Playing soccer while studying at US college is living the dream for many, however, there may be good reasons why a student athlete may want to transfer to a different college.
If you plan to attend a 4 year college after junior or community college, then it’s important to find the best college to meet your goals. The fact that you have established a sporting and academic track record and know the level of commitment required to be a student athlete, makes you an attractive prospect for 4 year college soccer coaches.
Unfortunately, staff at 2 year colleges often don’t have the time or expertise to help, meaning that many students miss out on the best scholarship opportunities when moving to a 4 year college.
If you’re already at 4 year college, factors such as lack of match time, change in degree plans, ambition to play at a higher level, funding issues or even desire to study in a different part of the US may be motivations for wishing to switch college. As with 2 year colleges, the soccer coaching staff won’t have either the time or inclination to help much, especially if you’re one of their stronger players.
Whether moving on from junior college or looking to switch 4 year college, you can improve your chances of success by:
Give yourself plenty of time to pull together your video footage, academic and match statistics and be clear about what you could bring to a new squad. Do this at least 1 semester before you want to start at your new college.
Think about your motivations for transferring so that you can articulate these to your target colleges. Research the colleges that you think would be a good match for you and why. eg soccer program, academic options, facilities, local climate, culture etc
Get external help. Soccer coaches at the top D1, D2 and NAIA colleges are bombarded with emails from students, so rarely have time to assess them properly. Much better to have someone with a direct line into the coaches who can represent you in a professional way.
By using a soccer scholarship consultancy such as SSP, the coaches trust us to find the exact type of player they need for their squad, so they don’t waste time filtering through unsolicited emails …. and you don’t waste time sending them! The extra cost of using an agency should be more than covered by the wider range and size of scholarships that you are eventually offered. Click here for a free transfer assessment.
