Athletic recruit college options

[Mwfan1921]

@allaroundz

Thanks, my parents are okay with the payment, I’d just like to see if there are outside scholarships as theres not much else for me to really do + if I can help my parents pay less, why not right?

Most scholarships/grants come from the schools themselves, outside scholarships represent a low proportion of total scholarships. Outside scholarships tend to be highly competitive and work intensive for relatively small sums. They tend to not be renewable for all 4 years either. I don’t know of a good comprehensive scholarship website. Start looking in your local area…does your GC having any resources?

Have you run the net price calculator at the Ivy you are committed to? That should give you a decent estimate of your family’s freshman year costs.

@superdomestique

As it is April of your junior year, to have an Ivy athletic recruiting commitment at this early stage implies that you are pretty good at your sport. It is my experience that these sort of commitments, while not binding, are taken pretty seriously by Ivy coaches, so by committing to you, there are other athletic recruiting hopefuls that will have to look elsewhere. There is a domino effect to these decisions.

It seems to me if you are not sure about fully committing to this school, you are being rather selfish to hold a place while you keep looking. It is widely known that Ivy League schools do no give any merit aid so if that is a factor you should be honest about it. I also think the world of athletic recruiting (depending on sport of course) is rather small, so if you are still looking after committing, the coaches will know/talk.

OP can and should be applying to other schools in the Fall. While it’s likely OP will be admitted at the school they are committed to, admission is not certain and it’s prudent to have back up options. There are posters here every year that ‘committed’ but were not accepted. Harvard recruited athletes per the lawsuit documents had an 86% acceptance rate. Said differently, 14% of athletes who committed were not accepted.

As a separate matter, Ivy/D1 sports can be very time consuming, and premed tracks at most Ivy’s is very intense. While there are those who have done it, it is very hard. Given the importance of grades/scores to get into med school, I often think going to an in-state option can not only be less expensive, but also academically less intense, allowing for more time to enjoy the college experience while still achieving a med school goal.

It is difficult to manage time and get good grades as a student-athlete at any school. Many student-athletes end up dropping their sport to focus on academics and GPA, especially if they aren’t getting the playing time to warrant the trade-off. With that said, a student-athlete may prioritize their sport as one of the top factors of their desired college experience.