It sounds like you have done lots of research into the teams and have followed previous years of recruitment in your child’s sport which should serve you well. There are so many variables also. For instance, most team rosters are limited in size by the NCAA and how many seniors are graduating this year affects the openings for next year. Scholarships are also limited by NCAA. But there are also some unexpected changes like kids quitting the team or transferring. Then there are the coaches who think someone is going to commit to the school and commit to a different school freeing up scholarship money. Everyone is in such a hurry to commit and sometimes waiting is a better option including sports that have 2 recruiting periods. There was both tears and excitement for us in this process since coaches who sounded interested fizzled out and other coaches increased their offers. It can be a roller coaster in emotions since you don’t want to be left out or accept something too quickly. Sometimes other athletes who are friends will share their experience and sometimes not. This information can help. The child often is too emotionally involved to be logical and thinks they don’t need their parent’s help and think they can decide this without you (even though you are likely paying some of the bill). In the end, the outcome was great for us. But as our club coach told us, your child becomes a commodity and that is hard to swallow or think about.
One thing I have learned over the last few years on this board is that tgere appears to be huge variation in how recruiting works in different sports. This is why while you may be able to glean some broad strokes information from parents like myself, @twoinanddone, @BrooklynRye or the several others who populate the athletic recruit board, the best information will always come from other parents on the club/team or at least in the same sport who went through the process.
My main advice to parents is don’t let your child apply to too many schools. My son, a good runner, applied to 11. Whew! It felt like he was trying to dance with 11 partners simultaneously! Most of the coaches were great, by the way. But they understandably wanted to know where they stood on my son’s list, and it was really stressful. I think if we had it to do over again, we would have limited the number to five or six, max.
@BrooklynRye, if you are interested in Ivy recruiting, you should invest in @varska 's book. The Ivy League has additional rules for coaches doing recruiting with respect to academics. There is a post on the Athletic forum on this site with how to get it.
Other high academic schools have similar rules in place but they aren’t always published like the Ivies.
Everyone is giving advice and I think that is great! Be sure you are familiar with the NCAA clearinghouse requirements for classes the athletes must take and grades and test scores way before senior year. Don’t get caught at the end without the requirements. Obviously, some schools like Ivy League schools have higher requirements to become familiar with. Some people want money, some want admission and some want both. Know what you want. Athletes that sign NLI in the fall only need to apply to the one college they have signed their letter with. The admissions office clears them before their recruitment trips and NLI and as long as there are no surprises, like failed grades, they are into their NLI school. Hope everyone’s advice helps. Make sure your child submits the correct items to prospective coaches. For instance, be sure the best test score gets sent and not just any test score as mine did with one coach. In addition, be sure the correct version of their unofficial college transcript gets sent also. Mine sent the wrong version for this one also and a coach used it as a reason there was no recruitment trip though that could have been an excuse. Like I said, our experience was a roller coaster so put your safety belts on and your hands up in the air.
I hear careered adults constantly complain of burnout while only working 60 hours a week. Imagine spending your entire childhood and adolescence with a focus on one or two sports, and the Atlas-esque weight placed on your shoulders to excel at the sport(s), and you may find an off-putting attitude a little more understandable. The article was not well-organized and was essentially a list of grievances against various sports players they’d likely seen over the years. I want the 4 minutes it took me to read that article back.
@CourtneyThurston I’ve encountered far more STEM kids with the same attitude displayed that have gone onto be superstars in whatever field of their choosing. The attitude of the athlete in the article pales in comparison to the attitude of your average upper-middle class Stanford or CIT programmer student on their way to a Google/Apple/IBM internship Freshmen year of college.
Just because there may be others who indulge in a given behavior doesn’t make it right. There is no excuse for a bad attitude.
College coaches do not have to settle for malcontents and neither does Stanford. If they do then that is their choice, but it is not the only one.
“Atlas-esque weight”? There are dozens of players in every sport out there who find it easy to excel at their sport and can maintain a good attitude. Why should that not be the target? Just like there are kids that can get straight As in the toughest classes in HS with less work than average and still have significant ECs.
@LetterDelivery That culture is changing – fast.
I agree with 8bagels on this one.
Sorry I’m late to this discussion. Regarding the 4 year scholarships, we just went through this in women’s swimming. I spoke about money with coaches in the B1G (Big 10), ACC and SEC. A multi-year scholarship was definitely the exception, and something they would offer only to someone that merited 70-100% scholarship - even then it would likely be 2 years, not 4 years. Basically, if the athlete has enough leverage he or she could get a multi-year, but at that point they might choose a more elite program where they don’t have as much leverage.
(This is also the reason that 100% scholarships are rare - coaches offer them to athletes, but the athletes choose to go to the “better” program that offers 60%).
The coaches all said they could only reduce scholarships due to serious reasons (e.g. violation of team or school rules). They also mentioned their practice of increasing the amount of money for achieving upperclassmen. My daughter actually liked the policy of annually renewing scholarships that can increase (or decrease, in her opinion) because it rewards accomplishment and sets the appropriate incentive for the athletes.
Snarky article that cannot be taken seriously.
Some tips for students considering college athletics can be found here. I found it helpful. I agree, coaches come in all views and ideals, but it all really depends on the school. I’d be sure to talk to the current team (students) and see what they say, and analyze the turnover rate (how many people drop the sport) and why.
https://mytrendingstories.com/article/should-i-play-sports-in-college/