Daughter Committed...did we do the right thing????

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Dec 6, 2016
70
18
Ok...this is a great problem to have, here's the situation. My daughter (2020) committed to a very good D1 program yesterday. Awesome for her (we are soooo excited for her), but I'm not sure it is the "right" school for her. It was her 3rd choice in schools, but they made an offer that we just couldn't turn down. It was over 90% scholarship. Her number 1 choice wanted to see her play this summer. The pitching coach for the number 1 choice has seen her play, but the head coach has not. They said my daughter was on their top 3 list but still had to see her play. With the new rules in place, I wanted her to wait, but this last minute offer was too good to turn down.

Someone help me out to feel better about this decision.
 

marriard

Not lost - just no idea where I am
Oct 2, 2011
4,312
113
Florida
Someone help me out to feel better about this decision.

Verbals really mean very little in practice - they weren't even a real thing according the NCAA... and now verbals given mean even less. Some research showed that 40% of players didn't end up at the school they 'verbal' to and I think that number may be low. Verbals were always more of an advantage to the coach/team than it was the player.

With the new rules in effect, technically none of these schools can talk scholarship to your DD or anyone around her to Sept 1. Even after NLI signing many, many players change schools before - or even after - they get on campus.

So great to have this 'in your pocket'. That doesn't mean you shouldn't continue to show interest in her #1 school and hint that you would still be open and if you get a call on Sept 1st, well that is great. That said - 90% is a REALLY high amount and for 99% of players, this would move their #3 choice to #1. If that becomes a reality on Sept 1, well that is going to be hard for most teams to match and walking out of college debt free is worth 1,000,000x more than playing softball at a #1 choice school.
 
Jul 16, 2013
4,659
113
Pennsylvania
Ok...this is a great problem to have, here's the situation. My daughter (2020) committed to a very good D1 program yesterday. Awesome for her (we are soooo excited for her), but I'm not sure it is the "right" school for her. It was her 3rd choice in schools, but they made an offer that we just couldn't turn down. It was over 90% scholarship. Her number 1 choice wanted to see her play this summer. The pitching coach for the number 1 choice has seen her play, but the head coach has not. They said my daughter was on their top 3 list but still had to see her play. With the new rules in place, I wanted her to wait, but this last minute offer was too good to turn down.

Someone help me out to feel better about this decision.

First of all, congratulations to your DD! That is awesome news that one of her top choices is showing that type of interest. In my opinion there are a few things to consider.

1) You are stating that this is her #3 choice overall. Is it a distant #3, or a close #3? Does she really have her heart set on #1? Can she be happy at this school for four years? If you eliminated softball from the discussion, what level of interest would she have in this school?
2) 90% is a big deal, and not something to take lightly. The number of athletes in the country that play at the D1 level is ridiculously low. And when money is involved, very few athletes get anything close to a 90% deal. The percentages are crazy. Depending on the family situation and financial situation, that type of deal needs to be strongly considered. As [MENTION=5070]marriard[/MENTION] stated "walking out of college debt free is worth 1,000,000 x more than playing softball at a #1 choice school".
3) Does this school satisfy DD's long term academic goals and needs? Depending what her desired course of study is, there can be some significant differences between schools.

Every athlete and family is going to rank these items (and possibly some others) differently. It's really an individual decision. In the case of my DD, academics was the #1 priority. From there it came down to cost, and then athletics. My DD seems happy with her decision, and I am sure yours ultimately will be too. Best of luck to both of you!
 

Strike2

Allergic to BS
Nov 14, 2014
2,044
113
If the school is solid academically and fits with what your DD wants to study, then this is a probably a no-brainer.

90% of what? Tuition & fees, or everything? If it's everything, lock it down. If it's just tuition and fees, I guess it depends on which school. If it's a well-known private D1, then great. If it's Regional State University that plays D1 softball, and little else, then maybe the deal doesn't look so hot.
 
Dec 6, 2016
70
18
Thanks for the comments!

This is the reason for this school being her 3rd choice. The two biggest "wants" in a school (outside of an education) is 1) the school needed to have a football team and 2) the school's softball field needed to be on campus. The school she committed to yesterday has neither.

Education will be her major so it doesn't necessarily mean that she needs to go to a top academic school, although this school is much more prestigious than her #1 and #2 choices.

1) You are stating that this is her #3 choice overall. Is it a distant #3, or a close #3? Does she really have her heart set on #1? Can she be happy at this school for four years? If you eliminated softball from the discussion, what level of interest would she have in this school?

I think she can be happy, but if softball wasn't in the picture, she wouldn't have any interest in the school because of no football.

2) 90% is a big deal, and not something to take lightly. The number of athletes in the country that play at the D1 level is ridiculously low. And when money is involved, very few athletes get anything close to a 90% deal. The percentages are crazy. Depending on the family situation and financial situation, that type of deal needs to be strongly considered. As [MENTION=5070]marriard[/MENTION] stated "walking out of college debt free is worth 1,000,000 x more than playing softball at a #1 choice school".

This is a huge deal! She would graduate debt free and that is our goal for her.
 

JAD

Feb 20, 2012
8,231
38
Georgia
The recruiting process is a lot like playing musical chairs and no one wants to be left without a chair when the music stops playing. That said, I probably would have held out to see what your DD's #1 choice came back with, or at least called them and explained the situation. One thing I am hoping that the new recruiting rules brings into play is schools continuing to recruit kids that are verballed. Coaches do it in football and basketball, but for some reason softball coaches have an unwritten rule of "hands off" verballed players.
 
Dec 2, 2013
3,410
113
Texas
Your kid is a Soph. No need to lock something down when she can talk to the coaches in a few months anyway. It's not like she's in 6th grade and you have to lock something down so your kid can get the silent treatment for 4 years! lol! Did #3 school give a time frame to make a choice? Lots of great stuff can happen over the summer depending on where you are playing and who is watching.
 
Dec 6, 2016
70
18
Yeah, she's a sophomore. She's had two other offers and one was for 50% and the other was 10% at an ACC school. Both out of state, so that wasn't going to be possible because of the high cost to attend. Both coaches told us that they had given most of their money away to other 2020 commits and that's what they had left. My daughter is a pitcher who bloomed later than most, so she wasn't on many coaches radar till recently.

School #3 didn't give us a time frame, but said he was making the same offer to another young lady and said whoever gets back with me first will get it. We didn't like the way he did that, but he's holding all the cards. We looked at it like "A bird in the hand..." and she accepted the offer the next day.
 
Nov 18, 2013
2,255
113
Ok...this is a great problem to have, here's the situation. My daughter (2020) committed to a very good D1 program yesterday. Awesome for her (we are soooo excited for her), but I'm not sure it is the "right" school for her. It was her 3rd choice in schools, but they made an offer that we just couldn't turn down. It was over 90% scholarship. Her number 1 choice wanted to see her play this summer. The pitching coach for the number 1 choice has seen her play, but the head coach has not. They said my daughter was on their top 3 list but still had to see her play. With the new rules in place, I wanted her to wait, but this last minute offer was too good to turn down.

Someone help me out to feel better about this decision.

90% is a heck of a good offer and should be considered carefully. If this isn’t a school she’d want to be at without softball though I’d have her keep looking. Lack of a football team might seem trivial, but her life is about to become all softball and studying. As TB parents we see all these kids headed off to college and they seem so happy. What you don’t see are all the times they call home in tears after a total melt down. Very few kids make it to D1 and even fewer stay there. If football eases the monotony it’ll help immensely when she gets on campus.

Best of luck whatever she decides.
 

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