<p>This is the case needs CC advise? Thanks.</p>
<p>My son applied a lot schools all as a RD because liked to compare FA offerings. As April 1 is approaching, there were three schools he visited this past few weeks and all these three schools had accepted him. Of course there are more coming the next few weeks either accept or reject him. So these are scenarios:</p>
<ol>
<li>All these three soccer coach contacted him before since last year in September</li>
<li>All D3 top tier LAC schools</li>
<li>One offers a full ride/academic scholarship - school A</li>
<li>the another two offer FA/scholarships but less than 5 to 10k, out of packet cost, different from COA per year - school B</li>
<li>The school A coach gave him a cold shoulder/back off from him since he applied RD. He told him that he might increase the roster size but no guarantee.</li>
<li>The school B coaches loved him and encouraged him to stay with them. He felt bound with players.</li>
<li>He had a miserable soccer season at HS. He sit on the bench all the time for this current season. Most starter were from academy teams. In our region soccer is very competed. One of schools was rated No. 1 in the nation by ESPN.</li>
<li>After college he likes to go to medical school, at the mean time, playing soccer and music are his pas time actives beside enjoying college life and studying.</li>
<li>Most posts here son/daughter are elite players but maybe some of them are not, like my son, but he is an above average player who can play very decent game.<br></li>
</ol>
<p>Any advice for school A?</p>
<p>Go to school B regardless a full ride from school A?</p>
<p>More schools coming in next week, top LACs and ivies, how to balance financial safety, prestige and sport?</p>
<p>Hopefully you will get more replies from folks more qualified to respond but, for what it’s worth, I’ll offer my input and at least bump your inquiry.</p>
<p>I don’t know about soccer, but I imagine it’s the same as football in that those full ride offers can go away. (A friend’s son was offered a full ride at a Div. 1 school in the winter of his Junior year; he put the coach off because he thought he could get offers from schools that were better academically. The other offers never came and the Div. 1 coach withdrew the offer; he ended up at an obscure Div. 3 school that gave him decent merit aid. He IS perfectly happy there, however.) The key really is balancing the factors that are most important to you/your son. There are so many factors that we found it helpful to create a spreadsheet/matrix and rate each school on a scale of 1 to 10 in each of the pertinent factors.</p>
<p>Thanks, all school are in Div. 3 and there is no athletic scholarship. The one he got is academic scholarship for four years.</p>
<p>soccerdad82, I have a feeling C is going to be the best choice. (one of the schools you will hear from in two weeks.) </p>
<p>The only way A would be a good idea is if your son is willing to give up soccer, at least at the varsity level.</p>
<p>Are you saying B would pay everything except 5-10 K each year? That sounds like a pretty good fit for your son, unless you really want/need to save the money for medical school.</p>
<p>I know it’s hard to wait, but you don’t have the complete picture yet. I’ll bet one school becomes the obvious choice, once you know where he’s admitted. You must be very proud of him…</p>
<p>Yes, I am proud of him. Thanks.</p>
<p>“Are you saying B would pay everything except 5-10 K each year?” Yes, I would pay 5 to 10k for these schools. There are more schools coming next week. I just hope S could keep playing soccer at the mean time I can save some money for medical school after 4 years. </p>
<p>From my point of view, I think a lot of coaches after S is interested in his academic. Maybe this is the revenue, in this Athletic Recruited, parent should look into. We didn’t have any package send to the coach until last year Oct. we came to this forum very late. I wish I knew earlier. I will post some advice for late comer and non_recruitable player like S who recruited/promoted himself.</p>
<p>Don’t see a lot post here.</p>
<p>Sorry maybe the case I put has sense of bragging my S. Be honesty I am very bothered of him giving up his sport because money saving or his pride that he does not want to beg coach therefore he chooses a full ride . I don’t know which one but I really like to know other people opinion.</p>
<p>You don’t seem to be bragging at all to me, SoccerDad - just a concerned Dad. </p>
<p>Every family’s situation and each student’s desires are so different that it’s hard to give advice. If your S has his heart set on playing Varsity soccer and you can afford the price differential, then maybe School B is a good option. On the other hand, if S isn’t crushed by not playing, or possibly has the option of playing at the club level at School A, then maybe that’s the better option. Or very possibly, the best option may be among the schools you haven’t heard from yet. </p>
<p>I’d give it a little more time and see what additional news you get. Be clear with your son about what’s feasible for you financially and then let him make the choice that’s right for him. He’s lucky to have an involved, caring Dad and I’m sure he’ll make the right choice!</p>
<p>Once you have all offers in hand - acceptances, financial aid packages, etc. I would go back to the schools and see who is on their recruited list for next season and their positions. I would also be checking/comparing previous year’s rosters to see how many kids stay on etc. Do they have a JV team? Would most new recruits be expected to put in a year of JV or do many freshman have places on Varsity rosters.</p>
<p>Let me just say that my son picked the school for the school. However, he was led to believe that there was plenty of opportunity to walk on and in the past that may have been true. However, with limited movement in his position due to graduation and a hefty recruited class, the odds went down considerably that he would play. I know he loves the school, but I would be lying if I didn’t admit that he misses playing a sport considerably. Now, part of me knows full well he will find other, more substantial, passions, but at this point… he misses it. So… asking a lot of questions of the coach and determining how important playing or not playing is to your son… only then can you make a good decision. But really really listen to what they say and don’t just assume anything.</p>
<p>Sigh. Following this thread for my HS class of 2011 son. Money would be nice, but he needs to PLAY!</p>
<p>I agree with Modadunn about seeing what all options are in the next few weeks. For what is in the picture now, School B sounds like a good choice if the $ is not a problem and he really wants to be able to play varsity soccer. My son will be playing soccer at a top NESCAC school and he had other D3 options at fine LACs where he liked the coaches and team a lot and would have received generous merit aid, but we let him apply ED II to his top choice and it will cost us more but it’s a great all-around opportunity for him. If your son is used to playing sports at a high level and the college he chooses is small and has a large percentage of the student body playing a varsity sport, he should consider how he would feel if he isn’t one of them before picking a school at which soccer isn’t an option. We thought about this because our son probably would not have been as happy, but the top athletic LACs also have JV soccer (some do) or multi-level intramural. Good luck to your son!</p>
