<p>Slightly off topic, but in the Uk we have nothing even similar to college sport at out universities so i am quite curious...</p>
<p>If you were to be recruited at an Ivy League school, are you obligated to play any more than one season? Could you theoretically use it as a hook to get in, play one season in freshman year, and then stop to focus on academics?</p>
<p>Also,for a slightly lesser sport, say field hockey, outside of the main playing season, do your obligations to the team drop significantly, or is it a true all-year committment?</p>
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If you were to be recruited at an Ivy League school, are you obligated to play any more than one season?
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<p>No, I do not believe you are obligated to stay on the team. </p>
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Could you theoretically use it as a hook to get in, play one season in freshman year, and then stop to focus on academics?
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<p>Theoretically, you could have athletics as a hook and not continue all four years of your sport. However, the wording that you just used: "stop to focus on academics", I disagree with. My daughter was not a recruited athlete and thus it was not a hook to her getting into college at an Ivy. However, she is on a varsity Div. 1 Sport at her Ivy. The concept of stopping to focus on academics doesn't fit. She already IS focused on academics. From what I can tell, so are all her teammates. It is a challenging university and involves hard work. Each kid on the team has lofty ambitions. I believe of her teammates, several are planning on med school, some law school and she is going to grad school for architecture. They are already focused on academics. During the prime of their season, I have seen girls taking Organic Chemistry. This is my D's third year on the team and I haven't seen anyone drop the team yet except for those who are too injured to continue.</p>
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Also,for a slightly lesser sport, say field hockey, outside of the main playing season, do your obligations to the team drop significantly, or is it a true all-year committment?
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</p>
<p>My D is not in a powerhouse high spectator sport. The competitive season is Jan. through March. During that time, she is away all weekend, every weekend, two weekday mornings from 6 AM - 1 PM and then one full class week for National Championships. However, the entire fall semester is not "off". In fact, all fall, she has 7 practices of 2 hours each per week. Granted that is less hours than in winter and there is no travel, but it is a daily commitment. During that time, she is also on an intercollegiate club team in another sport, however.</p>
<p>While you are not obligated to play at all or for a season, please recognize that how the student handles his/her athletic responsibilities has a carryover effect on the succeeding applicants from a certain high school or athletic program. In other words, if a high school student-athlete comes to a college under false pretenses and makes only a modest show of commitment to the college’s athletic program and leaves after a short time on the team, this will almost certainly create doubts in the minds of coaches and admission people when the next athlete or applicant applies. If you care at all about your high school and its relationship with the college, then please, please, please don’t abuse the college by manipulating the athletic recruiting process and then blowing the athletic responsibilities off.</p>
<p>A friend of mine, was the starting pitcher for UPENN's softball team, it does take a lot of work but she ended up making deans list, getting offered a prestige internship and getting offered to play softball for Italy's professional team, all expenses paid. I think it depends on the person, some girls immediately dropped out of upenn once the realized how hard it would be, going to an academically rigorous school and playing softball, their schedule is quite demanding. BTW, she was a recruit. She told me how when ever they have down time they study and they even formed a study group helping eachother, personally, I think it is quite benefical and I myself, am hoping to play Division I softball as well.</p>
<p>As I said, my kid was not a recruited athlete. However, she has always intended to continue her sports in college as these are major passions for her. She did not use athletics to get into college. She would never think of quittings sports. She loves it. That's why she does it. She is only home for 12 days now, after returning from abroad, and each day at home, she is doing her sport just to get ready for the 3 week training camp that she has to go to in two days for her college. She WANTS to do this. Her academics are very important to her and she sought out the most rigorous colleges due to her great desire to be challenged academically. Both these facets of her life are important to her.</p>
<p>For the parents here, please do not confuse Ivy League Division 1 and the other Division 1 Leagues. Ivy League is academic first, while every other league is in reality sports first, academics second. Thus, getting good grades while being an athlete at an Ivy is not that big of a stunner, as first they try to form the season in a way which doesn't screw up the students' grades and also grade inflation leads most to be able to mantain a high gpa. That is completely different from other division one leagues. When people mention Division 1 they usually don't mean Ivy League, which is totally different.</p>
<p>No, Kamikazewave. "Division I" is the designation given by the NCAA to all colleges/universities who meet certain requirements/standards. The Ivy Leagues are not different. Ivy League athletes are eligible to compete against all other Div. I schools in the U.S., and they do this at certain national level competitions.</p>
<p>It is precisely because the Ivies are (I think) alone among all other Div. I schools, in not giving any athletic scholarships that makes it so difficult for them to recruit the highest-level athletes.</p>
