<p>DI-seeking student finished Fr. Yr. with a 1.88 gpa. She's star of her baseball team, has already been getting letters from college recruiters. They ask her gpa which she sheepishly offers; they respond with (naturally) disappointment. She has some academic gaps from previous years which will not be reversed overnight, but the family is working on it. Right now, since this season is almost over & will restart in December, they're making next yr's team contingent on Fall Quarter '09 gpa. </p>
<p>My question is, what's the realistic gpa bar for recruited admissions to a D-I college/U? She probably is not in a position to be fussy about the academic level of the institution, but for publics & privates in general, is there a gpa range which she should be looking at, or does it tremendously vary from college to college and sport to sport?</p>
<p>(Disclaimer: No personal interest in this student; this is a professional contact, not a relative, friend, but they are seeking to be guided to some realistic goals)</p>
<p>I wish (and these parents wish!) that that were also true at this HS. They consider it irresponsible on the part of the coaches to exploit the “star’s” ability & to overlook academic priorities. Assuming she maintains above a 2.0 going forward, again, what should she be looking at, minimum gpa-wise, to be competitive for any D-1 school in her sport?</p>
<p>The NCAA has a 2.0 GPA limit. Some big state universities use that as the guideline as well, but others can be more fussy (depending on the athlete and the sport…think mens football, basketball at big name universities). Go to ncaa.org to download the student-athlete handbook. It has the NCAA gpa/sat sliding scale. The is the NCAA guideline; schools can set a higher bar if they wish.</p>
<p>Our hs only requires that you are passing all of your courses…and it is not a big sports school.</p>
<p>Does your daughter really play baseball or was that a typo? I haven’t heard of women’s baseball in college.</p>
<p>The minimum gpa required for a scholarship is 2.00, figured only on what the NCAA considers core courses. There is a sliding scale for GPA and standardized test scores.</p>
I’d also suggest you check [The</a> Official Web Site of the NCAA - NCAA.org](<a href=“http://www.ncaa.org%5DThe”>http://www.ncaa.org) and read the sections on the recruiting guidelines/rules. I am fairly certain it is a violation for a school to proactively contact a student-athlete who just finished their freshman year … this inquiry might have been made assuming your daughter was older … but again I’d suggest reading the recruiting rules to make sure she doesn’t violate any of them. The NCAA clearing house can also provide info on the academic requirements to play DI sports … perhaps this info will help get your daughter more interested in school.</p>
<p>Letters can be sent early as long as they are sent via the coach or guidance counselor, or other school figure. My D starting receiving them also as a freshman.</p>
<p>It may vary by sport, but in the sports I am familiar with, letters can be sent anytime. Calls, emails, text messages are restricted.</p>
<p>Schools are not as flexible with grades when it comes to softball, soccer, track and other non-revenue sports as they are with football and basketball. As another post said, the family should look at the NCAA website to see the minimum requirements. The Highschool ought be be providing some guidance here, both in terms of getting her grades up and in looking at what her target colleges should be. Of course, freshman year is very early.</p>
<p>One very positive note - many colleges do not even include the freshman year when calculating GPA, so if this kid can do better in the future, her bad grades last year will not hurt her.</p>
<p>If in fact she is playing baseball, that is very unusual and unlikely to lead to a college career. According to this press release, there is a bit of an upswell for college baseball for women - but it is likely to be at the club level for several years. </p>
<p>This press release also indicated that there is one women playing college baseball with the men today.</p>
<p>Regardless, if she is serious about college baseball - or even high school baseball, this website <a href=“http://www.hsbbw.org%5B/url%5D”>www.hsbbw.org</a> is the place to go. Great source of information and incredible message boards.</p>
<p>Legally, letters can be sent after september 1 of the junior year; june/july after sophomore year for some sports (but not softaball). Often if earlier materials are received they are either form letter type questionairres (which might look like they are just to one individual) or camp invitations.</p>
<p>If she has “gaps” and is struggling, I would recommend repeating the freshman year. Assuming she is really interested in going to college to get an education. That GPA will make college coaches very nervous. It’s not just about getting recruited and accepted, it’s also about her ability to maintain academic eligibility once she is there. Would be risky for a college coach to recruit her. Playing a non-revenue women’s sport won’t help either. There are plenty of recruits with stronger academics.</p>
<p>I think its important to keep some perspective here. We’re talking about freshman year, and we’re probably not talking about a student who is going to want to use her sport as a hook at a highly-selective school (if she improves dramatically enough to make that a possibility, they will probably ignore the freshman grades anyway for a recruited athlete at many schools). She has plenty of time to raise her GPA well above the 2.0 threshold for scholarship consideration.</p>
<p>She should do what is right for her educationally, and the rest will take care of itself. If the grades stay very low, than she has other major issues (she’s not going to make a million dollars playing softball).</p>
<p>Thanks, EMM, and thanks longroad for your thoughts. (However, in our region one cannot re-take a high school year, period, even with all F’s; so that would not be an option for her.) I think that of the two opinions, EMM1’s is probably more “true.”</p>
<p>Btw the “non-revenue” part is a sore (political, as in gender) point with her, but I keep trying to reassert the facts of (unfair) life.</p>
<p>Originally she wanted Berkeley, but parents and I are trying to lower her expectations at this point.</p>
<p>All of the UC system, including Berkeley, calculate gpa based on grades 10 and 11 only. So if she can pull her grades up next year, she will have a shot. As far as the non-revenue sports go, it is not only gender. Men’s college baseball is non-rev, and the scholarships tend to be pretty small there as well. Not to say it is fair. It angers my daughter as well.</p>