Before all, I’ll introduce myself : Mehdi, 15yo, 11th grade student, good grades ( 15.80/20 in France, which should correspond to 4.4/4 on US GPA ). I practice soccer since the last year as a goalkeeper, and this year I play with a regional club ( FC Gobelins, this year we play on “R1 U17”, the first regional championship of the Ile de France region for younger than 17 - the second highest level in France after the U17 national championship ).
After the High School ( “Baccalauréat Scientifique spé Maths” ), I’d like go studying Computer Science in the US in order to work there. But the main problem is the cost : ~40k for the cheapest universoties as UNCW, Omaha or ~69k for the most expensive. So I saw, randomly, a website of an agency specialized in the hiring of european athletes for NCAA/NAIA championships, this agency says me they have a great network of US soccer coaches and they can guarantee my a mix of scholarships which covers at least 85% of the cost of attendance ( my needs ). My goal is to join a team of NCAA D1 with a good compromise between cost, academic quality and athletic quality. Do you think my project possible ?? Give here your impressions, congrats, encouragements, critics, and all of others.
I don’t know anything about soccer, but I do know of a company who does something similar to what you’ve described and that they have had some success in other sports (swimming is the one I know about). Last year’s recruiting class at a school my daughter is considering was almost entirely European, with a Brazilian thrown in for good measure. Nearly every roster has a couple of athletes from somewhere other than the U.S. I would think that having an agent of sorts to advocate for you would be quite useful with a subjective sport such as soccer.
Yes, businesses can introduce you to good opportunities and market you. Athletics is important, but your grades are too as you may be offered a combination of merit aid for academics and athletic money for playing. Very few 100% athletic scholarships in soccer.
Only NCAA Division 1 and 2 schools give athletic scholarships, and those are rarely full scholarship for an individual player. Both D1 and D2 teams have the equivalent of less than 10 full scholarships to distribute across the roster of 22-30 players. Some players get no athletic scholarships, other may increase their scholarships as their performance improves. The top 10 D1 programs are schools like Stanford, Wake Forest, North Carolina, Maryland, Indiana, Notre Dame – you can take a look at their rosters and see how many non US players they seem to carry.
Both D2 and NAIA Men’s Soccer programs seem to carry a lot of non US players, at some D2 schools it is hard to find many US players on the roster. D2 and NAIA could be worth a look. We know a number of European and South American players who came to the US to attend smaller colleges in the midwest, played soccer, and then got into coaching, or business and stayed.
An agency to narrow down the realistic opportunities in the US may make sense. BUT, if it is charging a lot of money or requiring a large deposit before starting to work, then it may be more of a scam and not a good idea.
@planit : I saw some rosters of D1 NCAA ( Clemson for example ), many players are not US. So coaches are not reticent to hire foreign players. Good!
@twoinanddone : Are merit and athletic scholarships able to cover between 85-100% of fees ??
@Midwestmomofboys : I’m considering D1 and D2 of NCAA, championships with teams able to give scholarships because cost of attendance is so much expensive. But I saw D2 clubs are not “famous” or “recognized” as D1 clubs ( Stanford, Wash, North Carolina or UCLA ), do you think they are academically and athleticlly a good compromise for me ??
It is up to the schools whether they combine merit and athletic, and then whether the merit aid is available to international students. There are also gpa and test score minimums to qualify for both merit and athletic aid (NCAA rules).
My daughter does have 100% of her COA covered by aid, but it she gets some state aid and federal aid that you would not be eligible to receive. Basically she has her tuition and meal plan covered by the athletic/merit aid, and uses the other grants for her rent and books. http://admission.fit.edu/international/freshman-transfer/university-aid.php My best guess is that you could probably have tuition covered by school merit and athletic aid, and then you’d have to cover transportation and room and board (which aren’t cheap).
this is just one example. There are tons of schools with soccer teams in all different shapes and sizes, and especially different costs. It would be a lot of work for you to look at them all and sort out what you are eligible for. The service may be expensive but worth it.
@twoinanddone : I know I will not be allowed to receive US public scholarships ( #FAFSA ) or French scholarships ( because I’ll study out of Europe ). So I think I will try the “cheap” universities ( less than 45k$ for tuition, room and board ) to get easily a good scholarship ; for annex spending ( transportation, leisure, books, etc. ) my asset shall be enough ( 7.500$ ). But I need a mix of merit and athletic scholarships to cover tuition and room&board.
Whether D2 schools will meet your academic needs really depends on the school. You could look at the schools that progressed in the D2 NCAA tournament over the last few years and then look at their academic programs to see whether they might work for you.
It may be a school that doesn’t have such a great team that needs you the most (I assume you are good) and thus the coach can offer more money. My daughter got one of her best offers from a tiny D1 school where the team is not good and she would have been toward the top academically. Had she not found a better offer, it was a nice fall back.
You need to consider everything. You never know where the best offer will land you.