- By Andy

A family sat down with me recently and walked me through their daughter’s recruiting plan at the end of her 10th grade. It was thoughtful, organized, and built on assumptions that were accurate maybe five years ago. They pictured a world where a coach at a selective college spots a promising junior soccer player, extends a verbal offer of admissions support, and the path to campus more or less sets itself.

I understand why. That is the story most of us in the world of college counseling grew up with, and pieces of it are still true. But as someone who has sat on both sides of the admissions desk, at a Division III school and at a Division I program with a long championship tradition, I can tell you the terrain has moved. That is not a reason to panic. It is a reason to get informed, and I want to walk you through what changed and how to navigate it.

What Has Actually Changed

Here is the biggest shift: in 2025, a legal settlement (House v. NCAA) rewrote the rules for how Division I schools build their rosters. It used to work like this: each sport had a fixed number of scholarships, and coaches divided them up among a bigger group of athletes. Now, for schools that opt in, that cap on scholarships is gone. Coaches can offer aid to everyone on the roster, but the roster itself is now capped. While more athletes can get aid, fewer athletes make the team overall. Every spot on that roster carries more weight.

At the same time, the transfer portal has changed who a high school senior competes against. It is no longer just other seventeen-year-olds. It may be a college junior with several years of film, strength training, and proven performance already behind them. A new eligibility rule also allows athletes up to five seasons of competition within a five-year window, keeping experienced players on rosters longer.

Then there is NIL (Name, Image, and Likeness), the rules allowing college athletes to earn money from endorsements and sponsorships. Most families I work with are not chasing seven-figure deals, but that revenue at the top of college sports still shapes how coaches build rosters everywhere below it. It is worth keeping in mind, even if it does not apply to your student directly.

Why Context Matters

At the highest level of college sports—the large football and basketball programs on national television—the game operates almost like its own industry right now. That is not the world most student-athletes I work with are entering, and it should not be the lens the vast majority of families use to judge their own process.

Division III programs like Bowdoin and Ivy League programs like Princeton still do not offer athletic scholarships, and admission still runs through the same academic lens it always has. What has changed is pace and pressure. Because the broader talent pool moves more fluidly, coaches at every level recruit earlier and look for certainty sooner.

How to Approach the Process

None of this calls for alarm. Instead, it is an invitation to start conversations a little earlier and keep them honest. I always encourage families to build an athletic self-assessment grounded in where a student genuinely fits talent-wise, not where we hope they might.

Remember that being recruited and being admitted are two different things, especially at D3 and Ivy programs where a coach’s support is one strong input into an academic review, not a final guarantee. Build a college list with real range, and tune out NIL headlines that simply do not apply to your student’s path.

Most of the student-athletes we guide are heavily driven by top-tier academic programs. I always encourage families to apply what we in college counseling call the “broken leg test”: if your student suffered a career-ending injury on day one, would they still be genuinely thrilled to be enrolled at that school for the academics, the culture, and the campus community?

Because so many of our families prioritize schools that easily pass this test, leagues like Division III, the Ivy League, or the Patriot League are often top of mind. For students aiming at these academically rigorous programs, here is a timeline I find helpful:

• Freshman & Sophomore Year: Focus on the foundation. Grades, course rigor, and testing groundwork matter now, even though recruiting feels far away. Assemble clips, build a highlight reel, and research programs broadly.
• Sophomore Spring through Junior Fall: Reach out to coaches directly, attend targeted camps or showcases, and have honest conversations about realistic athletic fit. Grades start carrying real weight in how coaches can advocate for a student.
• Junior Year: This is typically the most active recruiting window. Coaches will want transcripts and test scores well before senior year begins. Finalize a target list with real range (reach, target, and likely options) both athletically and academically.
• Summer Before Senior Year & Fall of Senior Year: Official visits, continued communication with coaches, and likely letters or clear commitments take shape. Applications get finalized during this window, making junior and senior fall grades critical.

The Golden Rule: Academics Come First

If I could underline one piece of advice above all others, it is this: academic performance is the one non-negotiable in this process. I say this not to add pressure, but because it genuinely protects a student’s college application process.

A student who is the strongest academic candidate they can be walks into this process with options, regardless of how athletic recruitment unfolds. If a roster spot does not materialize or a coach’s support does not yield an admission offer, your child’s grades and course rigor carry them through. This is true at that same school through regular admission or at another selective college entirely. Athletic recruitment can open doors, but a strong academic record keeps every door open. Treat strong academic performance as the constant in your plan, not the variable.

Supporting a student’s athletic and academic ambitions takes immense care, and it is completely normal to feel some anxiety about getting it right. The landscape has changed, but the fundamentals of good guidance have not: know your student well, stay flexible, and lean on us as trusted advisors. That is exactly what we are here for, and we would love to talk through what this looks like for your family.