I created a separate thread as this is kind of sports specific.
My son is a grade 12 hockey player playing at a prep school. He is a 3.9+ GPA and is awaiting his SAT results (he will likely score close to 1400).
He is not a superstar but, easily D3 caliber, maybe D1 depending.
Its possible he may play Junior (Tier2) hockey next year to get more visibility for colleges. However, he possibly could make a D3 team next fall. Since it is time for applications soon we are trying to line up our ducks. Would an athlete in this situation reach out to coaches at the colleges, now, and simultaneously apply to 2023-24? If the coaches feel he would be better playing a year in junior, I assume he could just defer admission etc… Also, getting a scholarship/financial aid is a big factor for him. And how many colleges should he reach out to? What is a reasonable number?
Thanks in advance. Like many this is all new to us.
Has your S spoken with any college coaches? If not, he should be reaching out to coaches ASAP, as only they can answer some of your questions.
Does this prep school team typically send hockey players directly to college hockey? Many D3 players played 3 years of juniors, so it’s critical to know what kind of HS hockey program your S is in.
What is your college budget? Will you qualify for need-based financial aid? What is your FAFSA EFC (assuming you have completed FAFSA already)?
D3 schools do not offer any athletic scholarships. The vast majority of D1/D2 hockey scholarships are partial scholarships, for example 1/4 or 1/2 tuition.
My son started to reach out to coaches and you confirmed what we thought, that this is a crucial first step. He has had a couple express interest.
The school he goes to typically sends 1 maybe 2 a year to college hockey (those playing a post-grad year). My son is 18 (he did two years in grade 11 for hockey in Canada) so while a grade 12 this year, he is really a post-grad age (2004). He has already gotten interest from junior teams (a whole different kettle of fish).
We recognize that athletic scholarships only exist only for D1, so we would be looking for financial aid. Fortunately, he is competitive academically to get into the more generous financial aid D3 schools. our FAFSA EFC is roughly in the $10k-$20K range.
The challenge is getting “impartial” advice since his current coach will have biases to certain schools and junior teams depending on their network.
I always have the “what if” you don’t make the junior team scenario in mind and you are not in school.
It’s on the later side to be looking for a fully supported coach slot at the more selective D3 schools, I expect some coaches have filled up their Class of 2023. Your S would have to be very good to compete with student-athletes heading to college after playing 3 years of juniors…many D3 hockey first years are 21 years old.
I agree that getting info from your coach isn’t necessarily the best. I would rely on the feedback he is getting from current college coaches…do they think he’s ready to play college? Do they recommend 1-3 years of juniors (and if so, can they help with leads/introductions)? Where are they in their recruiting process for Class of 2023, Etc.
All your S can do is continue reaching out to coaches…and by that I mean a direct email, with a good subject line (e.g., Class of 2023/HS, level, and league name, 6’2" starting center, X ppg avg, etc), academic/sport stats, and link to film. He can even call into the office after sending the intro email. I would not complete recruiting questionnaires unless specifically asked to do so by coaches.
I would definitely have a back up plan, whether that is applying to schools and trying to walk on, dropping hockey altogether, going to juniors, etc.
What is the relative importance of his academic education versus opportunities for hockey?
What is your home state?
Somewhere like UVM or UNH have good hockey programs and good academics, and would be safeties or near safeties just from the academic admissions point of view with a 3.9. U.Mass (whether Lowell or Amherst) or U.Maine might also be possibilities.
Whether he could make the varsity hockey team at any of these schools is hard to say, but there is as @Mwfan1921 mentioned the possibility of getting in on academics, and then trying to make the hockey team as a walk on.
With your son having spent two years in Canada, does he have Canadian citizenship or permanent residence? If so then you could save a ton of money on the cost of education. Making a varsity team would most likely be tougher in Canada however. Perhaps one of the smaller schools would have teams that are easier to get on to.
Hockey is a tough way to make a living, particularly if you are not a superstar.
Thanks for the info. The key takeaway is that reaching out to college coaches is the best way to gauge what the next steps should be. Academics are the priority and he has the fallback of a university in Canada. Canadian varsity hockey tends to gravitate to much older boys than US school. My son has no plans to make a career out of hockey.
The advantage my son has are his grades. A lot of his peer group have significantly lower GPAs and we have heard that due to covid there is a significant lack of 2004s around. The issue in D3 is the older kids getting one extra year of eligibility has had a negative impact down the line.
That is likely more of an issue in D1/2 (which can trickle down to d3 to some degree). But, many d3 schools don’t offer master’s/phd degrees so unless the student took time off during covid, they can’t stay at those d3s for an extra season or two.
The bigger headwinds likely facing your S is that he’s starting recruiting late, and it’s relatively more difficult for 18 year olds to compete with 21 year olds for incoming first year hockey slots at US schools.
He could look at playing club hockey, but that might not be possible financially at some schools. For example, the IU club hockey team plays at the D2 level, but IU doesn’t offer good financial aid (assuming he’s OOS) and most club hockey requires team members to pay costs out of pocket. What is your state of residence?
