<p>Most of the coaches that are recruiting DD want to finish up their signing at the Nov. signing date. I'm ok with that because I just want to be done with all of this :D. She is sending applications this week and all of her schools are rolling admissions or EA for athletes so she will have her acceptances in hand probably by the end of Sept. So, what was the thought process behind making that final decision. I know the bottom dollar will factor into the picture for sure but what other things did you consider. She is expecting 10 solid offers (and acceptances) so she will really have some tough choices to make. She has a lot of great options and is the kind of kid that will bloom where planted. Our first question to her after every tour/meeting was "would you go her if you did not participate in your sport". She eliminated schools that way so all of the schools on her list are places she would be fine attending, some are just more fine than others :D.</p>
<p>Just looking for things we should consider that we may not have thought about. I know which 2 schools I would like to see her at :D.</p>
<p>I’m sure you’ll get good feedback from current students and parents but as a former recruit I’ll add some long-term perspective.</p>
<p>It’s rare for kids to participate in sports, other than on a recreational basis, beyond college. Most employers don’t really care a lot about college sports unless you were part of a big, powerful program, and in many cases that’s about the name of the school anyway. “Wow, you played for Duke (in their losing season)?” as opposed to “So you played for X State U. (when they swept the league)?” So while it’s really tempting to make it all about sports while you’re getting all this love from coaches it would be a mistake. Remember that you’ll spend a whole lot more time in class and the dorm than on the field/court/rink. Put academic reputation, fit and opportunities first.</p>
<p>In addition to considering the “would you go her if you did not participate in your sport” question have your daughter try an exercise. Have her sit down and imagine that a month into school she’s blown out her knee and even with surgery it’s clear she’ll never again participate in college sports. Have her imagine her day at the various schools. What clubs would she want to get involved in beyond sports? What kind of research opportunities are available?</p>
<p>How well is the sports schedule at the school integrated into the academic schedule? Do athletes miss classes? Are they expected to train year round? </p>
<p>Something I find useful to consider when looking at schools- How much do athletes and non-athletes interact? Do all the jocks sit together at lunch? Are they on a different schedule than much of the rest of the student body? Are they seen as meatheads or idolized by the artists and student government types or as just kids with different talents? It would be a shame if as an athlete her circle of friends were somewhat limited to other athletes and if she did become unable to play it would be sad for her to lose many of her friends. </p>
<p>Obviously she’ll want to make sure she likes the coach and can interact well with her…</p>
<p>Maybe other things to consider…beyond sport</p>
<p>academics–will she be able to change majors if her interests change</p>
<p>in’tl – does she want to do a semester or year overseas…how does that affect team etc as some coaches require students only do that over a summer term</p>
<p>geography</p>
<p>weather</p>
<p>travel to/from home</p>
<p>region-- will she want to live in that region if hired by a firm there–Some schools have very strong influence regionally, others nationally</p>
<p>dorm life-- available all 4 yrs or will she have to move off campus</p>
<p>athletic preference for course selection</p>
<p>athletic preference for dorm selection</p>
<p>Coaches’ carousel means she potentially won’t have the same coaches 4 yrs… Is she ok with the team/school with a coach change</p>
<p>Hope these help jog other ideas for you. Good luck. She is blessed to have an abundance of options.</p>
<p>So far we have a good handle on most of these things. Schools that did not fit academically were ruled out before any recruiting happened. She also narrowed down schools based on competition schedule so she would not miss too many days of classes. The most she will miss is 6 class days over 16 weeks or so of competition. Training year round is a given so not really a question.</p>
<p>She is thinking about medical school and sports are a way to help pay for undergrad so she doesn’t have to take out loans, no aspirations of playing after college.</p>
<p>Geography is her hardest decision. She “likes” the program closest to us but we think for all the wrong reasons. It’s the program we like the least for her (and it’s our alma matter so that is saying something). The school is a great fit, the coach and the team is not. If she wasn’t playing sports, we would be fine with her going there except she can’t afford to go there without sports.</p>
<p>No idea about preference for courses or dorms. All of the schools she is considering are small enough that it won’t make much, if any, difference.</p>
<p>She will defiantly study abroad, but probably a summer trip somewhere, which, playing her sport, makes affordable for her because she won’t have to pay much, if anything for tuition, etc.</p>
<p>Stuff outside of sports has been carefully looked into. Our oldest ended up in a situation where the campus was a ghost town on weekends, lesson learned there.</p>
<p>I guess it is just more of the unknown about how all of this happens having never had a recruited athlete in the family. Right now her favorite coach is at her least favorite school and her favorite school has her least (or our least anyway) coach. Too bad they can’t switch schools. MY favorite 2 schools have both–being that I am not 17, I can see these things a little better than her :D.</p>
<p>It isn’t all that unusual to get a call one day from a coach saying, “I just wanted to let you know, I took a new position at…”
That can be a really bad day if the coach was her main reason for choosing the school.</p>
<p>One thing to consider…
If you are expecting 10 admits…then why apply to ten at all?
