<p>My daughter likes to play field hockey and is quite skilled at it. The high school she goes to doesn’t have field hockey team and after repeated effort was not able to generate much support to have a school team.
She has played at club level but was not motivated enough to go all the way.</p>
<p>While looking deeply into Ivies this year she realized that most of the Ivies actually have Women Field Hockey teams.</p>
<p>What should she do?</p>
<li>Contact the coaches at the university and find out how can she play for the university?</li>
<li>Join a club this summer and go play outside state.</li>
</ol>
<p>Can she get any leverage from her skills at Field Hockey?</p>
<p>Like I said in your other thread, I'm a junior in high school, so I don't have extensive experience with this.</p>
<p>With that said, I'm not really sure how much you can get out of it. Most Ivy applicants who are "strong in field hockey" are probably going to be the captains of the high school's varsity team. If your daughter had succeeded in organizing a team, that would have looked great, but alas. I'm not really sure if one summer program after junior year will really impress anyone, but it might be worth a shot.</p>
<p>Really sucks that she got screwed over like that by her school. Most schools I know of have field hockey teams.</p>
<p>Hey I am a senior and had a brief stint where I considered playing volleyball at Dartmouth (I ultimately was hurt pretty bad this past fall, dropped communication with the coach because of it, and was rejected :()
Anyway, there are several things you should do.
Is your daughter a junior? By the rules, coaches cannot contact her. HAVE HER CONTACT COACHES!!! Most schools have a questionaire on their athletic sites where she can fill out stats, experience, etc.<br>
You do not have to play in high school to play at college. By "not motivated enough to go all the way" do you mean that she no longer plays? If not, she should take it up when she can again, yes. Send them her playing schedule and pray that they come to watch! How do you get them to come? Send them a tape of her playing and if they are impressed they will come.<br>
Also important-register with the clearinghouse, which shows colleges she has met academic requirements to play D1/D2 sports in college
Do 1 and 2 of your questions, yes. And it can give her huge leverage so if she wants to play, I suggest she go for it!
feel free to PM me with any other questions.</p>
<p>ParentOfIvyHope:
Just because I am a little concerned...</p>
<p>I think that you are obsessing over the whole Ivy League thing too much. You just made a similar thread yesterday... If you obsess over it too much it's only going to be that much more painful when your daughter is rejected.</p>
<p>Thanx volleysnap: Since my D didn't play for a school team she is not aware of D1/D2/D3 of NCAA. What are these division? Do the Ivies only recruit for D1/D2?</p>
<p>Yes, she stopped playing for that club as club folded because of funds. There is another around 15 miles away which she might be able to join.</p>
<p>Is it worth the shot? Are there any D3 teams at Ivies?</p>
<p>Newjack88: Rejection might be inevitable but at least we won't have any regrets. </p>
<p>If this happen after the rejection then we will repent all our life that this might have given her a better shot.</p>
<p>We cannot talk this out with her school counselor as it will be seen as trying to beat the system. We can hire a professional but that will cost a lot of money as couple of these called us asking around $25000.</p>
<p>So this way we might get an idea. What's wrong? That is what the purpose of this board is to begin with.</p>
<p>Okay the plan of action I would suggest is to register with the clearinghouse now and get those questionaires filled out for the various schools. Let them know why she hasn't been playing, and have her sign up to play this summer. THen, give them her schedule.
One thing to note: are you positive your daughter is in for all of this? Playing at a D1 school is not easy job (and all of the ivies are D1). It is a full time job. You play your sport, go to class, do hw, sleep, and do it all over again. Some people live for that; others not. D1 is also the most competitive and i bet competition will be tough. It is a great ticket into the ivies if she is good enough and willing.
If all goes well, she would probably attend a practice with the team in the fall (? is that when field hockey happens? If not, it would be this spring or whenever the season takes place). She would sleep over with the team, and all around just do what they do to get a feel for the school. She would do this at all the schools she is interested in.
