<p>First of all i am a junior in highschool (female) and I play basketball. I have lettered on varsity 3 out of 4 years. </p>
<p>The problems are:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>if i dont play sports i will major in biomedical engineering (if i do i will chose the regular premed route but i prefer biomedical engineering with hopes of going to medical school. (if i got the opportunity to play basketball at my 1st choice school i dont know if its possible to do biomedical engineering and play basketball..but im not scared to give it a try ... )</p></li>
<li><p>My first choice school (and many of the schools on my list) are division 1.</p></li>
<li><p>i dont wanna go to a school just because they offer me a basketball scholarship (like some random school in the middle of nowhere)... i have pretty good academics to get some scholarship money at an hbcu (act 26 <-- working on that and gpa 3.97 unweighted 4.5 weighted and will have at least 7 ap/ib courses when i graduate</p></li>
</ol>
<p>im the type of basketball player that developed (and am still developing) in highschool i havent been recruited yet ... i work out with lynette woodard (the woman who holds the scoring title for womens college basketball and has recruited before) and she believes i can get a scholarship to play but didnt say what division.. so basically im just hoping because im not all state or all district i wont score over 1000 points (on varsity) in my career and i havent been recruited, my aau team isnt the best and doesnt have all the resources my highschool team isn't a state contender or anything special besides district champs and i really havent had my greatest shine on varsity but i still have one more year left.. but i wanna play basketball in college because i love it so much but i feel like im just running out of time but i put in so much work daily and ican do alot of things my teammates arent capable of but i still sit on the bench ( i guess thats just how sports are)... i feel like i just started playing to late (when i was 14) ... so basically i just want to know what you would do or focus on in this situatuion and should i ... i dont wanna say give up on this dream but i guess thats what i really mean..??</p>
<p>just my top 2 on my college list</p>
<ol>
<li>North Carolina A&T (Division 1ncaa and an HBCU)</li>
<li>Xavier in louisiana (Naia and an hbcu)</li>
</ol>
<p>Congrats on knowing what it is you want to do with your academic life. Biomedical engineering or biology is fantastic field with a tremendous upside. I like your approach that you are not willing to sacrifice academics for the sake of an athletic scholarship. IMHO that is a great way to go about your business. Most likely, you want to leverage your athletics to get into the best academic school possible. From the outside looking at what you have posted, I see the following :</p>
<p>1) Very, very good academics
2) Focused area of study
3) You have not been athletically recruited yet
4) You have listed two schools (HBCUs) that you are intested in</p>
<p>I think you need to branch out alot more if you want to consider basketball in college. You should be bold, and start with 25 or so schools not 2. YOu increase your chances substantially with more schools. You have very, very good grades and you should go after schools that you don’t think you have a shot at whether or not basketball is part of that or not. Go for the Morehouse, Spelman, Hampton, Howards of the world. Don’t be shy. You need to approach them from two angles since you are not being recruited by them today. Contact all the basketball coaches with your basketball resume, film, and schedule. You need exposure to their programs…see who is interested. Be persistent. From that list of 25, you will quickly figure out which schools are interested in you, and which schools you are interested in. You’ll also figure out if you have a genuine shot at playing college basketball. Also, research the academics at these schools plus any others that you learn about.</p>
<p>Being a recruited athlete will take a lot of time and patience to find the right fit. If this is a genuine passion for you, continue the process. Recruited = passion + skill + exposure + persistence + luck. You clearly need more exposure to get the coaches attention at your target 25+ schools.</p>
<p>I’m going to out on a limb here. I’m going to assume you are a black female interested in Engineering. If that is the case, there are a lot of other opportunities out there for you at HBCUs and non-HBCUs. My son went to a magnet high school for engineering, and he had many college choices available to him. His black female classmates had top schools recruiting them for their schools nationally. His classmates decided on the University of Virginia (no slouch in the academic arena). I’m not suggesting you give up your basketball dream, but this is something I think you need to know. Engineers are in great demand, and female engineers are in even greater demand. </p>
<p>Good luck, and let me know if you have any questions.</p>
<p>My comments and post were intended to show you there is a whole universe of opportunities available to you. Female biomedical engineers don’t all off wagons, so take advantage of your situation if that is the direction you want to go.</p>
<p>As far as your athletic recruiting goes that really is going to depend on how good of an athlete you are. Most D1 coaches really only care about what it is you can do for their athletic program. They don’t care so much about grades in as much as you meet the minimum standards and you can stay at school in their program. Someone is going to fill their roster spots whether it is you or someone else. If you want to be a D1 athlete with a difficult major, you are in for a rough ride. It is not easy, and it takes a lot of focus, discipline and will power. Your social life will be extremely limited. As I stated earlier, you need to get in front of these coaches now with an intro letter, film or YouTube link, and your summer schedule. You need to get on their radar, and you will need to follow up with regular commiunication with as many coaches as possible.</p>
<p>If you decide on the D3 route, it is somewhat different. There is still recruiting but your academics will play a larger role in determining what school you could get accepted into. The coach will be most interested in your academic record, and has a lot of skin in the game if you are accepted. You still need to reach out to schools you are interested in with intro letter, video, and summer schedule. You still need to follow up, and provide regular communication on your progress.</p>
<p>I strongly urge you to go to Collegeboard.org and create a profile search. There you will get a list of schools by major, geography and other preferences such as D1 or D3. Howard and Hampton are D1 for example, Spelman D3 and Clark-Atlanta is D2. Sorry Morehouse is men only, but you probable knew that. Bottom line is you’ll need to get started very soon if you want to pursue the athletic recruiting aspect to this. It is totally up to you to connect the athletic recruiting with the academic recruiting as no one else is going to do this for you. </p>
<p>Best of luck and let me know if you have questions. CC is a great place to go for people that have already been through this.</p>