Each recruit is paired up with a team player, and such visits can be carefully planned. Some players say they receive a little money to give recruits a meal; the rest is up to them.

"When we get [high-priority] recruits, we really strategize about their visits," Stauffer says.

Teams try to plan activities around the interests of the recruit. In some cases, current students will be matched with recruits who are likely to play similar roles on teams.

When Allison S. Feaster '98--a top talent on the women's basketball team--was recruited, she was placed with career scoring leader Tammy Butler '95.

It was a casual night, with the once and future team leaders dining at Faneuil Hall with the coaches and then heading home to watch TV. Feaster says she treats her recruits in the same low-key way.

"I just had a recruit two weekends ago" she says. "We went to the Head of the Charles and to see a movie. She had some homework to do, and so did I, so we studied a little and went to Tommy's."

Recruiting visits in some other sports--especially football--are not nearly so tame. Football players recall stories about alcohol binges involving the now-closed D.U. finals club, the Crimson Sports Grille and Mather House parties.

"During my visit here, we went out drinking at the D.U., then went to the Grille and some parties, and then went back to the D.U.," says a former member of the football team, speaking on condition of anonymity.

"I had a drinking contest with some guy at the club and then I passed out," the former football player adds. "I remember my host waking me up at 7:00 a.m. and telling me to get up because we had to have breakfast with the coach and me thinking 'Oh God.'"

Football is not the only sports which includes drinking as part of a recruiting visit.

"One Halloween we had a recruit and we made her dress up like us as a member of the Sean Cassidy fan club--and we all went out and got drunk," says Heather I. Clark '96, who was recruited for crew.

"Drinking is sort of the unwritten rule," she adds. "You want them to have a good time and if they get drunk, so much the better."

One crew recruit, however, was shocked on her recruiting top when a Mather House elevator opened to reveal several drunk, naked men. After many assurances from her host that this was not typical for this campus, the recruit enrolled at Harvard.

Facing the Music

Coaches rank recruits in terms of their potential value to the program, but the admissions office has the final say.