Friend just announced her junior DD has committed to play lax at a top school

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Basically, I am. I am not a fan of the college sports ecosystem and would prefer it worked like high school - you get the team you get and there's no recruiting.

Fair enough, but you know that won't result in a competitive environment, will end March Madness and College Football and Baseball, and all the economic engines behind them?

And will greatly hurt the economic engines of the NFL and NBA also as they will have to develop minor leagues, and MLB and NHL will have to expand theirs?

And so kids who hope to go pro will have to decide at high school and not get educations, and since most will not make it will end up 30 and uneducated?

And many kids who are underprivileged and get athletic scholarships will no longer get them?

You're good with all of that, all so that the chance of your kid's admission to Yale goes from 5% to 7%?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sports crazy parents need to add up all the roster spaces at the top private colleges. Far less than lottery odds your kid is one of them. And all of teams give the nod to filthy rich families over random joe blow striver from the DMV. Talent is a secondary consideration.

I bet you all laugh and make fun of “dumb” poor people for wasting money on scratch off lottery tickets.

If your good not great athlete plays at “the next level” it’s prob going to be some podunk crap college nobody has ever heard of. And they’ll most likely quit the team after a year and transfer to the state university all their friends are at. I’ve seen this play out hundreds of times.

You think there are a lot of posters (any posters?) on the DCUM College and University forum who show up to post at all if their kid ends up at a “podunk crap college” for whatever reason? Is this your first time on DCUM?

Delusional strivers lie to themselves until the very end that their kid will con their way into a "T20" and/or play "at the next level." Well, for 99% of student-athletes, the next level is some backwater degree mill in some podunk town. I've seen it happen hundreds of times.

I’m sure this happens in some communities where sports are valued over academics and the parents are uneducated, and/or unsophisticated, and/or can only afford to send their kids to college with the help of an athletic scholarship. That community is very far removed from the communities where posters on this particular DCUM forum live. 90+% of the people here complaining about admissions hooks for athletes are p*ssed because an athletic UMC kid who attends the same school as the UMC poster’s child will be waltzing into an Ivy-level school as an athletic recruit while their little genius is “stuck” going to UVA, William & Mary or some other great but not as brag-worthy school. So, while you are welcome to mock whomever you please, I don’t know why you are addressing your mockery to this group.

Go add up all the current Ivy League student-athletes from the DMV, then subtract URMs, legacies and filthy rich. That is how many spots for random Joe Blows from the DMV you're talking about. I'd guess maybe a few dozen out of a couple million DMV kids? Again, most student-athletes end up degree mills. You're focusing on the handful who essentially win a lottery, while ignoring the big picture. You're probably some coach or schemer in the travel sports racket. Freeloading off selling false hope to delusional sports crazy parents who piss away every weekend for 10 years so their kid can end up playing in front of 10 people at Podunk College in Ghost town, USA.

Lol, OK crazy dude. If you want to rant about deluded parents who are victimized by the youth sports complex and end with kids in no name schools, have at it. The rest of us are talking about the actual topic of this thread, which is whether it is unfair that talented athletes with imperfect stats can breeze through admissions and end up the tippy top schools coveted by non-athlete striver parents. Get it? The reason we are “focusing on the handful who essentially win a lottery” is because the parents of the non-athletes want the better odds their kids if there were no athletic preferences.

Are you the OP sock puppeting? Your use of “tippy top” is very troll-like.

[Anonymous]

I wonder what percent of student athletes play a sport for the express purpose of getting into a good school

[Anonymous]

Sports in college is a purely an America phenomenon. If you don’t want sports in your school you should apply to European/U.K. colleges.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wonder what percent of student athletes play a sport for the express purpose of getting into a good school

0-1%

[Anonymous]

I don't agree with the value that our society places on sports.

But I would be happy for my friend. Why want her family to suffer too?? What does that gain you?

[Anonymous]

All four of mine used a sport to get into a much better school—100% on our family.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wonder what percent of student athletes play a sport for the express purpose of getting into a good school

0-1%

Seems like an underestimate

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Basically, I am. I am not a fan of the college sports ecosystem and would prefer it worked like high school - you get the team you get and there's no recruiting.

Fair enough, but you know that won't result in a competitive environment, will end March Madness and College Football and Baseball, and all the economic engines behind them?

And will greatly hurt the economic engines of the NFL and NBA also as they will have to develop minor leagues, and MLB and NHL will have to expand theirs?

And so kids who hope to go pro will have to decide at high school and not get educations, and since most will not make it will end up 30 and uneducated?

And many kids who are underprivileged and get athletic scholarships will no longer get them?

You're good with all of that, all so that the chance of your kid's admission to Yale goes from 5% to 7%?

You will not get an answer to this question, because it contains inconvenient facts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thr admission advantage is pretty much the best it gets. D1 athletes have the equivalent of a full time job— early morning wake ups, travel that requires missing classes, a constant battle for playing time, limited access to certain majors and classes because coaches deem them too demanding, etc. ..

I have three family members who played d1 sports and personally don’t think it’s worth the price, and I say this as a parent with two kids who play club sports.

It is a job and lots of students need to work in college be it for getting athletic money or some.other job.

That said....club youth sports are full of affluent athletes that don't need the job so that is more confusing. Some use it to get into academic elite schools but others just want to play college soccer. A mistake IMO but I have my own to worry about so whatever floats their boat I guess.

[Anonymous]

As a "friend," you should celebrate your friend's daughter's successes. These days top colleges want a special talent/ability of some kind, whether it be athletic, musical, academic etc. The college then is able to shape a class with the top people in a wide range of backgrounds and skills.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Every single recruited athlete I know hates playing in college. It’s big time work and extremely stressful keeping up with the expectation and commitment. Of course I’m talking about non football and basketball because those a lot of kids are aiming for pro careers.

I know lacrosse players, swimmers, golfers, baseball players, gymnasts, all who either ended up transferring and dropping the sport or vowing never to play it again once they graduate and never to encourage their kids to follow that path.

So ok this kid got a leg up a year before yours, big deal. My niece got an athletic scholarship her freshman year to a top 25 school. That’s a whole different pot of pressure to stir.

My DS was a rowing recruit to an Ivy. He did not pursue rowing to get a leg up on admission; rowing is his passion, and he cannot imagine his days without it. It is true that it is a big time commitment, but when you love what you do, and it's a part your identity, it becomes a PRIVILEGE to row on one of the fastest teams in the country. He simply wouldn't have it any other way. And as far as the Ivy's are concerned, all athletes have to still demonstrate high grades and test scores. There is simply too much competition at that level, especially as there are recruits from all over the world.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Disagree. If your friend’s DD is academically qualified and someone who would be a good applicant at that school anyway, the school and student are making a good decision to lock in the relationship. Playing a sport at a level high enough to commit while maintaining grades, etc. deserves to be rewarded just as much as the kid who fiends 20 hours a week in the lab or practicing an instrument. Sports also enhance a school’s community and school spirit, so benefit all students.

This. Athletes work hard. Good for her.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:All four of mine used a sport to get into a much better school—100% on our family.

And I got my three boys into three different SLACs on the basis of sports. I apologize for nothing. You play the hand you are dealt.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All four of mine used a sport to get into a much better school—100% on our family.

And I got my three boys into three different SLACs on the basis of sports. I apologize for nothing. You play the hand you are dealt.

Oh sure but it makes no sense. We don't hate the player, we hate the game. Is what it is but it is stupid.