Balance: Academics, Athletics, Money

Athletic Recruits
1

<p>How do you go about searching for just the right combo? </p>

<p>I've got a great kid (junior), good student, good athlete, who wants to participate in college athletics. We have not qualified for financial aid for our older kids, funds are dwindling.</p>

<p>Our state schools are great academically, good financially, too competitive athletically?</p>

<p>Smaller division III schools may be great academically, good fit athletic-wise, but very costly.</p>

<p>Help! What am I asking and what is the answer?</p>

2

<p>Incredibly difficult choice ahead of you. I went through this with my DS - and it is definitely an added complexity on the college choice.</p>

<p>So the question he struggled with was – what criteria to use in considering colleges? </p>

<p>In no particular order:</p>

<p>1) Geography </p>

<p>2) Academics </p>

<p>3) Campus setting – We visited probably a dozen schools informally or on the campus tours. It was interesting to see how that eliminated some schools at once.</p>

<p>4) Athletic program – “Fit” – An item that became a major factor is the reputation of the specific sports program. How well does your student like the coaches? What is the treatment of incoming Freshman like – e.g. what percentage transfer/drop from the program vs stay? Who gets the playing time – homegrown vs transfers? What are the coaches like? </p>

<p>5) True cost – net of academic financial aid etc. </p>

<p>6) Quality of the athletic program - This sort itself out in the recruiting process – if he is meant to play for one of those top programs, the coaches will let him know. </p>

<p>At the end of the process, it will all come down to who wants him. I got beaten up by the other parents in my area for saying that my son has sports as a major factor in where he goes to college – that is academics is not the only variable – in fact it is a minor variable. It annoys them that the #1 student in his class might end up at a JC if that is where his sports career takes him. “He should be applying to the Ivy league, Stanford, Berkeley, etc” is a common refrain. Well, if he can’t play there, it wouldn’t be the right fit.</p>

<p>I have the belief that his shot only comes around once. I want him to be able to ride his dream as far as his ability and desire can take him. Is he good enough to play on TV? I don’t know - nor do I really care. </p>

<p>Education on the other hand is a life long experience - I went back to school for an MBA when I was 28. No one cares what my undergrad degree was in anymore - they only care about what I can do - and have proven professionally. Going back to school is always an option - I may do it again someday (thinking about law school actually).</p>

<p>I have a guy that works for me now who got two degrees in his first pass at college - a degree in General Studies and then a year later a degree in Electrical Engineering. He later went back to get an MBA. </p>

<p>While he was getting the General Studies degree he played 4 years of college baseball - 2 at a JC playing for his dad, one at a D1 and then finished at a D2 that went to the college world series for D2. He was able to take the general studies degree and then go add one more year of school - presto a new engineering grad.</p>

<p>Not a bad role model as far as I am concerned.</p>

<p>I am afraid I have rambled on for a long time – sorry for the length – but it is a subject that has been in the back of my mind for some time so this was the catalyst for a bit of a brain dump. </p>

<p>Hope it was at least entertaining if not helpful.</p>

3

<p>This is what I did with my daughter:</p>

<p>Come up with a list of colleges that you think are a fit academically, geographically, or are appealing to you and your son for whatever the reason. Talk or have your kid talk to current coach about what schools he think might be a match athletically. I found that looking at the rosters on the internet gave you some indication of the accomplishments of their current players and team and that gives you a hint about whether your kid might play there. When you have a group of 6-12 schools that seem to be possibilities, have you son email the coaches there to let them know of his interest in the school, where he plays now, invite them to come see him play, etc. Some will answer, some will not, don’t get discouraged, add more schools if you don’t get enough responses. </p>

<p>I guess it varies with different sports, but that is what we did for my daughter who will be signing a letter of intent next month at a school that is D-1, but not a sports powerhouse by any means, and is a very good academic fit. She is getting a partial scholarship (common in some sports) that will cover approximately 25% of her costs (1/2 of the tuition)</p>

<p>Be careful about focusing only on the athletic match when choosing. We had two other schools at the top of her list where the coach was fired or resigned during the time we were deciding. Good luck and keep coming back with questions</p>

