College rankings for D1 Women's soccer and the soccer conferences

[Anonymous]

I've heard a lot of valid criticism of the NCAA RPI ranking system. People talk about better and worse conferences. Better and worse schools. Is there any tool, link, website that gives some evaluation tool for schools? There's over 300 D1 programs. If there are multiple offers, it helps in sorting them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I've heard a lot of valid criticism of the NCAA RPI ranking system. People talk about better and worse conferences. Better and worse schools. Is there any tool, link, website that gives some evaluation tool for schools? There's over 300 D1 programs. If there are multiple offers, it helps in sorting them.

if you need someone's or some system's ranking spot in order to decide where to go to college - you have missed the point completely. Relying on a rank instead of your own personal research of ALL the reasons is the quickest path to a second year transfer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've heard a lot of valid criticism of the NCAA RPI ranking system. People talk about better and worse conferences. Better and worse schools. Is there any tool, link, website that gives some evaluation tool for schools? There's over 300 D1 programs. If there are multiple offers, it helps in sorting them.

if you need someone's or some system's ranking spot in order to decide where to go to college - you have missed the point completely. Relying on a rank instead of your own personal research of ALL the reasons is the quickest path to a second year transfer.

I thank you for your thoughts, but I just want someone to answer the question, or to not post. Sometimes it's a good way to break a tie between offers, and there are other reasons. But whatever my reasons, it's a valid question. Particularly on a board that spends the better part of its posts talking about which club is best and how each team performed over the weekend.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've heard a lot of valid criticism of the NCAA RPI ranking system. People talk about better and worse conferences. Better and worse schools. Is there any tool, link, website that gives some evaluation tool for schools? There's over 300 D1 programs. If there are multiple offers, it helps in sorting them.

if you need someone's or some system's ranking spot in order to decide where to go to college - you have missed the point completely. Relying on a rank instead of your own personal research of ALL the reasons is the quickest path to a second year transfer.

I thank you for your thoughts, but I just want someone to answer the question, or to not post. Sometimes it's a good way to break a tie between offers, and there are other reasons. But whatever my reasons, it's a valid question. Particularly on a board that spends the better part of its posts talking about which club is best and how each team performed over the weekend.

It's personal. It's your family / child's decision. Are you really going to go to the school with the highest ranking? So stupid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I've heard a lot of valid criticism of the NCAA RPI ranking system. People talk about better and worse conferences. Better and worse schools. Is there any tool, link, website that gives some evaluation tool for schools? There's over 300 D1 programs. If there are multiple offers, it helps in sorting them.

It's is completely unlikely there will be so many offers you will have to resort to a ranking system.
#backhandedbragging

[Anonymous]

Again, thank you ro all the posters offering thoughts on why not to look at rankings. I appreciate it.

Now I would appreciate it if anyone could post something that could provide information on college rankings and some information on how to compare conferences. It would be very helpful. These other posts aren't helpful, although I'm sure they are well intentioned.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Again, thank you ro all the posters offering thoughts on why not to look at rankings. I appreciate it.

Now I would appreciate it if anyone could post something that could provide information on college rankings and some information on how to compare conferences. It would be very helpful. These other posts aren't helpful, although I'm sure they are well intentioned.

PAC-12, ACC, and SEC (three of the Power 5) are very strong women’s soccer conferences. I just don’t know as much about the other two Power 5 conferences (Big 10, Big 12) and women’s soccer, but the need to balance women’s sports and football probably means that the women’s soccer programs in those conferences are also well-supported. Ivy League tends to field good women’s soccer teams, if your DD is in that zone. And there are one-off good programs in other conferences (Georgetown plays in the Big East) but the top of the rankings tend to be dominated by PAC-12, ACC, and SEC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Again, thank you ro all the posters offering thoughts on why not to look at rankings. I appreciate it.

Now I would appreciate it if anyone could post something that could provide information on college rankings and some information on how to compare conferences. It would be very helpful. These other posts aren't helpful, although I'm sure they are well intentioned.

PAC-12, ACC, and SEC (three of the Power 5) are very strong women’s soccer conferences. I just don’t know as much about the other two Power 5 conferences (Big 10, Big 12) and women’s soccer, but the need to balance women’s sports and football probably means that the women’s soccer programs in those conferences are also well-supported. Ivy League tends to field good women’s soccer teams, if your DD is in that zone. And there are one-off good programs in other conferences (Georgetown plays in the Big East) but the top of the rankings tend to be dominated by PAC-12, ACC, and SEC.

Thank you so much!! That helps a lot. It puts the conversations she's having in perspective.

