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How-To Create Your Email List
- Jason
- Jan 2, 2023
- 5 min read
Updated: Jan 31, 2024
"Where should we start?" Is a question I get asked from parents regularly.
Most families have not gone through this process before and so it makes sense that you wouldn't really know where to start. Sometimes what you might hear from another parents worked out really well for them, but it might not be exactly how your process goes.
"Every person's recruiting journey is different"
There are typically 3 different starting points I will start from when helping athletes put a list together. I think that any 1 of these is a good starting point, but certainly you can combine 2 or even all of them!
2) Niche.com
First, I think it's a good idea to compile all of your information somewhere. Using a simple spreadsheet is a good place to start. I have found over the years they start off great but get REALLY messy really quick! Most clubs offer SR and it's a fairly popular platform. NCSA has some research tools and things like that, but because of the price-point for both it's not something I encourage families spend their money on. I use Productive Recruit for all of my individual clients and I think the system is simple and really user friendly. For the price-point it is a great tool if you're looking for a resource to keep all your volleyball recruiting data. Click no the picture below to take a look and get a little discount as well.
1) NCAA D1 RPI Rankings
This is a great place to start for several reasons. First, I think it's important to see the scope of D1 schools that are out there (over 300). Second, there are going to be a bunch of schools and conferences that you might not have heard from. This is a great way to just do some research into some schools; regions, academics majors, campus size...
I don't encourage athletes to email a bunch of top 25 schools or spend too much time focusing on Power 5 schools. Those schools make up only 1/5 of colleges out there at the D1 level right now. If you find yourself in that category as an athlete, great! But there are lots of other places to play volleyball and they might be a BETTER fit in the end.
Print off the list and just start going through it. Circles schools you are interested in; cross off schools that you aren't interested in; go look up a school you aren't sure of or haven't heard of before.
Go look at the top programs in D2 or D3 as well. Some of these rankings are a little bit harder to find and they aren't as all-inclusive as the D1 RPI rankings, but a few more clicks and you'll be able to add more schools to your list. Check out these links below:
These links aren't going to have an exclusive list. But start here, go to a school and then look at the rest of the schools in their conference.
This is a great starting point, especially if you don't currently have a ton of regional restrictions or if you don't know specifically what you want to study.
2) Niche.com
When it comes to doing some research into specific majors or academic tracks for athletes, I typically tend to go here first. There are several of these kinds of sites out there and you can always just use a Google search. This was one of the first that I found and I am fairly comfortable using it. If you're looking for a major that is more on the unique side (architecture, fashion design, electrical engineering...) this kind of resource can be really helpful. A site like this gives you an option to search for academic majors but also where schools rank in a variety of other categories as well.
Typically you might need to scroll a few pages of schools before you find some schools that might be a good fit for you. The schools that typically rank at the top are bigger schools (P5 schools) or really high academic (some D3 or Ivy League) and those might not always be the best fit. While I don't use this site to compile my entire list for an athlete, it does add some schools to the list that I wouldn't come up with otherwise because of the specific academic majors I am searching for. Usually I can add 10-15 schools to an athletes list to focus on because I know they have the major she is looking for.
It also might not be able to find your specific major and that's okay. In most circumstances your major is going to fall under another field. Taking a step back and looking at your field with a more general or bigger umbrella might help you add a few more schools to your list as well.
3) NCAA List of Conferences
This is one of my favorite places to go when I'm researching schools for clients. Yes, I have it bookmarked :)
Not only does it give you a ton of schools and conferences to look into and research, but it gives you a map of all the states that are included in that conference. So, when I am looking at specific regions of the country to place athletes, this visually is really helpful. When an athlete wants to "stay close to home" it's good to get a visual of where that actually includes. So, if you want to stay close to home this will tell you what conferences have representation in your state, but also the surrounding states.
Each section is separated by division and even breaks it down even further. Find a conference you recognize that's in your area to see all of the schools in that conference. If you see a conference you don't know a ton about, but they have some schools in states you're interested in, click on the link and see their list of schools.
This resource is really helpful to athletes because not everyone has heard of EVERY college in the country. I remember being on the phone with an athlete and her family she wanted to stay close to home. I started naming off schools and asking if she had emailed them, she said no. So, she started looking up schools in those conferences and received some instant responses from colleges. Little changes can make a big difference. Adding a few more schools to your list is a great idea!
I encourage athletes to start with a list of 50 schools. But you don't have to have 50 schools on your list before you start sending emails. Get 5 schools on your list and then email them. Follow them on social media if you want to as well. The most important part of this process is that you START. Your list doesn't have to be perfect or complete prior to you sending out emails. Small steps are great, just get moving up those steps!
For some more of my thoughts on creating your list, take a look at this post HERE.
For more help in starting out your recruiting process - Join the "So, You'd Like to Get Recruited" online program.
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