Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most top athletes do not end up selecting lower tiered schools. Either they play at Ivys, or Hopkins, Chicago, military academies, or they play at Duke, Wake, W&M, UVA, Michigan etc.
Most top athletes are committing to top tier schools.

If the athlete is a nonstarter at club.. that's when this decision level comes in.

This is moronically false. Truly top athletes will select schools with usually the best athletic teams and they don't care much about the academic quality of the school.

The UVA baseball coach left to coach at Mississippi State and the bulk of the UVA team transferred with him (because the new coach from Duke brought all his Duke players with him to UVA).

The top Ivy athletes in football and basketball are increasingly transferring to Power 4 schools where they can earn serious NIL $$$s. New flash...it's not Duke or Stanford but places like LSU or Ole Miss.

But families that value education over academics don’t have kids that do this. My kid could have played (was recruited at several D1 soccer schools)- but went to the Ivy, we are talking Fairleigh Dickinson, st Mary, Randolph Macon or Radford….vs the Ivies he was admitted to on academics.

Your example isn't relevant at all...you are talking about attending both a 4th tier academic school and a 4th tier athletic school (BTW, Randolph Macon is D3).

I am sure the STA pitcher attending Alabama could have gone to Harvard if he wanted (and I really mean this...he would have spent considerable time convincing the Harvard coach he really wanted to attend, but admission would have been guaranteed)...but nobody who has designs on an MLB career would ever make that choice.

You really don't understand high academic athletic admissions.....unless he was a very good student it doesn't matter how much the coach wanted him.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most top athletes do not end up selecting lower tiered schools. Either they play at Ivys, or Hopkins, Chicago, military academies, or they play at Duke, Wake, W&M, UVA, Michigan etc.
Most top athletes are committing to top tier schools.

If the athlete is a nonstarter at club.. that's when this decision level comes in.

This is moronically false. Truly top athletes will select schools with usually the best athletic teams and they don't care much about the academic quality of the school.

The UVA baseball coach left to coach at Mississippi State and the bulk of the UVA team transferred with him (because the new coach from Duke brought all his Duke players with him to UVA).

The top Ivy athletes in football and basketball are increasingly transferring to Power 4 schools where they can earn serious NIL $$$s. New flash...it's not Duke or Stanford but places like LSU or Ole Miss.

But families that value education over academics don’t have kids that do this. My kid could have played (was recruited at several D1 soccer schools)- but went to the Ivy, we are talking Fairleigh Dickinson, st Mary, Randolph Macon or Radford….vs the Ivies he was admitted to on academics.

Your example isn't relevant at all...you are talking about attending both a 4th tier academic school and a 4th tier athletic school (BTW, Randolph Macon is D3).

I am sure the STA pitcher attending Alabama could have gone to Harvard if he wanted (and I really mean this...he would have spent considerable time convincing the Harvard coach he really wanted to attend, but admission would have been guaranteed)...but nobody who has designs on an MLB career would ever make that choice.

Although I generally agree with your larger point, Harvard alone has had six pitchers drafted in the last 3 years. https://gocrimson.com/news/2025/7/14/baseballs-pauley-fang-selected-in-2025-major-league-baseball-draft.aspx

So clearly some future pro players (pitchers anyway) do sometimes choose Harvard or another Ivy League school.



https://ivyleague.com/news/2021/3/31/baseball-hendricks-headlines-four-ivies-named-to-mlb-opening-day-rosters.aspx

That's basically incidental...also, your links show them getting drafted in absurdly low rounds where they are offered almost no signing bonus and their chances of ever seeing an MLB field are less than 5%.

Much like the college decision, there are actually a fair number of college baseball players who make the decision to not even play professionally because they would be drafted in the 12th or 13th round, will toil away in the minors making like $20k/year...and find themselves at 30 with little to show for it and now trying to make it in real life.

Also, I doubt those pitchers ever thought they were pro material when they decided to attend Harvard to play.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is very common. Some kids just do not want to go to a small school. We had this conversation with our son. His sport was hockey. At best, if things went his way with Juniors, he would have been a D3 player. There were maybe 15 schools he would have gone to play hockey. The NESCAC schools, Skidmore, Babson, St. Olaf, Hobart and Lake Forest. And there a lot of hockey kids that think the same way.

My nephew had lots of friends that went to college to play D3 lacrosse. Most lasted one year before transferring to a flagship.

Oh hockey. Yeah. My cousin's kid had to re-class in HS, go to a boarding school and then try to get into the Farm leagues before even trying to get recruited for college. Men's hockey players start college at 22/23.

Yep. Only the stars go to college on time.

Well...the true stars go direct to the NHL as 18 year olds (Sidney Crosby, Connor Bedard et al).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most top athletes do not end up selecting lower tiered schools. Either they play at Ivys, or Hopkins, Chicago, military academies, or they play at Duke, Wake, W&M, UVA, Michigan etc.
Most top athletes are committing to top tier schools.

