Sporty families bragging about offers and committing to awful colleges in the middle of nowhere?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I hope my DS eventually will play his sport at one of these small D3 or even D2 colleges. DS has a learning disability and the extra attention he will get at a small school and the extra help they give the athletes is exactly what he needs. I think he would struggle and be lost at a Big U, and he certainly doesn't have the grades/SATs for a Top 20 or probably even Top 50.

Thank you for this. My son currently attends a MAC Commonwealth school that was linked to in a prior post (one of the 'crummy' schools). Although he's a smart kid (1300+ SAT), he also has a learning disability. Until it was diagnosed and addressed early in high school, we thought he might go to a JUCO, or maybe the military. But he worked hard and decided he wanted to play his sport in college. We found a perfect fit academically in one of the MAC schools. The school was also a good fit athletically, but it certainly didn't drive the process. He's thriving, and we couldn't be prouder of him. I posted his commitment on social media. I had no idea there were people who would be so offended by this. I feel sorry for them.

Congratulations to your son, sounds like he has worked very hard. You must be very proud of him.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wow, OP, you must an insufferable d***.

No question.

[Anonymous]

Everyone has different gifts. Athleticism + strong work ethic (balancing playing a sport 30 hours a week with a full course load) = one road for some people... some people are blessed with high IQs.. often the people at the top of their class are born with an intelligence level and doesn’t have to work nearly as hard as another student who will never be able to rank at the top of their class no matter how hard they try yet no one brings that up.. We live in a wealthy area of working professionals with a high proportion of college athletes now in high paid finance/consulting/business/ tech sales and then the other half who took a different path (scientists, engineers, doctors) who went to top school. Both ended up in similar lifestyles and salaries by leveraging their own personal strengths.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I hope my DS eventually will play his sport at one of these small D3 or even D2 colleges. DS has a learning disability and the extra attention he will get at a small school and the extra help they give the athletes is exactly what he needs. I think he would struggle and be lost at a Big U, and he certainly doesn't have the grades/SATs for a Top 20 or probably even Top 50.

Thank you for this. My son currently attends a MAC Commonwealth school that was linked to in a prior post (one of the 'crummy' schools). Although he's a smart kid (1300+ SAT), he also has a learning disability. Until it was diagnosed and addressed early in high school, we thought he might go to a JUCO, or maybe the military. But he worked hard and decided he wanted to play his sport in college. We found a perfect fit academically in one of the MAC schools. The school was also a good fit athletically, but it certainly didn't drive the process. He's thriving, and we couldn't be prouder of him. I posted his commitment on social media. I had no idea there were people who would be so offended by this. I feel sorry for them.

Congratulations to your son, sounds like he has worked very hard. You must be very proud of him.

Thank you. He has, and we are

[Anonymous]

Please only tell me about the things in your life that *I* think are impressive...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP and others piling on are the lowest of humanity.

What miserable people you are to sh#% on people’s success and happiness.

Jeff - this thread needs to be shut down.

I agree with your first two statements, but why would that lead you to insist that the thread should be shut down? It's both entertaining and instructive when smug, ignorant people like OP get called out on their ridiculous behavior. There are also many thoughtful responses here from folks whose kids have achieved much in part due to their commitment to athletics.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I hope my DS eventually will play his sport at one of these small D3 or even D2 colleges. DS has a learning disability and the extra attention he will get at a small school and the extra help they give the athletes is exactly what he needs. I think he would struggle and be lost at a Big U, and he certainly doesn't have the grades/SATs for a Top 20 or probably even Top 50.

While my athlete DS doesn't have a learning disability, like PP I feel similar that he'd get lost at a Big U, and I'm not interested in the bumper sticker on my car. He's looking at playing his sport at D3, maybe D2 colleges, mainly because of his intended major being quite rigorous and the time balance between academics and his sport.

Sorry, OP, that I decided to share that here. Hope I didn't offend you since that isn't the type of college commitment acceptable to you.

[Anonymous]

I like seeing the announcements, I'm very happy for all of these kids and their families.

In fact I'd rather see these announcements for "awful colleges in the middle of nowhere" than the ones bragging about their kids committing to Michigan, UVA, whatever other schools OP mentioned.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I like seeing the announcements, I'm very happy for all of these kids and their families.

