first off, if you are a female, your career is limited beyond college so go to the best school for academics. If you are that good of a swimmer, you have been on involved with usa swimming long before college and it really doesn't matter where you go to college if your goal is the Olympics.

I too got a division 1 full ride, and we took any classes we wanted as long as we were in the training room for treatments and getting ready by 2:00 pm. If we needed a class that was at a time that conflicted with practice we could take it at another time, summer or off season semester and it was paid for. Most of us started the summer before our freshman year to take a few classes and continued that through our college career. During most of the summer we worked the camps and several of us were in graduate school by the time our eligibility ran out.

The hardest part was the recruiting and the pressure from that. Going to showcase tournaments and the constant contact is tough but in the end I would do it all again.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think all these people hating on athletics must have been benchwarmers in HS. Sports, especially as a woman, taught me invaluable lessons. I was relieved to play in college and have a full life without getting drunk at frat parties. I was excited to find a way to love my body by focusing on what it can do instead of how it looks. I learned the value of hard work and teamwork. I'm flabbergasted that people think the only value in sports is if you end up playing pro.

Not hating on sports -- but people need to realize that there is NO balance in D1 football or basketball anymore. The students are treated as investments, so it hinders their educations -- thus it may only be worth if you are good enough to go pro. I much prefer how it was back in the day -- I know plenty of older people who played college sports even football and basketball at D1 -- who still managed to keep their grades up enough to go to med school or law school after. Nowdays the universities want to take every single second of the students' time for 4-5 yrs and say "thanks very much," not caring whether that amount of sacrifice hurts the students' career prospects.

So does this mean the D1 soccer experience is different/better?

It's better but still a year round commitment. Also important to remember that few boys will be on full scholarships since those are going to football and basketball. Track/running is a tough one because it is essentially a 3 season sport for mid-distance and distance athletes and 2 seasons for sprinters and field athletes. Of course very few, if any are getting full scholarships.

The girl v. boy dynamics VERY different. No girls sports are revenue sports so less pressure overall. More scholarships thanks to title 9 (well the same amount of scholarships but because boys are mostly used up in football that doesn't leave much for the other sports).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think all these people hating on athletics must have been benchwarmers in HS. Sports, especially as a woman, taught me invaluable lessons. I was relieved to play in college and have a full life without getting drunk at frat parties. I was excited to find a way to love my body by focusing on what it can do instead of how it looks. I learned the value of hard work and teamwork. I'm flabbergasted that people think the only value in sports is if you end up playing pro.

Not hating on sports -- but people need to realize that there is NO balance in D1 football or basketball anymore. The students are treated as investments, so it hinders their educations -- thus it may only be worth if you are good enough to go pro. I much prefer how it was back in the day -- I know plenty of older people who played college sports even football and basketball at D1 -- who still managed to keep their grades up enough to go to med school or law school after. Nowdays the universities want to take every single second of the students' time for 4-5 yrs and say "thanks very much," not caring whether that amount of sacrifice hurts the students' career prospects.

So does this mean the D1 soccer experience is different/better?

Anonymous wrote:I think all these people hating on athletics must have been benchwarmers in HS. Sports, especially as a woman, taught me invaluable lessons. I was relieved to play in college and have a full life without getting drunk at frat parties. I was excited to find a way to love my body by focusing on what it can do instead of how it looks. I learned the value of hard work and teamwork. I'm flabbergasted that people think the only value in sports is if you end up playing pro.

Not hating on sports -- but people need to realize that there is NO balance in D1 football or basketball anymore. The students are treated as investments, so it hinders their educations -- thus it may only be worth if you are good enough to go pro. I much prefer how it was back in the day -- I know plenty of older people who played college sports even football and basketball at D1 -- who still managed to keep their grades up enough to go to med school or law school after. Nowdays the universities want to take every single second of the students' time for 4-5 yrs and say "thanks very much," not caring whether that amount of sacrifice hurts the students' career prospects.

Anonymous wrote:There are many different experiences, OP. I'm sorry yours was negative. But also, playing 2 sports is a bit strange and extreme. My D1 scholarship experience was very positive. I never had to do donor dinners or other any other obligations outside of training. I didn't mind not being able to work during the school year because, well, playing sports was a much better job than working retail. I got to pick my classes before all other students so I never missed a class or had to rearrange my schedule since I could chose the classes that worked with practices and games and travel. I was home for breaks and did train on my own, but it wasn't hard to go running and lift weights for 1-2 hours a day... it was actually a welcome break from being home with my family all day.

Honestly, playing sports kept me in line. My grades were great when I was playing and fell apart the season I took off. I think you have to look at the athlete, the program, the sport, etc. There are so many factors, but my experience was wonderful.

When was this? How many years ago?

This is an interesting thread!

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. 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. 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).

I think all these people hating on athletics must have been benchwarmers in HS. Sports, especially as a woman, taught me invaluable lessons. I was relieved to play in college and have a full life without getting drunk at frat parties. I was excited to find a way to love my body by focusing on what it can do instead of how it looks. I learned the value of hard work and teamwork. I'm flabbergasted that people think the only value in sports is if you end up playing pro.

Anonymous wrote:Good post OP.

Oldest DS played a sport at a D1 - was not a starter. The advice that he gave younger DS (who was a better club player and recruited by mid size and smaller D1) was not to do it. He told him that 95% of his college memories relate to the sport he played - and they were not all good memories. Like OP said, oldest DS said he felt like an employee and not a student athlete. At the end of the day, he wished he would have been able to spend his time pursuing other interests.

