Friend just announced her junior DD has committed to play lax at a top school
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Anonymous
| I agree, OP. Imagine if we handed out jobs based on athletic ability… sounds ridiculous, doesn’t it? Or if we handed out acceptances to medical school based on athletic ability. It sounds ridiculous because it is ridiculous, and it should stop. |
Anonymous
Um, some jobs are given based in athletic abilities, you know, athletes. Just like some jobs are given based on medical skills like doctors, some are given based on looks, like models. This is a ridiculous statement. |
Anonymous
Because athletes’ skills are admired by supervisors in sales and school fundraisers. Hate to tell you but your child working in the lab is unlikely to bring in the bucks to the school later on...The colleges know this and value it more than your academic. The colleges are basically investment firms - and know what they are looking for. |
Anonymous
It's not ridiculous. Smart kids are a dime a dozen. Athletic kids who can compete at a collegiate level are not. The schools compete against each other to get these kids enrolled. Signed mom of a smart, non-athletic kid who likes to go to the football games |
Anonymous
Most of the lacrosse players don’t get much money. Just admissions to a school otherwise might not get in to. |
Anonymous
This is way more info than you probably want. The only sports that bring in money based on ticket revenue are men's basketball and football. There are probably a handful of women's basketball programs that bring in money (maybe UCONN or Tennesse because of their storied programs.) All the other sports are typically losing money. Title IX requires an equal number of women and men's sports. So schools with football will typically have more women's teams. Schools provide college sports for school pride - which does lead to some alumni giving. I have also heard that schools use sports to lure students, the athlete. So if you are a lacrosse player and want to play in college, you try to get into "big name college x." That coach isn't interested in you but the coach from "small college y" is calling you. You decide - they have the program I want to study and I can play lacrosse so now you are a college athlete at "small college y." And "small college y" has your tuition money. You have a positive experience, so you now become a loyal alumni donor. And the term "scholarship" is mis-leading. A lacrosse player is most likely only getting a small percentage scholarship. And if you're at an Ivy League school (and several of the Patriot League schools), you're getting $0 athletic money - the Ivy League does not give any athletic money. |
Anonymous
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OP here. First, I’m happy for them. The girl is very nice and her mom is an old friend.
Second, I don’t think it’s a scholarship, they definitely don’t need the money. I’m just annoyed that her DD is a year behind mine and won’t have to go through most of the college crap and stress mine is currently going through. We are deep in it right now. My DD doesn’t play sports but has other talents, none which get her recruited by colleges. Third, she has worked hard as an athlete but she wouldn’t be in a position to be recruited if her parents didn’t have the time and money to pay for all teams and tournaments. Let’s face it, for many (I realize there are big exceptions) recruited athletes for sports like lax come from affluent families so the whole system leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I know this is nothing new. I went to HS with many children of billionaires, most of whom ended up at ivies despite not having the grades. Life is not fair, college admissions is not fair. I was just venting because, again, I have a very stressed out out senior. |
Anonymous
A junior has not received a commitment. Even a senior right now with a verbal commitment from a school could find themselves scrambling last minute. Athletics are effectively part of Early Decision, the deal isn’t settled until about the same time, and athletes are a pool of full pay students for the schools. If they get an aid package, it’s just the regular discounting that particular (lower tier) school offers. Top schools offer nothing. And of course, just like any ED, this limits the athlete to one school, and often not one they would have picked otherwise. |
Anonymous
Well in 1990 there were 66 billionaires in the entire US, so I am calling bs on this: https://americansfortaxfairness.org/billionaires/ Stay away from hyperbole and you'll be easier to believe. |
Anonymous
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Recruiting for girls lacrosse, like pretty much every sport other than football, basketball requires a mountain of stress and effort on the part of kids and parents. Way more than filling out forms and writing essays.
My kid’s experience would be pretty typical. She played soccer in college for 4 years. Starting as a freshman in high school you begin looking generally at types of schools - big, medium, small, urban, rural, and areas of the country. You need to do some college tours - open to prospective students - so your kid can begin to get a feeling as to what different types of schools can present. They need to generally start thinking about where their interests lie for a major. The kids are freshmen in high school and they are looking at colleges and thinking about potential areas of a major. They don’t want to do it, but decision timing requires them to start the process. Sophomore year you continue learning about schools and your own academic interests. Grade pressure is intense as you need to keep options open. Schools can be helpful in finding non-athletic money but you have to meet the baseline requirements. Sport wise you need to be doing showcase events to get in front of college coaches from schools you are interested attending. You are emailing and texting coaches about where you are playing. You also need to be going to some college games for schools that you are interested in attending. This shows real interest. Summer before Junior year and Junior year - intense time. My kid did 12 college on campus visits. Set those up. Work on how you talk to coaches you have never met. What are good questions to ask? What are good answers to common questions? What small talk do you have - you will be with coaches for 4-5 hours, and often then with a few older players who you also need to impress. These can be overnight visits. My kid over did the visits, but they were interesting and ultimately helpful. After 4 or 5 she got pretty good at the process. It is a very stressful process for kids and parents. You need to find a program where your kid fits in competitively, at a school where your kid can do well academically while also playing a sport. That is a difficult combination to find. Way more than 50 percent of kids coming in as athletes will drop off the teams before their Junior year. Then - offer time and negotiation and working with financial aid and admission folks. You hopefully have more than 1 offer but there is lots of pressure to accept quickly (though offers have to stay open). Coaches want to move on if you are not coming and that will again free up the athletic money that was part of the offer. So - chances are very good that the kid and the family have been stressing out like crazy for the last 12-24 months. |
Anonymous
Almost every president was a college athlete. Imagine everybody that works for the NFL, NBA, NHL, and well wall street were college athletes. |
Anonymous
| If your friend's child did not get recruited until Senior year I believe their process was way more stressful than your DD's process. |
Anonymous
I have three close relatives who played d1 lacrosse in the past 5 to 10 years, one is still in school (2 female, 1 male) Yea, it is glamorous to be pursued by school well before any of your class mates can apply. But it is a job that most kids do not actually want. Student athletes are strongly encouraged not to take certain classes or pursue certain majors. They are required to get up at ungodly early hours. There is a constant battle for playing time and there are hours and hours of practice time for 10 to 20 minutess of game time each week. Student athletes are often encouraged/required to play through injuries that should be rested, resulting in summer surgeries (happened to two of the three). Two of the three felt real regret about their decision to play college lacrosse compared to the experience their non-lacrosse playing friends/siblings had. |
Anonymous
That's an interesting statement. Since i have nothing to do, I checked it: https://an.athletenetwork.com/blog/presidents-who-were-college-athletes The number is 68%. Updating this, - Biden, yes, football at University of Delaware one year. - Trump, no, but maybe in his own mind. Color me surprised, I did not know this. I think athletics is great and has a role and kids should play in college who want to. I did. Leadership, commitment, hard work, etc. Kind of gross to see Harvard recruiting juniors for lacrosse though, and not IMO winners. |
Anonymous
Yep. I was the nerdy kid who married an athlete at Ivy. BTW, DH had high GPA and test score, so athletes are smart too. His HS's valedictorian played soccer at UPenn. |