use sport to get into an Ivy school and quit one month after freshman year

[Anonymous]

Son is a HS senior and highly recruited athlete with good, not great grade. He is being heavily recruited by a couple of Ivy schools. Son is good but not pro material. Our family can afford the tuition without assistance. Son realizes that it will be impossible for him to handle both academic and athletic at school because he is already having a hard time for the past two years.

He is thinking of accepting one of the Ivy offers and when he starts his freshman year there, just quit the team so that he can focus only on academic. Can he be kicked out of school for doing this?

[Anonymous]

Can he take minimal classes and go five years?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Son is a HS senior and highly recruited athlete with good, not great grade. He is being heavily recruited by a couple of Ivy schools. Son is good but not pro material. Our family can afford the tuition without assistance. Son realizes that it will be impossible for him to handle both academic and athletic at school because he is already having a hard time for the past two years.

He is thinking of accepting one of the Ivy offers and when he starts his freshman year there, just quit the team so that he can focus only on academic. Can he be kicked out of school for doing this?

Kinda shady, but since the Ivies don't offer athletic scholarships, it is doable. Two of my nephews quit their sports after 1 year at Ivies.

[Anonymous]

I had classmates who did this. Mind you, it was 20 years ago.

They were recruited to play lacrosse at schools including Penn and Duke, and quit the sport after a month and nothing happened. I can't imagine the school asking a recruited athlete to leave even in today's world. Especially in today's world. All he or she has to do is to tell the coach that the workload takes greater priority and none of the Ivies can possibly object to that!

[Anonymous]

It's not a particularly ethical thing to do, but it's not forbidden or anything.

[Anonymous]

Yes - DC is a recruited athlete at Ivy. In his year, 2 out of 4 quit. 1 quit the first month. Previous year’s recruits - none remained after first year. DC still at it but DC enjoys the sports and teammates. And does quite well in studies (stem).

[Anonymous]

Poster above - only downside is school will be hesitant to recruit from HS in future

[Anonymous]

How soon is he thinking of quitting? One month? After one year? It is one thing to be cut or get injured, but if the only way you are getting in to a school is by being recruited, seems pretty unethical to plan this in advance. I wouldn't want my kid growing up with the idea that this is OK.

Also he is hurting potential recruits from his school that might be coming up behind him.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How soon is he thinking of quitting? One month? After one year? It is one thing to be cut or get injured, but if the only way you are getting in to a school is by being recruited, seems pretty unethical to plan this in advance. I wouldn't want my kid growing up with the idea that this is OK.

Also he is hurting potential recruits from his school that might be coming up behind him.

And, he his hurting the college team/program. Coaches recruit specifically because they need athletes to fill spots at those particular sports/positions, and quitting a month in could leave the team in a bind.

To accept a recruiting offer knowing full well that you have no actual intention of playing the sport is a shitty thing to do. Period.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Son is a HS senior and highly recruited athlete with good, not great grade. He is being heavily recruited by a couple of Ivy schools. Son is good but not pro material. Our family can afford the tuition without assistance. Son realizes that it will be impossible for him to handle both academic and athletic at school because he is already having a hard time for the past two years.

He is thinking of accepting one of the Ivy offers and when he starts his freshman year there, just quit the team so that he can focus only on academic. Can he be kicked out of school for doing this?

What does he want to major in? What does he want to do after college?

Could he take a lot of classes in the summer, so lighten the load during the school year?

Also, would the sports people help him work with the professors to ease time conflicts? Example: If a paper would normally be due on a certain day, and practicing for the sport team would critical that day, would the team help him get the paper rescheduled?

Or, would the team at least help him figure out which professors would work with him?

If he wants to become a marketing executive after college and golf a lot, the best answer might be a lot different than if he wants to become a philosophy professor at Yale, a nuclear physicist or an MD-PhD.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How soon is he thinking of quitting? One month? After one year? It is one thing to be cut or get injured, but if the only way you are getting in to a school is by being recruited, seems pretty unethical to plan this in advance. I wouldn't want my kid growing up with the idea that this is OK.

Also he is hurting potential recruits from his school that might be coming up behind him.

And, he his hurting the college team/program. Coaches recruit specifically because they need athletes to fill spots at those particular sports/positions, and quitting a month in could leave the team in a bind.

To accept a recruiting offer knowing full well that you have no actual intention of playing the sport is a shitty thing to do. Period.

+1 Coach went to bat for him and that's the only reason he got in and he quits immediately? Very poor behavior. He is letting down his coach and his teammates and stole a recruiting slot from another applicant.

[Anonymous]

Are you comfortable teaching him that commitments don’t matter?

[Anonymous]

How does he know? I always got a 4.0 during the season. It keeps you disciplined and motivated. Zero time to party and built-in friends.

[Anonymous]

OP - ignore the other posters. Lots of kids w/o scholarships quit. Your son won’t be the first nor the last.

[Anonymous]

When I went to an Ivy 20 years ago, there were recruited athletes who quit after the first season. It was kind of tough for them because there was a bit of snobbery around recruited athletes, a lot of people who weren't regarded the recruited athletes as beneath them and didn't really socialize with them. Their former teammates didn't want to hang out with them once they quit either, and they seemed kind of socially isolated. I won't say it was right or kind, but the dynamic was there and it would make me hesitant to have one of my kids do what your son is thinking of doing.