Most athletes start with a list of five schools, and all five are places they have seen on television. That is a wish list. A recruiting list is longer, less famous and built from evidence.
A school belongs on your list only if it passes four tests: your marks fit the roster, you can get admitted, your family can pay for four years, and you would want to be there even if you were injured for a year.
Members lesson
In the full lesson
- The four tests in detail: athletic, academic, financial, personal
- Reach, target and fit, and why the third tier is not a "safety"
- How many schools, and the split between tiers
- Five things to look at to place a school in a tier
- Where BeastMatch saves you weeks, and what it cannot see
- Six mistakes that sink a list
Rules, dates and numbers checked October 2026 against NCAA recruiting guides and calendars. They change every year; confirm with each school's compliance office.