Can college softball work for a top-tier student?

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Feb 17, 2014
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Orlando, FL
You have a pretty warped view of “soft” majors. Kinesiology and teachers often continue to get their masters. Physical therapists are required to obtain a masters. You’re also not looking very hard at D1 rosters. DD’s school is a lower end P5 and pretty typical. Team GPA last semester was something like 3.5. I wouldn’t call any of the majors “soft”, but some of the so-called “real” majors we have are engineering, pre-med, biology and business. Believe it or not most D1 ball players work their asses off both in and outside of the classroom.

I find it interesting that people conclude that an athletes chosen major is somehow a measure of their work ethic, ambition, or even intelligence. There is a reason college coaches want kids with high GPA's. It is a key indicator of their expected work ethic on and off the field. If a kid won't put in the effort to get at least a 3.0 in HS what do you expect them to do on the field in college?
 
Jun 8, 2016
16,118
113
It is possible if you have the proper perspective on things. If you think you are going to be the first one to the library and the last one out of the library and the first one to practice and the last one to leave then you might have a problem. Neither of those things are necessary (e.g. think work smarter not harder) to succeed but some people find that out when it is too late (e.g. me..) . I think females, in general, are better at multitasking so hopefully your DD (and mine if it gets to that point) and other posters DDs on here will have no problem with it.
 
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Mar 3, 2016
47
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We did Pennsbury Academic as well. While it got her on the list for Yale prospects, it was a total cattle call-over 250 girls, broiling hot, no shade and extremely intimidating. We did it once to get her stats(speed to 1st under 3.00) in the books, but she hated it, I hated it, and it was so terifying to her that I wouldn't recommend it unless you have a big ego or are certain your DD can perform under pressure.
You go from station to station being measured. It's well organized but hearing everyone else pitch faster than you(they call the times out loud) even if you are younger is really tough. They also didn't have a very scientific way to measure speed(girls with a stopwatch, not an electronic trigger like Williams had), so there was a lot of error and your DD could get a bad number that wasn't true, but posted for all the top coaches.
She did well with hitting and running, and that was how Yale got interested, but it really wasn't good for her mentally. The Babson/Middlebury/Wesleyan camp was much better for the "market" she was interested in. And we loved loved loved Headfirst, because it's almost entirely showcase games, and she got to play under actual "game" circumstances, with the coaches she wanted to eventually play for coaching her, it really showed her skills.
And just a small point-Tufts isn't on the top of the NESCAC anymore-it's Williams and Amherst, which both went to the NCAAs this year, after Amherst narrowly beat Bowdoin. In the Ivies, Cornell and Columbia are "worse" than Brown, but who cares? You're playing ball in the Ivies....Talk about the scholar-athlete dream!
 
Mar 14, 2009
22
0
My dd was all state in his in 2 sports and wanted to major in engineering. Very high SAT's and ACT. She was not interested in the Ivy's after goining a bunch of camps and they did not incourage her to play both sports (it was tough on dad to see her avoid tel calls from the coach who was the assistant for her position at Harvard). We played on a good travel ball team and played in the ASA USA Nationals and the Eastern Nationals 5 consecutive years. We would always tour any local college wherever she played. That gave her an idea of what schools were very early in the process ( Big 10, small liberal arts, engineering). We took in a game at Tufts her Sophmore year. Great team, great campus, a NESCAC school with engineering. She fell in love. That was 9 years ago, she graduated from Tufts with an engineering/psych degree with 4 NCAA National championships in 2 sports! A 4 year starter in softball, 51-0 as a senior and she was never out of the lineup. Captain of the field hockey team, NCAA Championship as the sophomore starting goalie. Coached in college for 2 years. Now working on her Masters in engineering useability at Northeastern. Just got an unbelievable job offer with an up and coming company in downtown Boston.
Point is, yes it can be done at the highest level. D3 is where you can get a great education and play great college ball (I believe Tufts softball would have been a top 50 team at D1). Use the brains to get into the best school she can, athletes get admission breaks. The NESCAC schools generally provide the full amount between the expected family contribution ( EFC) and the cost to go to their schools. Many D3's have great athletic facilities. Make it happen. Look at Tufts, just outside Boston, Coach Milligan is a great coach, it is an unbelievable school.
Good luck. ������
 
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