I am a varsity baseball player at a small college preparatory school in Massachusetts. While playing baseball in college is not a priority of mine by any means, if being a potential athlete helps my admissions chances at a place like Brown, Carnegie Mellon, Tufts, or Pomona, I may consider playing baseball there. Would playing baseball in college qualify me for more financial aid? Would it boost my admissions chances?
See http://college-athletic-scholarship.com/do-ivy-league-schools-offer-athletic-scholarships.
This tells the story as I remember it when I was in admissions years ago. It appears the process has not changed. Ivy and division three schools want winning teams, but do not award no-need athletic scholarships only because of athletics. If you do have a financial need and you are a good athlete in the judgement of their coaches it will help both your admission and your financial aid package.
If you do not enjoy paying the sport, this approach might be a bad idea. Your success in college can be influenced by this decision.
I went to a small New England boarding school with mandatory athletics six days a week. While in a demanding engineering program at college my family broke up, I went into depression and my grades were dropping. I told my cross country coach I was quitting running and why. The coach told me quitting was a bad idea because it would not solve my recent academic problem.
After quitting running and flunking out I was drafted into the US Army. (yes, I am old and we still had the draft). The happy ending was a return to the same college after my service (paid by the GI bill) and knocking the stuffing out of the program.
I believe athletics are a good idea.
Good luck!
Brown is D1 and only gives need-based aid, not merit/athletic aid. Brown seems to cast a wide net, as we know someone who could have been a mid-level D3 recruit, but was getting letters from Brown inviting him to come to camp.
Case, Pomona and Tufts are D3, and D3 schools do not give athletic scholarships though some can give merit-based awards which all admitted students are eligible for (no athletic only scholarships). Tufts is a NESCAC school and NESCAC schools only give financial aid, no merit aid, like the Ivy League in D1. Case does give merit aid, I don’t think Pomona gives any merit aid.
Athletic recruiting at many top D3 schools is very competitive. The first step is to spend some time looking at rosters and records of schools of interest, and see how a student might compare/contribute to team. If the student looks competitive, then email the coach, usually with academic and athletic profile. See if they might be interested in talking further. Most D3 recruits are expected to apply ED, though it varies by sport and school, if the coach has indicated they will support the student in admission. Depending on the D3 school, that can still leave some window of chance, and is not a guarantee of admission. Ivies, such as Brown, can be different, with likely letters etc. Almost all recruits go through an academic “pre-read” where the coach forwards transcript and test scores to admissions and admissions gives a “pre read” about likelihood of acceptance.
If someone does not “live” to continue to play, the time commitment is still pretty substantial in D3 – my D3 kid has 20-30 hours a week in season, about 10-15 hours off season in unofficial training, lifting etc. If a D3 student is admitted as a recruit and then drops the sport, there are no financial consequences, because the recruited player either has no merit aid (NESCAC and others) or is receiving merit awards (Case) which are available to all students, not just athletes.
If you are really good at basketball, you might want to consider other schools that do give athletic scholarships.
I’m sure your coach or athletic director will be able to help you with recruiting.
Baseball can in theory help with admissions, although it won’t help at Carnegie Mellon since they don’t have a team. Really what you need to do first is self evaluate. What level are you playing at? Some smaller private schools are not playing at the same level as larger public schools if only because of the numbers. Are you on a summer team that plays at a high level? Do you get extra instructional assistance in hitting or pitching if you pitch. Only you can make that assessment (with the help of coaches and family).
To give recruiting a shot, get a tape made of you skills and see if you can find any traction.
Brown may not be tops in the league, but it still is looking for D1 caliber players. Tufts is not always tops in its NESCAC division, but usually is or is pretty darn close. Tufts runs a tight, disciplined machine. At Pomona, you won’t get much of an admissions bump by being a recruit. You need to be pretty much in line with the statistics to be recruited.
I can’t speak to Carnegie or Pomona directly, but Ivy schools like Brown and Nescacs like Tufts actively recruit committed, serious baseball players. They take baseball very seriously. Not sure what year in high school you are, but getting recruited by schools like this is a significant effort and requires work and legitimate commitment. Brown has not been a highly ranked Ivy baseball school but are improving, and make no mistake, they actively recruit D1 quality players they feel can help them win. Tufts is a top 25 D3 baseball program with a long standing coach. Feel free to PM me if you have specific questions.
“Brown seems to cast a wide net, as we know someone who could have been a mid-level D3 recruit, but was getting letters from Brown inviting him to come to camp.”
These camps are primarily cash cows for the coaches. This invitation does not mean much.
@tanbiko – I agree, what I meant was that, there can be an apparent expression of “preliminary” interest, which does not materialize into a serious offer as a recruit. A mid range recruit can get an invitation like that and think “wow, I can play Ivy league sport,” but that is not what is likely to happen. In the particular case we know, it was a strong, but not tippy top top recruit, who had preliminary interest from NESCAC schools, but chose not to continue to play so stopped the recruiting game. Coaches can cast a wide net, and the funnel effect to see who is a real prospect at the end of the process takes quite some time, during which a student can think they have a real shot.
Spot on @Tanbiko .