A simple answer to one of the most asked questions out there in college recruiting

Families so often ask for guidance about one specific question that they can get so many different answers depending on who they are asking. What is this question?

What is the difference between unofficial and official visits?

If you are asking different people this question, whether it is recruiters or other families that went through the recruiting process, you are going to notice a wide variety of answers, which can lead to a lot of confusion.

The reason for this is because each student-athletes visit can be completely different from the next. 

Here is an example. Recently a parent asked this question to a group of parents that have gone through the process.  “A coach recently invited my son to visit their campus but how do I know if it’s an unofficial or official visit?”.

For this question a simple answer would have just been to tell the family to ask the coach, but instead the parent got blasted with more information than they possibly needed.

One parent said it’s an official visit when every portion of the trip is paid for, another countered by saying their child only had a portion of airfare covered, another said that it’s when they stay overnight, one parent said they had their own hotel as a parent paid for, and so on and so forth…

If I knew how to enter the emoji of the head exploding into this post then I would insert that here…

All of these answers are correct, but all they do is create more confusion.

The fact is, official visits can look completely different depending on each school, the division of the school, sport, etc.

All an official visit is by definition is a visit when some portion of the visit is paid for by the school. This doesn’t have to be flights, hotels, transportation. In fact, the number of schools that do offer that throughout the country is much smaller than the number of schools that don’t. 

Some schools cover the meals on campus and “housing” (AKA staying overnight with a member of the team), also constitutes an official visit.

So what do you need to know from all of this?

If a coach invites you to visit campus, they could be inviting you to initially come up for an unofficial visit to see campus, or they could be inviting you for an official visit.

If you are unsure of what type of visit it is, just ask the coach!

They are also here to help guide you through the recruiting process.  

You can ask a coach two questions if they invite you for a campus visit and are not clear what type of visit it is.

The first, is to ask if it is an unofficial or official visit. The second, is to then follow up on their first answer and ask what the visit will entail. The coach will give you all the information you need in order to know what type of visit it is.

The big takeaway from this should be that if you are uncertain of something a coach says, or asks of you, just ask them questions to gain more information. And if a coach gets annoyed by you asking questions, which will rarely happen, it’s probably a bit of insight into what playing for them would be like.

So don’t be afraid to ask coaches questions, especially if you are looking for clarity into visiting their campus as that is a big step in your recruiting process.