It’s not too late to decide you want to apply to college and continue your athletic career. Many schools have rolling admissions where they take applications on a continuous basis until they have filled their designated class size.

Things to do:

Call the school immediately and ask for an application. Verify all cut-off dates for application and financial aid. Better yet look to see if you can apply on-line or down load and application.

Call financial aid and ask for all the paper work to be sent and inquire about deadlines.

Prepare your transcripts and letters of recommendation from teachers as needed.  Have any SAT or ACT scores sent to the schools.

Make an appointment with you school guidance counselor and have them help you.

Call coaches at the schools you are interested in. Send them a resume, cover letter and tell them that you are applying.

Think about Community or Junior College. You are usually assured of a spot in the fall semester and you can often transfer to a 4 year school after as little as one semester. Make sure you check into your desired school’s credit transfer policy before you make a decision. Occasionally they will accept only a few credits thus making your time and money at Community or Junior College a waste.

Community or Junior College can be just what an athlete needed to mature, gain experience and more exposure to attract a four year school. A lot of top athletic programs often get up to half their athletes via Junior or Community college transfers.

Ask your HS coach to call around and find out if any coaches are still looking for players and perhaps have a little scholarship money available. Sometimes you get lucky.

Bottom Line: If you wait until the spring of your senior year you have closed a lot of doors and need to work twice as hard to find an opportunity to both study and play.