And she knows there's a lot more to it, but these are valid questions. If we moved to Texas, we would want to understand the landscape before making a decision.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Again, thank you ro all the posters offering thoughts on why not to look at rankings. I appreciate it.

Now I would appreciate it if anyone could post something that could provide information on college rankings and some information on how to compare conferences. It would be very helpful. These other posts aren't helpful, although I'm sure they are well intentioned.

PAC-12, ACC, and SEC (three of the Power 5) are very strong women’s soccer conferences. I just don’t know as much about the other two Power 5 conferences (Big 10, Big 12) and women’s soccer, but the need to balance women’s sports and football probably means that the women’s soccer programs in those conferences are also well-supported. Ivy League tends to field good women’s soccer teams, if your DD is in that zone. And there are one-off good programs in other conferences (Georgetown plays in the Big East) but the top of the rankings tend to be dominated by PAC-12, ACC, and SEC.

Thank you so much!! That helps a lot. It puts the conversations she's having in perspective.

And she knows there's a lot more to it, but these are valid questions. If we moved to Texas, we would want to understand the landscape before making a decision.

Is there some reason your daughter cant research team records, coaches backgrounds etc on her own? For Pete's sake this is a stupid topic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Again, thank you ro all the posters offering thoughts on why not to look at rankings. I appreciate it.

Now I would appreciate it if anyone could post something that could provide information on college rankings and some information on how to compare conferences. It would be very helpful. These other posts aren't helpful, although I'm sure they are well intentioned.

PAC-12, ACC, and SEC (three of the Power 5) are very strong women’s soccer conferences. I just don’t know as much about the other two Power 5 conferences (Big 10, Big 12) and women’s soccer, but the need to balance women’s sports and football probably means that the women’s soccer programs in those conferences are also well-supported. Ivy League tends to field good women’s soccer teams, if your DD is in that zone. And there are one-off good programs in other conferences (Georgetown plays in the Big East) but the top of the rankings tend to be dominated by PAC-12, ACC, and SEC.

Thank you so much!! That helps a lot. It puts the conversations she's having in perspective.

And she knows there's a lot more to it, but these are valid questions. If we moved to Texas, we would want to understand the landscape before making a decision.

Is there some reason your daughter cant research team records, coaches backgrounds etc on her own? For Pete's sake this is a stupid topic.

Hmm. I'd say it's a strange question, but not necessarily a stupid one. If OP is very new to the world of competitive soccer and has no clue how to help her daughter evaluate programs, then it makes some sense to start by getting a sense of which conferences or teams tend to be strong. While most people with kids who are talented enough to be likely recruits tend to have a network of fellow parents and coaches who can provide advice, perhaps this OP does not, for whatever reason.

That being said, hopefully the OP knows that it doesn't make sense to ever focus on rankings in isolation given that a school's academic fit and team and coach dynamics are much more important.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Again, thank you ro all the posters offering thoughts on why not to look at rankings. I appreciate it.

Now I would appreciate it if anyone could post something that could provide information on college rankings and some information on how to compare conferences. It would be very helpful. These other posts aren't helpful, although I'm sure they are well intentioned.

PAC-12, ACC, and SEC (three of the Power 5) are very strong women’s soccer conferences. I just don’t know as much about the other two Power 5 conferences (Big 10, Big 12) and women’s soccer, but the need to balance women’s sports and football probably means that the women’s soccer programs in those conferences are also well-supported. Ivy League tends to field good women’s soccer teams, if your DD is in that zone. And there are one-off good programs in other conferences (Georgetown plays in the Big East) but the top of the rankings tend to be dominated by PAC-12, ACC, and SEC.

Thank you so much!! That helps a lot. It puts the conversations she's having in perspective.

And she knows there's a lot more to it, but these are valid questions. If we moved to Texas, we would want to understand the landscape before making a decision.

Is there some reason your daughter cant research team records, coaches backgrounds etc on her own? For Pete's sake this is a stupid topic.

Listen, if it's stupid to you, bug off. You don't have to post here. I never get why people want to come on a thread to bash it. If you don't like it, move on. Another poster already explained the bulk of what she was wondering and she has tried to figure it out. I have too. I didn't know anything about the difference between ACC, Northeast, Ivy League (except they don't give scholarships) or Atlantic 10. The PP explaining all that helped. If that offends you, then you are overly invested in something that doesn't concern you and you don't care about.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Again, thank you ro all the posters offering thoughts on why not to look at rankings. I appreciate it.

Now I would appreciate it if anyone could post something that could provide information on college rankings and some information on how to compare conferences. It would be very helpful. These other posts aren't helpful, although I'm sure they are well intentioned.