<p>Thanks all the posts.</p>
<p>As my heading stated “Talk to coach”, next few weeks by Apr. 1 S will receive either YES/NO letters from a lot of schools. Is any point to talk to coaches show that you are interested in soccer program even though you had contacted them before but no response? S filled out forms, sent transcripts, videos, emails, follow up emails and still interested emails in March in case there is some players did not make ED so he is willing take his spot.</p>
<p>So do or don’t talk to the coach???</p>
<p>Of course there is no point to send an email to ivies.</p>
<p>SoccerDad, are you speaking of schools your son has applied to, has contacted the coach, and has had no response? It would be too late to apply NOW to Ivies and selective DIIIs, as you say. If your son has applications out at schools where the coach still hasn’t gotten back to him, and you think it might be a match, you lose nothing by sending an email update: fall semester grades, new scores, any soccer news, although it sounds like he didn’t have much of a season.</p>
<p>Best wishes.</p>
<p>I was talking about schools S applied and if got admitted next two weeks. Some coaches from those schools did not response at all or just replied “we see”. Will you see the point to contact coaches again to let coaches know if there is a walk-on spot if he decide to come. I think playing soccer is one of factors he choose the school maybe. Thank all.</p>
<p>So none of the coaches at the schools you are waiting to hear from have indicated they want your son to play soccer? It seems like you will hear from everyone by the end of March, and then have the month of April to figure this out. I would contact the coach at every school he gets in to and explore the possibility of playing. Do you think he might lose the chance to start at school B if you wait too long to respond? It didn’t sound like it…</p>
<p>All B schools he applied were in RD so I assumed that they should give us some time to think. He went to visit the school and team and had a wonderful time with them. At the mean time he got two schools offering scholarship and FA with soccer program but I don’t know the detail because he doesn’t want to go there. Keep me at dark so I don’t pressure him to go there if it is a finical safety school.</p>
<p>OK, that makes sense! He’s the one who should be making the final decision, as long as you can afford the choice he makes, and agree that the academic part will give him a strong enough degree to apply successfully to medical school.</p>
<p>SoccerDad, I’m concerned that these college coaches don’t seem to be responding. My experiences on the girls’ side are that most D3 schools, not necessarily the top ones though, show interest in players with solid experience, not just the “elite players”. I would suggest asking your son’s club coach and / or high school coach for their honest assessment of his ability to play at the collegiate level. That should give you a sense of how much to weigh the opportunity to play soccer, versus the cost. If his current coaches are positive, I absolutely would contact the college coaches and ask them directly for their assessment, and make clear the opportunity to play is an important factor in your decision.</p>
<p>One more little piece of advice that I might also add… check with the teams and coaches to see how many science majors there are that play the sport. That was the one other thing that we discovered… not many biochem and molecular bio majors were on the roster probably due to lab requirements etc and missing so many of them because of when the majority are scheduled (especially for lower level classes) which run into practice time and surely game time except on weekends. Just saying… if you are a science kid, it’s definitely worth asking about. Getting the answer, “it can be done” is probably not all that great of an answer vs. one that says something like a certain percentage (solid number) of players are pre-med.</p>
<p>ThanksToJack,
“I absolutely would contact the college coaches and ask them directly for their assessment, and make clear the opportunity to play is an important factor in your decision.”</p>
<p>I am afraid to use this as a trump card that makes coach felt I am threatening him. </p>
<p>As assessment: I think the HS coach put him in varsity is to help his resume but is not going to play him. He got a ton of starters at the rosters. Now his team is marching to play-offs. Club coach play him all games entire reason in 22 rosters in D1. S attended highly regard recruited camps at east coast got a descent review for playing D3 team. Again there were no coach saw him real play at the field except one from the camps. All coaches made the decision based on video and resume we sent. I think coaches saw him play as a supporting role that made controlling pace of game or ball, timing of charge/discharge and assist. Not much speed and attack actions will be noted by coaches. So it is a hard to sell item but some coaches like it and some don’t. Coaches are more impressed his academic achievement than athletic that make him shine I think. </p>
<p>Modadunn, good points about lab.</p>
<p>So should I play a trump card or not?</p>
<p>I don’t think it’s a trump card at all. After acceptance, it is only fair to ask the harder questions especially if you aren’t a recruited athlete. Like i said, my son knew it was going to be harder to walk on to the school he choose vs some of the others. Had it been really really important for him to play, he probably should have gone to a school that didn’t have only one graduating senior and five recruited athletes in his position (at least two of whom had completed a PG year specifically for recruitment purposes which was our mistake since he failed to ask directly about). Still… while it has been an adjustment to go from a 3-sport athlete to a no-sport athlete, he is still loving the school. In the end, he will not be a professional athlete and that was never his intent. It’s disappointing, but he has definitely explored some other interests he never had the opportunity to explore in HS mostly due to the time commitment of sports! He loves his classes, his professors and his friends. Do not pick a school based on a coach or a team, those things can change in a heart beat. I honestly believe that our son is in a place that is right for him. You have to really have to see the whole picture and you are only going to get that if you ask the hard questions. Remember again… once he is accepted, the ball is in the student’s hands on whether or not to attend.</p>