@zinhead if your read my OP you will see we are not counting on the athletic scholarship. She wants to play and this school fits her needs for many other reasons in addition to lacrosse. The merit based scholarships are an attraction as well. I’m not going to discourage her from playing… But I will encourage her to look at other schools too.
GVSU touts its big co-op and internship opps. Probably depresses the 4 year grad rate. They are also very generous with credits for AP/IB. I think the avg ACT is 23. But can be a great destination for top kids who don’t want the size of UM/MSU. Less costly too.
Lastly people love the area and many decide to live and work in GR.
Great advice from recent posters. Yes, GVSU isn’t MSU or UM, but it’s not Podunk U either.
GR is a great place to live and work. IMO, it’s the best city in MI for the younger generation because it has some very interesting, walkable neighborhoods. A personal favorite of GR is the large number of excellent microbreweries located downtown. Keep in mind that GVSU isn’t in GR; it’s a short drive away.
Absolutely do the “unofficial” visit. There is a lot to learn from them. My D and I did a ton of them during her junior year and pre-senior Summer.
It can vary from school to school, but my daughter has done very well by combining the merit scholarship with the athletic, each being about half of tuition, plus she gets a few other awards to cover room and board. Yes, she has to play to keep her athletic scholarship and she has to keep her grades up to keep her merit scholarship. Isn’t that kind of the point of college, to work hard and play hard? Two girls have left the team this year and guess what? They get to keep their scholarships for this year.
I disagree with not considering the athletic money as part of the financial aid package. D1 can give 12 scholarships, but they usually have 35 to 40 players. D2 schools can give 9.9 scholarships, but often the teams only have 25 players. My daughter’s team is new, so only has about 20 players, and a few are new to the sport (walk ons) and they only get a few thousand. Recruits get more. Good players get more. OP’s daughter might be just an average player for South Jersey, but a top player in Michigan. My DD likes the school and would want to go there without playing lacrosse, but we couldn’t afford it without the athletic scholarship. OP, don’t assume the money won’t be more than a token, as it could be and it can go up in future years. Some coaches give more to upper classmen. I’m hoping DD’s goes up a lot next year after starting for 2 years. One coach we know in D2 gives no money to freshmen and almost full tuition to the seniors. I also don’t agree that most players won’t be playing for the same coach for 4 years. My dd’s team is new, coach is new, and all but 3 players from last year returned. I thought there would be more who bailed, but they actually seemed to like playing.
I regret my daughter didn’t look at more schools her junior year. We felt rather rushed trying to talk to coaches senior year. It worked out great, but it was rushed.
@twoinanddone… The whole regional thing and lacrosse is so true. She is playing on one of two elite teams in the area. The only school they lost to last year is ranked #1 in the US
@twoinanddone … Do you have any suggestions for Florida schools that may fit her needs?
What does she want to study? How strong of a student is she?
The Florida D2 schools:
- Florida Southern is tops in lacrosse (but the coach doesn’t give athletic money to freshman, so DD couldn’t go there). Academically strong in some of the bio sciences (it is the seed depository for like 9 million types of oranges?), theater, and a few other LAC areas.
- Rollins is a beautiful school in Winter Park , also very strong in lax. Town is very cute and Amtrack runs through it.
- U of Tampa is beautiful, but the women’s lax is not strong.
- St. Leo’s can be very affordable, but the academics didn’t match my DD.
- DD is at Florida Tech, it is mainly an engineering school with a big autism study center so psychology is popular, and also a few marine bio things.
- Ave Maria has a team, but it is a very (extremely) Catholic school so not a fit for most students.
For D1, there is Florida, Jacksonville, Stetson (she might have a good chance there). Many of the other schools (FSU, UCF) have club teams that are competitive.
There are a number of schools in NC, SC, and Georgia that have programs (Coastal Carolina, Elon, High Point are D1; SCAD, Young Harris, Belmont Abbey are D2). Presbyterian is a D1 program but it is a tiny school (1200) and I knew the second we pulled into town (think Mayberry) that my daughter would not go there. Just too small.
I suggest you go on the laxpower.com site, click on ‘women’, then look at the 2015 rankings for D1 and D2 schools just to get an idea of which schools have programs (2016 page just lists everyone in alphabetical order until they’ve played 5 games, so use the prior years). Anything in D1 ranked 70 or above she probably doesn’t have a chance at since she’s already a junior and most of those programs are only looking at sophomores.
One D1 school your daughter might have a chance at is Arizona State. They are starting a new program in 2016, will play PAC 12. Oh, how the west coast schools love the east coast trained lax players!
Arizona state is a great idea… Thank you! We will look at all of this.
If it’s a school she is interested in, she should go to the junior day. Making connections with coaches and other potential lacrosse recruits is valuable, as is actually checking out the school itself. If you can afford it, go for it.
There is nothing unusual about a coach asking for a recruit to make an unofficial visit which the recruit pays for. This happens most often in sports where the recruiting timeline is very early. For example, in girls soccer, the official visits are often used for girls who have already committed to the school because many teams have filled in their rosters by the time HS Jr starts!
One other word of caution, the top d2 programs (of which this is one) have significant overlap with the bottom half of d1.
Thanks @Dreadpirit … I am definitely gather that. We are NJ where lacrosse is pretty competitive and girls from her school and her travel team are playing for similarly ranked schools. So we shall see.
I live on Long Island, in a town known for its excellent lacrosse teams, and many of our girls go to Adelphi or LIU Post. Have you considered either of these? Hofstra is another suggestion, but I think they may be Div 1.
Not knowing your daughters intended major makes it a bit difficult to suggest schools that might fit her needs. Good luck!
@Peachy267 She is thinking computer science/graphic and web design. NY also big lacrosse!