Schools with Rigorous Academics and Big Sports Culture

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These schools do not have a big sports culture -

Northwestern
Vanderbilt
UCLA
Cal
Stanford
Duke
UNC

Rallying around one sport like Duke and UNC does not qualify as a big sports culture. Northwestern and Vanderbilt are solely in their conferences so their commissioners can say they care are about academics. The Pac-12 is the conference of champions of sports nobody cares about or actually watches. Pac-12 has not been relevant in major sports in years.

As if splitting hairs on academic reputation wasn't bad enough ....

I just love the list people are throwing out there, I mean like any of those schools are a slam dunk...Hold my beer I'm going to Stanford or Duke today...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Florida and MI. It is not even close.

The next tier would be Texas, ND

Vandy, UVA, USC, Berkeley, Northwestern, Duke, and Stanford disqualified for not being big sport schools. Not even remotely big sport schools.

Sorry. Again, the OP said "rigorous" schools. ND has all of these beat and was in top 10 football rankings. Not second tier by any means.

And your head coach still left for a better opportunity at LSU.

LOL, yes, where players are recruited as long as they can sign their name...no academic requirements. Makes Kelly's job easier.

So not that different.

Umm...OK? Maybe lay off the next glass of wine...it's a work night.

In Kelly’s conversation with Sports Illustrated, Notre Dame’s head coach pegged the average GPA of his incoming freshman class at 2.8 with a score of 24 on the ACT.

So true! The dormers actually believe they get smarter athletes than other schools. ND will take the best players available more times than not. That they brag about how high the GPA is of their players is a testament to how easy it is to get a high grade at the school. 2.8 high school students with 24 ACT scores don’t suddenly score 3.4 GPA’s in college. Remember this scandal a few years ago?:

https://nypost.com/2016/11/22/notre-dame-football-punished-for-cheating-scandal/

Academic cheating. I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re still at it.

Oh come on, you can't do better than an article from 2016? LOL

6 years ago isn’t ancient history. ND devotees are under the delusion that their program is smarter than everyone else’s. You don’t have a top football program year after year by recruiting “smart” athletes. That they have a fairly recent history of cheating and getting caught only proves that it’s been probably been going on there for many years. Their bragging about having high GPA scores rings hollow with me. Northwestern, on the other hand, is totally believable. Football brought Notre Dane fame and helped to upgrade its profile. Nothing wrong with that, as long as you don’t cheat to get there.

Show me something that is not 6 years ago and I will consider changing my mindset. ND does have one the smartest strong football programs. You cannot deny that or even try to compare to a school like LSU. Come on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Florida and MI. It is not even close.

The next tier would be Texas, ND

Vandy, UVA, USC, Berkeley, Northwestern, Duke, and Stanford disqualified for not being big sport schools. Not even remotely big sport schools.

Sorry. Again, the OP said "rigorous" schools. ND has all of these beat and was in top 10 football rankings. Not second tier by any means.

And your head coach still left for a better opportunity at LSU.

LOL, yes, where players are recruited as long as they can sign their name...no academic requirements. Makes Kelly's job easier.

So not that different.

Umm...OK? Maybe lay off the next glass of wine...it's a work night.

In Kelly’s conversation with Sports Illustrated, Notre Dame’s head coach pegged the average GPA of his incoming freshman class at 2.8 with a score of 24 on the ACT.

So true! The dormers actually believe they get smarter athletes than other schools. ND will take the best players available more times than not. That they brag about how high the GPA is of their players is a testament to how easy it is to get a high grade at the school. 2.8 high school students with 24 ACT scores don’t suddenly score 3.4 GPA’s in college. Remember this scandal a few years ago?:

https://nypost.com/2016/11/22/notre-dame-football-punished-for-cheating-scandal/

Academic cheating. I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re still at it.