That is a lot of essays (assuming they require supplements)
Lots of fees, sending scores etc…
Seems unnecessary.</p>
<p>Why not be one and done…or one favorite and a couple of safety schools.</p>
<p>My daughter picked one school and she is applying ED.She already passed her pre-read. I hope it happens because all are egg is in one little basket.</p>
<p>fogfog-along with the athletic aid, merit aid will play an important factor in this decision so she is applying to several schools to increase her chances of getting more aid. We have twins going off to school so costs are an issue as we will not qualify for aid yet having 2 in school is going to be more than we can pay outright.</p>
<p>None of the schools she is applying to have an app fee or they waive the fee for online apps or because we visited. About half of them have essays. All of the schools accept test scores sent on her official transcript so there are no fees to apply (except for the $5 to the counselor’s office at the high school for copies of the official transcript). </p>
<p>Any verbage in the offer letters we should be looking for, etc.?</p>
<p>^Well, event and position coaches are usually looking for the next opportunity or step up the ladder. Head coaches can be a little more stable, if they’re winning…and they like the administration…and their spouse is happy living there…etc.</p>
<p>Varska and GolfFather are so right. Our DD went to the school that she loved the most. The upperclassmen on the team were great, the coach not so much. She chose in spite of the coach because of the overwhelming positives she found in the school and student body. </p>
<p>End of D’s sophomore season, her coach was let go. New coach is a GREAT match for her, a real professional with big goals that meld perfectly with DD’s. So in our case, change was the best thing possible. </p>
<p>It is really important to choose the school where your D fits into the wider community and that has the best fit for major/research/networking/non-sport extra-curriculars. The turmoil on the team has not affected DD, and now things are better than ever. If things had happened in reverse for the team, I think she would have still been okay staying because of the positives she found in the school.</p>
<p>D has 5 OVs lined up, with the first one being next Friday. She has not applied to any school, yet. I thougt that comes after finishing OVs and deciding on which school to commit. Has anybody else already turned in applications like SteveMA’s D did?</p>
<p>She has only turned in 3 applications. Those schools have a policy of not allowing coaches to discuss money with athletes until they apply so she did. We have visited 8 of 10 schools she is considering so she knows she likes them enough to apply. The 3 she applied to, 2 of them come in at the bottom of her list, the other is top 3 or 4.</p>
<p>Steve- can’t you just ask the coaches what their long term plans are? We found most coaches were very candid, from I am happy here but I cannot say I would turn down X school should a position become available to I have a family here, we are rooted into this community there is not way I am leaving I have the perfect job. Son chose the coach and school with the later and I can attest to the fact that he is very rooted in his community he is not going anywhere and it has been a great fit. I don’t know who said it above but someone said you spend more time in class etc… than in the sport. Disagree entirely, I do not know what sport you are involved with but I can assure you that the time spent with teammates, coaches and on the golf course (his sport) is WAY more than in class. Location is huge, relationship with coach and teammates is huge. My 2 cents.</p>
<p>Wow, that is a lot of apps! My daughter only submitted 2 backup apps prior to signing her NLI, 1 to our state flagship and 1 to an OOS flagship that offers great merit aid but has an early deadline. She submitted the app to her university after she signed the NLI, although the app and essays were pretty much ready to go.</p>
<p>As far as choosing, my daughter chose her school because it is in a great city, with a top notch program in her field. She seriously considered what her life would be like if she could no longer participate in her sport and knew that she would be happy there. There have been a lot changes with her team, the coach that recruited her was gone before she even got there last fall and this year, her team has a another new assistant coach. All this to say, the athletic picture is subject to change, so the school fit needs to be there!</p>
<p>^ I agree. Your D may be more overwhelmed with the number of schools she is considering. Cutting down the number will help her focus on what she’s looking for in a school/ sport. A spreadsheet is always helpful to compare.</p>
<p>momof2010-we’ve discussed long term plans with coaches, most plan on staying at their respective schools until they can no longer coach so I am not too worried about coaching changes, not that it can’t happen but none of the coaches have aspirations of moving on. I think all of the coaches are from the area where they are coaching, many graduated from the colleges where they are coaching and all but 2 have been in that position for over 10 years. The only one I am somewhat worried about would be the one at her #1 pick. He is the newest at the job, just in his second season.</p>
<p>I don’t think she is overwhelmed at all. We have talked about needing to cast a wide net since early on in the process. Like I said, 3 or 4 of these are real contenders but if they don’t come up with the right money, she will move on down the line. Two of the schools on the list are REAL financial safety schools, schools we can afford without a penny of merit/athletic aid, the next 3 we can afford with just merit aid and with the proposed athletic aid, would be basically “free”, the rest she would need both merit aid and athletic aid to afford. Her #1 choice is actually a D3 school so they would have to come up with extra “merit” aid or she can’t afford that school at all. She knows this, we have been very up front about this. The rest of the schools are a mix of DI, DII and NAIA.</p>
<p>The spreadsheet has been used since we started looking :D. She has very clear ideas of what she wants in a school and all of these schools match that for size of school, size of town, programs, all residential campuses where students live on campus for 4 years, good sports program but not ultra competitive where she is missing a lot of school to compete–mostly weekend tournaments (golf).</p>
<p>I am comfortable with our selection process, it’s just the NLI and what they say and what we should be aware of I am curious about. I’ve heard of people asking, and getting, wording that if the athlete is injured and can’t compete they match the athletic aid with merit aid so the student can remain at that school-true or not? If so, how do we go about asking for this? She has been told flat out that she is the #1 recruit at every school she is applying to so she is in a good spot for that, if it’s true.</p>