<p>^^^ lol…too funny, maybe not only books… maybe a mint on their pillow every night!</p>
<p>In a way the Ivy “full ride” has truth to it because it is much easier to get in to an Ivy as a recruited athlete and 100% of need is met and they are quite generous. Many people are below the 75K threshhold for full FA.</p>
<p>well, there weren’t any $ for us, but D’s laundry is washed and returned to her, she gets free shoes and some cool warmups, and weekend trips all over New England in a really nice bus :)</p>
<p>Oh, yeah, I forgot: excellent massages in the training room</p>
<p>^^^ Riverrunner
YOU are hilarious…</p>
<p>I expect your dear student has seen lots of New England from a charming team bus…and slept in a bus seat/spent more nights over-tired etc…AND enjoyed it all at the great school & team…and no mints on that travel pillow ;o(</p>
<p>Anyhow–That is hilarious^^^</p>
<p>It is soooo funny because I don’t think I know too many who qualify for full need aid…and frankly that fafsa asks about assets not liabilties…and leaves out so many families
rolling eyes–soooo not accurate—</p>
<p>I hear too often about kids who can get in and then can’t go because of the finances…my best friend in hs had that happen (Smith)</p>
<p>So far DS has been accepted to all four schools that have responded. According to our consultant, one school, which has already offered a half-tuition scholarship, would probably go to full if DS committed right now to going. But of course, it’s not anywhere near the top of the list, so he doesn’t want to commit. One other school has offered $8k/year merit, another has offered $0, and the last hasn’t sent out FA info yet. What hard choices to make! I didn’t know it was going to be this hard. We are getting no need-based aid, just a few thousand in loans. Still waiting to hear from 8 schools, so we have to be patient.</p>
<p>fenway south & GFG: In my mind I can say “oh, right, of course” when I hear about the ivy athletic scholarships (which are always a “full ride” for some reason - I guess because it sounds so much more impressive than just “a bit”!). However, I am a HORRIBLE actress, and I don’t think I could carry off your strategy - although I would love to!!! These kind of people bring out the worst in me…ha ha…the fictional conversation in my head…!</p>
<p>Even if you try to ignore this stuff from other parents, it can still affect you. One dad (he’s in the bragging category) kept talking about how his D was supposedly recruited to several Ivies–one of which was a school where my D had taken an official. Since he had already blabbed the girl’s SAT scores (<1200 combined math and verbal) and the fact that she had only taken one advanced course at a high school that offers many, and since I knew where she stood athletically (v. good but not exceptional), I felt a little gypped. I said to myself, “So my D could have really taken it easy? Instead of killing herself with full courseloads of AP’s, she could have gotten by with just AP Art History? And all those years when she sacrificed her social life for homework, do you mean she could have skipped the Englsh reading and hung out with friends instead, if all she needed was that SAT verbal score?! And more insulting still, she could have even been a less accomplished athlete and she still would have gotten the same recruiting results?” I don’t know whether this father was telling the truth or not, but I can tell you that after hearing him it would have been hard to stomach sending my D there. And after D heard that, she felt the same way. The school had other negatives, but that was the nail in the coffin.</p>
<p>PS–the admissions office of the school this girl ultimately signed with, recently had to contact her about her disappointing mid-year report: B’s dropped to C’s and cut classes… So I’m thinking the Ivy recruiting thing was probably bogus, but it still got to us. Put in earplugs until this is over, lol.</p>
<p>A kid at my daughter’s school got that coveted “full ride athletic scholarship” to Cornell last year. Her club coach even talked about the full ride scholarship for her sport at the team banquet. You know, work hard and this could be you. Parents who knew the truth were so embarrased about the misinformation. My daughter gets reminded all the time by certain teachers that if she trains hard, she too can have that “full ride athletic scholarship” to an Ivy. She just smiles and nods…</p>
<p>“recruited by the Ivies” is such a vague and misleading statement: some parents think a boilerplate form letter and fill-in-the-blanks-if-you’re-interested sheet, sent through the high school coach’s office, is the same thing as being recruited by the Ivies. </p>
