My kid’s coach asked my son to make a list of schools where he’d like to contact coaches.
Kid is very clear he wants to be an engineer, and has been clear on this goal since he was tiny.
He is a kid who seems to have a lot of athletic and academic potential, but he’s too young for me to say for sure. So, we want to make a list of schools with varied levels, both academic and athletic.
What level soccer does he want to play? Does he expect to be a recruited athlete? What does he want in a college (size, location, big time sports, etc.)? Do you have any financial constraints?
If you haven’t looked through any of the good college guide books (ex. Fiske, Princeton Review) and/or google lists of engineering programs those would be a good first steps.
Offhand maybe some schools like Lafayette, Lehigh, Bucknell, Union? Would he enjoy schools like MIT, WPI?
Keep in mind that some Stanford soccer players manage to major in engineering. It can be done, but it isn’t easy.
Seems like schools with a very high percentage of engineering students like South Dakota School of Mines and Technology may be more likely to have soccer coaches who understand their student athletes’ time commitments studying engineering. (Roster linked below lists student athletes’ majors.)
This is your junior high school kid, correct? Still too early to be definitive about these things.
If you could provide more info about athletic level, geographic desires, school size, budgetary considerations, etc., you will get more useful suggestions here.
He’s 8th grade, but the coaches say it’s time to start?
His coaches seem confident he’ll be recruited for D1 if that’s what he wants. I think it’s ridiculous to project that this early because anything could happen, but he is a very strong player right now. I don’t know if engineering and D1 soccer is realistic? Similarly, he’s got high test scores and good grades in middle school, but who knows if he’ll keep them.
He likes the idea of being where he could snowboard in the winter, but other than that doesn’t have a lot of opinions. I also expect his opinions will change and in 4 years he’ll have opinions.
This is mostly dependent on the individual, but also to a large degree the school.
My son for example went to Cal Poly. It’s a notoriously difficult program. The graduate a 4.0 about once a decade. Even their club team is so good and requires so much time commitment that he chose not to try out.
On the other hand, Josh Dobbs, currently a quarterback for the Minnesota Vikings, was an aerospace engineer and graduated with a 4.0. D1 football is a much bigger commitment than D1 soccer.
It can’t hurt to look now, though. As for a list, you really need to decide if D1 will be his focus. If so, the list narrows significantly. If he’s interested in D3 there aren’t athletic scholarships, but several of my former players received a bump in their academic awards because they were recruited soccer players.
On that note, a D1 team will typically carry 30 player, but only has 9.9 scholarships to spread around. That means they can’t even field a full squad on full scholarship. Most coaches split them to cover more players. It’s not the same money as football and basketball.
The kicker on the UT football team when I was in school there was inducted into the civil engineering honor society the same time I was. And another player was in my EE circuits class. So it’s doable but I bet it’s tough!
Which is why I want as wide a range of schools to look at as possible.
Honestly, I think everything could change, except probably the engineering. That’s the piece I’m most confident will stay the same, just because it’s been consistent since he was tiny. He spends every spare second tinkering or making things. He loves robotics and woodworking. I just have trouble imagining that changing.
But anything else? Athletic level? Academic level? College size? Gender ratios? Urban/rural? I can see all that changing.
As far as finances, he’ll qualify for financial aid on paper, but he’ll also have some family help. So, schools with merit aid, need based aid, or athletic aid would probably all work, but we’re not in a position for full pay out of state or private tuition.
I think it’s realistic at most schools. Not as easy logistically as something like Econ but that’s true for all students.
The main challenge is scheduling, especially labs. This can often be handled by pushing those courses into off season semesters and/or summer.
What kind of engineering?
Keep in mind interests may change as he realizes what engineering is, and of course he might decide he doesn’t like the o math involved.
My son was able to find labs late in the day, usually at, or after 5pm. That works, but makes for a long day.
For D1 sports there will typically be an off season commitment as well.
Then I’d look at Ivies like Cornell, Harvard, Princeton, Brown. Good FA and fluid movement between majors, the athletic schedule and travel is among the best D1 at accommodating the academic demands.
I agree there’s off season commitment but it’s the extended in-season travel that can be really tough to juggle. Definitely can be managed though, as you say.
Right now, he says he wants to be a mechanical engineer who focuses on medical applications, but that I can totally see changing.
The issue with a fall sport, at least in my son’s case, is that in season practices are held in the morning, during the daylight hours. In the off season, practices are held in the evening hours. There are times in the spring when fitting a one day, 90+ minute lab, into a morning/afternoon can be very disruptive when trying to build out your entire schedule of classes.
Wouldn’t they have practice at that time?
Are you willing to say where, or what kind of school your kid attended? What was his major?
I posted while you were posting above!
LOL! No worries. My son’s team was told not schedule classes until after 11am during the fall season, and not to schedule classes after 1pm in the spring off season. This is for soccer at a mid-major D1 school that is routinely within the top 50 for men’s soccer.
We have friends with a son in another sport who really struggled finding a school where he could study engineering or CS. He committed to Lafayette.
Since your son is in 8th grade there is little point in having the club reach out to d3 coaches – it’s way too early for them, and they will be there in a few years, when their timeline has them focusing on your son’s year.
So come up with a list of d1 schools. If you can narrow it by screening out unselective schools (or too selective schools), schools that require a lot of traveling to get to, etc. so much the better.