Advice needed for 2022 recruit

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Dec 2, 2013
3,410
113
Texas
What criteria are you all using to assume that D3 is automatically more academic than D1? Last time I checked Purdue wasn't so shabby in engineering, IU has a pretty good business school, Illinois isn't easy to get into, Maryland has a great business school, I graduated from Missouri and am doing fine. Lots of well off grads from Auburn, TN, VA tech, Louisville etc. D3 schools can be insanely expensive if you don't qualify for financial aid so I'm trying to really look at return on investment

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I said Many. Not all.

You can cherry pick schools all day long. But you need to compare each school side by side. DD's D3 school's business program is #3 in the state behind Rice and big brother school UT-Austin. Rice doesn't field a softball team and she isn't UT material.
 
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Dec 2, 2013
3,410
113
Texas
But can you pursue an engineering degree AND play softball? Or might the coach see the two goals (softball and engineering) as conflicting and look elsewhere or try to talk the player into a less taxing major?
DD has a teammate that transferred from an SEC school. She is an engineering major and wasn't able to take engineering classes.
 

Strike2

Allergic to BS
Nov 14, 2014
2,044
113
But can you pursue an engineering degree AND play softball? Or might the coach see the two goals (softball and engineering) as conflicting and look elsewhere or try to talk the player into a less taxing major?

I believe the answer is yes, but you have to be intelligent and disciplined enough to get by while having less available study time and sleep. Your social life is going to be small to non-existent and, for some, that registers more than anything the coach could say. At DD's (Div 1) school, STEM majors are slightly more common than unicorns among softball players, but not rare at all among soccer players, runners and rowers, and can even be found on the basketball and football rosters. There are, occasionally, softball players who show up intending to study a STEM major, and then meet reality.
 
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May 27, 2013
2,353
113
What it all comes down to is truly what kind of college experience and future your kid is aiming for. For some, that could be playing in the D1 NCAA WS or possibly making the Team USA squad. For others, it could be getting into a top law school, gaining an internship on Wall Street, or being able to conduct research at the undergrad level. For many, it’s probably somewhere in the middle. Your dd needs to find the school that fits what their goals and aspirations are.
 
Aug 19, 2015
1,118
113
Atlanta, GA
DD is committed to a D3 program that is high academic. Coach told her that it is very rare for all the girls to be present at any given practice because someone always has a class or lab to attend. There are no restrictions on majors and there are pre-engineering, pre-med and pre-law majors on the team. I think the difference is that with a P5 school, softball is your JOB and your academics must support softball. With D3, it's more possible to reverse the priorities.
 
May 7, 2015
842
93
SoCal
DD is committed to a D3 program that is high academic. Coach told her that it is very rare for all the girls to be present at any given practice because someone always has a class or lab to attend. There are no restrictions on majors and there are pre-engineering, pre-med and pre-law majors on the team. I think the difference is that with a P5 school, softball is your JOB and your academics must support softball. With D3, it's more possible to reverse the priorities.

What is pre-engineering? Never heard of it and I'm a mech eng!
 
Jun 11, 2012
741
63
DD is committed to a D3 program that is high academic. Coach told her that it is very rare for all the girls to be present at any given practice because someone always has a class or lab to attend. There are no restrictions on majors and there are pre-engineering, pre-med and pre-law majors on the team. I think the difference is that with a P5 school, softball is your JOB and your academics must support softball. With D3, it's more possible to reverse the priorities.
This exactly.
DD is a senior but also in her first year of grad school. She misses one team lift session for a class but makes it up on her own.
 
Apr 20, 2018
4,581
113
SoCal
I believe the answer is yes, but you have to be intelligent and disciplined enough to get by while having less available study time and sleep. Your social life is going to be small to non-existent and, for some, that registers more than anything the coach could say. At DD's (Div 1) school, STEM majors are slightly more common than unicorns among softball players, but not rare at all among soccer players, runners and rowers, and can even be found on the basketball and football rosters. There are, occasionally, softball players who show up intending to study a STEM major, and then meet reality.
So are you saying soccer players, runners, rowers, basketball and football players are smarter? have less demanding schedules? Why would a basketball player be able to study a STEM major but not a softball player?
And what is that reality? And if the reality is she cant continue with STEM major then shouldn't that have been hashed out prior to signing? Who is fooling who here?
 

Strike2

Allergic to BS
Nov 14, 2014
2,044
113
So are you saying soccer players, runners, rowers, basketball and football players are smarter? have less demanding schedules? Why would a basketball player be able to study a STEM major but not a softball player?
And what is that reality? And if the reality is she cant continue with STEM major then shouldn't that have been hashed out prior to signing? Who is fooling who here?

As a group at this university, I suppose that's possible. I'm just relating what I've observed at DD's school...first hand. I don't know about any other athlete's schedule, but I know what the softball players do. I also know what the more successful student-athletes major in; the athletic department publishes an honor roll. The softball team is almost fully represented, but there aren't any STEM majors there.

I've also seen softball players change majors...always to something less difficult. The reality for many is that, athletes or not, the difficulty of a major isn't evident until it's been tried for a bit. As for "who is fooling who"...I don't know what that means here.
 

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