Anonymous
Post 08/17/2023 10:26     Subject: How important are grades, SATs/ACTs?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:DC is just begining to think about playing in college - D3. I know there are GPA/SAT/ACT standards that athletes must meet for acceptance to the university, but do they tend to be lower than for non-athletes?


At D1 in general - yes. At ivy leagues - yes, but limited. At D3 not quite so much. The main benefit at D3 is surety of your offer. In other words let's say the average GPA/SAT at your school of choice is 4.3/1430 - without soccer you might only have a 25% chance of getting in with those grades, but with soccer offer you will have 100% chance.

My DS currently has an offer from a D3 school. They asked him to name his major, and told him that for one major (one this school is ranked very highly for) he would still need a 1570 SAT even with the soccer offer. He's retaking his SAT .


For D1, in general, it may/can be lower, but some of the top programs (eg ACC) do look for kids who can help boost the team/program GPA.
Anonymous
Post 08/17/2023 09:51     Subject: How important are grades, SATs/ACTs?
Anonymous wrote:DC is just begining to think about playing in college - D3. I know there are GPA/SAT/ACT standards that athletes must meet for acceptance to the university, but do they tend to be lower than for non-athletes?


At D1 in general - yes. At ivy leagues - yes, but limited. At D3 not quite so much. The main benefit at D3 is surety of your offer. In other words let's say the average GPA/SAT at your school of choice is 4.3/1430 - without soccer you might only have a 25% chance of getting in with those grades, but with soccer offer you will have 100% chance.

My DS currently has an offer from a D3 school. They asked him to name his major, and told him that for one major (one this school is ranked very highly for) he would still need a 1570 SAT even with the soccer offer. He's retaking his SAT .
Anonymous
Post 08/16/2023 18:16     Subject: Re:How important are grades, SATs/ACTs?
Anonymous wrote:Very important according the coaches my son' talked too. Very high academic schools. You have to be able to meet their requirements just like everyone else. Thankfully- my kid has a 4.4gpa and 35 ACT so has sailed through pre-reads. But he knows quite a few kids that got the bounce--one didn't have a rigorous enough schedule apparently.


OP back. Everyone has been helpful. DC isn’t applying to top tier schools. My goal is to help them come up with a realistic list of targets. We have one based on GPA alone but was trying to figure out if soccer might turn some reaches into targets. It sounds like probably not.
Anonymous
Post 08/16/2023 17:56     Subject: How important are grades, SATs/ACTs?
Ivy League schools don't give scholarships of any kind, athletic, academic, or otherwise.
Anonymous
Post 08/16/2023 17:48     Subject: How important are grades, SATs/ACTs?
Anonymous wrote:Can I hijack this thread and ask if it is true that Ivy League schools don’t give scholarship money for soccer?

Will playing soccer give a kid a boost to get an academic scholarship, say at a school like UMD?

What are scholarships like to play for soccer for other D1 schools?


I replied but missed that you also asked about academic scholarships.

Schools aren't supposed to give academic aid based on athletic credentials. If your kid qualifies for academic aid based on ACT or SAT or GPA or whatever, then they can get academic aid and play soccer, but soccer won't help them get academic aid.

But the NCAA monitors them to make sure that they aren't giving student athletes academic aid who wouldn't otherwise get it.
Anonymous
Post 08/16/2023 17:48     Subject: How important are grades, SATs/ACTs?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Can I hijack this thread and ask if it is true that Ivy League schools don’t give scholarship money for soccer?

Will playing soccer give a kid a boost to get an academic scholarship, say at a school like UMD?

What are scholarships like to play for soccer for other D1 schools?


Ivy League schools do not give scholarships for any sports.

A non-Ivy D1 school has an average of 29 men, and 29 women on their soccer teams. They can offer 9.9 men's scholarships, and 14 women's scholarships, divided up between the athletes. A Big10 school like UMD is probably going to offer all they can, so the average male will get about 1/3 of their tuition covered, and the average female a little less than 1/2.

But there is a lot of competition for those spots, both because so many American kids play soccer, and because there are many players from other countries who would like to come here for college.


Thank you for this. Would soccer give a kid more of a boost when competing for an academic scholarship?
Anonymous
Post 08/16/2023 17:46     Subject: Re:How important are grades, SATs/ACTs?
Very important according the coaches my son' talked too. Very high academic schools. You have to be able to meet their requirements just like everyone else. Thankfully- my kid has a 4.4gpa and 35 ACT so has sailed through pre-reads. But he knows quite a few kids that got the bounce--one didn't have a rigorous enough schedule apparently.
Anonymous
Post 08/16/2023 17:39     Subject: How important are grades, SATs/ACTs?
Anonymous wrote:Can I hijack this thread and ask if it is true that Ivy League schools don’t give scholarship money for soccer?

Will playing soccer give a kid a boost to get an academic scholarship, say at a school like UMD?

What are scholarships like to play for soccer for other D1 schools?


Ivy League schools do not give scholarships for any sports.

A non-Ivy D1 school has an average of 29 men, and 29 women on their soccer teams. They can offer 9.9 men's scholarships, and 14 women's scholarships, divided up between the athletes. A Big10 school like UMD is probably going to offer all they can, so the average male will get about 1/3 of their tuition covered, and the average female a little less than 1/2.

But there is a lot of competition for those spots, both because so many American kids play soccer, and because there are many players from other countries who would like to come here for college.
Anonymous
Post 08/16/2023 17:35     Subject: How important are grades, SATs/ACTs?
Can I hijack this thread and ask if it is true that Ivy League schools don’t give scholarship money for soccer?

Will playing soccer give a kid a boost to get an academic scholarship, say at a school like UMD?

What are scholarships like to play for soccer for other D1 schools?
Anonymous
Post 08/16/2023 16:59     Subject: How important are grades, SATs/ACTs?
Anonymous wrote:Truth - coaches like good players with high grades so they can get them academic scholarship money and not take away for the athletic scholarship money.



OP says D3. In D3 there is no athletic scholarship money.

If a kid is being recruited for a school where grades/SAT aren't enough (e.g. a NESCAC, or Johns Hopkins, or MIT, where plenty of kids with stellar grades and SATs get rejected), then they need to be in the same grades/SAT range as admitted kids, but may not need to do as well on things like other extracurriculars, or their essay, or their teacher recommendations.
Anonymous
Post 08/16/2023 16:39     Subject: How important are grades, SATs/ACTs?
Truth - coaches like good players with high grades so they can get them academic scholarship money and not take away for the athletic scholarship money.

Anonymous
Post 08/16/2023 16:20     Subject: How important are grades, SATs/ACTs?
D3 is not like D1. Unless your kid is amazing he is going to need to have GPA and SAT/ACT scores in the university's admittance range.
Anonymous
Post 08/16/2023 16:19     Subject: Re:How important are grades, SATs/ACTs?
Grades are critical, even for recruited athletes. Each school looks at things a little differently, but recruited athletes still need to make certain standards. The quickest way to fall off a coach's "recruited list" is to not meet the academic standards of the school you are targeting. SAT and ACT are less a factor now that many schools are test optional, but don't ignore the tests completely.
Anonymous
Post 08/16/2023 16:04     Subject: How important are grades, SATs/ACTs?
Not sure anyone reguires sats anymore.
Anonymous
Post 08/16/2023 16:00     Subject: How important are grades, SATs/ACTs?
DC is just begining to think about playing in college - D3. I know there are GPA/SAT/ACT standards that athletes must meet for acceptance to the university, but do they tend to be lower than for non-athletes?