Oh come on, you can't do better than an article from 2016? LOL

6 years ago isn’t ancient history. ND devotees are under the delusion that their program is smarter than everyone else’s. You don’t have a top football program year after year by recruiting “smart” athletes. That they have a fairly recent history of cheating and getting caught only proves that it’s been probably been going on there for many years. Their bragging about having high GPA scores rings hollow with me. Northwestern, on the other hand, is totally believable. Football brought Notre Dane fame and helped to upgrade its profile. Nothing wrong with that, as long as you don’t cheat to get there.

Show me something that is not 6 years ago and I will consider changing my mindset. ND does have one the smartest strong football programs. You cannot deny that or even try to compare to a school like LSU. Come on.

Do you have anything more recent showing higher standard for incoming players?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:These schools do not have a big sports culture -

Northwestern
Vanderbilt
UCLA
Cal
Stanford
Duke
UNC

Rallying around one sport like Duke and UNC does not qualify as a big sports culture. Northwestern and Vanderbilt are solely in their conferences so their commissioners can say they care are about academics. The Pac-12 is the conference of champions of sports nobody cares about or actually watches. Pac-12 has not been relevant in major sports in years.

Most schools only rally around 1 sport. A few rally around 2. Even at great sports school, no one is tailgating a field hockey game. When people talk about sports culture, they are talking about football and basketball.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These schools do not have a big sports culture -

Northwestern
Vanderbilt
UCLA
Cal
Stanford
Duke
UNC

Rallying around one sport like Duke and UNC does not qualify as a big sports culture. Northwestern and Vanderbilt are solely in their conferences so their commissioners can say they care are about academics. The Pac-12 is the conference of champions of sports nobody cares about or actually watches. Pac-12 has not been relevant in major sports in years.

Most schools only rally around 1 sport. A few rally around 2. Even at great sports school, no one is tailgating a field hockey game. When people talk about sports culture, they are talking about football and basketball.

OP here. Yes, I agree. Ususally there's a flagship sport like basketball or football. Like Duke basketball, Michigan football etc. In an ideal world, she definitely wants that, so recommendations of other (less obvious) schools that have a flagship sport like that would be great.

But beyond that, it's not even remotely about the football team's GPA. (Good lord, people )

It's about the overall student body. Our guess is that she'd be happiest at a school that attracts the scholar/athlete types ... the smart jocks ... the kids who were high-calibur HS athlete types in their various sports but who chose the school for its academics rather than prioritizing a school where they could make the team.

So while they might not all over to the field to watch their D1 college lacrosse hockey or soccer team play on a random Tuesday, it's a place where tons of kids share that intense athletic orientation and might be playing high-level club lacrosse or soccer more than once a week.

Finally, we get that every school is diverse and has a mix of all types of students. But on average, some schools have strong personalities cultures one way or another. FWIW, I think she'd be the worst fit ever for an Oberlin/Wesleyan type school. Would she gret a great education there? Absolutely. Would she eventually find "her people"? Yes, of course. But she'd likely be swimming against the overall current, which is not what she wants to do.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Florida and MI. It is not even close.

The next tier would be Texas, ND

Vandy, UVA, USC, Berkeley, Northwestern, Duke, and Stanford disqualified for not being big sport schools. Not even remotely big sport schools.

Sorry. Again, the OP said "rigorous" schools. ND has all of these beat and was in top 10 football rankings. Not second tier by any means.

And your head coach still left for a better opportunity at LSU.

LOL, yes, where players are recruited as long as they can sign their name...no academic requirements. Makes Kelly's job easier.

So not that different.

Umm...OK? Maybe lay off the next glass of wine...it's a work night.

In Kelly’s conversation with Sports Illustrated, Notre Dame’s head coach pegged the average GPA of his incoming freshman class at 2.8 with a score of 24 on the ACT.

So true! The dormers actually believe they get smarter athletes than other schools. ND will take the best players available more times than not. That they brag about how high the GPA is of their players is a testament to how easy it is to get a high grade at the school. 2.8 high school students with 24 ACT scores don’t suddenly score 3.4 GPA’s in college. Remember this scandal a few years ago?:

https://nypost.com/2016/11/22/notre-dame-football-punished-for-cheating-scandal/

Academic cheating. I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re still at it.

