific questions, or if you just want me to look over your schedule. Before you get too far down the road, though, here are some general thoughts.

Things to Consider When Prioritizing Schools For Summer Visits

First, a couple of notes: This is designed to be a guide for athletes, but the general advice is largely the same for non-athletes as well. The primary goal here is to figure out which schools interest you and which schools are interested in you.

Most of the examples follow a football recruiting calendar, but are for the most part universal, even if the language may be slightly different for other sports.

Summer visits are crucial in the recruiting process. They're an opportunity for you to meet coaches and see colleges you might want to attend). But, if you waste time visiting the wrong schools, you'll leave the summer more frustrated than excited.

In general, I tell students to set their visits based on two criteria on relatively equal footing:

1. Follow your interest

2. Follow their interest

If you can answer both, "Am I interested?" and "Are they interested?" in the affirmative for a school, that school should be near the top of your list.

Most poor or confusing summer visit plans fail this test, either on No. 1, No. 2, or both.

Aligning Your Visits and Your Interests

This is key for not only athletes but also the general student population. If you can't see yourself at a school, don't visit!

Too often, a player will say, "Montana State (or insert other school, no offense Bobcats) invited me to visit, should I go?" and when I ask if Montana State interests them, I'll either hear that a player has no idea, or that they don't want to go that far away, don't want to live that far north, etc.

Spoiler: You have to live at the college you play for. If you want to stay close to home, don't prioritize visits that require a plane ticket.

The biggest issue I see is that often players don't know what they want. Before setting your visit schedule, or even replying to a coach who wants you to camp with them, take an hour to list out your interests -- not what schools interest you, but what the specific aspects of college in general that interest you.

I like to answer two questions here:

1. What ______ do I prefer?

2. How much do I care?

At my old school, we talked about the "Five Buckets" of a college or career: Financial, Living, Social, Academic, and Emotional. Every student cares about all of these to some extent, but will have different things in each that matter and will attach varying levels of importance to each bucket. I'll link some resources at the end of this, including a fairly thorough questionnaire about which things matter and how much.

A quick example of one of the many questions you can ask would be in regards to your major. Do you know what you want to study and how important is that to you? If you know you want to be a marine biology major and that's one of the most important things of all, you need to check a school's course catalog before committing to a visit. Even if you love the coaching staff, you could be unhappy without the ability to study what truly interests you.

It's not an exact science, but you should visit schools you could envision yourself attending. If a school doesn't check enough boxes, don't visit simply because you're chasing offers.

Figuring Out Which Schools Are Truly Interested

Here's an ugly reality of the college recruitment process: Not all interest is genuine and some schools want you to visit simply to get your camp fee.

Discernment is crucial. You want to visit where you're wanted. Here are some easy questions to consider when deciding which visits are worth your time:

1. Have I communicated with this coaching staff?

   1. What type of communication have I had? (Hand-written notes > Generic mail, School visits with real conversations about what a college coach likes and how they'd use you > Short "Keep it up" texts or responses)

   2. Which coaches have contacted me from this staff? (Position coach + Area coach + head coach > recruiting coordinator)

2. Am I projected to play at this level?

   1. If you're a rising senior visiting Clemson, North Carolina, and Ohio State, you better have some offers or some smaller, backup schools to visit)

   2. If you need an evaluation, ask your coach or an independent scout (I'm happy to tell you which level I think you could succeed at in college). Know that it's just one person's opinion, but try to take it to heart, don't just blow it off.

3. How much attention will I get at this camp and who will see me?

   1. More reps = more opportunities to impress

   2. Megacamps have more schools and more eyes

Especially for older prospects, you want to go where you're wanted. Power Four schools have essentially finished their recruiting boards by June. Lower D1 and D2/D3 schools are just starting there's, with summer being the biggest opportunity for movement.

In general, the only time you should be "trying to get on someone's radar" is at a D2 or D3 school that has your attention for non-sports reasons.

Prioritizing Visits and Setting the Perfect Schedule

Use those two criteria to shrink your list of potential visits. Eliminate (or devalue) visits to schools that haven't shown much interest and do the same for schools that you really don't see yourself attending.

Hopefully, you have a list of around 3-10 schools. Now you can prioritize visits and set a schedule. While doing this is more of an art than a science, here are a few tips for how to set the perfect schedule.

1) Prioritize Your Top School(s)

It's likely that one or more schools are higher than some of the others on your visit list. This could be the school(s) with the coach you talk to the most. The one that has clearly prioritized you as a prospect and that you really want to visit.

No matter what, you need to visit that school.

It doesn't have to be the first school you visit, but it should be your first priority.

That means you should talk to that coach to set a visit date that works for everyone. Put it on your calendar first, even if it's later in the summer (chronologically) than some of the other schools you're visiting.

2) Within Reason, Schedule More Time-Consuming Trips Next

Say you live in Raleigh, North Carolina and you'd like to visit both Notre Dame and N.C. State. In my opinion, you should first find a good week to visit Notre Dame before you try to schedule N.C. State.

Why? Because the Notre Dame trip will be more difficult, both logistically and in length. Either, you'll need to schedule flights and arrange transportation when there, or you'll have to carve out some travel days to make the 12-hour (one-way) drive, in addition to any time actually spent in South Bend, Ind.

To visit N.C. State, you'd probably need to simply roll out of bed and make the short drive to campus. There's much more involved in planning a long-distance trip, so I suggest locking in those dates first.

Then, when you have a preliminary schedule set, look for open space to fit a local visit. If nothing works, don't feel bad rearranging some other visits to make room.

3) Where Possible, Cluster Visits Together

Let's use that same example. If Ohio State invites you to campus, I'd suggest attempting to make that visit the same week as your Notre Dame trip. It might be a bit more tiring in the moment, but you'll feel better hitting two long-distance trips in the same part of the country at once, rather than planning two separate logistically-difficult visits.

This comes up a lot with players who have recently moved. Often, they'll look at schools in the region of the country they moved from, places near family, etc. Don't be afraid to extend those trips. See your family, catch up with old friends. Don't feel like a college visit has to be 100% business and no play. Have fun with it.

4) Know Your Limitations

It's unlikely you can handle 20 visits, even if you can make the logistics work out. Fatigue is a real thing and if you're so tired (physically or mentally) that you fail to perform at a camp, it can be a wasted opportunity.

Instead, make your visit schedule manageable. You have a whole summer. Don't cram your calendar just because you should.

This especially goes for key visits and players at positions where fatigue is a factor. Quarterbacks and pitchers can tire easily. So, make sure you're feeling your best for your most important visits.

Resources

Here are a few resources that may help.

• College Fits Sheet: The questions here are tailored to the general student population, but still matter to athletes seeking scholarships. I plan to have a sport-specific fits sheet soon.

• College Matching Tool: This is not my favorite, but it's free and great for younger students looking to find colleges that match their needs/wants. Use to identify potential schools of interest and then reach out to those coaches.

• Core GPA Explainer/Calculation: Great for figuring out NCAA eligibility/which academic scholarships you might be able to qualify for.