<p>There is no bright line answer whether there are advantages to a kid playing D1 sports in college; it depends on the student, sport and college.</p>
<p>My son is on an Ivy rowing team. I am biased but I believe that the culture of the sport attracts kids that are focused and serious aboult academics. His teammates are the type of hard working & goal oriented kids that you would want your child to hang & lie with. </p>
<p>My son is in pre- med and although I have concerns about the time that crew takes I would be fooling myself if I believed that the time he spends doing crew would all be spent studying. I also understand that many kids work 20 hours each week or are involved with other activities that take time. </p>
<p>Thus far he has the grades to be competitive for med school admission but he he decides not to pursue a medical career then I am pleased to know that his team has a well worn path to Wall Street through loyal rowing alums.</p>
<p>As we have seen throughout this thread: "It depends" </p>
<p>It depends:
on the school,
on the sport,
on the child,
on many things.</p>
<p>I know a family where the younger daughter of a top D-I soccer player first refused to play soccer in college despite her exceptional talent. Mainly because she saw how it turned into a job and a physical nightmare for her sister (three operations). She finally ended up taking a scholarship to a mid-major D-I school. It was her way to pay for school while still enjoying her sport, but without the pressure cooker. Her brother had played football at a D-III school and loved it. (No scholarships at D-III, competitive yet far less pressure.)</p>
<p>I also know a girl who was relentless in her pursuit of a D-I soccer scholarship because of her family's limited financial resources. She got it and is looking forward to the opportunity.</p>
<p>Finally, I know a walk-on football player at Notre Dame who puts in the long hours and hard work for no scholarship and little glory - his only playing time is an occasional special team appearance. But you couldn't find a happier guy. He's Dean's List too.</p>
<p>Otis brings up a good piont about other campus activities. I have a kid in the performing arts and the extracurricular hours she puts in at college are even more than for my Div. I varsity sport athlete. In fact, it is often the hard working, goal oriented kids, as Otis says, that can pull off these huge commitments outside the classroom.</p>
<p>Actually Bay, Ivy League schools only compete against each other in their division, except at certain national competitions like you mentioned, where they never win, since they're team is made of students first. And the first ones who'll tell you this will be the students themselves :D.</p>
<p>Again, the training an athlete goes through at a Div 1 flagship state school and one at an Ivy is totally different.</p>
<p>Kamikazewave....actually, my daughter is on a varsity team at an Ivy League school and the other colleges that compete in her division are NOT Ivies. Her team has won their division and have also done well in National Championships in the collegiate association in which her college team competes.</p>
<p>KAMIK - the Ivy League does compete out of their league - NAVY is one of the schools that they also compete with - actually take a look at the schedules of the basketball team of Harvard and the other Ivy's - they compete against alot of schools out of the IL - it is also sport dependant as well - I think you need to really take a look at who some of the Ivy's beat at Nationals - you may be surprised.</p>
<p>The training is very similar at some of the Ivy's as well compared to the D1 state U - again sport dependant.</p>
<p>You should do a little research on Ivy League athletics. I am constantly amazed at the misinformation that is perpetuated on this subject on this board.</p>
<p>Ivy League teams do, in fact, compete against many non-Ivy Div.I teams. For example, the Harvard basketball team just played the UC Irvine team at Irvine this past week!</p>
<p>And no, they do not always lose when playing out of their league. In fact, they have been NATIONAL CHAMPIONS in several sports (crew and sailing immediately come to mind.)</p>
<p>Ivy athletes have my utmost admiration. Many of them have been recruited for a full-ride at non-Ivy schools where they would have been treated as royalty. Instead, they chose an Ivy because it was the right "fit". They receive no scholarship-compensation and unfortunately they are generally held in disdain by their ignorant non-athlete peers.</p>
<p>For some reason, most posters on this board do not acknowledge the importance of the "physical" side of the human body and its potential for amazing feats. Especially in America, where 50% of children are destined to be overweight/obese, perhaps more emphasis on the "whole person" (ie, mind and body) is needed at the Ivies, which tend to set the bar for excellence in everything.</p>
<p>Ivy League teams do, in fact, compete against many non-Ivy Div.I teams. For example, the Harvard basketball team just played the UC Irvine team at Irvine this past week!
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<p>Of course, the score was 81-48 in favor of Irvine. And UC Irvine is 6 and 8 at the moment, all in non-conference play.</p>
<p>it definitely may not benefit all student athletes, but from my viewpoint, it has been wonderful. i knew that i was sending my son to a school where he was immediately part of a team. he had peers and coaches watching him--and he was too busy to get into much mischief. there were mandatory study halls, too, and that has been a great help in establishing a study routine.</p>
<p>he is bigger, stronger, more confident, happier, successful in the classroom, and really enjoying the entire experience.</p>
<p>How hard is it to do pre-med and compete in a Div 1 sport? Are commitments at colleges like Duke, which are equal academically to ivies, similar to ivy league colleges?</p>
<p>My friend's son was thinking of doing Division I golf and engineering. When he visited Bucknell, he was set straight by one of the eng. professors: "It isn't possible to do a Division I sport and engineering. It just won't work."</p>
<p>That said, I am sure that some students manage to do both. But in many cases Div I athletes choose easy majors in order to get through.</p>