4

<p>Thank you scualum and strykermom for your thoughts. I welcome other experienced parents or inexperienced parents struggling with the same questions to join in.</p>

<p>I worry it is too early without any test scores yet or junior performance levels to compare to rosters. I worry that it is too late because days for visits are disappearing.</p>

<p>I worry about his age (he is young) and the whole redshirting phenomenon.</p>

<p>I worry about money.</p>

<p>I worry about Division I, II (there is a nice one nearby) and III.</p>

<p>I am slowly realizing that there are many paths, thank you for the points on that scualum.</p>

<p>Isn’t there an easy answer? Could someone post it? Please?</p>

5

<p>I went through this with my son, too. He wanted a school where he could continue to compete in his sport. He and I both wanted a school that would provide an outstanding academic experience. I wanted a school we could afford, so that led us to those schools with the most generous FA policies. The balance for every family is different based on their income, the student’s academic stats, and the level of competition that’s right. It’s the same equation, but the varibles change. The answer will change accordingly. I found the calculus of it all kind of interesting, but it was a long process.</p>

<p>You might start first just looking at teams that appeal and seem like a good fit. I used to kid my son that he was looking for the Goldilocks Team – not too strong, not too weak. Then we sorted through the keepers and the shredders by looking at FA policies and stats of accepted students. We did not filter particularly for type of school (big/small) or location until we were much farther into the process, but that’s because my son wasn’t dead-set on those factors either way.</p>

<p>The good news is that he found a team and a school where he is happy. Good luck with your search. It’s a little complex and subtle to balance all those things, and sometimes students will give up a little in one area to get something better in another. That’s okay, too. We all make trade-offs, and it’s a time for the student to look within and really try to see what their priorities are.</p>

6

<p>One thing - don’t get too hung up on Division 1 vs 2 vs 3 - the quality of play varies widely within each division and a D3 school can and will beat a D1 school in many sports (probably not football or basketball but all others)</p>

7

<p>We started by looking at location and size of schools. D1 knew she wanted a small, private LAC so that pushed her to DIII from the get go. She emailed coaches, they came to watch and she then narrowed it down to distance from home, who had her major, competitive level of team and coach. Academics were pretty much the same at her top four school choices. In the end she picked the school with the coach she liked best. She is currently a junior and will probably not play next year due to injury but she is ready to move on and has loved every minute of it.</p>

<p>D2 will sign her NLI in a few weeks. She THOUGHT she wanted a small, private LAC, close to home, strong academics and good team. Coaches started contacting her before she got her act together. After visiting 6 or 7 she wasn’t finding what she was looking for but was willing to go just to stop the process. Finally a coach from a larger OOS school (but still smallish for DI) convinced her to come for an unofficial visit. She connected immediately with the school and coach. I don’t think it is the best academic fit but she is thrilled. We’ll see!</p>

8

<p>Here are the steps that I would follow:</p>

<ol>
<li><p>Ask S to consider SERIOUSLY whether he wants to compete intercollegiately at any level. S1 is a basketball player at an academically rigorous school where sports are also taken seriously. His commitment is at least two hours a day, six days a week, in season, out of season, and during vacations. Wouldn’t have it any other way. S2 and D could compete intercollegiately at DIII, but want no part of it. D in particular is interested in club sports. I have no idea of knowing, but my that might be a possibility for your S as well.</p></li>
<li><p>Find someone who knows what they are doing AND that you know will be brutally frank to assess S’s ability and prospects.</p></li>
<li><p>Assuming that S is in fact a legitimate college prospect, the next question is money. What are you willing to pay, and under what circumstances?</p></li>
<li><p>Get S all the exposure that you can. If it is a DIII situation, have him call the coaches at the schools that he is interested in and let them know where he will be playing. Send lots of game tapes, NOT highlight tapes. (times if swimming, track, etc.)</p></li>
<li><p>If S is a basketball player, feel free to PM me. I can regale with stories of all the ways that I screwed up S1’s recruiting, and maybe help you to avoid making some of the same mistakes.</p></li>
</ol>

9

<p>first off…which sport?</p>

<p>If its football, I too can regale w/ my share of recruiting errors and lapses.</p>

