I would start a separate thread for this question with a title that mentions possible D1 recruitment and you are likely to get more and more targeted responses. Best of luck!
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Soccer isnāt a headcount sport, so unless your daughter is a really amazing athlete, I wouldnāt hold out hope for a huge amount of money to come from playing soccer. Usually soccer scholarship money is distributed widely across a college team, with maybe 1 or 2 players getting a much larger share.
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Thatās good to know! So it might be better to keep focusing on the merit money.
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Soccer talent can help with admissions more than with money.
Try to contact the coaches who were at the soccer camp & ask if they would be interested in recruiting your daughter.
SMU in Dallas, Texas has an excellent soccer program.
Which position does your daughter play & do you have film/recordings of her playing ? Coaches typically need film / recording in order to assess a player who has not been seen or is not ranked.
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I just retired from the swimming world, but I try to keep up with NCAA and club changes. The D1 council passed legislation last year to allow stacking without it affecting their scholarship limits in equivalency sports; it may give schools a little more āincentiveā to use all 14, maybe not. It could potentially add 1/4 to 1/2 tuition scholarship on top of merit, depending on her ability, and IF you pick the right school. Keep in mind on average only 50% receive scholarships. Itās not a lot on its own, but even $3k-$5k can help. Good luck!
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She plays center back. We donāt have any film, but sheās going to a larger camp at TCU next month where they will take film, and there will be other coaches there from all levels.
Another $3-5K at a school that also offers merit would be helpful. But it looks like we still need to highly prioritize merit money.
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Many kids, my own DD included, realized they could get way more in merit than athletic, unless they were a top D1 recruit (Olympic, NCAA finals level). The stacking could add a nice little bonus, especially when you take into consideration the perks of being a D1 athlete (dedicated tutors, special nutitional services, added medical attention). I donāt know what she wants to study; if itās something like engineering, it can be difficult to balance with study/work load. I will add if you need the athletic scholarship to afford it, be cautious; Iāve seen too many kids have to transfer because of burnout or injury. I personally always recommend academics first, athletics second. I donāt mean to down college athletics; it can be a great experience for the right kid.
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Adding in recruiting will complicate things. I am not suggesting you not do that, but you will basically need parallel college lists: one where she would play soccer, one where she wouldnāt.
Have your D think long and hard about wanting to be pre-med while also playing a sport. It can be difficult to keep oneās GPA high enough to be a competitive med school applicant. Of course, some students have successfully done this, but just have your D spend time thinking about college life with and without soccer, and what she would prefer.
Will the geography limitations still apply (TX, AL, MS)? If not, what geographies is she open to? It will also help if you share the conferences the coaches at the recent college camp are from, and where else they suggested she could play.
Is the TCU camp just for TCU, or will there be other coaches there? Contact all of the coaches from schools of interest with an introductory email prior to the camp including academic stats and athletic highlights. Once you have film, create a youtube account and upload the videos there. She will also need a twitter account, link to the youtube account/film from there as well.
I agree with mamaedefamilia that you might want to start a separate thread for the recruiting piece, but meanwhile I will call some more posters familiar with recruiting @cinnamon1212 @gkunion @politeperson @gointhruaphase
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As @publisher has noted, athletic recruiting for D3 institutions is helpful for admission, not for scholarships, because there is no athletic aid, full stop. Recent NCAA decisions suggest that athletic prowess cannot be considered, even if the kid was the captain of a team, for leadership scholarships.
I should trust the assessments of college coaches, but should add that D1 level of play is pretty high and usually involves significant high club level experience.
This article is dated, but informative. https://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/10/sports/10scholarships.html.
It probably makes sense to attend a few camps and see if she gets any traction with coaches.
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I agree that itās best to treat the athletic recruiting as a separate, parallel process. The athletic piece can really complicate the process, and also operates on a different timeline. Better to keep the two tracks separate until thereās more clarity. Iād read through past posts in the athletic recruits section and feel free to start a new thread there. Lots of great people with substantial soccer recruiting knowledge there. Soccer is not my sport, but I think itād be pretty unusual for a player without extensive club or similar background to be recruited by many schools. Not impossible, but definitely not something to count on.
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Well, centerbacks are some of the best players on a team (erm, says the mom of a centerback 
). You should have more clarity after the ID camp. If coaches are falling over themselves thatās good information, and if thereās radio silence thatās also good information.
I agree with everything the other posters have written. Until you know her soccer level, itās hard to offer recruiting advice. Old threads are a treasure trove of information. Another good resource, which clearly and succinctly outlines the recruiting process is The Athletic Scholarship Playbook.
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Thank you all for the information. Very helpful! I really appreciate it!
I will read thru the recruiting section and start a separate thread there regarding the sports stuff.
It is nice to see that D1 schools can now grant need based aid and allow it to be stacked with any athletic scholarships without counting against the coachās max. It has always been allowed to stack the merit (with the restrictions of the academic stats required - making it a ārealā merit scholarship) and the student could also accept any need based aid from the federal (Pell, SEOG) or state aid. I wonder if DII is allowing it?
Soccer is not my childās sport either, but I was looking up some stats for another poster a while back and picked Colorado School of Mines, a DII school, and I was looking at the menās team. 100% were engineers (not surprising) and 100% had played on club/travel teams as well as most on their high school teams.
There are plenty of DI teams, and they are going to vary by their level of competition, their conferences, their size. Some D1 schools are very small and not very competitive on the field, so their requirements are going to be quite different than Notre Dame or USC or Stanford.
Previous posters have covered much of the relevant concerns regarding soccer recruiting. Itās important to keep in mind that D1 soccer is like a full time job. That makes managing rigorous STEM/Pre-Med schedules problematic. You also shouldnāt factor athletic money into your calculus because it wonāt be guaranteed for her college career. Iād think of it as a potential supplement over and above necessary aid. When does your daughter graduate?
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She graduates in 2022.
She could use it to make her application more attractive at colleges that mix merit and need. It wouldnāt be an arhletic scholarship, but her stats are excellent, so that she may have a competitive edge for big competitive scholarships.
D2 is allowed to stack merit and athletic scholarships. Colorado Mines in particular (and UCSD but unlikely sheād ger sufficienr aid) would be one. Others with good academics include Truman State
Dd got a postcard in the mail saying U of S Carolina is test optional for honors college and scholarships. Would it make sense for dd to apply there test optional in pursuit of one of their big scholarships.
My daughter got into Honors with a 32 ACT superscore (this was the first year). 1440 is a 31. Itās close. I think 1440 is a great score - 97th percentile. I would submit it. Thereās no sure answer - but better than 97% of the country is strong.
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What kind of merit money did your dd get there?
She got out of state + $500.
Donāt forget, most schoolās Honors colleges have a fee that is additional.
btw - my daughter turned down U of SC (and UGA Honors which is harder to get into and I was shocked she got in) - for College of Charleston. Her tuition is free there but she didnāt know that when she accepted. She got $9K more after acceptance. The school just fit her better - money not a factor. Also, she had professors and the dean call. At U of SC, you just get videos of why they are so good for you, etc.
She was waitlisted at Pitt Honors and rejected at FSU Honors. At UMD, she got into Scholars - which is a notch down from Honors.
U of SC is the top Honors Program - so says every flag on their campus - but thereās not a true Honors ranking so itās a bit misleading. but itās obvious their program is well thought of - but I donāt think the hardest to get into. There are some unofficial ranks out there - and one has Clemson in the top 10, but not U of SC so itās all āwhatās best for your studentā.
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