If the athlete is a nonstarter at club.. that's when this decision level comes in.

This is moronically false. Truly top athletes will select schools with usually the best athletic teams and they don't care much about the academic quality of the school.

The UVA baseball coach left to coach at Mississippi State and the bulk of the UVA team transferred with him (because the new coach from Duke brought all his Duke players with him to UVA).

The top Ivy athletes in football and basketball are increasingly transferring to Power 4 schools where they can earn serious NIL $$$s. New flash...it's not Duke or Stanford but places like LSU or Ole Miss.

But families that value education over academics don’t have kids that do this. My kid could have played (was recruited at several D1 soccer schools)- but went to the Ivy, we are talking Fairleigh Dickinson, st Mary, Randolph Macon or Radford….vs the Ivies he was admitted to on academics.

Your example isn't relevant at all...you are talking about attending both a 4th tier academic school and a 4th tier athletic school (BTW, Randolph Macon is D3).

I am sure the STA pitcher attending Alabama could have gone to Harvard if he wanted (and I really mean this...he would have spent considerable time convincing the Harvard coach he really wanted to attend, but admission would have been guaranteed)...but nobody who has designs on an MLB career would ever make that choice.

Although I generally agree with your larger point, Harvard alone has had six pitchers drafted in the last 3 years. https://gocrimson.com/news/2025/7/14/baseballs-pauley-fang-selected-in-2025-major-league-baseball-draft.aspx

So clearly some future pro players (pitchers anyway) do sometimes choose Harvard or another Ivy League school.



https://ivyleague.com/news/2021/3/31/baseball-hendricks-headlines-four-ivies-named-to-mlb-opening-day-rosters.aspx

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is very common. Some kids just do not want to go to a small school. We had this conversation with our son. His sport was hockey. At best, if things went his way with Juniors, he would have been a D3 player. There were maybe 15 schools he would have gone to play hockey. The NESCAC schools, Skidmore, Babson, St. Olaf, Hobart and Lake Forest. And there a lot of hockey kids that think the same way.

My nephew had lots of friends that went to college to play D3 lacrosse. Most lasted one year before transferring to a flagship.

Oh hockey. Yeah. My cousin's kid had to re-class in HS, go to a boarding school and then try to get into the Farm leagues before even trying to get recruited for college. Men's hockey players start college at 22/23.

Yep. Only the stars go to college on time.

Anonymous wrote:This is very common. Some kids just do not want to go to a small school. We had this conversation with our son. His sport was hockey. At best, if things went his way with Juniors, he would have been a D3 player. There were maybe 15 schools he would have gone to play hockey. The NESCAC schools, Skidmore, Babson, St. Olaf, Hobart and Lake Forest. And there a lot of hockey kids that think the same way.

My nephew had lots of friends that went to college to play D3 lacrosse. Most lasted one year before transferring to a flagship.

Oh hockey. Yeah. My cousin's kid had to re-class in HS, go to a boarding school and then try to get into the Farm leagues before even trying to get recruited for college. Men's hockey players start college at 22/23.

^^ and I'm obviously not talking about the elite kids that get an offer from Ivies/Stanford/Duke, etc etc etc... though mostly European.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most top athletes do not end up selecting lower tiered schools. Either they play at Ivys, or Hopkins, Chicago, military academies, or they play at Duke, Wake, W&M, UVA, Michigan etc.
Most top athletes are committing to top tier schools.

If the athlete is a nonstarter at club.. that's when this decision level comes in.

This is moronically false. Truly top athletes will select schools with usually the best athletic teams and they don't care much about the academic quality of the school.

The UVA baseball coach left to coach at Mississippi State and the bulk of the UVA team transferred with him (because the new coach from Duke brought all his Duke players with him to UVA).

The top Ivy athletes in football and basketball are increasingly transferring to Power 4 schools where they can earn serious NIL $$$s. New flash...it's not Duke or Stanford but places like LSU or Ole Miss.

But families that value education over academics don’t have kids that do this. My kid could have played (was recruited at several D1 soccer schools)- but went to the Ivy, we are talking Fairleigh Dickinson, st Mary, Randolph Macon or Radford….vs the Ivies he was admitted to on academics.

Your example isn't relevant at all...you are talking about attending both a 4th tier academic school and a 4th tier athletic school (BTW, Randolph Macon is D3).

I am sure the STA pitcher attending Alabama could have gone to Harvard if he wanted (and I really mean this...he would have spent considerable time convincing the Harvard coach he really wanted to attend, but admission would have been guaranteed)...but nobody who has designs on an MLB career would ever make that choice.

Men's soccer is different. The demographic is also different- wealthier. There is no potential big payout post-college (those kids left for Europe instead of college). Most club parents aren't letting a kid that got accepted on their academics to an Ivy attend Radford or Fairleigh Dickinson instead to play soccer.

