College visitations are vital to selecting the school you are going to attend.

When should I visit? What do I do on a college visit? What does an "official" visit mean? These are many questions that college-bound athletes ask when thinking about visiting a prospective school. We will try to answer these questions and provide some tips to think about as you prepare to visit a college this summer or in the near future.

The first question to tackle is when to visit a college, and the answer is simple: NOW! It is never too early to visit a college. You can begin your search as a High School Freshman or a graduating Senior, but one thing is certain, you are should visit as many schools as possible. When visiting campus in your early years of high school, you do not always need to meet the coach. In fact, you may just want to ride around the campus, see the football field and adjoining practice fields (if there are any), stroll into the student union and any other building of interest to you. If you can start to visit schools early, it will be easy to narrow down the list of schools you want to visit during your Junior and Senior years. For example, if you visit Salisbury University in Salisbury, MD you can use that to evaluate the next school. Do you like being close to the Atlantic Ocean with about 6,000 students? Or is the school too small and far away (2 hours) from a major city such as Washington, D.C. and Baltimore. Being able to answer these questions can help your decision when the next school calls and wants you to visit. The great thing is that you are your own boss on this and can tailor the visits you take to your liking. If a school is too far from a major city or the Atlantic Ocean based on your previous visiting experience, then you can put that school low on the priority list.

Now that you are on campus, what should you do? You may be there to take a guided tour from the school or walk around campus with your family or friends. We recommend a guided tour because there may be things you can learn quickly that may excite you about the school or turn you off. As an athlete, you would want to locate the football facilities, weight room, study hall and any other places on campus that you would be using daily while at school. Also, if there is a subject or two that you really like or excel in, you may want to make it a point to reach out to a professor or department head of a program to learn more about the school. For instance, you may be interested in Engineering, but found out it is a 5-year program or the course work is at a level that would be difficult to play football and maintain solid grades in the classroom. These are important questions, especially since less the 1% of college football players make it to the NFL and the education you receive will be very important to your future career. If you are meeting the coach or coaches with the football program, you should be PREPARED! Research the school, the program, and even your position because a well-prepared visitor can leave a lasting impression on a coach. There are many prospective football players vying for only a few available positions at the college level and many of the players are very similar. Therefore, it is the impressions that you leave with a coach that can make or break you getting a shot and potentially a scholarship at that university. Lastly, you should take some time on your own away from your family, friend and the coach while on your visit. It is ultimately you that will be attending that college and you need to feel comfortable in your surroundings. Take 15 minutes and go across the street to the convenience store or into the library (ok, maybe that is a stretch), but do something that you would do on a regular basis to see how it feels and if you can envision yourself attending that school.

Finally, we want to talk about the difference between an official visit and unofficial visit.

Official visits can only be made during the athletes senior year. Student-athletes are allowed only five official visits to Division I and Division II schools. During an "official" visit, the school pays for something while on your visit. Whether it is your travel or a meal off-campus, these occur on an "official" visit. It varies per school on what they would pay for since some have larger budgets than others. You will know if you are on an "official" visit because you will receive paper work prior to your visit that is submitted to the NCAA. Remember to sign-up for the clearinghouse (https://web1.ncaa.org/eligibilitycenter/common/) and take either the SAT or ACT, so that you are eligible to take an official visit during your senior year.

With the "Unofficial" visits, you can make these at anytime (there are a few dead periods where you can not meet a coach on campus and they can be found on the NCAA website (http://www.ncaa.org/). You can basically do everything as you would on an "official" visit, but the difference would be that the school could not pay for anything including travel or meals off-campus. In some instances, you may even receive complimentary tickets to a basketball or football game on an unofficial visit, but you would have to check with the coach about receiving them since there is a limited amount.

The information provided above should be used as a guideline, but always check with the NCAA since changes to recruiting regulations occur on a regular basis. You do not want to put yourself or the college in jeopardy of any recruiting violations. Please be proactive in your college selection process and obtain as much information as you can on schools by visiting and talking with other people about the school and program. Good luck on your college search!