Athletic recruit: things I have learned from this so far

[Anonymous]

I have read about engineering being an issue at smaller D3 colleges. Usually, it ends one of two ways, the player quits the sport or changes the major.

My son is in this boat and struggling to make a decision. His club coach insists that you can do both. I am not so sure.

Even at the club level, engineering is difficult to fit in. Club hockey team has 3 practices a week and games just about every weekend. Games are usually Friday and Saturday so you are missing class on Friday half the time.

[Anonymous]

Op can you say the events? My dc is a junior and hoping to be recruited next year in T and F

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Very little money out there for men s track and field and less for track and field generally wth new rules. Kids on scholarships already at colleges are losing them

Three pages of posts and no discussion of travel requirements. Kids miss a lot of class time at most P5 conference schools, especially for the more spectator popular team sports. Your kid is going to need that tutor when they have multiple travel days per week in season.

the money issues you state above have not been our experience so far.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My child has not done an official visit yet (that is where the formal financials will be offered) but in discussions with coaches so far the range is between 60%-100% of OOS tuition and room/board. There are caveats with that- improve anything over last year, commit early, grades/test scores, etc...

Are they committing to a four-year roster spot and scholarship? OP, the landscape is changing very quickly, rosters are shrinking, schools are increasingly picking up transfers, and kids are being cut from teams. Unless your kid is an absolute superstar, I would be very wary of promises of big money from D1 teams.

[Anonymous]

I have a D3 baseball player at a HA. While he had the grades, "supported" ED was a huge assist in getting in.

Things to check:
-old rosters (most on line) to see how many kids started and stayed all 4 years.

-coaches leave, try to get a sense of how embedded your coach is.

-promises made do not mean promises kept.

-injuries are real, understand the support available.

-"Study Halls" may be mandatory, but in our experience there was no actual help.

-coach/school will play in to how much/what type of swag your athlete gets.

-lab classes are tough (we were told there would be assistance with scheduling, never happened.)

-my kid managed to graduate in 4 years with an engineering degree and a job, so it is possible.

-culture of the team is huge! For my kid it was a built in friend group that was his support all 4 years. If your kid can do an overnight, strongly suggest it to check out team culture.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have read about engineering being an issue at smaller D3 colleges. Usually, it ends one of two ways, the player quits the sport or changes the major.

My son is in this boat and struggling to make a decision. His club coach insists that you can do both. I am not so sure.

Even at the club level, engineering is difficult to fit in. Club hockey team has 3 practices a week and games just about every weekend. Games are usually Friday and Saturday so you are missing class on Friday half the time.

When my kid was going through recruiting, we looked at the current rosters (in addition to asking coaches about any majors issues) to see the majors. Her D1 offer had what you would expect: lots of "communication", undecideds, and "easier" majors. Even at D3, you don't see a lot of the hard sciences. And at least at our school, I can see that majors like that would be extremely difficult. Our D3 program which is very competitive, has be a HUGE amount of time and work thus far. I will also say that coaches were generally- though not universally- thrilled with things like nursing as they have strict class requirements and clinical rotations. This is true even at D3. At D1, we were straight up told nursing was not going to be possible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My child has not done an official visit yet (that is where the formal financials will be offered) but in discussions with coaches so far the range is between 60%-100% of OOS tuition and room/board. There are caveats with that- improve anything over last year, commit early, grades/test scores, etc...

Are they committing to a four-year roster spot and scholarship? OP, the landscape is changing very quickly, rosters are shrinking, schools are increasingly picking up transfers, and kids are being cut from teams. Unless your kid is an absolute superstar, I would be very wary of promises of big money from D1 teams.

THIS. And many D1s we found don't give a lot of money up front. So, the longer you stay, the more money is given. The bet is that they won't all stay. I'm sure the super stars have better deals. But all of the D1 athletes -including the offer my kid received- was little/ no money the first year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:These are all good points, but they're all impacted by both sport and school, especially since money is not relevant to all schools (Ivys, D3 theoretically). The issue with major is also impacted significantly by school. The Ivys and the like do not put restrictions on major, and in fact, have more restrictions on when/how much athletes can practice.