If recruited, she will be encouraged to apply ED/EA/whatever if the school has that. If not and she applies regular, highly recruited athletes are almost guaranteed a likely letter (<em>sniff</em>, if only my knee had help up for one more season...)</p>
<p>
[quote]
So this way we might get an idea. What's wrong? That is what the purpose of this board is to begin with.
[/quote]
I disagree. For some like yourself this forum is about beating the system but for many it's a place to receive crucial advice about college admissions.</p>
<p>Honestly, if you want to "beat the system" just be yourself. After all, if you are destined to go to an Ivy League school it will just sort of fall into place.</p>
<p>Anyways, if you don't get into an Ivy League school, so what? Life goes on. It's so much harder to "beat the system" and the vast majority of students lose anyways.</p>
<p>Lastly, definitely do not create the impression that you are overly involved in your daughter's school work and college admissions application process. If have already created this impression you have pretty much shot your daughter in the foot. Hopefully the her guidance counselor will not mention it in your daughter's recommedation. But it's the sort of thing that highly selective schools are looking into now.</p>
<p>P.S.
Playing a sport and majoring in computer engineering/science will be incredibly difficult.</p>
<p>
[quote]
My daughter likes to play field hockey and is quite skilled at it. The high school she goes to doesn't have field hockey team and after repeated effort was not able to generate much support to have a school team.
She has played at club level but was not motivated enough to go all the way.
[/quote]
What grade is your daughter in now?
There is a serious communication situation here - I simply don't understand this. IF your daughter is not playing on a team she will not be recruited.<br>
sorry.
There are hundreds and hundreds of girls out there who excel on their high school and club teams. Most play year round - I doubt your daughter will have developed skills to be competitive at the Ivy league level or any D-1 or D-II school. At a weak D-III school she might get some practice play.
Sorry.</p>
<p>Field hockey players who are recruited are looked at in the summer at tournaments and at the Festival in November, where there are thousands of girls. This is the reality of the situation.</p>
<p>Newjack88: "if you are destined to go to an Ivy League school it will just sort of fall into place."</p>
<p>It seems you buy lottery tickets and don't want to work for your first million becuase if it is destined to happen then it will.</p>
<p>I prefer to work towards it. So that might explain my urge to obtain information to put to constructive use.</p>
<p>Also the point of turning to this board is to isolate the school counselor from it so that to him/her it seems that we are the coolest parent who doesn't even bother to know where she will be applying unless the counselor ask us to sign.</p>
<p>ParentOfIvyHope:
I think it is a given that everyone has to work for it. To clarify things I was getting at the fact that you seem to want to create a false impression of your daughter just so she can get into an Ivy League school. I do not think it is good for people to pretend to be someone they are not just so that they can achieve something.</p>
<p>Just tell your daughter to do well in school and to participate in activities because she is:
1.) Intelligent and capable of doing it on her own without you pushing her.
2.) Because she is a leader and has a lot to offer her peers.
I mean that's what Ivy League schools are looking for in a nutshell.</p>
<p>JustAMomOf4: Thanks for the information, yes it came very late to us. None of her elementary, middle or high school ever had field hockey. She learned it from me as I've played field hockey throughout my school, college and university years.
We were not aware that US universities had women field hockey teams.
Just wanted to know the procedure, but it looks like it might not work at this point as she is a junior.</p>
<p>Newjack88 : I'm not sure why you think I'm trying to beat the system.
Trying to know things that I'm not aware of not an indication of beating the system.</p>
<p>Anyway I always prefer to be aware of the things than to be caught off guard.</p>
<p>I think in practicle everyone tries to play the game to beat the system otherwise why you take the hardest classes, why you want to score the best on the SATs?</p>
<p>It is just some are brave enough to admit it some don't. I don't feel like beating around the bush.
