Reply to Do you really want your HS teen to get a D1 "full ride"?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]This thread should be required reading for all the parents of 9 yr olds out there standing on the sidelines salivating at the idea of a full ride. Sure it may be free if their kid is the 1% that gets one, but the kid will have to earn every damn dime of it for 4 yrs; sometimes the parents (and kids) don't get it and don't want to accept it.

I know a few current Penn State (Big 10) football players and the schedule during the season (late August to yr end) leaves minimal time and attention for school. They get 1 day a week "off" from football obligations, and that's the day that the more academic guys pile on as many classes as possible. Otherwise the schedule is -- practice/workouts from 6-8:30 am, school from 9-3 pm, and football from 3 pm until 7-8 pm. While it doesn't seem bad to dedicate 6 hrs/day 4 days a week to school (Fridays are pretty much terrible in the fall as it's often a travel day or filled will all kinds of other football hype for a home game weekend), that's only 24 hrs a week -- of which probably 12-15 are spent in class. Having only 9-12 hours free during the week means the majors that are chosen necessarily cannot include lab sciences or pre med or engineering as there just isn't adequate time. I've heard that even finance is tough due to too many problem sets and things like pure liberal arts (English etc.) can be hard as you need dedicated time for research papers. So then you have a ton of guys getting a "free ride" that consists of "trade" oriented majors like Tourism or Criminal Justice or Phys Ed -- bc the classwork is pretty common sense and the homework can be done quick.

Sure they have time after 8 pm to study, but in such a big name program -- they say there's always some other commitment after practice that you can't bail on -- lest you show the coaches you don't care. [b]So if some donor is in town who was on the O-line and wants to take all the O-line guys to dinner, you're pretty much going.[/b] Or if your unit "decides" that it needs to get together to study film for another 4 hrs after practice -- you're not going to be able to say "sorry guys -- economics midterm tomorrow, I can't" without seriously hurting your credibility with the team and the staff.

The spring and summer are better, and that's when the more "serious" guys make up academic ground -- even if it pisses off the coaches. From Jan-March all you have is winter conditioning a few hrs a day -- so you can pile on classwork and make sure your GPA stays high. From April to May/June is spring ball -- again some take if very seriously but others just treat it as a few hr a day obligation while keeping the GPA really high. Then training camp from June-August is terrible again -- practices for about 6-7 hrs/day plus they are required to take 1-2 summer classes to lighten the load for the fall. It's manageable but for any of those majors like finance -- an internship just isn't an option (though some of the more serious students have done it but getting a donor who is in love with the football program to set up an "internship" that allows 10-20 hrs/wk done remotely from school -- still not the same but at least there's something on the resume).[/quote]

This is actually an NCAA infraction, if true.

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