In fact I'd rather see these announcements for "awful colleges in the middle of nowhere" than the ones bragging about their kids committing to Michigan, UVA, whatever other schools OP mentioned.

You are as bad as OP. Why can't parents post on their social media page where their kid is going to college? They are excited. Live and let live. OP doesn't want "crappy" schools and you don't want better schools. It's a big benchmark for these kids, and their parents, let them enjoy the moment.

[Anonymous]

DD has a learning disability, but she's a super talented athlete. Would love it if she can go to a well-known school, but chances are wherever she goes, will be for athletics. There are different routes from a to b and the road to college isn't always straight A's.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Facebook feed is full of this right now. Nothing we'd ever do, but if you want to brag about your child's athletic offer from D1 UVA or Michigan or using sports as a hook to get into super-selective Dartmouth, Chicago or Williams, be my guest. But those are less than 5% of sporty families. The rest boast how their 15 years of sports obsession netted their kids D3 offers from completely mediocre regional private colleges nobody has ever heard of. Or some open admit regional public commuter university they'd never entertain going to were it not for the chance to play sports. What's the mindset that drives this? Seems so irrational. After freshman year, most kids quietly quit the sport and often transfer to a bigger university their high school friends went to.


Is it ego? Do sporty parents lack the ability to cede the 15 years of sports obsession can gracefully end in 12th grade?

Why does what other people do and say bother you so much?

Boast about your kids being travel sport athletic prodigies for more than a decade, then have the gall to brag they’re going to backwater joke colleges who admit everyone and whose teams don’t cut any warm body with a valid tuition check, tends to invite critique.

Only by people who are huge snobs themselves.

[Anonymous]

This thread seems very similar to the recently past threads about "strivers" and parents putting their kids in "pressure cookers", or doing extra math work outside of school. All of it to get their kids into the best college for them.

The striver parents have learn not to brag about Larla's academic hard work and achievement. In OP I hear that same kind of jealousy, from the other side.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was a college athlete and can honestly say that in every internship or job interview I had, I was asked about sports and the lessons and qualities I learned from them. I was D1 but the things you do and learn are the same and they are valuable skills in life and the workplace. So go on and shit on these families and kids all you want—they just might be the ones eventually beating your precious Johnny out for a job one day.

An employer asked a college kid about the small handful of things on their thin resume? Wow, just wow.

Is it your assertion that playing a sport at an open admit 13th grade U or broke LAC in nobodyville, USA sets you up more than attending a more selective, brand name, more resources, superior faculty, better financial aid university or LAC? Because that’s a bit deluded.

Cool it dude.

I went to an Ivy but I work in an industry with a lot of state school and no-name college grads. They are very successful and a commonality was playing sports. I know you're bothered by the notion that kids can graduate from a TTT college while playing lacrosse or football and end up senior VP in insurance or financial advisers or in tech sales making 300-400k while plenty of Ivy grads end up lowly librarians or underemployed adjunct professors.

It's called the real world. And the real world doesn't care about your Ivy degree. It was a shock to me when I figured it out but at least I got over it and don't care any more.

+100

There are opportunities everywhere if you take advantage of them. I have friends who went to my top school (not an Ivy, though) and graduated without jobs or direction, and friends who went to TTTs/ schools DCUM would scoff at that did very well in their post-graduate ventures. It all depends on the student and their own motivations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:But, as many have said, why is this YOUR business?

You can’t constantly brag for 10 to 15 years, fishing for a stream of praise and dopamine hits, and expect nobody to critique.

Again why your business? Sorry you are not proud of your own DC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was a college athlete and can honestly say that in every internship or job interview I had, I was asked about sports and the lessons and qualities I learned from them. I was D1 but the things you do and learn are the same and they are valuable skills in life and the workplace. So go on and shit on these families and kids all you want—they just might be the ones eventually beating your precious Johnny out for a job one day.

An employer asked a college kid about the small handful of things on their thin resume? Wow, just wow.

Is it your assertion that playing a sport at an open admit 13th grade U or broke LAC in nobodyville, USA sets you up more than attending a more selective, brand name, more resources, superior faculty, better financial aid university or LAC? Because that’s a bit deluded.

OP I can just picture your prunish face judging comparing weighing envying. Comparison is the thief of joy.