Academics or Softball Team

[jonriv]

Which are you focusing on?

Would you rather a lousy team, but great academic school-(or vice versa)

Free Ride at a poor academic school or the ability to get into an Ivy League school?

[Luther]

I would much rather have a partial scholorship for my DD at an IVY league than a full ride at a school with lousy academics.

I am just hoping that my DD gets an opportunity to play at that level even if it means that I have to pay for everything.

[jonriv]

There are no athletic scholarships at Ivy League schools

[Old Darter]

There are no athletic scholarships at Ivy League schools

True, but I know from first hand experience that if an Ivy league school wants your DD, they will put together a money "package" which will exceed that of most athletic scholarships. Reality is, Ivy league schools HUNGER for great athletes.

That said...it's ALL ABOUT THE ACADEMICS!!

[fasterpitch92701]

I am on this road.

Ivy League colleges don't have athletic scholarships but they do have academic. However... and here is the big "however", if you have equity in your home and/or own stocks or make over $80K a year you are screwed. If you make less than $50K/yr, are "break-even" in your home and have $30K in savings/stocks... yes, you may be in line for an academic. But the bar is set low on assets. Read: "middle income families" who have lived a financially responsible life, saved and invested, are likely to pay the same tuition as the Rockefellers, Getty's, Gore's and Kennedy's.

Having noted that, a question becomes: go to a school with good softball and get "something" financially or go to a school that may not be a stellar D1 stud team and plan on a significant expense. Some will say that it doesn't matter where you get your bachelors. I don't prescribe to that but it's only my tainted, myopic opinion.

My DD will be going to a stellar academic program in September but the softball team... well, it's D3, they do very well in their league, play hard, great team chemistry and the coach is wonderful. And DD may play two sports (SB + volleyball). And she won't be on ESPN. Or ESPN2. Or ESPN9. The education? The school is rated as one of the top 3 colleges in the country and one of the top 2 colleges or universities in the country for "student satisfaction with their education after graduation". So, from our perspective... academics are the focal point. That’s only our view and doesn’t mean it right for anyone else. And... I don't believe there would have been a chance of being accepted if she didn't play softball. Even with excellent SAT/GPA/ACT scores... and an excellent essay... it was softball that was likely what pushed it over to the positive side as they have about 9200 applicants a year and accept about 430.

Softball is and has been great. Softball will be a 4 year ticket during college. The diploma will be a 40 year ticket and there are more studentsat Harvard Medical that graduated from this school than any other. Not that DD will be a doctor but the school is well respected. All this is, of course, is my tainted opinion. My shoes don’t fit you and vice versa. But in the end, the three most important things that I have come away from this are grades, grades and grades. Thankfully, softball was number four an it mattered. . Your mileage may vary, as they say…

[Sftbll4ever]

We also went with the school that was great in academics. They also are in the top 5 as far as "student satisfaction with their education after graduation" and has about a 95% retention rate of students staying at the school till graduation.

The softball team is DI and they are getting better every year, but will probably never be on TV or in the the WCWS.

My youngest is only looking at schools that have her major. She will be deciding during the summer where she will be playing and whether it is DI or NAIA, it will be what she wants.

[anonlooker]

Which are you focusing on?

Would you rather a lousy team, but great academic school-(or vice versa)

Free Ride at a poor academic school or the ability to get into an Ivy League school?

What are some examples of poor academic schools?
How does a school fit that criteria?

[fasterpitch92701]

The original post was likely meant as a gross generalization. I don't think anyone could answer your question with creating a firestorm. While going to ANY college is "what you make of it", it's reasonable to assume that many colleges, for right or wrong, are perceived (key word.... perceived) as being "more academic". That's doesn't make it "correct", just perceived. If one were to say that Stanford, MIT, Harvard, Yale, Penn, CalTech, Dartmouth, Chicago, Michigan, Princeton... are "more academic" few would argue. Then there is the list of lesser known "more academic" schools.... Amherst, Williams, Middlebury, Kenyon, Wesleyan, Claremont, Tufts, Bowdoin, Brandeis, Pomona.... again, few would argue. If you need more than a 4.35 GPA, 2250 SAT and 34 ACT's... well... that might be an indicator. Is Harvard better than Chico State? I don't know, after all, Paradise is 14.7 miles from Chico!!! Does Florida State have students who can't write at the 2nd grade level? Yes. But... you can get a great education at UC Davis, Wisconsin, Texas, Auburn, Trinity, Iowa, blah, blah, blah. Can you get a lousy education at Harvard? Yes. But, as a gross generalization, some schools are perceived as focusing more on academics than athletics, right or wrong, and some appear... to focus more on athletics than graduating potential Nobel Prize winners in Physics, right or wrong.

I suppose you might have been fishing for a more bombastic response from the OP. Oh well, my apologies for the diatribe. I suppose I could name a school and claim it is a poor academic choice... ahhhh.... lemme see.... ahhhh... OK, USC's softball team sucks so they must be stupid. Oh... no softball team? And they are not stupid... Geez, my bad. Continuing to ponder the unanswerable.

[anonlooker]

Here are the top 25 from NCAA website, think still up from last year regular season maybe.

Want to go to school for an emphasis on softball you probably want to go to one of these schools.

So my question is, are any of these poor academic schools? If you want to play championship softball, do you really have to trade your education for that opportunity?

1 Washington (30) 43-5 750 1
2 Michigan 44-6 716 2
3 Arizona 42-9 675 3
4 Alabama 45-9 666 4
5 UCLA 42-7 619 5
6 Florida 38-10 619 6
7 Georgia Tech 46-9 555 8
8 Missouri 44-10 499 9
9 Georgia 41-10 494 10
10 Arizona St. 40-13 486 7
11 Oklahoma 40-10 430 12
12 California 38-17 410 13
13 Texas 42-10 376 14
14 Oklahoma St. 43-14 371 11
15 Stanford 33-17 315 15
16 Tennessee (W) 42-12 299 18
17 LSU 42-13 265 16
18 Illinois 39-6 256 17
19 Ohio St. 35-12 228 19
20 Texas A&M 41-13 185 21
21 Massachusetts 38-7-1 159 20
22 Oregon 33-16 124 22
23 Hawaii 41-12 93 23
24 Notre Dame 44-9 77 24
25 Florida St. 41-15 34 25

[Joe]

So my question is, are any of these poor academic schools? If you want to play championship softball, do you really have to trade your education for that opportunity?

Most kids aren't good enough to play at these schools and will settle at whatever school will have them... just to continue their softball careers. They are still required to put in the (softball) time at school...and I would venture to guess...most would be better off focusing on a career that will pay the rent.

Yes, they might get a dollar or two thrown their way to pay tuition, but would they be better off working part-time at Chili's and focusing on their classes at the local community college?

Some need to face facts:

It's been a nice run...now it's time to get down to 'business'.