Hating donut hole life: athletic recruiting version

[Anonymous]

Late to this but what is a donut hole family?

[Anonymous]

We specifically looked for D3 schools that offered merit aid. DD started talking to coaches and is now committed to a T50 R1 university with 25K in merit aid. She probably could have received more if she went to somewhere like HWS or CT College but the merit at this school takes the price down to 65K per year. She would have been competitive at some SLACS but the price is just too high for us to justify.

[Anonymous]

Athletes can get merit aid at d3 if their grades are within whatever level that school sets to be eligible for aid

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Athletes can get merit aid at d3 if their grades are within whatever level that school sets to be eligible for aid

Many/most top D3 schools do not offer merit aid.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Really hard to feel sorry for people when the athletic hook doesn’t work for them.

It’s not hard if you’re not an ahole because you know how much work the kid put into it.

Our kids who study hard, act in plays, win speech & debate competitions, tutor peers, and write for the paper also are kids who put a lot a lot of work in. they just don't feel as entitled to gain admission with lower academic standards!

why should students whose EC is sports gain admission with lower academic standards to play sports that don't bring any benefit to the school's other students? who watches cross-country, volleyball, squash, etc.?

at least diversity helps everyone by not having people in bubbles.

As a parent of a D1 athlete and another who was heavily involved in school ECs, there’s no comparison. The D1 athlete’s commitment was exponentially higher, and the non-athlete child would agree. The pressure she was under to perform at her sport and to peak at exactly the right time in state and national level competition was nothing like writing for the school paper.

I’m extremely proud of both of them, but the fact that the athlete’s grades lagged in comparison to the EC kid is completely justified considering the level of commitment. And it made sense to me that the athlete ended up at an Ivy with slightly lower grades and considerably lower test scores, whereas the other student with the 1500 SAT did not.

That is so wrong. So wrong. It's sad that you, a reasonably intelligent adult, would think like this.

Being one of the best athletes in your sport ever in your 100 year old HS, and one of the top 75 athletes in your sport in the country (among thousands of participants) in your graduation year AND finishing in the top 5 percent of your class at the same time is more impressive than finishing in the top 2 percent and writing for the school paper. I witnessed the determination that both took, and it just is. No one could ever convince me otherwise.

I’ve got two family members ranked nationally top ten and went to D1 then pro along with friends. They didn’t work harder than kids involved in other activities. That’s obnoxious to say. If the genetic talent for sports is there that student who plays varsity will beat out the kid who plays on varsity and a year round club sports 6 days a week. Maybe your child had to work harder than others, had the talent and made it but that’s not every athlete.

And some parents don’t understand that you can’t buy the talent no matter how many private coaches and club teams you play on. Most pro athletes were great athletes in all of the major sports. They didn’t specialize early on. Tom Brady was recruited for pro baseball after high school but he played football in high school and decided to go that route.

My 12 year old daughter is 5’8” already and has the build of a basketball player. She doesn’t have the talent though so she plays rec. Know when to step back and let your kid enjoy high school.

Pro athletes need both the genetics and work at their sport 60 hours per week through training, practice, etc. Caleb Williams had a crazy training schedule when he was at Gonzaga. It’s the kids with the genetic talent and the work ethic that make it.

Also, most pro athletes were not in fact great at multiple sports as you are completely ignoring the international factor in most pro sports. Almost no pro soccer or hockey players ever played other sports because international systems don’t work that way. The DR produces the most MLB players per capita and those kids don’t play other sports…again, they are going to full time MLB academies at 12.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Late to this but what is a donut hole family?

Typically it’s used to describe a family that makes too much money to get any financial aid, but they don’t make enough to actually afford the school.

I kinda don’t get how the sports part factors into the definition for op, but maybe that’s just me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Late to this but what is a donut hole family?

Typically it’s used to describe a family that makes too much money to get any financial aid, but they don’t make enough to actually afford the school.

I kinda don’t get how the sports part factors into the definition for op, but maybe that’s just me.

I think sports are only relevant here insomuch as they might make it easier to get into selective, expensive schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Late to this but what is a donut hole family?

Typically it’s used to describe a family that makes too much money to get any financial aid, but they don’t make enough to actually afford the school.

I kinda don’t get how the sports part factors into the definition for op, but maybe that’s just me.

I think sports are only relevant here insomuch as they might make it easier to get into selective, expensive schools.

Also, let's be honest, where there is merit aid D3 schools offer it generously to recruited athletes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My child was offered merit aid at d3.

But the merit aid was related to academics, right? They didn’t specify it as athletic aid? This is how it can be done. Ivies too

Sure. >wink< >wink<

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Late to this but what is a donut hole family?

Typically it’s used to describe a family that makes too much money to get any financial aid, but they don’t make enough to actually afford the school.

I kinda don’t get how the sports part factors into the definition for op, but maybe that’s just me.

I think sports are only relevant here insomuch as they might make it easier to get into selective, expensive schools.

Also, let's be honest, where there is merit aid D3 schools offer it generously to recruited athletes.

Exactly.

[Anonymous]

What does “donut hole life” mean? Sorry to have been living under a rock

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Late to this but what is a donut hole family?

Typically it’s used to describe a family that makes too much money to get any financial aid, but they don’t make enough to actually afford the school.

I kinda don’t get how the sports part factors into the definition for op, but maybe that’s just me.

I think sports are only relevant here insomuch as they might make it easier to get into selective, expensive schools.

Also, let's be honest, where there is merit aid D3 schools offer it generously to recruited athletes.

Exactly.

I heard that even Ivies make it cheaper for athletes to attend somehow, but maybe that’s only for football/basketball.

[Anonymous]

we are going through this live right now and it’s brutal - although as my friend said yeah there are worse problems to have - is getting a a third of a full scholarship at a very good D1 school better than being full pay at a tippy top D3 school. D1 will likely provide better social life and experience, D3 better academics alumni and job prospects. Honestly not sure which is better
we can afford the full pay but not paying sticker would be very nice, and I would basically make kid while on the difference as siblings were full pay elsewhere

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Late to this but what is a donut hole family?

Typically it’s used to describe a family that makes too much money to get any financial aid, but they don’t make enough to actually afford the school.

I kinda don’t get how the sports part factors into the definition for op, but maybe that’s just me.

I think sports are only relevant here insomuch as they might make it easier to get into selective, expensive schools.

Also, let's be honest, where there is merit aid D3 schools offer it generously to recruited athletes.

Exactly.

I heard that even Ivies make it cheaper for athletes to attend somehow, but maybe that’s only for football/basketball.

They don’t…but back in the day, the athletes that received work study jobs as part of FA would receive fake jobs. Like one kid on the basketball team was supposed to turn off the gym lights at the end of practice and that was a 20 hour per week job.

UPenn has launched an NIL program for basketball, so that will become a way to attract players, even wealthy ones, as they will get paid to play.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are not a donut hole family. I was a poor kid and now we can pay for our kids’ colleges full pay.

What I don’t understand with donut hole families. Why can’t you just pay what you would have paid for a state school and then take loans out.

Because to send my kids to schools that cost $80k per year for 4 years, we would have had to borrow $160k each. I don't think any college is worth that amount of debt.