<p>I’ve seen LOI press releases, written by the parents, that INCLUDE the “fact” that the kid signed an LOI with school X, and was also recruited by a long string of schools, including Ivies and top-of-the sport DIs, when all that really happened was the piece of mail described above. The press releases makes it sound like the kids turned down many generous offers! </p>
<p>While those of us who are going/have gone through this are just annoyed and sometimes amused by this stuff, the real damage is to the up-and-coming athletes, who somehow imagine this is true. They put a disproportionate amount of work into sports, when they may not have the athletic talent, drive and long-term health to make it through to collect a meaningful athletic scholarship. Meanwhile, their grades suffer, and the parents hand over their paycheck to a club coach instead of saving for college. I’ve seen a heck of a lot more money given for academic merit- a few hundred bucks spent on an SAT test prep will net a lot more than the same money spent on one more camp for a mediocre athlete. Wow, I’m sounding a bit harsh this morning. Call me out if I’m out of line!</p>
<p>In our state, the median family income is right around $80,000, and they do just use income as the cutoff for the “free tuition”. We asked the fa person about that yesterday on our unofficial. Maybe people in the same economic circles hang together, because I know lots of people who would qualify for that free ride in our area and S has several from his school who’ve benefitted from it. We are not all doctors/lawyers. My husband is a teacher and I am a nurse…difficult to top that 80K figure.</p>
<p>Riverrunner makes an important point about the damage this misinformation causes to the up-and-coming set. One culprit in this mess is high school staff who have a vested interest in promoting their school as a place that breeds scholarship athletes. So sometimes there’s a little deliberate fudging of the truth in cases where the student didn’t exactly get an athletic scholarship but it can be made to seem that way. One player we know got tuition remission because her parent is employed by that university. So yes, she was recruited, but the “scholarship” wasn’t an athletic one.</p>
<p>Keylyme, we will hopefully receive significant finanacial aid also. But whatever money we might get, regardless of being a recruited athlete, will be need based aid. The problem is uninformed coaches, teachers and counselors who perpetuate the myth of full ride ATHLETIC scholarships to the Ivies. And coaches that try to sell kids and parents on the Ivy League dream, using non-existent athletic scholarship money as a carrot.</p>
<p>What’s a mediocre athlete, riverrunner? In my daughter’s sport, if an athlete’s passion and commitment has carried her to a U18 premier level team, even if she is only average on that team, she is miles beyond the average competitive player, and not even on the same planet with the average recreational player. There are college roster spots for all of the players on such a team, if they understand the world won’t be beating a path to their door–that they themselves have to find the right match. </p>
<p>The money for club coaching and tournaments enabled my daughter to get the most out of her above-average, but not star-quality, athletic ability. She is also a strong B student who has loaded down her schedule with AP classes to try to get the most out of her above-average, but not star-quality, academic ability.</p>
<p>I am proud that my daughter has chosen to follow Browning’s maxim: “A man’s reach should exceed his grasp, or what’s a heaven for.”</p>
<p>To dovetail this thread in with the one discussing how you know if your child is a real athlete or not, I’d say s/he needs each of these characteristics: average/above average talent, commitment to the sport and its demands, perseverance resulting in steady improvement and recovery from any injury and other setbacks, and mental toughness in the midst of competition. </p>
<p>So soccertrack, if your D made it onto a premier, high school aged team, then by definition she is not average. She may have had average talent to start, but her above-average persistence and dedication completed the package. I’d imagine, though, that you saw signs along the way that she possessed most, if not all, of the requisite qualities to succeed in soccer? The problem is when parents over-estimate the content of their child’s athletic “package” and then make unwise decisions about academics and other commitments. Then when the athlete doesn’t develop as hoped for, they are left with disappointing options either due to having neglected academics and other interests, or having spent too much disposable income on the sport. Not that all is lost, of course, because the child would have enjoyed years of fun and comaraderie. But this is a board frequented by achievement-oriented people and, as such, many pursue sports with secondary agendas related to college admissions.</p>
