Unofficial vs Official Visit

Updated May 18, 2023*

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Any time you get the opportunity to visit a campus you should take it. Back before we had these new rules, freshmen and sophomores could make unofficial visits to campus anytime and interact with college coaches while they were there. These were considered unofficial visits. Official visits were mostly reserved for athletes that had already committed. They would make an official visit with the other members of their recruiting class on the same weekend and it was a pretty neat experience for everyone. This was a great way to do it because athletes could interact and see the athletics side of campuses even as a freshmen. This helped give athletes perspective as they had conversations later on throughout the process. We regularly had younger athletes on campus in the fall and spring seasons.

With the NEW rules, you can't make an unofficial visit until you're a junior. Both Juniors and Seniors can have official visits. In general, I feel like this has really limited the amount of visits athletes are taking. I don't have any data to back that up, but the "lets check it out" kind of visit that maybe a sophomore or freshmen would take to a college campus has dwindled. Maybe a family drives through a campus to or from a volleyball tournament, but the overall purpose of this kind of visit seems to have gone away. Why take a visit to a campus if the school isn't really interested in you as an athlete?

So what's the difference between an unofficial and official visit?

The difference between an unofficial and official visit is that during an "Official Visit" the school is paying for the athlete. This includes travel and any other meals while the athlete is on campus. During an "Unofficial Visit" the cost of the trip is being incurred by the family.

Does it matter which one you take?

In general, no, I don't think it matters wether or not you're taking an unofficial visit vs an official visit. With the new rules being implemented giving athletes "unlimited" official visits, it's a nice change and one that probably needed to happen. Unfortunately, there were very few volleyball athletes that were taking all 5 of their official visits. This new rule change will most likely only impact a few students in every recruiting class. The athletes that are getting recruited heavily by P5 schools. Plenty of schools are offering official visits to juniors, but the majority of schools still don't have the cash flow to offer every athlete an official visit; especially when it comes to flights!

Also, you can't take more than 1 official visit to the same school. So, you can't take an official visit to Texas Tech when you're a junior and another official visit when you're a senior. It's important to keep that in mind. Make sure that you are taking these official visits to schools that YOU are actually interested in. If a school is offering you an official visit, the chances are pretty good that they are interested in you.

If a school offers you an unofficial visit, does that mean they are LESS interested?

Not really. I think that anytime a school ASKS you to come on a visit, that means their interest is really high. One school offering you an official visit and another school offering you an unofficial visit, doesn't mean one is more or less interested in you. There are a lot of variables here. In our current recruiting climate, if a school wants you to come on a visit, that's positive.

If given the option, does taking an unofficial instead of an official visit right now send the wrong message?

No. There are plenty of reasons to take an unofficial visit rather than an official visit. Maybe the school is really close and financially it's not a huge deal. You don't really want to take an of your 5 official visits at this point. Depending on where you are in the process, you just might not be ready. An official visit (or the option to do one) has an increased chance of an offer being attached to it. Maybe you aren't ready for the two week deadline. Maybe you don't want to put anything in stone because of the way your high school calendar is. You might not want to make a visit until after your season is over. Depending on how long your post-season is, it could be a 3-4 week timeframe you're looking at in that moment.

In the situation where you've already been to campus, paid for the camp and a plane ticket, I think that asking about an official visit is totally fair. Again, I think depending on where the school is in the process, how interested they really are in you and how willing they are to spend the money on you and in general will dictate how that conversation really goes. Always be willing to have the conversation. Coaches are adults and understand the financial ramifications of flights/hotels while on a visit.

In general though, visits are good. Take them when you can. Drive to a campus when you're a freshmen or a sophomore. Take the opportunity to go watch a match on an unofficial visit as a junior. Do all the things you can to make the best decision possible in your recruiting journey.

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