Recruiting Questionnaires: What They Are and Why to Fill Them Out

What a questionnaire is

Most college athletic programs have a prospective student-athlete form — usually called a recruiting or prospect questionnaire — on their athletics website, often on the team’s page. It asks for your contact details, school, graduation year, position, measurements, academics, schedule and coaches.

What you submit goes into the software that coaching staff use to track recruits. That’s how a school can send you camp information or add you to a list for its sport and graduation year.

Why it’s worth ten minutes

• It puts you in the program’s own system, where coaches look when they’re building a class.
• You can do it before coaches are allowed to contact you. An athlete filling out a questionnaire is not something the recruiting rules limit.
• It shows interest in that specific school, something a coach can see.
• Many programs send camp dates and news to the prospects in their database, so you hear about opportunities first.

Have this ready before you start

• An email address you check and a phone number.
• Your high school’s name, address and your graduation year.
• Position, height, weight and any testing or key stats.
• GPA, test scores and intended major, if you know them.
• NCAA Eligibility Center ID (or NAIA ID), if you have one.
• High school and club coach names, emails and phone numbers.
• A film or recruiting profile link, and your upcoming schedule.
• A parent or guardian’s contact information.

Keep it in one place and every form after the first takes a few minutes. Use exactly the same details on each one so schools can match you up.

Make sure it’s the real form

Look for the questionnaire on the college’s own athletics website, for your sport. Some links found online lead to third-party recruiting sites that ask you to create a profile or pay. That isn’t the school’s form. If a page asks for a credit card, it isn’t a college questionnaire.

• Check that the form is for your sport, and for men’s or women’s where it matters. Some schools use one form for every sport with a dropdown to choose yours.
• Fill in every field you can. A half-empty form is easy to skip.
• Update it — or send the coach new information — when your grades, stats or schedule change.

After you submit

Email the coach who recruits your position the same day or the next. Keep it short:

Hi Coach Reyes,

I just filled out your recruiting questionnaire and wanted to introduce myself.

[Grad year] [position] · [height] · [High School], [City, State]
Film and profile: [link]

[One real reason your program interests me.]

I’d like to be on your list as I go through the process.

Thanks for your time,
[Your Name]

Then keep track of which schools you’ve done. It’s easy to lose count across twenty schools, and to wonder later whether a school has your information.

Common questions

More resources

• How to Email a College Coach (With an Example)
• When Can College Coaches Contact You?
• D1, D2, D3, NAIA or JUCO: What’s the Difference?
• Winter Recruiting Camps: Which Ones Are Worth It
• Are Prospect Camps and Showcases Worth It?
• Your Recruiting Timeline, Grade by Grade
• What Classes Do You Need? NCAA Core Courses Explained
• How to Make a Highlight Video College Coaches Actually Watch
• What to Say When a College Coach Calls, and What to Ask
• The Parent’s Role in College Recruiting: What Helps and What Hurts
• What College Coaches Look at on Your Social Media
• How Much Are Athletic Scholarships Really Worth?
• The Junior College Route: How It Works and When It Makes Sense
• How College Recruiting Actually Works, From the Coach’s Side