Looking for truth about The Farm (Stanford's athletic programs)

<p>I hope you can please help us. My D is a recruited athlete who has narrowed down her choices to two schools, one of which is Stanford. No one official from Stanford has given D cause for worry about any of the concerns she questioned them about; their answers were satisfactory. However, I keep hearing athletic war stories from acquaintances which reinforce certain rumors about Stanford's athletic program.</p>

<p>One is that Stanford athletes are strongly encouraged (almost forced) to take fewer credits each semester than non-athletes and therefore almost always have to go a fifth year in order to graduate. This is done so they can dedicate more time and energy to their sport. Apparently, NCAA graduation rate stats sort of hide this, because graduating in 5 years counts at 100%. D did hear talk of how Stanford coaches see their programs as five-year programs, but this philosophy was denied by D's recruiter when she questioned him about it. Interestingly, this same rumor includes the alleged detail that students who agree to host recruits are well-trained in what to say and what not to say to prospective athletes, so these hosts won't give a direct answer to the graduation rate question or other sticky questions.</p>

<p>A related concern is redshirting for the purpose of gaining competitive advantage, since that results in staying around for that extra season of eligibility. Although the coach told D he rarely redshirts for competitive reasons, there are a heck of a lot of RS codes on his roster which can't all be from injuries. Or can they? If so, is the athletic program intense to the point it pushes and pushes and many kids get injured? What's the truth? Maybe the five-year athletic development "plan" is prevalent with male, pre-professional cash sports and not others?</p>

<p>Football likes to redshirt as much as possible. As long as they are willing to pay for the fifth year I don’t really see the issue. Why not have time to do both things well?</p>

<p>I think most Stnford students would enjoy a fifth year. Does the athletic scholarship pay for it?</p>

<p>Well, the rest of the rumor is that if they do redshirt, they say they’ll pay for the 5th year but then don’t end up paying. Or if they do pay, it’s for the football star not an average athlete. I guess some kids wouldn’t mind taking 5 years to do undergrad, but my D is not one of them and her parents certainly don’t want to pay for a 5th year!</p>

<p>Also, D is not being offered a scholarship–only FA. Supposedly, the program (not a high profile sport) does not usually give scholarships to first year athletes. Athletic $ is earned for later years by achieving top performances for the team. Also, if the student’s FA would exceed the athletic scholarship they’d get, the student takes the FA instead. You don’t get both, though that would be great. D would have to be of collegiate national champion/top 6 caliber to earn a full ride or almost, for it to be better to take the athletic money than the FA.</p>

<p>There was a poster on CC whose son was a recruited athlete in baseball. She is a lawyer. I forgot her screen name. If she’s posting, she could confirm/deny the stuff you have heard. Her son graduated in 4 years and did very well at Stanford academically. If I remember her screen name, I’ll post.</p>

<p>My DD did a serious club sport at Berkeley and kept her units to a lower amount for her sanity sake, taking 13-14, not 16-18. DD did pick up a couple of summer classes, but ended up graduating on time, so if she is perspicacious in choosing her courses, she may keep her options open to still finish on time.</p>

<p>As a club sport, DD did not have the tutor type support nor the priority enrollment advantage, but she also was able to tell the coach when she needed to miss a practice for an exam etc.</p>

<p>What’s the alternative?</p>

<p>I really have very limited knowledge, and some of that is out of date. But it is hard for me to imagine competing on a world class (or at least national class) level, which Stanford tries to do in many sports, and carrying a full class load during the competition season. Something has to give. If it’s not a fifth year of college, or a 4-1/2th year, it’s the same extra time spread over three or four summers. Or it’s a schedule with a number of B.S. courses, which in most ways is the least desirable solution. </p>

<p>Why will any other college competing on the same level be any better than Stanford about that? I suspect if you are choosing the highest level of competition, you are also choosing to make some compromises with the optimal academic program.</p>

<p>As for redshirting, it’s easy to see why it happens in helmet sports: 22-year-old males are almost always bigger and stronger than 18-year-old males, especially if they have been working at it. That’s not as relevant in every sport, and for women, in some sports, being younger seems actually to be an advantage. If, in your daughter’s sport, redshirting does bring competitive advantage, and Stanford is competitive, then I would expect to see systematic redshirting. If not, not. Again, what will be different elsewhere, unless she steps down the competition level?</p>

<p>Princeton currently has a better team and an equivalent or better academic program, and as an Ivy doesn’t redshirt except for injury. Too bad D didn’t like Princeton! So yeah, it’s possible to find a different policy without sacrificing competitiveness.</p>

<p>I have heard of some Stanford athletes redshirting a year, graduating in 4 years, then staying on a year to earn a graduate degree while competing.</p>

<p>A redshirt year gives the athlete a year to ramp up their studies since they won’t be competing. Getting the extra degree in the 5th year might make it worth it.</p>

<p>GFG- the posters name is “Bordeaux”, or something like that. Send her a private message and I’m sure she’ll be able to shed some light on your questions. </p>

