@shuttlebus my son has been recruited for LAX at several DIII schools he has no interest in attending. He is trying to make some headway with the coach of the school he wants to attend. If it doesn’t work out, I don’t think my son will be overly crushed. Good luck with your child. It’s kind of a pain in the butt to go thru.
I think what @ClarinetDad16 may have been trying to say is that it is hard to generalize one student’s experience across the entire school population. That student may have also had issues at the State U. Some kids just aren’t ready for the transition, for a multitude of reasons.
@RightCoaster It is a much more involved process than I thought it would be. Did you read the now-locked thread on the athletic recruit subforum about LAX recruiting at Haverford? Reading that thread is not for the faint of heart.
D is all tested out after the subject tests yesterday. Its sad to see her so exhausted after a literal month of insane testing at her school. At least she was able to wake up early this morning to bring me breakfast in bed. It was delicious, but I would actually have liked to just see her sleep in.
3 APs down, 2 to go. Biology is the only one she is really worried about since she feels prepared for English Language and Composition. After Wednesday, she just has four free days before she is done with her junior year.
Just think, in 365 days, we’ll be discussing graduation plans and dorm room purchases!
@shuttlebus and @RightCoaster it’s an awful process. Our experience was similar with SD being recruited by DIII and DII and her heart was set on 2 different D1 schools. She applied ED at one of them and when she was accepted it ended the drama as we were pretty sure at that point she would not be offered a spot on the team and she wasn’t. Frankly, we’d rather have her play club at a school she loves than sit on a bench with a roster of 36.
One thing to really remember is that even though kids are announcing now who they will be playing for in college…a lot can happen between now and then and it is not set until they sign. In our case it was soccer and we saw the following.
- One girl was committed to a DI school, the coaching staff changed in the late fall of her senior year and the new coach decided she didn't want the girl. At that point, finding a spot was next to impossible, rosters are basically full at that point with almost no one even allowing for walk ons.
- Another girl had an offer early fall but it was just to play. She did not get her final award letter until April, making it a true unknown until they saw the numbers as they could not have afforded the school with out significant aid.
- Another girls grades slid and the offer was rescinded
- And yet another, who chose a lesser instate schools offer for basically a free ride...tore her ACL in the spring and ended up having surgery and then was red shirted her entire freshman year.
I have 2 D1 athletes at the office, female PhD Engineers. Both of whom had to drop their sport to focus on the academics at some point.
All that said #2 and #4 are doing quite well on their teams and at their schools and there are 2 additional at an Ivy and little Ivy doing well. Those 2 though…they went full tilt. Professional videos, super aggressive on their part from sophomore year on. It has to be kid driven or it is likely not to happen.
But it is hard on the kid when their peers are announcing and buying a sweatshirt and your own prospects may be simply lukewarm.
@eandesmom I think tennis recruiting is a little bit easier than most other sports since the coaches for the most part seem to be most interested in a player’s star ranking and UTR. We didn’t send out videos, but I can see how in the team sports, those videos would be very worthwhile.
My son verbally committed in March. While he has told the other coaches that he has committed, he has not announced it yet on the tennis website. He visited schools last fall and then went back this winter to revisit his top 4. I a thrilled with his choice, and will be relieved when it is official. In the meantime, it would probably be good for me to stay away from certain threads on the athletic recruit page.
DIII irecruiting s a weirder challenge. The good schools want to attract good players AND good students. Some of the coaches only have a little bit of pull to get athletes in. My son is a decent student and pretty good player, but maybe not great enough to wow any coaches or admissions office. But he has been very upfront expressing his interest in playing for the school he wants to attend, and he plans on applying there regardless if he makes the team.
He has no desire for the rigor of D1 sports, frankly not good enough anyways.
D1 recruiting is better, because with the letters of intent at least you know where you stand. D3 you have to wait for acceptance like everyone else.
My son has a group of friends who are seniors that are all going to be playing a variety of sports throughout the north east next fall. It has been fun watching how it unfolds.
