Going to a lower-tier school to play sports

[Anonymous]

Smaller school

Built in friendship without having to do Greek

Good internships

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:1. It's important to note very few D1 athletes are on full or even half scholarships. Many of kids on the soccer or swim team are just getting standard financial aid.

2. Why do so many kids end up at crap schools for athletics? Because those crap colleges only exist to offer post-high school athletic opportunities- they'd go bankrupt and fold were it not for offering Suzy and Jacob the chance to play the sport they're not even good at. And once out from under of their parents' thumb, Suzy and Jacob come to hate practice and playing in from on 10 people- they quit after the first year 90% of the time. They want to booze and participate in hookup culture like everyone else at their crummy college.

The travel sports obsession is soooooooo dumb. It's better than kids sitting on their ass all week but my God there are so many other things you and your kid could be doing other than 6 practices a week, 1 tournament, and perpetual facebook updates on how well Suzy did today.

Boy, you sound fun. Believe it or not, many of these athletes are not mouth breathers and thrive on the competition on and off the field. My DH (Wall Street, management consulting, venture capital) loves to hire successful student athletes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here are a few reasons a kid may choose D3/D2 over D1.

May want a smaller school (D3)
Merit aid often given to get prices down to in-state level
May have ADHD/other LDs - many athletes do, and need a smaller school/smaller classes/more attention
DKs look at coaching staff and are often attracted to personality/coaching styles-also they may know athletes in the program already and hear more detail
May want a top SLAC which are usually D3
D1 owns you and it's often year-round so students may decide they want more balance - hence choose D3/D2 route

There are probably other reasons I haven't yet thought of but they are some our DK is considering.

+1. This has been the case for many of our DDs friends. It also seems difficult for many DCUM posters to realize that not all kids want to go to a large state school and don’t base their college selection solely on the highest ranking college. Many kids find the fit is significantly better for them at the smaller SLACs and if they are able to continue to play their sport, it’s an additional plus. Her friends that play D1 sports definitely have very little say over their major or day to day schedule.