PAC-12, ACC, and SEC (three of the Power 5) are very strong women’s soccer conferences. I just don’t know as much about the other two Power 5 conferences (Big 10, Big 12) and women’s soccer, but the need to balance women’s sports and football probably means that the women’s soccer programs in those conferences are also well-supported. Ivy League tends to field good women’s soccer teams, if your DD is in that zone. And there are one-off good programs in other conferences (Georgetown plays in the Big East) but the top of the rankings tend to be dominated by PAC-12, ACC, and SEC.

Thank you so much!! That helps a lot. It puts the conversations she's having in perspective.

And she knows there's a lot more to it, but these are valid questions. If we moved to Texas, we would want to understand the landscape before making a decision.

Is there some reason your daughter cant research team records, coaches backgrounds etc on her own? For Pete's sake this is a stupid topic.

Hmm. I'd say it's a strange question, but not necessarily a stupid one. If OP is very new to the world of competitive soccer and has no clue how to help her daughter evaluate programs, then it makes some sense to start by getting a sense of which conferences or teams tend to be strong. While most people with kids who are talented enough to be likely recruits tend to have a network of fellow parents and coaches who can provide advice, perhaps this OP does not, for whatever reason.

That being said, hopefully the OP knows that it doesn't make sense to ever focus on rankings in isolation given that a school's academic fit and team and coach dynamics are much more important.

Yes, we are new to the college scene. I have no idea except that people say West Virginia is good and that others I won't name b/c that isn't the point "aren't" . We are trying to navigate something that I have no experience to help her with. It isn't just about rankings.

It's about what type of campus atmosphere, if they offer the major she's interested, is it in a part of the country she wants, so many things. But the quality of program is a part of that decision. It does matter and anyone who says otherwise may be insecure about their own DD's options. People get on here and spend countless hours comparing DA to ECNl and either bashing or praising the area programs. Some of it is asinine but some of it is to be informed and make a good decision. A decision you can change from year to year. College is a 4 year experience. I think she's being extremely smart in looking at it from every possible angle.

[Anonymous]

And I'm asking on here and not with a "network of parents" because I'm not into broadcasting the offers she has. They will know when she decides.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:And I'm asking on here and not with a "network of parents" because I'm not into broadcasting the offers she has. They will know when she decides.

When I mentioned a network of parents, I was thinking of people you trust who have older kids who have gone through the process. Sometimes a coach can fulfill this role, but we found veteran parents to be generally more helpful when our older kid was being recruited. This was on a team, and pretty much all the parents shared resources and impressions of college coaches and programs. While there are some people on DCUM who are nasty about a lot of stuff, we did not find that to be the case at all in real life. We also all had a general sense of what offers various kids were considering. It's pretty helpful to know how hard your kid is being chased vs. a teammate so you can get a sense about how much a particular college coach values your kid. We have since shared our knowledge about all the programs our son seriously considered with any number of families with younger kids.

I'd also add that if you don't know much about the programs your DD is considering, this would be a fine time to see if you can catch some games online or in person to get a sense of the level and style of play. I think part of why many of us are nervous about relying on college rankings is that they can change so much from year to year. Last year the University of Akron men's program, which is typically very strong, made it to the finals of the national championships. This year they've won one game, but that doesn't mean it's not a strong program with great coaching and lots of good players. Teams can be hugely affected by injuries and other factors. The academic components of a school are much easier to research than the athletic ones.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And I'm asking on here and not with a "network of parents" because I'm not into broadcasting the offers she has. They will know when she decides.

When I mentioned a network of parents, I was thinking of people you trust who have older kids who have gone through the process. Sometimes a coach can fulfill this role, but we found veteran parents to be generally more helpful when our older kid was being recruited. This was on a team, and pretty much all the parents shared resources and impressions of college coaches and programs. While there are some people on DCUM who are nasty about a lot of stuff, we did not find that to be the case at all in real life. We also all had a general sense of what offers various kids were considering. It's pretty helpful to know how hard your kid is being chased vs. a teammate so you can get a sense about how much a particular college coach values your kid. We have since shared our knowledge about all the programs our son seriously considered with any number of families with younger kids.

I'd also add that if you don't know much about the programs your DD is considering, this would be a fine time to see if you can catch some games online or in person to get a sense of the level and style of play. I think part of why many of us are nervous about relying on college rankings is that they can change so much from year to year. Last year the University of Akron men's program, which is typically very strong, made it to the finals of the national championships. This year they've won one game, but that doesn't mean it's not a strong program with great coaching and lots of good players. Teams can be hugely affected by injuries and other factors. The academic components of a school are much easier to research than the athletic ones.

Thank you. The online tip is good. She had wanted to catch some live games but it's easier said than done with how hectic her schedule is.