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It’s a personal choice. I really enjoyed football games and other sports when I was in college. One of my kids is a college athlete, but at a smaller school. It has football, but no marching band. My other daughter goes to a D1 school with the whole sha-bang, and she doesn’t go to a lot of the games (she can go to any sports event for free with her student ID), but it does change the atmosphere of the campus, and she enjoys things like the homecoming parade, pep rallies on campus, the picnics and stuff before games. There are also nice athletic facilities and all students can use them.
I go to school with D1 athletics but no football. People may complain but honestly, we’re better off without it. More time to focus on better sports, like soccer and basketball. Our teams do really well in most sports - our men’s basketball team has made March Madness both years I’ve been at the school, and our women’s soccer team actually won a game in the NCAA tournament my freshman year - and our student Rec center/gym is one of the best on the east coast.
Plus, a wealthy donor family only donates on the stipulation that we don’t get a football team anyways. That’s fine by me, because football teams run athletic departments into deficits unless you’re UAlabama.
If sports is something you care about, then yes. If it is not something you care about, then no.
@LBad96 Wow…wrong on so many things. Better sports—classic. …“because football teams run athletic departments into deficits unless you’re UAlabama.”
Might want to think again and educate yourself: https://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/31/sports/ncaafootball/what-made-college-ball-more-like-the-pros-73-billion-for-a-start.html
I’m not a sporty person but did enjoy going to some basketball games at my college. I doubt I would have missed sports if I went to a college that didn’t have it, but when going to a college that did, it was fun to be a part of it all.
@moscott that was an unnecessarily condescending reply.
It depends on how you are.
My son actually said to me, “Why would anybody want to go to a college without a football team?” He played football, and it was important to him.
For my daughter, on the other hand, a D1 football program was a check in the negative column on her college search spreadsheet. Her school is not that sports-oriented, and that’s fine with her. In fact, she likes the D3 sports ethos because that means she has lots of friends who are actually on the sports team, which makes it more interesting in her opinion. But she still doesn’t go to games or meets or matches or any other sports stuff because it’s not her thing.
@LBad96 Sorry, probably came off as harsh but that wasn’t my intention. I just meant many people have that misconception and with just a little research can learn what’s really going on.
I don’t like football (and other spectator sports) that much but I’d like to point out that not having a football team doesn’t mean a school doesn’t have good athletics. Look at Gonzaga for example. Their basketball team is fantastic and they have great school spirit… but ohh noo no football? they must be awful at sports.
One of the things I liked about New Mexico Tech was how uncomplicated everything was, partially since you didn’t have to compete for parking or other access against the sports venues. They had some club sports, but the focus really did seem more on student than athlete. My roommate and I would occasionally go to the public range and make holes in the air around the 500 meter target. And the hiking was fantastic.
What you’re missing at one place is likely replaced by something you can’t get at the other. Having experienced a little of both, I don’t think it’s a lesser experience, just different.
It really depends on what your priorities are and what matters to you. Dd goes to a university that doesn’t have a football team but has a great basketball team. She doesn’t care for football so she doesn’t feel like she is missing anything. She didn’t want to go to a big football school.
Couple of things:
- Almost every top academic school has football save Cal Tech which is VERY(Engineering) major focused anyway. Certainly 95% have football.
- So your D wouldn’t have considered Stanford, Duke, Berkeley,Vanderbilt etc…because they are big football schools?
- Never said I wouldn't consider them.
- There's a big difference between division 1 football and division 3 football
@snowfairy137 I was only pointing out point 1 to you. 2 was a question was directed at @raclut
Btw there’s just as big a difference in Div 1 basketball and D3 basketball as well.
In my opinion you’re not missing out
+1 to what happy said.
Both my undergrad and grad schools are Big 10 schools. I love it. (They’re also rivals and I am still a die-hard undergrad school fan).
If you don’t care about sports, then clearly you’re probably not missing out. I happen to love sports so I don’t think I’d be happy at a school without big athletics.
@moscott It is a personal preference. If that is your preference then that is your choice.
Anyway it doesn’t matter because she is already a senior in college. Some people focus on the academic programs rather than the sports. She doesn’t watch football and doesn’t really care for it.
She has plans for med school so other things like obtaining a full tuition scholarship for undergrad was more impressive to her so that she could graduate with zero debt. A school where she could take premed classes, obtain an engineering degree, take part in the honors program, have good research experiences, and be able to have clinical experiences with a hospital nearby was important to her. These were her requirements.
You can’t judge someone for not wanting to go to a football school because everyone has different things that they are looking for in a college. For example someone wants to go to a party school and then there are students that don’t care for the party and drinking culture. I was just trying to give you an example that what you look for in a school is going to be different than what other students are looking for.
So to answer your original question no I don’t think anyone is missing out if they don’t attend a big football school if that is not their priority. If you are a fan of sports then by all means apply to those schools.
For my D18, she would prefer a D1 program with football. She enjoys attending her high school’s football games on Fridays especially under the lights. And we live in relative close proximity to Stanford and get to attend games on Saturdays during the college football season. There are a lot of tailgate parties in the grove(s), for students and alumni, which we’ve attended a few over the years. Much fun. But it just depends on the kid and the house he/she grew up in.
@raclut “She didn’t want to go to a big football school.” No skin off my nose just seems rather an odd exclusion since almost every top school has football. Not judging, but all those things you cite her as looking for are available as well with schools that have football so…again she would take off schools like Stanford, Duke, Vandy, Northwestern etc…? simply because they have football?