I do take interest in my D's colleges and will try to guide her where ever possible. But I do believe that she will do what she have to when it will come to choose the school or the major.</p>
<p>My D best friend was recruited to play D1 field hocket at Harvard this year. She will attend this fall. She was co-captain of highly successful high school team is is an exceptional athlete. Harvard takes field hockey very seriously. Your daughter cannot be "good"; she will have to be "superior" to get any attention at all from the Harvard coaches. D1 college athletics, even at a place like Harvard, is a 9 month per year grind. Your daughter will have to be a highly skilled player with great physical and mental strength to be recruited. For the record, there a many D2 and D3 schools of high academic reputation which also play field hockey. If you want to play the field hockey card, please look past the Ivy League.</p>
<p>I find it odd that someone who played on a club team, that was suposedly competitive, where other players, who very likely played on a club team and a HS team, in different seasons, would not hear some talk about playing for colleges- any competitive team at the HS level, doesn't matter which one, will have players who talk about playing in college, have coaches who discuss it with the players</p>
<p>So, if D didn't play in HS (not necessarily for a HS team, but during those years), there is little to no chance of getting recruited by colleges</p>
<p>I have a friend who was recruited for rugby, a club team, but soon as he walked on the field as a junior (he played football and baseball in HS), he got all the scoop about college sports</p>
<p>That being said...your D is a junior and I can't tell how much of what she does is because she likes it or is because she wants to get into an Ivy so badly, sheis gearing her interests in that direction, something that is not a good plan</p>
<p>The leverage, as it were, that she can get, is showing she has varied interests and would bring that to the school, that she would do something just besides studying</p>
<p>Was she motivated to do other things instead of field hockey? Not necessarily sports, but other ECs?</p>
<p>lantern5: Thanks for the information, It will not make any sense to play the field hockey card beyond Ivies.
The point is to play this card to get leverage at Ivies.</p>
<p>citygirlsmom: Thanks for the information too.
She does a lot of community service, is implementing a pilot program at elementary school for healthy habits. She does tutoring of underprividliged childrens too.
She does a lot of other ECs too.</p>
<p>The only thing that she didn't do in high school is to take part in a sport. So when she informed that most of the Ivies has women field hockey team and she would love to play there then I thought if she can leverage that by playing for some club in summer.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Newjack88 : I'm not sure why you think I'm trying to beat the system.
Trying to know things that I'm not aware of not an indication of beating the system.
[/quote]
From post #8.</p>
<p>
[quote]
I think in practicle everyone tries to play the game to beat the system otherwise why you take the hardest classes, why you want to score the best on the SATs?
[/quote]
Most of the kids I know who took hard classes did so because they would slit their wrists if they were taking easy classes. Also, taking the SAT and trying to do well on it is not beating the system because you are required to take the SAT. That's more just like participating. Also, smart people do well on it because... well they're smart. It's an aptitude test so it's not really a surprise that more intelligent students perform better.</p>
<p>
[quote]
It is just some are brave enough to admit it some don't. I don't feel like beating around the bush.
[/quote]
My experience has been totally different. All my peers who are attending top schools just did stuff and did well in school because they felt like it and they could.</p>
<p>
[quote]
I do take interest in my D's colleges and will try to guide her where ever possible. But I do believe that she will do what she have to when it will come to choose the school or the major.
[/quote]
I think it's good you're trying to help you're daughter but, in my opinion, your involvement seems like it's about to become counterproductive.</p>
<p>As for your original question...
Do not forget that playing a sport in college takes a lot of time and you said that your daughter wants to do computer science or computer engineering. I'm not really sure how well these can work together...</p>
<p>Also, playing a sport without being recruited also provides an applicant with an "advantage" simply because few applicants to Ivy League schools are have participated in competitive athletics. Basically, playing a sport in high school gives an applicant an edge when it comes to seeking diversity. If two applicants are "tied" and one kid did math team, etc. while another kid played field hockey, the field hockey kid has the better shot of getting in since there are probably a bunch of kids who had already been admitted who participated in math club, etc.</p>