A recruiting coach breaks down a real UCLA email to a Division I striker prospect from Chicago, showing what signals genuine interest versus generic politeness. He explains whether to attend their ID camp, send more video, or focus elsewhere, weighing the cost of traveling from Chicago against UCLA's actual interest level.
How to get an email from UCLA, da da da ding, in order to play college soccer. I'm the College Soccer Guy and I'll tell you how. So I actually happen to live in Westwood and because of that I go to a ton of UCLA games. I've actually been to their practice almost every day and I love watching them because they really play footy. That's number one. A lot of you are going, I don't want to just go to any school, and if you look at all the interviews I've done with the players, a lot of them pick UCLA specific to the fact that they play footy and they do a great job of that. So UCLA is a great team, everyone already knows that. We have a student who's of the level. And when you work with me, I will tell you, I will say, is this realistic or is this not realistic? And for this student, I'm going, look, based off their accolades, based off of the video I've watched of them, based off of me picking them, I think they are potential high-level Division 1. And I'm not the only one confirming it. Their coaches have confirmed it. But there are some issues in the sense that it's still very competitive. It's about being at the right place at the right time, being seen enough time. So let's dissect the email that we sent to them. So the first email that we sent to them was, dear coach, I understand you see many emails a day. That's us being polite. I'm working on coming to your camp, showing we're invested. May confirm you striker for the class of '24. We want them, of course, to see if they're looking for a striker. This is the difficult part and my favorite part of the recruiting process. Their answer wasn't as lovely as some of the other emails that this student received. So for example, they said, thanks for the email. First of all, it was genuine from UCLA, which is a big deal. They don't respond to just anybody. Okay, so that is a huge deal that this person got a genuine response. Most of you will not get a response from UCLA, or if you do, it'll be a robot. We are actively recruiting all positions in the class of '24. So that means Obviously during this time, which was last year, they were looking for everything. Now, just to give you an idea, we sent this in June of 2023. So at June, they were still looking for players in their 2024, according to this email, which I'm sure is true. You have to be mindful. Sometimes they're like, yes, we're looking for players because we always want a better player. But they're also like, yeah, but it's not like we're missing a center back and we need a center back. They're like, sure, if we find a really amazing player, then we'll take them. And so that's why a lot of coaches, when they say like, are you looking for a striker? They'll be like, sometimes they'll say, yes, we're looking specifically for a striker. In which case that's a great time to go to their ID camp. Other times they go, well, you know, we're always looking for better players. Then you're like, okay, that one's not as genuine. That's how you're gonna weigh whether or not you should go to their camp or send them more video. Or it also— you have to value how much you want that school. So then he says, I hope you can make it out this summer to Westwood, which is where UCLA is. It'd be a great opportunity to showcase your ability in front of our entire staff and multiple coaches. So he's selling the ID camp as well as himself, which is more than okay. And it's true, they're going to get a lot of opportunities to get exposure. But it wasn't really like he was like, I loved your video, I've watched you play, and therefore I would like you come to our camp. He's like, look, if you come, we'll get to see you, and guess what, you'll also be seen by other coaches. That be seen by other coaches in this nuance to me was the coach saying like, hey, I don't really know based off of what I've read about you so far whether or not we watch— he watched the video, we don't know. That year for us. So to me, and this particular player lives in Chicago, he has to weigh, is it worth traveling all of that way for a coach that's semi-interested? Although you have to also flip it and go, hey, there's coaches, UCLA, they get to recruit whoever they want at the highest levels, and they did respond to him. So if this is a dream school, he should go because he's not going cold, he's going with genuine interest. And that is, you know, something we talked about, that he did have a lot of other ID camps on the same date, so we had to vary which ones we were going to go to. We couldn't go to them all. If you want more help playing college soccer, give me a ring. Links in the bio, and I'll talk to you soon.