Harvey Mudd was also one of only three liberal arts colleges to have the highest average first-year retention rate at 98 percent.
https://www.hmc.edu/about-hmc/2014/09/11/u-s-news-payscale-rankings/
Recruiting definitely can be a mixed bag. A friend of Ds was recruited by a Dlll school and chose it on a combo of available major and playing soccer. But mostly due to the coach, who loved her. A week or so before she arrived freshman year the coach was fired and replaced. New coach did not like friend and she spent the season on the bench. It was a very tough year for her since all of her friends were on the team and she was basically left out. She’s transferring to a different school next year.
Another rising freshman I know is an elite player and heavily recruited. She’s mentioned a few times that she regrets she madd the decision so early and wishes she had gone elsewhere. Also, I think the reality of the hours and hours of dedicated practice is looming. It’s basically a part time job for these kids.
@RightCoaster I agree DIII is a weirder challenge. Some coaches have slots in DIII for academically qualified players, while coaches at other schools have very little pull and nothing close to a slot. It would certainly be much easier if DIII were more like DI.
Good luck to your son!
File under “small world”:
We learned today that our next door neighbor grew up in Mississippi, that he has spent a lot of time in Oxford, and that his childhood/high school best friend’s daughter is a sophomore in the Arabic program at Ole Miss!
I guess Paper Score reports are out at least for IL State April ACT test.
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/19655518/#Comment_19655518
Still waiting for ours, I mean, DS’s. (It feels like everything is “our” journey :D)
ACT surely beats SAT in the (score release) speed 
Random question (since there is already a discussion on sports occurring): What is your kid’s opinion on college sports? Indifference, hatred, desire?
My D has always been a big NFL fan, so she really wants to go to a school that has big time sports in football or basketball or something similar. She gets really sad when the colleges are talking about their top notch field hockey team since she really doubts she could get interested. She also has decided there is a correlation between big time sports and school spirit which is a requirement for her. The correlation is rather tenuous in my mind, but she is certain of it!
Meanwhile, most of the kids at her school are utterly uninterested in any sports and actually prefer schools where it isn’t such a big deal.
Thanks @payn4ward. We are in IL, but no report yesterday. Perhaps tomorrow.
@BusyNapping …D grew up going to pretty consistently to Texas A&M football games. She hated every.single.minute. I do not know how that happened! Was it too hot? Did she not like school spirit?
She would prefer to go to a school where it is absolutely not a thing.
@shuttlebus congratulations to your son!
@RightCoaster good luck as he navigates this, be glad for no video, it was a pain! LOL. The DI kids do still have to get in. DII seemed to operate very similar to DIII for us. DS had a school that was heavily recruiting but she would need to have been accepted and it was a bit of a reach. Not impossible but a reach. She applied while awaiting her ED results. ED negated the issue but she did not get in to the DII school. Which frankly I am also glad for. It would have been a pressure cooker and I can’t imagine that on top of soccer.
@BusyNapping I think it’s a very valid thing for a lot of kids and they feel strongly one way or another. As for our kids it’s been a mix
S11 Indifference but not preferred
S14 strong desire
S17 indifference or viewed as a negative. Hatred is a bit strong but it’s definitely not preferred.
S19 Indifference. May prefer it but won’t sway him one way or another
@payn4ward and @2muchquan we’re waiting for IL ACT results too. (S took ACT with writing at school on April 19). I wonder if the with writing results will take longer than for people who took it w/o writing. In any case, good luck to everyone waiting to hear about these scores!
@BusyNapping D17 is indifferent to sports in generally but strongly wants the school to have a football team for the school spirit. I also don’t know if there is a true connection there, but in D17’s mind, there is.
S17 doesn’t particularly care whether a school has D1 type sports or a football team. He is more interested in what intramurals are available at schools than their D1 or D3 teams.
@carachel2 Did she have to stand up the whole time at the A&M games?
@BusyNapping: Spykid loves sports. He is a huge football fan of our flagship, which he has no desire to attend. Having a team to root for in college doesn’t seem to concern him. Or if it does, I haven’t heard about it.