<p>With you until the last sentence, GFG. Not sure what it means?</p>
<p>I think he means that some people focus on sports so they can get into their top school as a recruited athlete. I have to say that while my S did sports for fun and it worked out that it helped him, his admission process to a top LAC was sharply contrasted to that of his brother. As I tell my friends, quasi-sarcastically, Older S “is a genius, but Younger S can sink a hoop shot at 200 feet”(athletic ability changed for everyone’s own good)
And so it goes…</p>
<p>By mediocre athlete, I mean a kid who may like to play, but is never going to play well enough to play in college, no matter how hard they try, how much their parents want it, or how much money they spend on coaching, camps or clinics. </p>
<p>I’m not saying playing in college is the end goal of athletics, or the measure of athletic success. I’m a lifelong “participant”, and am a firm believer in fitness and the sheer fun of sports. I’m critical of kids and their parents who refuse to see the futility of throwing excessive amounts of time and money at something because they think there will be a financial reward at the end.</p>
<p>Your child doesn’t sound at all mediocre to me, by any definition of athletic competency. </p>
<p>I AM somewhat critical of the “soccer machine” for example, that raises false hopes for so many children, encouraging or requiring them (if they want to stay on the top team) to play year round, paying for clinics, indoor time, summer camps, travel, ad nauseum. Parents are so pressured to buy into this, in the hopes that their child will someday get a soccer scholarship that would make it all worth it. I was a club treasurer for a few years, and saw parents make some horrible financial decisions, based on this impossible dream. I understood the club was a business and that the coach, who loves the game and teaching it, also needed to make a living, and built an empire to make it happen.</p>
<p>This is a separate issue from how much the child may enjoy the sport and wish to participate in college, with or without financial incentive.</p>
<p>These area couple of good points</p>
<p>that hs coaches and club coaches may either not know, or fib to promote their own recruiting agendas</p>
<p>full rides do not exist at ivies for sports nor merit and are for kids with need (under $75k? ) and </p>
<p>most sports do not lead to professional jobs
–so for every kid it really supposed to be about the pleasure of the sport and maybe it opens a door at a school where the kid can leverage the ability to play a bit</p>
<p>Few of these athletes will go pro–and depending on the sport–there is nothing beyond collegiate (or adult rec ((:o)) ?</p>
<p>ok–experienced folks–</p>
<p>impressions? here’s the story</p>
<p>So since Oct kiddo has been email back and forth with a coach</p>
<p>We are going to said school and months ago the coach said , let me show you around. </p>
<p>As time grew closer etc, our kiddo and coach have discussed the visit. Kiddo is taking the tour etc and so Coach said, Hey- I will meet you so we can chat in between your general tour and engineering tour…and please come to watch pratice etc.</p>
<p>Kiddo emailed last night about visit next week. Coach said, he may not be able to do mid-day visit however kiddo should def come to pratice. The team does have a big thing coming up.</p>
<p>So–is coach cooling?
Or is it just that as date is closer and big thing is closer, that coach has less free time? Possibly other desireable candidates?</p>
<p>I would read this as the coach has become increasingly busy as the date has come closer. This is a busy time of year for coaches and I think it is too early in the preocess for a coach to be “cooling”. </p>
<p>I have gotten a chuckle or two out of the communication between my daughter and these coaches. One coach sent her an email entitled, “hey, how’s it going?” Another coach sent one entitled “(insert Ivy here) checking in”. Another sent a frantic email about time/location change of tomorrow’s meeting because of spring break, a week before our scheduled visit! I just think they are busy, busy with spring training trips, spring break, and the start of the season. I wouldn’t worry about it!</p>