My son is willing to play junior and he competed this past summer at the Chowder Cup against juniors. We are just trying to position his current grade 12 year properly. So he’ll open the fishing net to coaches now.
BTW. We attend a few townhalls with D3 and Junior coaches and they all observed a significant exodus of players because of covid. For example, many took jobs versus online school and decided not to return to school or play junior.
As a general comment, your son may be following a well-worn path toward certain U.S. colleges. A NESCAC hockey roster, for example, may be nearly half Canadian, with perhaps five provinces represented.
The hockey network of parents, programs, etc. should give you a good idea as far as where he would fit in the Jr. level and what other similar players experience was. That may give you a sense if that is something that both your son, and your family want to pursue vs. looking more at colleges. It depends on your son’s level of play and your goals.
I have a known a few good, but not D1 caliber players that played a couple of years of Jrs, or a PG + Jrs, and end up at the local D3 state college. That is not a bad thing though I am not sure it was worth the 2-3 years of time and money to end up back at the small local state college that they could have easily gotten into.
I would also look at the type of higher academic school that have good hockey and see if he is a fit both academically and hockey skill wise for those schools coming right out of high school and the program he is playing for. If these types of schools are of interest and are a fit vs. Jr., these are the type that typically give good financial aid packages, and/or merit, & scholarship. In the NE USA some that come to mind are NESCACs, slightly lower D1 such as RIT, Holy Cross, etc. plus the Ivy’s. I would look at their rosters, check their ages, where these kids came from, and it does not hurt to contact the coaches.
My son played in The Chowder Cup so it brings back some memories. Good luck!
We know quite a few kids who have gone the college route from our area (Montreal). The vast majority don’t have elite talent. We’ve watched many D1 games and D3 games and player on the 3rd/4th line in D1 is almost interchangable with a strong D3 player.
That is why we will/are following the advice and reaching out to coaches ASAP. My son has the grades that open up a lot of doors. We also know of kids who “gambled” and played junior,hoping to be found. Many didn’t have the grades and had very few options by the time they were entering their mid 20’s (basically paying full tuition at state college).
Ironically, on the initial reachout (back in the summer) Holy Cross and RIT were the two D1s that expressed interest etc…
My son’s objective really is to play good competitive hockey while in college. Our options at the junior level in Montreal are surprisingly limited. The Junior level after Quebec Major Junior, is a bit of a goon league.
Even some of the schools that only offer club hockey have very competitive teams. SUNY-Buffalo has 2 club teams and competitive try outs.
What does your son want to study? Maybe focus on the academics and then see if there is a team. U of Wisconsin Stevens Point won the NCAA Div 3 championship a few years ago. It is a smaller (9000 students) school, but very good in theater, natural resources, education.
I’d have to agree that if he’s looking for a top program as a hs senior, he’s either going to have to go to a PG program or play juniors for a year or two. Look at the rosters of some of the schools he’s interested in and see where the team members are coming from. College hockey players tend to be 1 to 2 years older than the typical freshman student because they didn’t take a direct path from hs to college.
I had thought that you would probably have a good handle on things from a hockey talent perspective, which you do.
The grades should open up some doors with coaches at some of the better academic colleges. I am not sure if for financial aid/scholarship it differs being from Canada, or how that impacts things financially, though the higher academics, which have good hockey, can typically offer a fair amount of aid.
By the way, when my son played in the Chowder Cup a few years ago I believe the team that won it all was from Montreal. Very good talent! I remember talking to a few of the parents.
Canadian university costs are significantly lower than US schools. However, the Cdn U league tends to be dominated by kids who just played in the top Canadian junior league (since those kids are ineligible for NCAA, they dominate the ranks of Cdn U). So the kids in Canadian U tend to be older.
Also, lots of kids get swayed by “winning” programs but, fail to realize those programs are quick to replace you or drop your playing time, if they find someone better. The kids migrating from Canada to the US system, tend to be more focused on the right blend of academics/sports.
A goal of the US coaches is to get better players than they currently have too. Even for recruits who had a slot/full support thru the admissions process, playing time isn’t guaranteed. Some aren’t even guaranteed roster spots their first year.
@Canuckdad could comment as I do not have any 1st hand experience with the Cdn U League, though if the winning teams or programs are like some of the Jr. programs, which will drop you quickly if they find someone better, it would make sense that the kids going to the USA College are a bit more focused.
You certainly need to earn your spot and playing time on the team though I don’t think the recruited NESCAC, Ivy-ECAC D1 (scholarship) hockey players are getting dropped like you see in some of the Canadian programs. In fact some of these programs will have a good run in the NCAA Frozen Four and it is credited to the fact that their type of school/program keeps players for 4-years.
Its happening now at Canadian prep level. Kids get recruited. Than at last minute, a kid is recruited (more and more now from Europe) and everyone get knock down on the depth chart.
It happened to my nephew in the US college rank. Due to covid and turnover, coach decided to rebuild and brought in 19-20 years old and pushed aside players who’d been in the program 3years.
This is all why at end of day, the academic quality of the school is important and far too underrrated.
THe most competitive D3 hockey teams are the weakest academically and it is just that they have a wider net because their academic standards start at a lower bar.