<p>Also sent you a private message!</p>

<p>For what it’s worth, at Yale the Wiffenpoofs are the apex of the singing hierarchy, and maintain an intensive performance and practice regimen, although not one that would be theoretically inconsistent with a full class load. People are members only for one year, although of course they have to be at a very high level to be selected in the first place, which means they were singing a lot before they joined. In my generation, over half of the Wiffenpoofs – maybe substantially more than half – did not graduate in eight semesters. It just went with the territory.</p>

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<p>Since your FA is not from the Athletic Department at present, I would check with the FA department to verify if her FA will extend for more than 4 years (this would be a school policy). If the regular FA is indeed better than the athletic money likely to be available, the coach has little if any leverage as to the course load your daughter takes. The only limiting factor would be team activities (which can get in the way of scheduling enough classes). </p>

<p>Most sports do not have enough scholarships available (by NCAA rules) to be generous to its players and there may be rules (by sport) limiting how they can be divided. So if you’ve got good FA without the athletics, many coaches will not even offer athletic money, as it can be used to attract athletes who don’t get other monies. Triage is the name of the game. </p>

<p>Now if your daughter redshirts and run out of regular FA (by school policy), coach may come along and offer you athletic money in the 5th year if coach thinks she is worth the money at that point in time. However, you shouldn’t bet the farm (pun intended) on this and she should take as many units as she feels fits her desired balance of school/athletics/money, ignoring the potential of a 5th year scholarship, as career changing events happen along the way.</p>

<p>Best of luck to her in her decision.</p>

<p>Google “Stanford 5th Year” and you’ll find a link to a page on their site stating that Stanford will, at their discretion, offer scholarships beyond 4 years if needed to complete a bachelors “due to academic or personal difficulties”.</p>

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<p>Maybe it depends on the coach of the sports team at Stanford. </p>

<p>The son of an acquaintance was a recruited baseball player. He said that he would take his proposed schedule to his coaches and they would ADD a class. It was the coaches’ goal that players graduate in 4 years. I suspect that he used the 4 year graduation rate as a selling point when recruiting.</p>

<p>She said that he definitely did not have the “typical” college experience. It was all he could do to keep up with his school work and put in the time for practices, travel and playing games.</p>

<p>I’m sure Harbaugh would like to redshirt as many players as he can. I saw a fare number of linemen were resdshirt seniors (5th year) from the previous coach.</p>

<p>I know 7 players or former players on the Stanford baseball team and all are on track to graduate in 4 years or less. Since baseball is one of the worst sports from a graduating on time perspective, it definitely does not fit the mold of stretching to a 5th year.</p>

<p>I am only aware of two other athletes, one football and the other track or cross country. The runner graduated early and is in a masters program while finishing her eligibility. The other was a football player who last I heard will graduate a year late but with a double major.</p>

<p>I am sure that there are instances of players redshirting but taking a lighter load is not something that I have heard any of these students doing.</p>

<p>Keep in mind Stanford is on a quarter system. “Standard” load is 15 credits – which is 3 full courses per quarter. (Some take more courses if they are less than 5 credits each…or…if they just want to take more.)</p>

<p>So…lots of stuff is packed into 10 weeks. Many classes meet as often as 4 days/week…especially Freshman and Sophomore year…intro and lower level classes. </p>

<p>Aside from any competitive issues, the coaches may be doing the students a favor by suggesting they take a lighter load. Making up 1/2 the work in 2 classes will be a lot easier than making up 1/2 the work in 3 classes.</p>

<p>Does you D need to train for her sport during the summer? In certain depts Stanford is more liberal than one might expect in accepting credits from other schools…so maybe some summer school classes could help make up the credits if graduating in 4 years stays a high priority.</p>

<p>It is reasonable to ask the coach what % of that sport’s athlete’s graduate in 4 years. Or, ask the admissions office.</p>

<p>Wouldn’t it be easy to check the information about RS and 5th year students by clicking on the athletic pages of Stanford? Aren’t the rosters pretty clear? </p>

<p>If you enjoy stories that were shared on national TV (as opposed as whispered in dark alleys) you might have heard that Stanford’s top runner was taking more than twenty hours last semester to be able to graduate early and prepare for his NFL career. </p>

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<p>Today, Heisman Trophy runner-up Toby Gerhart announced that he will not use his fifth year.</p>

<p>[Toby</a> Gerhart Heisman runner up leaving Stanford for NFL draft - CFB News - FOX Sports on MSN](<a href=“College Football News, Scores, Standings & Stats | FOX Sports”>College Football News, Scores, Standings & Stats | FOX Sports)</p>

<p>This article probably won’t be that helpful to the question the OP asked…but it 's a recent article about the women’s basketball coach at Stanford…and…in some ways…addresses some of the differences of competitive teams in D1 sports at Stanford vs some other schools:</p>

<p>[STANFORD</a> Magazine: January/February 2010 > Features > Tara VanDerveer](<a href=“http://www.stanfordalumni.org/news/magazine/2010/janfeb/features/vanderveer.html]STANFORD”>http://www.stanfordalumni.org/news/magazine/2010/janfeb/features/vanderveer.html)</p>

<p>I know a girl last year who visited Stanford and thought it was way too much pressure for her sports - she would have to live separately with the team, etc. To quote her, I could not have a regular college life at Stanford. She is at another Ivy. This could be different for each team/coach.</p>