Applying to Ivy after athletic commitment

I think you both need to be realistic at this standpoint in “the process” because it is June 1 for not just 22s but also the 23s not to mention the transfer portal.

  1. Does she want to play D1 lax at a Big South school that makes her an offer, or does she want to go to someplace that fits her academic profile and fits that 40-year vision and not play D1?

It sounds to me like it’s the latter. She wouldn’t be the 1st to pass up a D1 offer for a better academic fit and a better lax experience. It’s ok to pass on that interest/offer from a MAC, an RMU, Kenesaw, etc., if it’s not a good academic fit. As you know, there is no money in lax. Lax ROI is usually negative unless you are one of the top players in the country.

If you look at the top 10 or so D3 programs, pre-Covid, most of those rosters are composed of players who could be playing D1 if they wanted to. They just chose a different path. They get to play instead of being one of those cheerleaders on the sidelines during games. They get to go abroad in their jr year. They get to major in what they want to major in. And they still get to compete for a NCAA championship. As you probably know, Tufts beat Darmouth handily this year.

I know the Big South fairly well and the lax programs. High Point has awesome dorms and nothing beats a Fighting Camel but the Big South isn’t close to the Patriot Leauge let alone the Ivy in athletics or academics.

  1. As stated by many, unless you have an admission hook (lax can definitely be a hook), it is almost impossible to get into an Ivy, other high academic school or NESCAC for that matter as your everyday high achieving high school student.

  2. You will not get that offer if you tell a coach you are still shopping or are thinking about applying to an Ivy unless you are the #1 or #2 prospect for that program

  3. Don’t waste your time at tournaments this summer. Spend the money and time going to every 1 day prospect camp/clinic where there are spots and mutual interest. Go multiple times if there is real interest on both sides.

  4. Even the D3 window is closing very soon at the top schools/programs. NESCACs have already started the pre-read process for 22s to make July 1 offers.

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I don’t agree with this. She may not have her choice of any school in the country,but the OP seems to have found money at this Big South school. I know a guy who has 100% scholarship at a Big South, others with 1/2 at similar schools.

But I do agree that the student has to be happy with the academics, with the coach and team, with the fit of the school to be happy.

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You can stack scholarships/aid but the $$$s aren’t coming from lax.

https://swimswam.com/ncaa-d1-council-votes-to-allow-stacking-of-merit-need-aid-and-athletic-aid/

More likely than not the student-athlete would get the merit $$$s on their own given scores and GPA and would not have to play the sport.

Lax has 12 womens/12.6 mens equivalency scholarships available if the program is fully funded. And that’s a big IF. Davidson, for example, has 1 funded lax scholarship.

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Ivies should meet 100% of demonstrated need, so you’re much more likely to get aid there than many comparable schools.

I think having a kid with strong academic qualifications and strong athletic qualifications presents unique challenges.

My child is not D1 level, but if sports were not a consideration, all the schools on my kid’s favorites list would be D1. A few are highly selective.

So here’s how we’re approaching it.

My kid has identified a short list of D3 LACs that hit the mark academically and has communicated with coaches and arranged to attend athlete identification workouts, etc. After doing those, we can assess the level of mutual interest and that will probably determine whether college sports are part of the picture going forward or not.

The final application list will probably consist of one Top 10 dream school (which might be a dream financially, too), five more D1 top 50 schools, four more safety D1 schools and MAYBE two D3 LACs as an athletic recruit. If we hit the jackpot, we have the wonderful problem of choosing between a Top 10, a D1 with good merit money, and a D3 athletic spot. Worst case scenario is a state flagship without sport and that would be absolutely fine, too.

But we are not shotgunning a high number of the most academically selective schools OR places where college sports is an option. That might increase the odds of getting into one school in either category, but it won’t make the selective schools more affordable or the schools with athletic spots more attractive academically. So we are refining the list to just the top choices in different categories and letting the chips fall where they may.

Good luck with your daughter!

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RPI is great for mech engineering. In the kids I’ve seen, they gave excellent merit aid, essentially matched cost of in-state U, and girls I knew played lacrosse for them, were happy. BUT, they said, regarding dating at RPI, “The odds are good… but the goods are odd.”

So she probably should apply there. BTW, if their offer matches her in-state cost, but then she gets merit award from in-state, they’ll match that too, if you ask nicely.

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Thank you all for the replies.

My daughter ended up turning down (gracefully) the offer in the Big South, not due to lacrosse program (loved coach) but rather due to school not being best academic fit.

Good news is she had some exposure at recent tournaments & ID clinics, and has received interest from several D1 schools, but even better, she received a couple offers from programs that have a good lacrosse programs and very good academic fit that we are going through now.

I still think D3 would be a better fit from an overall perspective, but we are continuing the process!

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In my daughter’s case (and those of her teammates), the money was lax (athletic) money, not just extra merit money. Right there on the NLI.

At her school the merit money was on a chart so for her grades/scores, she got $20000 and the school wouldn’t/couldn’t just give more merit money instead of lax money (the NCAA would be all over that, asking why Student B with a 3.8 and 30 ACT score got $15k but the Student Athlete with the same stats got $25k in merit; that would not fly). For lax, she got $15k as stated on her NLI

D2 only has 9.9 scholarships for women, and her program wasn’t fully funded but the coach figured it out. Had D wanted to go to a big D1 program where she would have been riding the bench, it’s likely she wouldn’t have gotten anything. We were trying to balance academics and merit aid, the fit on the team with athletic aid, and basic affordability (she had some state merit aid too). It worked out.

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It ended up working out for my daughter. She was offered a couple other D1/D3 slots after my initial post, but none were a perfect fit for various reasons. Toward the end of tourney season this summer, she was offered a D1 roster spot at a (rising) top 40 team with top 30 engineering school that she accepted.

They are also able to stack athletic and merit aid. Covers a significant percentage of total cost of attendance. Only issue (which isn’t that much of an issue) is the location is not in Northeast which was preferred. Campus tour fixed that concern. And great news is we met the coaches and other commits over a long weekend and loved the culture & chemistry.

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Congratulations and good luck to your D!

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Agree. More specifically, make sure she talks to some students in engineering department at the Ivy she is likely to apply to. The allure of “Ivy League” is somewhat an exaggeration, and at many Ivy’s the engineering departments are basically their red-headed step children. They tend to be “research-publish-or-die” places, and something practical like engineering gets short shrift in the faculty circles, etc. Not to say they are bad placed to study engineering, but among potential employers looking for engineers, they would probably go to Harvey Mudd looking for a qualified grad before they would go to Harvard. There is just going to be a bigger pool to fish in. Not to say they won’t take a Harvard grad with solid engineering credentials, but your student would not get the same exposure at on-campus recruiting events.

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