techmom13

Byebyesavings,
Great that your S got the merit aid he deserves. But if we want to go the D3 route,we would want to use sports as a leverage for her to get to the reach schools, so she would not qualify for any merit aid. Would you mind sharing some D3 that you've researched that would offer merit aid so I can see if D's grade will cut musters.
SteveMA,
You are absolutely right about merit aid at the top D3 schools, the question is if D can make it. She is good but not NMS material !-) I'm also curious as to if it is different depending on the sports as well even at the same school. D's sports is non-revenue so I don't know how much influence a coach will have.
LivesinHobbiton,
I'm with you on that !-) If FA is not an issue, I would have her attending a top D3 school and get it over with.

SteveMA

techmom13--DD is in a non-revenue sport too. At the D3 level it is about getting good students in the door that might otherwise go to scholarship programs. Many D3 programs can compete with DII and even DI schools easily. Again, it's all about the school. Most D3 programs know that the better students are usually athletes. You don't have to be a NMF to get this money, just a B+ or so or better student and do reasonably well on your ACT/SAT.

ByeByeSavings

Techmom I'll send you a private message later

SteveMA

techmom13--the D3 schools DD considered had 3.5 with a 26 and above ACT score for some merit aid, better aid available for 3.7 and 28+. We haven't really seen any merit aid for scores below a 26.

schoolhouse

Godfather, great question

I've gone through the recruiting process (twice) with kids and I asked that same why question. Most of the people that post here seemingly have kids with the academic talent to go to most any school, some of the schools they have an interest in really recruit the talented and elite(who they already know about and have been tracking since they were 15 years old) so it's the other kids with good grades/scores and less talent who wonder. So, I'd like to just offer this if you have talent but aren't exceptional(per the AAU/ or National Sport Orgs groups etc....than you are just someone doing a sport for fun or club level and going through all the hassle of recruiting is pointless unless you've really found that idea situation.............but all these people looking at Ivies, near Ivies, southern Ivies etc. all recruit in the same places as the big sports factories recruit-so AAU,national sports organization etc...my daughter was recruited by Yale/Harvard/Duke & Northwestern all great undergrad schools, none of which could win anything in her sport and the money that they did not have for her sport just didn't make the price of that undergrad education worthwhile in comparison to Notre Dame, OSU, Texas or UNC and she could win at ND/OSU and graduate and not be in debt.

GolfFather

Thanks very much for your post.
(Don’t know if your salutation was unintentional or an acknowledgement of my punish screen name.)

Academically, we don’t know yet where my D will wind up. I expect in the A-/B+ range.

Athletically, we don’t know either. If I had to predict, I’d say in the B-/B range. Not good enough to really be recruited but maybe good enough to make a team at some schools. * So, we are really facing the unknown and will just have to see what happens.

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* Which is another question we are going to have to deal with – would she prefer to be near the bottom, talent wise, on a very good team or get to be more involved on a lesser team.

SteveMA

GolfFather--DD has the talent to play on pretty much any team in the country, however, she does NOT want to devote that much time to her sport in college. She is the top recruit at all of her schools for that reason. All of the schools to which she applied focus on academics. They compete only on weekends for the most part, limiting the number of days of classes they miss. Practices are scheduled around class schedules, etc. There is far less pressure to perform as a result. She doesn't care if her team finishes last in every tournament (well she hopes they don't) but still wants to do well individually. She is looking at this as a way to help pay for college and for something fun to do while in college. If she wanted to go pro, her list would look a lot different .

fenwaysouth

golffather,

Hypothetically, I know we are speaking in generalities....If your son or daughter has the athletic talent to be recruited, desire to play college sports it is a much easier path to come in through the front door as opposed to the back door.

First, your kid learns how to deal with the adult world. This becomes their project, and they get to manage it. You advise them, and then they execute the plan. THey will stumble but they will learn alot about themselves during this recruiting process which will transfer into their job search in 4 years.

Second, admissions rates are vastly better with a recruited athlete or ED/EA application. Why would you not use something at your disposal to get into a school you may not ordinarily have access to? If my kid works his tail off in high school demonstrates talent in a particular area, I want my son/daughter to have that choice.

Third, money. Folks have already talked about that, so I'll leave it.

Fourth, if your son or daughter has "angst" about college recruiting then they probably shouldn't be recruited. My son told me when he was a high school senior that if he couldn't handle his school work, AP classes and some recruiting then he has no business playing college baseball. I agree.

Fifth, tryouts at some schools are a formality to appease the administration, and tell them they had tryouts. Many coaches at many schools know who will be on the team. Again, it is better to be on the front end of recruiting than take the long shot chance of walking onto many schools.

Bottom line is there is more good that can come from college recruiting than bad.