Varsity Sport vs. Academics??

Athletic Recruits
1

<p>My son plays a sport that is very low-profile, and as such does not have many opportunities for recruitment at the college level. In fact, to my knowledge, there are only about 6 colleges offering his sport at the varsity level (many more at the club level). All 6 are either Division 1 or 2 or NAIA, and they do offer scholarships. We are low-ish income (~ $40,000), so financial aid is very important to us and athletic scholarship money would be a big help.</p>

<p>My son is ranked top-10 nationally in his sport, and has trained at the Olympic training center, etc., so would likely be in a position to get at least a partial scholarship from one of those schools.</p>

<p>So, here is my question - none of the schools offering money in his sport are schools he would consider at all if not for the sport. He has a 3.9 uw / 4.4 w with a likely 31/32 + ACT based on practice tests (he takes the real thing Feb. 6). The avg. GPA / ACT at the schools mentioned above is like 2.9 - 3.0 / 22. I'm not trying to sound elitist or anything at all, but is he committing grad school suicide by attending one of these "4th Tier" schools (according to USNWR rankings)?</p>

<p>The odds of being able to go pro in his sport are very slim, and he's too realistic to bank on anything like that. His ultimate intention is to go to medical school. Given that, should I encourage his efforts to be recruited by these schools, or should I try to steer him towards a school that will benefit him more academically? We have not had any conversations with these schools about med-school admission rates, etc., as my son is a junior, but intend to during some upcoming visits.</p>

<p>From my standpoint, am I wrong to feel like he's "settling" for these schools when he could go to a much "better" school if not for his sport? Or am I just caught up in the whole CC prestige thing and any school he chooses will be fine? Prior to his gaining national level status in his sports, Duke and Vanderbilt were the top 2 schools on his list. Now he doesn't even plan to apply since they don't have his sport.....aagghh.</p>

<p>Someone put my mind at ease, please......</p>

2

<p>My friends whose kids chose schools based on sports all reported that the sports took up too much of their time-- division 2-3 seems to be about the same time commitment as it was in high school. With your income, your family should qualify for lots of aid-- I thought if your income was under 50k you qualify for the max. I would contact FAFSA by phone and check this out-- The sport will not pay the bills in the future-- unless it is a popular one in Europe-- what sport is it actually? My d plans to continue at the D3 level at her college-- but we agreed that if it interfered with her studies, she would stop. Hope something here helps</p>

3

<p>The ideal situation for your son would be if the sport were offered at Stanford or one of the Ivy League schools that’s very generous with need-based aid. It might get him admitted to what would otherwise be an unlikely reach, and several of these schools are free to those with income under 60k.</p>

<p>It sounds like the ideal may not exist, given your report of the average GPA and test scores. In that case, I think you’re absolutely justified in being concerned about your son settling for less, academically speaking. Some of those places might have a good honors program, so check on that. But if not, I think he should aim higher (maybe where the sport is a club sport) in order to prepare for med school. And just to have a more compatible cohort of fellow students - I’ve talked to kids who have gone to college with far less motivated students, and they’ve not been happy.</p>

4

<p>The sport is cycling, which is in fact very popular in Europe but not so much here. The current #1 school in the nation for cycling is Lees-McRae, which is a small LAC in western North Carolina. I am sure it’s a perfectly fine school - just not one that would be on my son’s radar if not for cycling. We are going to go to an open house there, and a couple other cycling schools (King and Cumberland in TN) and ask about med-school admit rates, etc.</p>

<p>As far as time commitments - he spends 25-30 hours per week now on cycling, so I can’t imagine a school team eating up considerably more than that. </p>

<p>All the Ivy League schools have club cycling,and it seems to be fairly popular. However, Dartmouth is the only school whose club cycling team claims to be able to help with admissions…who knows, but it might be worth looking into, if they have similar financial aid as Stanford/Harvard.</p>

<p>Checking out the honors programs is a good idea, Faux…we’ll do that!</p>

5

<p>Definitely look into Dartmouth if the cycling can help him - and if he is a good fit, I have no doubt that appropriate financial aid would be made available. That would be the best of everything for him, from the sounds of it: top education from prestigious school, plus his cycling can be a component!</p>

6

<p>I would DEFINITELY show my interest to Dartmouth. Not only is it a great school with fabulous med school admission statistics, but it is a school that doesn’t require loans as part of it’s financial aid. Their Rugby team is also club but recruits as well.</p>

<p>I would have your son contact the coach as soon as possible (since most of this year’s recruiting is complete and rest in admissions hands at this point). He will have to take SAT subject tests, but if he does reasonably well and is as good at his sport as you say, i think he’d have a real shot at the school. My advice is to start talking to the coach now.</p>