<p>l</p>

10

<p>Thank you for sharing your experiences in this daunting process of athletic recruiting. Can you please share generally the mistakes to avoid as well as the positive steps to take for optimal results in the recruiting process - perhaps some steps apply to various sports - football, baseball, basketball? Thanks.</p>

11

<p>please share any general advice you could give…much appreciated…</p>

12

<p>Maybe you could each start a separate thread for basketball recruiting tips/errors and one for football recruiting tips/errors? I’m sure many would love to learn from your experiences as they begin the process themselves. Athletic recruiting is a unique journey and it is so helpful to learn from others’ experiences.</p>

13

<p>It is a little tougher to address the OP’s questions without knowing the sport. Assuming mainstream, there are plenty of smaller D I schools out there that might offer scholarship opportunities. Note that I said MIGHT. </p>

<p>If you are going down that road, you need to actively pursue it now while also planning a back up in case it doesn’t come together. You have to make the contacts, market your son’s skills to these coaches and generally get him on the radar. First you have to identify schools that seem reasonable or close to reasonable options. What have you done to date? Has there been any athletic interest shown from any schools?</p>

14

<p>Don’t forget about NAIA</p>

<p>[naia.org</a> - The Official Site of The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics](<a href=“http://naia.cstv.com/]naia.org”>http://naia.cstv.com/)</p>

<p>I know some smart, strong athletes getting great combinations of merit and athletic money at some of these schools.</p>

15

<p>My son’s experience was much like that for NorthMinnesota’s first daughter…wanted a small LAC where academics would be the focus, but still wanted to play baseball in college. As a possible physics/astonomy double major, he knew DIII would allow a better balance in thet regard…35 - 40 games vs. 55 - 60 in DI, and less practice time and regimentation. If your son is really looking for overall balance, it may be tough to find in a big DI school. I would definitely consider other posters’ advice to look at smaller DI, D2, D3, etc, depending on academic and geographic fit or whatever your parameters are.</p>

<p>As other posters have said, knowing the sport of interest for your son would help in giving advice, as well as what level he would really see himself playing at and qualified for. There is a huge difference, for example, in DI recruiting vs. DIII recruiting.</p>

<p>Cost: don’t rule out small LAC’s based on the assumption they will cost a lot more than state schools. My son could have received significant merit money at two of the LAC’s he applied to. At one of them, his sister is already getting a $17,500 per year merit award and he has stronger numbers than her, and at another school he would have been a strong candidate for an award ranging from $10,000 to $17,000 per year. My daughter qualifed for her award without being what I would consider a top student (3.4 GPA, 1350 math and verbal).</p>

16

<p>What do kids do who go to a school to play their sport and then decide it’s all just too much and drop off of the team? Do they stop playing their sport altogether? Do they play at the Club level?</p>

<p>My son wants to play DII or DIII lacrosse, and only a few schools (that match our criteria) offer both Varsity and Club. I think that if he decides he can’t handle the time commitment of both studies and athletics, that he would be devastated to not play lacrosse anymore. </p>

<p>What’s been your experience/observation?</p>

17

<p>I would think that would depend a lot on the individual athlete and the school they attend in terms of its club team. My son will be attending a D3 where they don’t have club baseball as a backup, but I did look into club baseball at some other schools, as my son has a teammate who is interested in club ball. I found that the teams I looked at did not have a very extensive schedule. The baseball club teams in the New England club baseball league only play 12 games, all in the fall. If they have more than one player per position, which I would think they would have to, that means that each individual player is not getting a lot of playing time. You might want to look into what the schedules are like for the lacrosse club teams at the schools your son is looking at. Also, your son might want to do some research on the quality of play at the club level at smaller schools. For bigger D1 schools, there are some very strong players on many of the club teams that are not good enough or don’t have the interest in playing on top intercollegiate varsity teams. For smaller schools such as D3, I would wonder what the quality of play would be on a club team where a school also offers that sport as a varsity sport. It would obviously be a different situation if there was no varsity sport offered.</p>

18

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<p>Good point, casey.</p>

19

<p>We did a visit to St. Olaf College last year and I couldn’t believe how many lacrosse players we saw practicing! I was surprised to learn that they just have a club team. I bet if you do some research you will find some nice club teams at DIII schools.</p>