<p>mom60--I know of so many stories like that. The kids are so young when they are being recruited, and sometimes it is just a question that some peaked at just the right time for recruiting and then fall off after that. Someone on another message board made the comment that it is so important to try to match both academics and athletics. And also not to go to a college where your stats are in the lower range of the student body, because that poses another set of (obvious) problems/challenges.</p>
<p>I can give another story though: I know a young woman who is now a sophomore at a top D1 (people who know me can guess which one :) ). She was a national age group champion in her sport and was recruited by both this school and another, slightly higher ranked in her sport, with a coach that she had always wanted to compete for. She ended up making a decision to go to the school she liked the best, even though it meant not going with the preferred coach and a higher-ranked team, because she knew about the risks of injury and needing to be happy if that happened. She is still competing in her sport and doing well, but she told me that she has not regretted her decision.</p>
<p>Mom60, when my son was looking at schools, I did get a bit concerned at the emphasis he was putting on the sports program. When I mentioned it to him, his feeling was that he really did not have much preference when it came to which school but he did have some ideas on what kind of team/coach/ interactions that would make it enjoyable for him to spend 20+ hours doing a sport. Since he really did not know what his major was going to be, had no location or size preferences for a college other than not enormous and not tiny, he really had a point. As it turned out, he did tend to hang around his team members as the sport was very time consuming and many of his other ECs were built around the sport as well. When he went on recruiting trips he did get a view of the school as these athletes saw it. </p>
<p>When I was reading <a href="http://www.johntreed.com%5B/url%5D">www.johntreed.com</a> (a great site!), he was mentioning how his son who played football dropped computer engineering as a major in part because of his sports commitment. Well, it is very telling if most of the team is comprised of business major or if there is a nice mix of major. Unless your kid is an academic go getter it is hard to go against the flow, and if he is the only engineering major on the team, that might be a tough row to hoe. A comparable school where the team has several seniors majoring in the field of intended study and making it is far more supportive. He did pick a school where the coach is very well connected with the school administration and professors (all of his kids graduated from this college), and familiar with the academic programs and requirements. What a difference that can make!</p>
<p>Jamimom, yes that is a very important point. In many cases, majors conflict with practices--afternoon practices/afternoon labs, e.g., plus just more demanding majors can be tough to reconcile with demanding sports schedules. In this highly competitive job market, it is sometimes scary to think that the kids may make academic sacrifices in favor of their sport, and then find that the majors they chose do not lend themselves easily to jobs after college. (or that their grades don't qualify them for grad schools)</p>
<p>Many schools, (div 1) have the classes arranged so that the team does not miss practice. The schedules are done with practice in mind. That is why it is sometimes hard to have a very demanding major with out conflicts. In these cases the students need to be very motivated to keep up with work and the sport.</p>
<p>jamimom....</p>
<p>I totally agree with you. When we looked at schools my S did not care, big or small. He has not reall preference of a major.. he is thinking business. All he definitely knows is that he wants to play his sport and be on the team. So at this point the most important aspects of the search would be the teammates and the coach, as well as looking into the teams schedule.
In reality this is no different from other children, getting a good feel for the campus. This is just another aspect of campus life which is very important to athletes. If they find a good fit at the school, but are unhappy with the coach or teammates they are not going to be happy overall.</p>
<p>Does the likely letter come from the admissions office or the coach?
We just got my child’s ACT scores (without writing yet) from June 2009 test, and will get SAT scores from June test in two days (first test of each one). At that point will look at oth scores, compare, and decide whether to study more/retest ACT OR SAT, or neither (but that would really be taking a risk), so as to have time to study for and take the SAT Subject tests in the fall before applying ED.<br>
It is really a bummer that the ACT and SAT are not offered in the summer. Serious athletes who are doing serious high school work do not have time to take these tests during the school year! The first 2 weeks of June were no fun around our house–and the pressure will be awful in the fall, and athletic training will be full-on.</p>
<p>Student-athletes need to find a fit at their school.
This involves the level of academics (even if they are admitted with a coach’s tip, if they are in over their head, it may not be a happy four years).
Level of athletics (check out the rosters carefully - where and when do you fit in…if the roster is not senior/junior heavy, you may not see playing time for years no matter how good or highly recruited you are - will you be happy with this situation)?
Campus - are you comfortable there…programs do they have what you think you may be interested in studying.
Last, and very important, especially at D1 D11 levels, watch the coach interact with players, go to a game, watch a practice - will you be content, will you mesh with what will be a part time JOB for you on campus? 20-25 hours/week with the coaching staff and teammates.
Financial - will you be able to afford this school without the athletic scholarship you may be offered? This is important, as injury can occur, letters of intent are only for ONE YEAR even if the coach says they are for four…they are renewable each year, but are only a ONE YEAR contract, and you may choose NOT to play your sport.
Would you consider going to this school if you were NOT playing your sport> Exploring this question can be very revealing.
7.Be observant, listen to your instincts, talk to other students, parents if you can, instead of being swept off your feet with the presitge of a university, the perceived glamor of a Division 1 sport, the aura created by the recruiting process.