Where it works well are with kids like my older sibling--very elite soccer player and very poor student. He did get a full ride and it was the reason he even wanted to go to college--but it was academically below the level of our state schools (out of state). When you have a good/solid player, but elite academics--that's the conundrum. The kid will often want to go to the much lesser school because he wants to keep playing or put 'commit' on the school instagram and he's caught up in that world...which if he waited a year would so nobody really cares about it anymore and now he's sitting on the bench at a school far beneath his level...and he's still paying for the majority of it himself.

This is very common. Some kids just do not want to go to a small school. We had this conversation with our son. His sport was hockey. At best, if things went his way with Juniors, he would have been a D3 player. There were maybe 15 schools he would have gone to play hockey. The NESCAC schools, Skidmore, Babson, St. Olaf, Hobart and Lake Forest. And there a lot of hockey kids that think the same way.

My nephew had lots of friends that went to college to play D3 lacrosse. Most lasted one year before transferring to a flagship.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most top athletes do not end up selecting lower tiered schools. Either they play at Ivys, or Hopkins, Chicago, military academies, or they play at Duke, Wake, W&M, UVA, Michigan etc.
Most top athletes are committing to top tier schools.

If the athlete is a nonstarter at club.. that's when this decision level comes in.

This is moronically false. Truly top athletes will select schools with usually the best athletic teams and they don't care much about the academic quality of the school.

The UVA baseball coach left to coach at Mississippi State and the bulk of the UVA team transferred with him (because the new coach from Duke brought all his Duke players with him to UVA).

The top Ivy athletes in football and basketball are increasingly transferring to Power 4 schools where they can earn serious NIL $$$s. New flash...it's not Duke or Stanford but places like LSU or Ole Miss.

But families that value education over academics don’t have kids that do this. My kid could have played (was recruited at several D1 soccer schools)- but went to the Ivy, we are talking Fairleigh Dickinson, st Mary, Randolph Macon or Radford….vs the Ivies he was admitted to on academics.

Your example isn't relevant at all...you are talking about attending both a 4th tier academic school and a 4th tier athletic school (BTW, Randolph Macon is D3).

I am sure the STA pitcher attending Alabama could have gone to Harvard if he wanted (and I really mean this...he would have spent considerable time convincing the Harvard coach he really wanted to attend, but admission would have been guaranteed)...but nobody who has designs on an MLB career would ever make that choice.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most top athletes do not end up selecting lower tiered schools. Either they play at Ivys, or Hopkins, Chicago, military academies, or they play at Duke, Wake, W&M, UVA, Michigan etc.
Most top athletes are committing to top tier schools.

If the athlete is a nonstarter at club.. that's when this decision level comes in.

This is moronically false. Truly top athletes will select schools with usually the best athletic teams and they don't care much about the academic quality of the school.

The UVA baseball coach left to coach at Mississippi State and the bulk of the UVA team transferred with him (because the new coach from Duke brought all his Duke players with him to UVA).

The top Ivy athletes in football and basketball are increasingly transferring to Power 4 schools where they can earn serious NIL $$$s. New flash...it's not Duke or Stanford but places like LSU or Ole Miss.

Look at the Heisman trophy winner and his sob story that only Yale wanted him out of college.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most top athletes do not end up selecting lower tiered schools. Either they play at Ivys, or Hopkins, Chicago, military academies, or they play at Duke, Wake, W&M, UVA, Michigan etc.
Most top athletes are committing to top tier schools.

If the athlete is a nonstarter at club.. that's when this decision level comes in.

This is moronically false. Truly top athletes will select schools with usually the best athletic teams and they don't care much about the academic quality of the school.

The UVA baseball coach left to coach at Mississippi State and the bulk of the UVA team transferred with him (because the new coach from Duke brought all his Duke players with him to UVA).

The top Ivy athletes in football and basketball are increasingly transferring to Power 4 schools where they can earn serious NIL $$$s. New flash...it's not Duke or Stanford but places like LSU or Ole Miss.

But families that value education over academics don’t have kids that do this. My kid could have played (was recruited at several D1 soccer schools)- but went to the Ivy, we are talking Fairleigh Dickinson, st Mary, Randolph Macon or Radford….vs the Ivies he was admitted to on academics.

definitely should look at those schools if high academic some great schools on the list for NESCAC

NESCACS? how come no one is mentioning them? https://nescac.com/sports/2020/7/15/ABOUTNESCAC_0715201927.aspx?path=aboutnescac

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes. DD was a 4-year Varsity athlete. She was even a section-leader her senior year, which is important to demonstrate leadership.

She earned admission to a public Ivy, but won’t be pursuing her sport in college.

Academics come first.

What is a public ivy?

It’s a made up term that sounds ridiculous to others when someone employs it. They mean UVA, Michigan, maybe Berkeley.

Huh? Stupid term buy ucla a d Berkeley are better with more nobel prizes