7

<p>There’s a kid from our area who cycles at Dartmouth. I have no idea if he got a tip in admission, but I heard the team played a big part in his decision to apply early there. Dartmouth also has an excellent medical school, so that might present interesting opportunities. Plus, what parent wouldn’t love to visit a student in Hanover? It’s a perfect little town!</p>

8

<p>Be careful about assuming to much…even the six schools that offer cycling scholarships might not have much money to throw around. The coach may have only one scholarship to split between multiple team members, so your net reduction in costs could be very small.</p>

<p>My vote is to look at the best academic “fits” and use cycling as one of the criteria to choose among schools.</p>

9

<p>The Ivy league offers absolutely no athletic money to any athlete regardless of talent, etc. There is also no merit scholarship for great grades either. So while the aid is need based only, they have a very good program in place and I think if a student athlete qualifies for Aid, they might do much better than any kind of scholarship enticements from another school. PLUS… if a student should decide (or become injured) to not compete, aid based on need would not disappear (given that your income didn’t change) whereas if you are a DI athlete on scholarship for your sport, if you don’t play or get hurt, you lose that money. If the school has horrible financial aid, you could very well be forced out completely.</p>

<p>In fact, it might be MORE attractive for the kid who actually is in need of financial aid because he brings something to the table beyond his own academic goals as a contributing athlete. I know there are some complaints and debates on other threads about how athletics is a “waste” and these kids get in over perfect academic candidates, but it is my contention that a school is building a community and someone who is directly contributing to that (vs the academic brainiac who never leaves the library) has an advantage because it’s a win/win for the college or university.</p>

10

<p>As cycling will not be his ultimate career, I would focus first on an academic fit and then add in the cycling fit. And I believe I can say that with a little experience.</p>

<p>One of my kiddos was in a similar situation. Headed off to college, she had about the same academic resume as your son. However, she was looking for the best BFA dance program for her and that turned out to be at a university with an academic profile similar to the one you mentioned. We toured and talked quite a bit about the academic opportunities for her. They stressed that because the university was so small, they could tailor the honors program to the students’ interests, needs, and acumen. Sounded pretty good, but as parents we were a bit hesitant, but hope sprung eternal.</p>

<p>Now in her sophomore year, she (and we) are still waiting for that personalized, challenging touch to kick in. As a BFA major, she has 15 of the 17 credit hours allowed without tuition increase absorbed by her dance classes. As BFA students, they did get the administration to permit them two additional credit hours/semesters as part of their tuition (so no added tuition fee for 19 credit hours). However, there is very little challenging about the academic courses she takes. Her fellow students (outside the BFA students) do not seem particularly motivated, curious, nor intellectually adept. Several of the courses she has been required to take (pursuant to University core requirements) are nothing more than remedial courses that she mastered way back in middle school or early high school. Her frustration at the lack of intellectual challenge is painful for us. The student body itself is very uninteresting to her.</p>

<p>The only reason she remains at this school is because the dance program is truly the right fit for her. But if her intent were not to become a professional dancer, there is no way she would stay there. As it is, we worry that when the time comes for a graduate degree, she will have much to fill in–even those courses she’s actually taken for her chosen minor. She has friends at other universities (which are more in keeping with where she would have gone but for the BFA aspect) and it is almost like her courses are high school level in comparison. We doubt that many of her academic courses would actually transfer if she decided to abandon the BFA at this point.</p>

<p>The school’s tuition is right up with the top tier schools, but has no where near the credentials. At least her high school academic resume qualified her for a more than generous merit scholarship, so the expense of her tuition is relatively reasonable.</p>

<p>So, given your son’s acumen and aspirations, I would suggest focusing first on going with an academic fit. I would venture to say that not only would he be bored and antsy intellectually at the ‘fourth tier’ school, he really wouldn’t be as prepared as he might be for med school, etc.</p>

11

<p>Isn’t cycling, especially at your son’s level, able to be done outside of the college arena through sponsorships that pay for training? Can your son apply at the top tier colleges and then defer admission to take a gap year while he develops his talent? Or, has he considered attending a CC part time and working on his bid to become an Olympian that way? One of my kids was a division I athlete at a top school but got hurt and never competed beyond freshman year. The only saving grace throughout all of the pain (physical and mental) that followed the injury and surgeries was that he had chosen a school he loved. Kids should choose a college they would be thrilled to attend even if they never play a minute of their sport. On the other hand, if your kid likes these lower tier schools, I wouldn’t worry about grad school acceptance rates just yet. Grad schools and employers know that athletes of your son’s caliber are motivated individuals who know how to work hard and they tend to get a lot of credit for that.</p>