8.Know yourself, know your goals, listen to the voice that lets you know you will be happy and comfortable and productive for four years as a STUDENT-athlete at the school you are considering.</p>
<p>I understand the OP’s concerns, but you go to college for an education. It is my opinion that you will always do better in the long run if you push yourself academically as well as athletically.</p>
<p>This said, if we’re talking DI, I would be asking what kind of student support the athletic dept offers its athletes. Some have tutors or special study times that work with their schedules. Others have whole parts of buildings devoted to supporting their student’s academically. Of course, some schools have gotten into huge trouble by having tutors essentially do the work for the kid. I would also ask about the culture. Do professors care if kids even come to class? Do they support kids missing because of out of town games and how much to they allow in terms of make up.</p>
<p>DI is very different from DIII in that if that school is giving you one dime to play a sport, the school essentially owns you and your time, regardless of academics. I know a few hockey players going DI and while some played a year of juniors (in effect leaving their current school to graduate from one in the middle of Iowa or SD because they played 150 hockey games over the winter), another kid graduated but it playing in the juniors this next year while taking a few classes so when he comes into the school (technically his sophomore year), he wont be too far behind academically.</p>
<p>Playing time: Depending on the sport, expecting a true freshman to have a lot of playing time is a pretty big wish. They simply are not as big as upper classmen nor do they have the field sense that some of the older kids will have. This is not a rule, but I know lots of kids who were superstars on their HS teams but it was not until junior year that they became similar on their DI teams. One exception here, again in my experience, would be girls hockey. Seems to be a slightly different animal than boys. But anytime you have physical match ups, there are more upper classmen than not. Running may be a solid exception.</p>
<p>I was a Div. 1 scholarship athlete and a serious athlete and student. My experience maybe was a bit different - the school was but one of two in the USNWR top 10 that give athletic scholarships - so there was perhaps more emphasis on academics. I had no choice - from a poor single mother home - it was either an athletic scholarship or the local junior college working my way through school. </p>
<p>Div. 1 scholarship students are essentially professional athletes. No matter what lip service is paid to academics, athletic performance - especially since scholarships are one year renewable vehicles - is always paramount. Always. I am not sure the public understands how competitive Div 1 athletics happen to be. I was in the top 3 in the nation in high school - that kind of performance barely squeaked into all-conference level, and was considerably short of all-american status. The amount of training and preparation needed to improve is really considerable. I look back at some of the training and can’t believe I did it - extreme, really. </p>
<p>And integrating into the social life of the university is often frowned upon, especially in season. The conditioning and intensity required is significant (and so is the fatigue), and most programs will do their best to keep their athletes from touching too many social distractions. Not a bad thing if the athlete is really into athletics first and foremost - but I chafed at the culture and wanted to be far more involved in the intellectual life of the university. (Don’t get me wrong - I like athletics and really liked being an intense competitor, but there were drawbacks). </p>
<p>Athletic scholarships work best for those that want coaching or athletically inclined careers. They are not great fits for those that want to pursue very serious academic courses of study, or pursue entry into our most competitive professional schools. Of course, it can be done (both my brother and I did so), but there are negatives, including not having a normal social life and restricting academic schedules and learning to survive. I bolted out of college probably more psychologically prepared than most for graduate school (not academically, but academic competition was a walk in the park compared to top level Div. 1 competition and the pressure to perform was so much less that it was a breath of fresh air), but had a narrow world view and really didn’t grow up and out of my jock mentality for quite a long time. My spouse, not an athlete, knew me from my athletic days and comments on this often. </p>
<p>I have no complaints, but the ideal situation for me would have been a highly regarded Div. III school. I would have been competitive nationally right out of high school and would have and been in control of both my athletic training (there would still be lots of hard work, but not the insanity as in barely can crawl out of bed workouts in Div. 1) and academics. This of course was not in the cards due to family circumstances but it would have been the right fit - and even my limited 18 year old brain knew it at the time.</p>
<p>Something that’s pretty elementary, but may be confusing to a new reader of this old thread (like 2924SW): “Likely” letters are not a common feature of D-I recruiting. They are essentially limited, I believe, to the Ivy League. </p>
<p>Non-Ivy D-I schools award scholarships, and enter into “national letters of intent” with favored recruits, sometimes as early as the spring of their junior years in high school. (The earliest point at which schools and recruits can sign these letters is dictated by NCAA rules on a sport-by-sport basis.) These letters are commitments (which may contain conditions) for admission and scholarship support.</p>
<p>The Ivies don’t award athletic scholarships and don’t do national letters of intent. Coaches don’t have the ability to promise admission. Although their need-based aid can be almost as good as an athletic scholarship (much better if the student winds up not playing), this would tend to put them at a terrible disadvantage trying to recruit athletes against other D-I schools. What the Ivies do to lessen this disadvantage is to have their admissions offices issue “likely letters” to top recruits – essentially saying that we have reviewed your information and if you submit an application consistent with it you will be admitted. That gives a recruit who might prefer Dartmouth over USC the comfort not to sign a NLI with USC and to wait for Dartmouth’s early or regular admissions dates.</p>
<p>Such good advice on this thread from people who really know what they’re talking about. I’d like to print this and post it around my kids’ school! (but I won’t). I read on another CC thread which was along the same lines as this one to beware of “Sports factories with schools attached”. Love the phrase.</p>