Three Biggest Mistakes made by American Players

1. UNDERSTANDING COMPETITIVENESS OF RECRUITING - Brown is one of the top women's hockey programs in the country, and an Ivy League school. We receive 100-200 interest letters per year from high school aged players. In general, we take 5-8 players per year to add to our team. The players we actively recruit have all excelled at a very high level of play, whether it at the USA Hockey National Girls Festivals in the summer or as the top players on their championship prep school or high school teams or nationally competitive Midget I teams.
2. INFORMATION OVERLOAD - Some high school aged players will write or e-mail update letters as much as once or twice a month on how they are doing in school or how they performed in recent tournaments. This information only clutters the important information that we keep on file about you. Use these web pages as a guide, and follow our lead, and you will have to do much less work to provide us with the information we really need to process you as a potential recruit for Brown. We require some basic information on our online profile form and then other information as described on our previous page (Important Dates). Don't spend more time than you need to, and save a few trees.
3. UNDERSTANDING IVY LEAGUE BENEFITS - The benefits of Brown's Ivy League education when you graduate are immense. You have instant connections for jobs in nearly any field you would want to pursue after graduation. The sticking point for many is the fact that Brown, as an Ivy League school, does not offer athletic scholarships. However, we do offer need based financial aid, and beginning in 2003 we will be need-blind in our admissions policy. There is more information about this process, further along this web path. You need to realize that wherever you go, your Brown education will serve you well.

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Other Important Information

1. RECRUITING AREAS/VIDEOTAPES - We scout extensively in the New England & New York areas, 1-3 times per year in Minnesota, 1-3 times per year in the Chicago area and once per year in Ohio/Michigan. This is not to say that we do not go to other areas, but usually only with a player (or players) in mind. If you do not get to play in our scouted areas often, it is important to send us a video of you playing and/or practicing. We should get this video at the latest by the end of your Junior year, so that if we are interested, we can make plans to come see you play.
2. PRIVATE vs. PUBLIC SCHOOL - If you are trying to decide on the benefits of private schools, there are many factors to consider and each player's decision making process will differ. Academically, although private schools generally send more students to Ivy league colleges, you must remember that, at a private school, you will be competing academically against better students, and that might make it harder for you to get into an Ivy League School. This is because the Ivy League schoools use class rank as one of their academic indicators. Athletically, there will be both positives and negatives. There are really two factors: (1) Your Development as a player (from coaching, playing and practicing opportunities), and (2) Your Exposure to college scouts. If you feel you are already covered in both of those areas and are strong academically, then you should probably remain at your public school. If you feel a prep school could help one of those areas or aid in your academic development, remember to ask many questions of the prep school coach and/or admissions person on your interview and carefully weigh the answers against all your options (including remaining at public school).
3. RECRUITING TOURNAMENTS - Below is a list of Tournaments in U.S. & Canada that we have consistently attended and have had U.S. Teams participating. There is no guarantee that we will be at these tournaments every year, but for the most part we will be there.
   -- Findlay Tournament (Findlay, OH) - September
   -- Aero's Solid Goal Preseaon Tournament (Toronto, ON - Canada) - October
   -- Taft School Christmas Tournament (Watertown, CT) - December
   -- Cushing Academy Holiday Tournament (Ashburnham, MA) - December
   -- Deerfield Academy Tournament (Deerfield, MA) - December
   -- BB&N /Nobles Christmas Tournament (Boston, MA) - December
   -- Connecticut Polar Bears Tournament (Hartford, CT) - December
   -- Brampton Easter Tournament (Brampton, ON - Canada) - April
   -- USA Hockey Nationals (U19 & U15) - April
   -- Minnesota Jr. Festival (Blaine, MN) - June
   -- N.A.H.A. Summer Showcase (Burlington, VT) - June
   -- USA Hockey 16/17 & 18/19 Girls Festivals (Lake Placid, NY) - June/July
   -- Digit Murphy Hockey School (Providence, RI) - August