The article explores in-depth about the NCSA platform and their services.
In turn, helps you decide whether you are getting a worthwhile service or you are likely to end up wasting money.
Need for College Recruitment Platform like NCSA
100,000+ students compete for a few thousand scholarships available in college sports recruiting every year.
Going through each college option can be time-consuming, tedious and stressful for parents.
Missing a scholarship seat for any reason can lead to graduating with five to six-figure education debt.
If done correctly, the same student graduates debt free.
NCSA college recruiting platform works with high school student-athletes. They offer –
- Full-length recruiting advisory
- Does college coach connections
A lot of parents wonder whether NCSA is appropriate for their child’s placement and worth the money paid.
Before that a brief about NCSA.
Is NCSA a Waste of Money: NCSA Review
Next College Student Athlete (NCSA) was earlier known as National Collegiate Scouting Association, LLC.
NCSA College Recruiting is a subsidiary of Endeavor’s IMG Academy making it a part of the world’s largest and most advanced multi-sport training and educational institutions.
Founded by athletes, NCSA is the largest college athletic recruiting platform with over 20 years of operations.
35,000 college coaches use the NCSA platform to find athletes across 37 sports.
NCSA recruitment is for
- high school freshmen, and
- late-blooming senior.
NCSA college search tool helps you find opportunities in college across the country. The database matches you to schools where you have the best chances of getting recruited.
NCSA is the Official Recruiting Partner of 9 National Governing Bodies. A few prominent ones are –
- USA Baseball
- USA Field Hockey
- USA Volleyball
- US Youth Soccer
- USA Waterpolo
- USA Wrestling
You have the option to pick the basic package at $0.
The Basic package allows free online sports and academic profile creation. NCSA representative gives you a free “Scout call” to verify the information and discuss the next steps.
Chances are that the representative might hard sell higher packages. Customized packages cost in the range of $800 to $3000.
NCSA has three packages with additional services –
- Champion package– access to the full suite of digital products
- Elite package – giving maximum exposure to college coaches
- MVP package – personalized offering with extensive support
But NCSA doesn’t disclose the price upfront on its website.
Higher packages increase the chances of getting recruited if you’re not an elite high school athlete.
College coaches can’t recruit you if they don’t know who you are. NCSA helps you connect to maximum coaches giving you the best exposure possible.
NCSA Positive Trust Pilot Reviews
“NCSA can be expensive” – most positive reviews say that.
But you have to weigh the cost against your child’s future.
NCSA Negative Yelp Reviews
Parents complain about NCSA’s –
- Long interview process,
- High sales tactics and
- Outdated recruiting model.
Specifically, they accuse NCSA of charging fees without showing exactly how they can actually help.
NCSA can help you find opportunities outside your regional colleges and universities.
But the range of NCSA reviews can be confusing and make you wonder if NCSA is legit or a waste of money.
AthleticSOS provides a clue as to when NCSA is worth your money.
Athletic SOS says you should try NCSA if you –
- Are skilled enough to play at the collegiate level
- Meet academic requirements
- Hold a qualifying ACT or SAT test scores
- Willing to accept colleges that NCSA finds
Parents sometimes credit their children with more athletic ability than they actually have. This sets an unrealistic expectation from NCSA.
NCSA can’t guarantee a scholarship for your child. NCSA will do everything it can.
NCSA is in business for the last 20 years. if they were not getting results, they would have been out of business.
Alternate Way
You can be proactive and contact the coaches of the schools in which you are interested.
That’s what the former student-athlete and parents say.
Look for emails, phone numbers and let the coaches know that you are interested in their school and program.
Possibly, send your video to as many coaches as you can.
Explain them why their program interests you and how you would be a contributing factor to the team.
In reviews, parents have clearly said – that they could have done on their own if they had known the process beforehand.
Parents who don’t have any clue about how the process and also don’t have the time will generally benefit from NCSA.
Conclusion
If you get recruited with a scholarship or a financial package, then paying NCSA upwards of several thousand dollars is definitely worth it.
The negative reviews you see published online are from parents and athletes who did not get the result they wanted.
So it is up to you to decide for yourself whether you can make it on your own or take the help of recruiting platform by spending money.