Youngest DS listened and attends an academically inclined D3 school. Played his sport for 2 years and quit the sport after his sophmore year. Is not active in student organizations and now doing an internships in his major. He is loving college.

Both DH and I are college graduates but we were not athletes and we attended schools that are D3. We allowed DS1 to pursue what he thought was his dream at the time. We never pushed either of them athletically. Looking back, I wish we had more of a sense of what D1 was like from a parents' perspective. We would have been able to give him better advice. We are able to advise friends who have this issue. I just tell them that your kid is going to be the one bearing the brunt so make sure they are fully committed and understand everything it entails.

My brother was the top recruit in his sport from this area. He also had a Professional career and he says the SAME thing. He does not advocate playing a D-1 sport in college. He would have rather had more time in college for the social scene. Granted--he wasn't in Football or Baseball where a pro career could have meant big, big $. Soccer in this country isn't multi-million dollar contracts. He always tells my siblings and I to take those thousands of dollars we spend on travel sports and put them in the 529s instead.

Nowadays full rides are scarce anyways.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I swam D3 and turned down D1 swimming scholarships. I absolutely valued the fact that I could quit anytime. I would have loved my college of choice without the swimming. I have good athletic children and would NOT want them on an athletic scholarship for all the reasons the OP stated. The parents that never played a sport and push their 9 yr olds in an effort to save themselves a buck so they can drive their fancy cars and fund their fancy vacations rather than saving for college freak me out. . .

I also happen to value a liberal arts education and they don't tend to be found at big Division I programs. Loved D III sports. Good balance with other interests and still very serious about your sport. No one plays or coaches at the college level if they're not committed to their sport.

This doesn't sound accurate. Of the 7 schools I was recruited by, 6 were liberal arts schools.

I also think it's totally ridiculous to claim parents push their 9 year olds in hope of a scholarship so they can drive fancy cars. Sorry you don't like someone in your peer group, PP, but they are an outlier.

I agree with this. I dont care if my kid goes to a Div 1 school for sports, Hell I dont care if he plays sports at all in college - but he loves his sport and plays on 3 different teams at a very competitive level. We are putting out crazy amounts of money for his sport. And I think about the time we spend travelling to and from games, the events and things we miss because it conflicts with sports, the amount of time he spends training. We do this because our kid loves it. I could probably afford a fancy if I saved all the money we've spent on his sport. But my kid loves it, it's been great for him and that's more important. I'm just fine driving my Toyota Corolla - which BTW I plan to drive into the ground.

Anonymous wrote:I swam D3 and turned down D1 swimming scholarships. I absolutely valued the fact that I could quit anytime. I would have loved my college of choice without the swimming. I have good athletic children and would NOT want them on an athletic scholarship for all the reasons the OP stated. The parents that never played a sport and push their 9 yr olds in an effort to save themselves a buck so they can drive their fancy cars and fund their fancy vacations rather than saving for college freak me out. . .

I also happen to value a liberal arts education and they don't tend to be found at big Division I programs. Loved D III sports. Good balance with other interests and still very serious about your sport. No one plays or coaches at the college level if they're not committed to their sport.

This doesn't sound accurate. Of the 7 schools I was recruited by, 6 were liberal arts schools.

I also think it's totally ridiculous to claim parents push their 9 year olds in hope of a scholarship so they can drive fancy cars. Sorry you don't like someone in your peer group, PP, but they are an outlier.

Recruited college athletes are told - from this list:
Academics
Social Life
Sports

Choose 2

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Would the same be true of D2 or D3?

No, because d3 doesn't do athletic scholarships. You can quit the sport and stay at the school.

My DC was recruited by a couple of D1 schools and opted not to pursue them for some of the reasons in the OP. Was also recruited by D3 schools but wasn't interested in smaller schools. So is not doing sports in college and really enjoying it.

What about D2?

Most D2's do partial scholarships.

Partial scholarships and just a different level of commitment than D1. If you are playing football, or really any sport including marching band, at a Big10 or SEC or Pac12 school it's a big deal. If you are at Shippensburg State it's not quite at the same level.

D2 schools seem to be an odd mix of HBCUs, former teacher colleges, and a few private colleges.

I swam D3 and turned down D1 swimming scholarships. I absolutely valued the fact that I could quit anytime. I would have loved my college of choice without the swimming. I have good athletic children and would NOT want them on an athletic scholarship for all the reasons the OP stated. The parents that never played a sport and push their 9 yr olds in an effort to save themselves a buck so they can drive their fancy cars and fund their fancy vacations rather than saving for college freak me out. . .

I also happen to value a liberal arts education and they don't tend to be found at big Division I programs. Loved D III sports. Good balance with other interests and still very serious about your sport. No one plays or coaches at the college level if they're not committed to their sport.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Would the same be true of D2 or D3?

No, because d3 doesn't do athletic scholarships. You can quit the sport and stay at the school.

My DC was recruited by a couple of D1 schools and opted not to pursue them for some of the reasons in the OP. Was also recruited by D3 schools but wasn't interested in smaller schools. So is not doing sports in college and really enjoying it.

What about D2?

Most D2's do partial scholarships.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Would the same be true of D2 or D3?

No, because d3 doesn't do athletic scholarships. You can quit the sport and stay at the school.

My DC was recruited by a couple of D1 schools and opted not to pursue them for some of the reasons in the OP. Was also recruited by D3 schools but wasn't interested in smaller schools. So is not doing sports in college and really enjoying it.

What about D2?