Oh come on, you can't do better than an article from 2016? LOL

6 years ago isn’t ancient history. ND devotees are under the delusion that their program is smarter than everyone else’s. You don’t have a top football program year after year by recruiting “smart” athletes. That they have a fairly recent history of cheating and getting caught only proves that it’s been probably been going on there for many years. Their bragging about having high GPA scores rings hollow with me. Northwestern, on the other hand, is totally believable. Football brought Notre Dane fame and helped to upgrade its profile. Nothing wrong with that, as long as you don’t cheat to get there.

Show me something that is not 6 years ago and I will consider changing my mindset. ND does have one the smartest strong football programs. You cannot deny that or even try to compare to a school like LSU. Come on.

Is the delta between the academic qualifications of ND football players and ND non-athletic students less than it is for LSU? How would we even know?

[Anonymous]

Conservative SLAC. Hamilton.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These schools do not have a big sports culture -

Northwestern
Vanderbilt
UCLA
Cal
Stanford
Duke
UNC

Rallying around one sport like Duke and UNC does not qualify as a big sports culture. Northwestern and Vanderbilt are solely in their conferences so their commissioners can say they care are about academics. The Pac-12 is the conference of champions of sports nobody cares about or actually watches. Pac-12 has not been relevant in major sports in years.

Most schools only rally around 1 sport. A few rally around 2. Even at great sports school, no one is tailgating a field hockey game. When people talk about sports culture, they are talking about football and basketball.

OP here. Yes, I agree. Ususally there's a flagship sport like basketball or football. Like Duke basketball, Michigan football etc. In an ideal world, she definitely wants that, so recommendations of other (less obvious) schools that have a flagship sport like that would be great.

But beyond that, it's not even remotely about the football team's GPA. (Good lord, people )

It's about the overall student body. Our guess is that she'd be happiest at a school that attracts the scholar/athlete types ... the smart jocks ... the kids who were high-calibur HS athlete types in their various sports but who chose the school for its academics rather than prioritizing a school where they could make the team.

So while they might not all over to the field to watch their D1 college lacrosse hockey or soccer team play on a random Tuesday, it's a place where tons of kids share that intense athletic orientation and might be playing high-level club lacrosse or soccer more than once a week.

Finally, we get that every school is diverse and has a mix of all types of students. But on average, some schools have strong personalities cultures one way or another. FWIW, I think she'd be the worst fit ever for an Oberlin/Wesleyan type school. Would she gret a great education there? Absolutely. Would she eventually find "her people"? Yes, of course. But she'd likely be swimming against the overall current, which is not what she wants to do.)

Sounds like my kid. Recruited heavily for D3 and D2 schools but wanted a school that would offer a great education and the big sports and club options. They chose UVA and compete at the club level against Duke, UNCCH, Clemson etc. and are getting great educational opportunities with a lot of high quality motivated classmates. Also enjoyed FB, basketball and soccer seasons attending a lot of games. It's worth a look.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These schools do not have a big sports culture -

Northwestern
Vanderbilt
UCLA
Cal
Stanford
Duke
UNC

Rallying around one sport like Duke and UNC does not qualify as a big sports culture. Northwestern and Vanderbilt are solely in their conferences so their commissioners can say they care are about academics. The Pac-12 is the conference of champions of sports nobody cares about or actually watches. Pac-12 has not been relevant in major sports in years.

Most schools only rally around 1 sport. A few rally around 2. Even at great sports school, no one is tailgating a field hockey game. When people talk about sports culture, they are talking about football and basketball.