This all depends on the school. At the schools that are more academic -- they will allow any major. Even D1s. Boston College, Duke are two that at least in the past did not stop science or premed. Many of the Ivy women's teams are heavily pre-med. The academic D3s carve out a day for labs.

[Anonymous]

I never understand why a student would give up a major (if required by coach) just so they can play a sport in college

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My child has not done an official visit yet (that is where the formal financials will be offered) but in discussions with coaches so far the range is between 60%-100% of OOS tuition and room/board. There are caveats with that- improve anything over last year, commit early, grades/test scores, etc...

Are they committing to a four-year roster spot and scholarship? OP, the landscape is changing very quickly, rosters are shrinking, schools are increasingly picking up transfers, and kids are being cut from teams. Unless your kid is an absolute superstar, I would be very wary of promises of big money from D1 teams.

THIS. And many D1s we found don't give a lot of money up front. So, the longer you stay, the more money is given. The bet is that they won't all stay. I'm sure the super stars have better deals. But all of the D1 athletes -including the offer my kid received- was little/ no money the first year.

I thought the upside to all the roster changes was that Power 4 schools were providing 100% scholarships to all athletes.

At least that was what UT said when they decided to give 100% scholarships to all men and women crew recruits.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I never understand why a student would give up a major (if required by coach) just so they can play a sport in college

Because for some kids the sport brings them meaning and joy, and their future career is fuzzy and lots of paths seem good. And for others they know where they want to go but many majors can get them there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My child has not done an official visit yet (that is where the formal financials will be offered) but in discussions with coaches so far the range is between 60%-100% of OOS tuition and room/board. There are caveats with that- improve anything over last year, commit early, grades/test scores, etc...

Are they committing to a four-year roster spot and scholarship? OP, the landscape is changing very quickly, rosters are shrinking, schools are increasingly picking up transfers, and kids are being cut from teams. Unless your kid is an absolute superstar, I would be very wary of promises of big money from D1 teams.

THIS. And many D1s we found don't give a lot of money up front. So, the longer you stay, the more money is given. The bet is that they won't all stay. I'm sure the super stars have better deals. But all of the D1 athletes -including the offer my kid received- was little/ no money the first year.

I thought the upside to all the roster changes was that Power 4 schools were providing 100% scholarships to all athletes.

At least that was what UT said when they decided to give 100% scholarships to all men and women crew recruits.

You would be wrong. They don’t have to offer scholarships to anyone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For 2 we negotiated scholarships every year not just at acceptance.

What leverage do you have after acceptance?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:These are all good points, but they're all impacted by both sport and school, especially since money is not relevant to all schools (Ivys, D3 theoretically). The issue with major is also impacted significantly by school. The Ivys and the like do not put restrictions on major, and in fact, have more restrictions on when/how much athletes can practice.

what restrictions fo they put hat other D1 schools don't?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These are all good points, but they're all impacted by both sport and school, especially since money is not relevant to all schools (Ivys, D3 theoretically). The issue with major is also impacted significantly by school. The Ivys and the like do not put restrictions on major, and in fact, have more restrictions on when/how much athletes can practice.

Ivys might not put restrictions on majors and they supposedly limit time in practice, but we have found that there are other team requirements such as “team lifts” and in-season “captains practices” that are not exactly “optional”. If you don’t participate in these, good luck getting any playing time.
Parents and student athletes should not only ask coaches, but ask the players what their in-season schedule is like. 4hrs a day in-season and juggling a STEM major might not be ideal for some students who thought that Ivys would be less practice time than top athletic D1 programs. YMMV depending on the sport. This is what we have found based on teammates going to Ivy for sport.

What's it like for rowing?