Percentage of D2 and D3 student-athletes who quit college sport after freshman year?

[Anonymous]

Does this data exist?

[Anonymous]

That would be very hard data to collect. Surveys, maybe?

D2 athletes get scholarships you know. Less likely to walk away.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That would be very hard data to collect. Surveys, maybe?

D2 athletes get scholarships you know. Less likely to walk away.

I would think that would be pretty easy, because NCAA already has rosters that list class years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That would be very hard data to collect. Surveys, maybe?

D2 athletes get scholarships you know. Less likely to walk away.

Rarely full rides though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That would be very hard data to collect. Surveys, maybe?

D2 athletes get scholarships you know. Less likely to walk away.

Rarely full rides though.

Duh. It’s still money.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That would be very hard data to collect. Surveys, maybe?

D2 athletes get scholarships you know. Less likely to walk away.

Rarely full rides though.

Duh. It’s still money.

Often not that much. And often not enough to account for out of state/private tuition vs in state.

[Anonymous]

I would ask D3 and ivies. Recruited Ivy athletes don’t have scholarships and their commitment to a team isn’t binding after admission. I would guess 20% of recruited* athletes I know at ivies disappear from their sport after freshman year. I know a coach at an Ivy and it makes his job really complicated- every year he gets 1-3 slots for his athletes. When he has recruited athletes quit, that reduces his slots with Admissions for the next year. Anticipating who wants to stay with a hard, tiring sport and a demanding course load vs. who is using it as a side door to an elite university is not easy.

*using “recruited” in the Ivy way- they don’t sign NLI but rather commit to the admissions process with a school with the understanding that they will get a likely letter and go through the preferred admission process

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would ask D3 and ivies. Recruited Ivy athletes don’t have scholarships and their commitment to a team isn’t binding after admission. I would guess 20% of recruited* athletes I know at ivies disappear from their sport after freshman year. I know a coach at an Ivy and it makes his job really complicated- every year he gets 1-3 slots for his athletes. When he has recruited athletes quit, that reduces his slots with Admissions for the next year. Anticipating who wants to stay with a hard, tiring sport and a demanding course load vs. who is using it as a side door to an elite university is not easy.

*using “recruited” in the Ivy way- they don’t sign NLI but rather commit to the admissions process with a school with the understanding that they will get a likely letter and go through the preferred admission process

My son and his cousin were talking about playing their sports in college - they are rising juniors. Both are starting the recruiting process. My son can’t imagine not playing, and was flabbergasted to hear his cousin say matter of factly that he intended to use his sport to get into a more prestigious school then he could get into if he wasn’t a recruited athlete, and then quit freshman year.

I realize kids get to college and then decide they can’t handle the time commitment, or decide they want something different. That’s fine. I was a 4 year college athlete, and I understand. But what my nephew is planning is a little icky. Hate the game, not the player, I know, but still.

[Anonymous]

Keep in mind that some of the people who "quit" did so because they got injured. Friend of mine has a DS who had to quit his D3 sport due to injury. This was very traumatic as a lot of his identity was invested in being an athlete.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would ask D3 and ivies. Recruited Ivy athletes don’t have scholarships and their commitment to a team isn’t binding after admission. I would guess 20% of recruited* athletes I know at ivies disappear from their sport after freshman year. I know a coach at an Ivy and it makes his job really complicated- every year he gets 1-3 slots for his athletes. When he has recruited athletes quit, that reduces his slots with Admissions for the next year. Anticipating who wants to stay with a hard, tiring sport and a demanding course load vs. who is using it as a side door to an elite university is not easy.

*using “recruited” in the Ivy way- they don’t sign NLI but rather commit to the admissions process with a school with the understanding that they will get a likely letter and go through the preferred admission process

My son and his cousin were talking about playing their sports in college - they are rising juniors. Both are starting the recruiting process. My son can’t imagine not playing, and was flabbergasted to hear his cousin say matter of factly that he intended to use his sport to get into a more prestigious school then he could get into if he wasn’t a recruited athlete, and then quit freshman year.

I realize kids get to college and then decide they can’t handle the time commitment, or decide they want something different. That’s fine. I was a 4 year college athlete, and I understand. But what my nephew is planning is a little icky. Hate the game, not the player, I know, but still.

That’s just the beginning of ick. Your nephew is playing the game and would be in good company with my DH’s teammates who bailed at Princeton in week 2 of their sport. They learned from family and prep school how to play the game from Day 1 and applied similar strategies for banking jobs, house hunts, etc.

[Anonymous]

Obviously differs but, in general, unless the scholarship is significant - about half of the kids quit before their Junior year.

The big reasons are pretty understandable. Playing a sport takes a huge amount of time -- even at a D3. Huge. And yes it is year-round in terms of training; again even at D3 where the coaches cannot be directly involved most of the time out-of-season. You have to do it because you are having fun, and if you are not playing much; and unlikely to play much in the future; then you quit.

A quick way to tell for any school and any sport you are looking at. Go to the school's athletic website for the team. Look at the roster and start going back a few years. Yes covid factors in But, you will pretty easily see the attrition.
The thing really is -- classes get tougher as you get further along, and if you are not playing, much or at all, then it gets hard to find the benefit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I realize kids get to college and then decide they can’t handle the time commitment, or decide they want something different. That’s fine. I was a 4 year college athlete, and I understand. But what my nephew is planning is a little icky. Hate the game, not the player, I know, but still.

It is also almost impossible to play sports at a D1 school and major in STEM at the same time. My DS tried to major in Computer Engineering along with D1 but he failed badly, and his GPA was around 2.5 after his sophomore year. He changed his major to economics and did somewhat better. Fortunately, one of his teammate's fathers got him a high paying job after graduation in finance. My DD also played D1 sport and studied pre-med (biology) and she quit after one semester to focus on academics. It wasn't possible for her to do both. The scholarship amount that both DD gave up wasn't much, around 10%.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I realize kids get to college and then decide they can’t handle the time commitment, or decide they want something different. That’s fine. I was a 4 year college athlete, and I understand. But what my nephew is planning is a little icky. Hate the game, not the player, I know, but still.

It is also almost impossible to play sports at a D1 school and major in STEM at the same time. My DS tried to major in Computer Engineering along with D1 but he failed badly, and his GPA was around 2.5 after his sophomore year. He changed his major to economics and did somewhat better. Fortunately, one of his teammate's fathers got him a high paying job after graduation in finance. My DD also played D1 sport and studied pre-med (biology) and she quit after one semester to focus on academics. It wasn't possible for her to do both. The scholarship amount that both DD gave up wasn't much, around 10%.

Also architecture and nursing are almost impossible as well

[Anonymous]

My freshman roommate was crew and quickly quit. My husband’s roommate at a different college was a basketball player who quit after his freshman year season because he started smoking pot and got lazy. Sporty kids tend to have their schedules controlled by their parents, so once they get a taste of freedom, the early morning practices and weekends away on road trips seem pointless. And with nobody to boss them around, they do what they want: Get a boyfriend or girlfriend, sleep in, and party. And it’s likely there were more fans at their high school events than their college events. You’re also typically going to be one of the worst on the team as a college freshman, while a few months ago they were likely the best on their high school team. That alone strips all the fun from the sport.

[Anonymous]

go to the school you are interested in and look at their roster form 4 years ago and then look at it each year since. Also you don't know if they transferred or just left the sport

It also happens in division 1