<also, do="" college="" coaches="" call="" you="" and="" ask="" about="" your="" players?=""> Only one coach called my D’s club coach to ask any questions. I think most of the college coaches saw enough of D at tournaments, elite camps and at OV’s. </also,>
@bigtenbb, No, she didn’t have any problems with it. It was just that the thrills of spring senior year are not always sustained for four or five years in every situation, and not everything worked out for some of her old teammates. (Funny though, there were three girls from her team in the D3 tournament this fall and her team was a game away, so most of them are having fun at this point.)
In my DD’s case she chose D3 over D2 for a few reasons. D2 is a lot more like D1 than D3 in terms of time, effort and general claims on your life. She wanted to study abroad, be free to stay with a science degree, participate in some musical groups on campus, have a job, screw around in summer and all those other things that can be so hard when playing 20-40 hours a week most of the year. Her aunt was a Big10 athlete and really drove home the scale of the compromises that would be needed to succeed. Another huge concern was the big gap between D1 and D3 academics and the vast majority of D2 schools. She’s an excellent student and the places she was looking for her sport were pretty soft in the classroom. Finally she suffered a serious concussion at the end of her fall season senior year and missed the playoffs, a month and a half of club season, and almost three months of school. It wasn’t her first concussion either, and since the next one will likely spell the end of her career she wanted to be at a place where she could exist without playing. The fact that she might be behind someone ona depth chart was not a major concern compared to these more central issues (and honestly the scholarship money wasn’t going to be a big deal since D2 is an equivalency sport and the schools are cheap anyway.)
One other thing that happened in DD’s hunt didn’t actually occur after her freshman season. The school she eventually didn’t choose, a D3 that was clearly behind her first choice in all respects except a coach she loved, well you can see this one coming already: that coach left the year after recruiting her. She came this close to picking a school solely for a coach who would only have been there one year, leaving her standing in the wrong place with a sack full of compromises. (Although honestly, to @SwimDad99’s point above, she’d have made a fine home at that school as well. But her current school is a much better fit. There are no perfect schools, but there are better ones.)
Preach it brother! Very well said @SwimDad99
My daughter looked at 3 or 4 schools where the coaches have left after recruiting her. One school would have been a full ride, loved the coach but didn’t like the tiny town, tiny school, or lack of an engineering program (and no, we didn’t consider the 3+2 to be a viable option) so she dropped it from the list. It was sad because she did really like the coach. The coach left the following year (right before my daughter would have started), named the asst coach as interim head coach, he lasted about 2 months, and then they named another head coach. The school needs this sport because it is a D1 school and they need women’s sports to offset the football team. And the team was fully funded.
I think spending some time on the school’s webpage is time well spent. How any transfers, in or out? How much/far does the team travel (because travel can be very hard on the student). Does the team have seniors? (our arch rivals has about 15 freshmen every year, but last year only had 5 seniors after winning the national championship).
I’ve seen you make that same point many times and very effectively!
Great advice on this thread! My D19 is looking mostly at D 3 schools, and there is a strong correlation between the strength of the team and quality of the academics. Problem is that she is a good student but better athlete, and we need her to qualify for some merit aid, but don’t want her to be bored by the team. (I know, I know. … in D 3 we should go for academic fit above all else!)
I think her sport could get her accepted at a better school, but does anyone have experience getting “leadership “ type awards based on athletic participation?
I have read threads that say that leadership merit awards do happen. Mostly, I suspect the academics are strong as well. For D3, I think Washington University St. Louis has numerous merit awards though there are essays to write. NESCACs won’t have merit awards. If there is financial need, many more schools including NESCACs may have scholarships.
@SwimDad99, well the definition of a wise man is someone who agrees with you. So I guess we are both pretty wise!
I’d have to say that my DDs main coaches-the ones who knew her by name and had seen her on multiple occasions, and who had been answering her emails at least sporadically all told her when their needs were met. The upsetting one was the offer that was pulled after months of hot pursuit by the coach, but not until my DD travelled to a camp expressly to commit, and was pulled when she said"I’m ready to commit". How she could keep on playing after that, I don’t know. But she came back day 2 ready for revenge , I guess, and put in a first class performance . I was so proud of her.