Michigan has three highly competitive flagship sports: football, basketball, and ice hockey.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These schools do not have a big sports culture -

Northwestern
Vanderbilt
UCLA
Cal
Stanford
Duke
UNC

Rallying around one sport like Duke and UNC does not qualify as a big sports culture. Northwestern and Vanderbilt are solely in their conferences so their commissioners can say they care are about academics. The Pac-12 is the conference of champions of sports nobody cares about or actually watches. Pac-12 has not been relevant in major sports in years.

Most schools only rally around 1 sport. A few rally around 2. Even at great sports school, no one is tailgating a field hockey game. When people talk about sports culture, they are talking about football and basketball.

OP here. Yes, I agree. Ususally there's a flagship sport like basketball or football. Like Duke basketball, Michigan football etc. In an ideal world, she definitely wants that, so recommendations of other (less obvious) schools that have a flagship sport like that would be great.

But beyond that, it's not even remotely about the football team's GPA. (Good lord, people )

It's about the overall student body. Our guess is that she'd be happiest at a school that attracts the scholar/athlete types ... the smart jocks ... the kids who were high-calibur HS athlete types in their various sports but who chose the school for its academics rather than prioritizing a school where they could make the team.

So while they might not all over to the field to watch their D1 college lacrosse hockey or soccer team play on a random Tuesday, it's a place where tons of kids share that intense athletic orientation and might be playing high-level club lacrosse or soccer more than once a week.

Finally, we get that every school is diverse and has a mix of all types of students. But on average, some schools have strong personalities cultures one way or another. FWIW, I think she'd be the worst fit ever for an Oberlin/Wesleyan type school. Would she gret a great education there? Absolutely. Would she eventually find "her people"? Yes, of course. But she'd likely be swimming against the overall current, which is not what she wants to do.)

Sounds like my kid. Recruited heavily for D3 and D2 schools but wanted a school that would offer a great education and the big sports and club options. They chose UVA and compete at the club level against Duke, UNCCH, Clemson etc. and are getting great educational opportunities with a lot of high quality motivated classmates. Also enjoyed FB, basketball and soccer seasons attending a lot of games. It's worth a look.

Thank you!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Florida and MI. It is not even close.

The next tier would be Texas, ND

Vandy, UVA, USC, Berkeley, Northwestern, Duke, and Stanford disqualified for not being big sport schools. Not even remotely big sport schools.

Sorry. Again, the OP said "rigorous" schools. ND has all of these beat and was in top 10 football rankings. Not second tier by any means.

And your head coach still left for a better opportunity at LSU.

LOL, yes, where players are recruited as long as they can sign their name...no academic requirements. Makes Kelly's job easier.

So not that different.

Umm...OK? Maybe lay off the next glass of wine...it's a work night.

In Kelly’s conversation with Sports Illustrated, Notre Dame’s head coach pegged the average GPA of his incoming freshman class at 2.8 with a score of 24 on the ACT.

So true! The dormers actually believe they get smarter athletes than other schools. ND will take the best players available more times than not. That they brag about how high the GPA is of their players is a testament to how easy it is to get a high grade at the school. 2.8 high school students with 24 ACT scores don’t suddenly score 3.4 GPA’s in college. Remember this scandal a few years ago?:

https://nypost.com/2016/11/22/notre-dame-football-punished-for-cheating-scandal/

Academic cheating. I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re still at it.

Oh come on, you can't do better than an article from 2016? LOL

6 years ago isn’t ancient history. ND devotees are under the delusion that their program is smarter than everyone else’s. You don’t have a top football program year after year by recruiting “smart” athletes. That they have a fairly recent history of cheating and getting caught only proves that it’s been probably been going on there for many years. Their bragging about having high GPA scores rings hollow with me. Northwestern, on the other hand, is totally believable. Football brought Notre Dane fame and helped to upgrade its profile. Nothing wrong with that, as long as you don’t cheat to get there.

Show me something that is not 6 years ago and I will consider changing my mindset. ND does have one the smartest strong football programs. You cannot deny that or even try to compare to a school like LSU. Come on.

Is the delta between the academic qualifications of ND football players and ND non-athletic students less than it is for LSU? How would we even know?

WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE? Let it go or start a new thread.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These schools do not have a big sports culture -

Northwestern
Vanderbilt
UCLA
Cal
Stanford
Duke
UNC

Rallying around one sport like Duke and UNC does not qualify as a big sports culture. Northwestern and Vanderbilt are solely in their conferences so their commissioners can say they care are about academics. The Pac-12 is the conference of champions of sports nobody cares about or actually watches. Pac-12 has not been relevant in major sports in years.

Most schools only rally around 1 sport. A few rally around 2. Even at great sports school, no one is tailgating a field hockey game. When people talk about sports culture, they are talking about football and basketball.

None of those schools above rally around football. Texas baseball or Michigan ice hockey will have more real fans (not paid attendance) than Duke football.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These schools do not have a big sports culture -

Northwestern
Vanderbilt
UCLA
Cal
Stanford
Duke
UNC

Rallying around one sport like Duke and UNC does not qualify as a big sports culture. Northwestern and Vanderbilt are solely in their conferences so their commissioners can say they care are about academics. The Pac-12 is the conference of champions of sports nobody cares about or actually watches. Pac-12 has not been relevant in major sports in years.

Most schools only rally around 1 sport. A few rally around 2. Even at great sports school, no one is tailgating a field hockey game. When people talk about sports culture, they are talking about football and basketball.

Wisconsin has 5: Football, Men's basketball, Mens and Women's Ice Hockey and Volleyball.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These schools do not have a big sports culture -

Northwestern
Vanderbilt
UCLA
Cal
Stanford
Duke
UNC

Rallying around one sport like Duke and UNC does not qualify as a big sports culture. Northwestern and Vanderbilt are solely in their conferences so their commissioners can say they care are about academics. The Pac-12 is the conference of champions of sports nobody cares about or actually watches. Pac-12 has not been relevant in major sports in years.

Most schools only rally around 1 sport. A few rally around 2. Even at great sports school, no one is tailgating a field hockey game. When people talk about sports culture, they are talking about football and basketball.

OP here. Yes, I agree. Ususally there's a flagship sport like basketball or football. Like Duke basketball, Michigan football etc. In an ideal world, she definitely wants that, so recommendations of other (less obvious) schools that have a flagship sport like that would be great.

But beyond that, it's not even remotely about the football team's GPA. (Good lord, people )

It's about the overall student body. Our guess is that she'd be happiest at a school that attracts the scholar/athlete types ... the smart jocks ... the kids who were high-calibur HS athlete types in their various sports but who chose the school for its academics rather than prioritizing a school where they could make the team.

So while they might not all over to the field to watch their D1 college lacrosse hockey or soccer team play on a random Tuesday, it's a place where tons of kids share that intense athletic orientation and might be playing high-level club lacrosse or soccer more than once a week.

Finally, we get that every school is diverse and has a mix of all types of students. But on average, some schools have strong personalities cultures one way or another. FWIW, I think she'd be the worst fit ever for an Oberlin/Wesleyan type school. Would she gret a great education there? Absolutely. Would she eventually find "her people"? Yes, of course. But she'd likely be swimming against the overall current, which is not what she wants to do.)

Sounds like my kid. Recruited heavily for D3 and D2 schools but wanted a school that would offer a great education and the big sports and club options. They chose UVA and compete at the club level against Duke, UNCCH, Clemson etc. and are getting great educational opportunities with a lot of high quality motivated classmates. Also enjoyed FB, basketball and soccer seasons attending a lot of games. It's worth a look.

Thank you!!

You're welcome. There are a lot of schools that fit this bill...wish you the best, despite the negativity on this site it is a fun journey to take with your child. Do the research and find the best fit, don't be afraid to reach out to the clubs and see what they have to say. My kid is having the time of their life.

[Anonymous]

Your DD sounds just like I was at her age. I went to Duke for exactly the same reasons you stated (as do many students there). It was a perfect fit!