Any other college hopefuls?

[juliesdd]

colleges

I am in a different situation than most of the responses about college scholarships. My daughter is a hopes/elite for the past two years and did level 10 nationals too. She is 12 years old and in 7th grade. We have actually talked about colleges with her , but at this point we need to keep her healthy more than anything. I have met and spoken to 4 major college programs at meets my daughter have been in, but its more just talk and nothing else because of her age. The one thing they all said was the amount of money you pay for gymnastics will all be worth it if they get a scholarship. The expense of college is very high and increases every year. I was always told the most important part of gymnastic is keep her healthy. I have learn its also the hardest thing to do, but luckily she has had no major injuries yet.

 

[lorain]

college

My dd is on a scholarship at a SEC school. She competed her first level 10 nationals at age 11 and won several national titles. Of the girls who made nationals in her age group in her younger years only about 25% went on to college gymnastics, the rest faded away, whether from injury, lack of interest, or no longer being able to do tricks cleanly as their bodies develops. Most of her teammates became level 10 in the 8th or 9th grades and a few later on. Getting to level 10 early or late doesn't guarantee a scholarship. There will be girls at nationals every year who will not get offers from division I schools.

 

[GymCoachSara]

I am glad to see another person share my views on the topic that not every gymnast should be pushed to be a level so early. I am sure your daughter is one of the few that had that "something extra" I'm also glad that you talked about the possibility of injury and burning out. Speaking in a coaches prospective only, I see parents and other coaches push these gymnasts to fast to soon, just to say they have an eleven year level 10 or 12 year old level 10, but if that gymnast is not shooting for higher goals then a scholorship that is 6 years of hard level 10 skills pounding on the body. As a coach I wish everyone success with goals of becoming a college gymnast, I just hope you and your coaches are working with the gymnasts body in mind and not glory of saying...'We have a college gymnast".
(This reply comes from the bottom of my heart and is not directed at anyone in a negative light)

 

[Tuduri]

Too many hours

After she was injured in her first level nine season where she sought to qualify for Hopes or pre-elite, my daughter, Jamy, cut way back on the number of hours of training, (35 to 25 with a couple of privates) and had a terrific second level nine season. She is doing only 23 hours now and no longer does any privates.

Despite the lesser hours, Jamy is training some very hard skills(D's and E's) and is entering level ten in her freshman year. Originally, I had hoped she would have reached level ten by the eighth grade. But looking back, it was wise to slow down the training. Our goal now is to relax, remain injury free and have fun. Of course, Jamy wants to get a scholarship. But if she is worn out and chronically injured, she will lose some allure as a scholarship prospect. Jamy wants to get straight A's as much or more than mastering a full-in on the floor. I hope she can do both.

Julio Garcia,
Jamy's dad

 

[tomtnt]

My daughter is a high school freshman this year and is entering her first year level ten. She had a great second year level nine season and Westerns placement after recovering from a serious injury the previous year. She was invited to Karolyi's camp in October.

Jamy, my daughter, is a very serious student. She got straight A's last year and currently, knock on wood, is headed in the same direction. But she has lost some interest in gymnastics. She no longers wants to be an elite gymnast. I think that stems from her injury in her first level nine season when she was injured at a Hopes competion at the Metroplex in Dallas, Texas. But she still wants to do college gymnastics and hopes to get a scholarship-of any kind. My wallet wants that, too.

Jamy has always wanted to go to Berkeley because it's close to home, has a good academic reputation and because her two cousins, Anja and Isabel, went to school there and competed as gymnasts as well.

Jamy's coach wants her to go to a more "competitive" school. But I don't know if we'll be at such a competitive level when Jamy graduates in four years. That's still a long way off. Hopefully it will be a school that will offer her a great education and a good career track....and a scholarship, too. I would not be able to afford a a private school.

It seems that a lot of gymnasts are good students. I think that the need to focus and the work ethic in the sport is conducive to excelling in academics. My two nieces who were in the sport are now in education and in specialized ICU nursing. One of our former gymnasts, Amy Chow, is a pediatrician here in the bay area. Hard work is required to excell. That work ethic is instilled in gymnasts and translates into the real world after gynastics.

Good luck to all your girls,

Julio Garcia,
Jamy's dad.

As a former Cal student, sad to see that Cal dropped the gymnastics program (men & women) along with baseball, women LAX, and Rugby today due to budget issues.

 

[bpatient]

As a former Cal student, sad to see that Cal dropped the gymnastics program (men & women) along with baseball, women LAX, and Rugby today due to budget issues.

Yes, that's too bad. Cal's women's program had been struggling for years, but it's sad to see it die. That's unfortunate for the athlete's already there, but it also has ramifications for other, younger athletes. With Cal State Fullerton still hanging by a fundraising thread (and with the CSUF gymnastics coach's husband now the coach of the recently-terminated and then miraculously- but perhaps temporarily-resuscitated wrestling team), the demise of the Cal program ups the ante for those California girls who hoped to continue in the NCAA. (The scholarships at schools like Cal and UC Davis favored state residents.)

The loss of the Cal program makes my child even more likely to bow out of the scholarship competition, for two reasons: she certainly doesn’t have the talent to compete for a dwindling number of slots with athletes who train far longer hours than she’s able to squeeze in while still excelling in school, and, frankly, she has to consider what she will do after she finishes college. My next-door neighbor, who thankfully has a grandmotherly interest in my child, happens to be a professor who coordinates the efforts of the local university students who are applying to medical schools across the country. With this thread in mind, I asked for her views regarding my child’s future. While she reported that she’s had good success with many of the real stars in various sports (as long as they’d also compiled equally impressive academic resumes), she indicated that merely being on a team is not particularly helpful, and certainly cannot make up for even the slightest deficit in academic heft; in fact I sense that she’s been rather subtly but persistently trying to discourage my daughter’s pursuit of an NCAA slot because, as she emphasized, my kid will have to take the same tests for admission to graduate programs (she's looking towards an MD-PhD program) that will be taken by the students who spend their spare twenty hours a week in the library. She said that unless my dd is an Olympian, she’ll probably have to find the time to spend hours doing independent research in a lab in addition to the hours she devotes to gymnastics—and to her studies. My dd's disappointed that her coaches wisely decided to have her repeat Level 9 this year, but then she plans to spend four years at Level 10, but I’m not sure if I should encourage her or just quietly support her and see how this plays out in the long term.

 

[tomtnt]

Yes, that's too bad. Cal's women's program had been struggling for years, but it's sad to see it die. That's unfortunate for the athlete's already there, but it also has ramifications for other, younger athletes. With Cal State Fullerton still hanging by a fundraising thread (and with the CSUF gymnastics coach's husband now the coach of the recently-terminated and then miraculously- but perhaps temporarily-resuscitated wrestling team), the demise of the Cal program ups the ante for those California girls who hoped to continue in the NCAA. (The scholarships at schools like Cal and UC Davis favored state residents.)

The loss of the Cal program makes my child even more likely to bow out of the scholarship competition, for two reasons: she certainly doesn’t have the talent to compete for a dwindling number of slots with athletes who train far longer hours than she’s able to squeeze in while still excelling in school, and, frankly, she has to consider what she will do after she finishes college. My next-door neighbor, who thankfully has a grandmotherly interest in my child, happens to be a professor who coordinates the efforts of the local university students who are applying to medical schools across the country. With this thread in mind, I asked for her views regarding my child’s future. While she reported that she’s had good success with many of the real stars in various sports (as long as they’d also compiled equally impressive academic resumes), she indicated that merely being on a team is not particularly helpful, and certainly cannot make up for even the slightest deficit in academic heft; in fact I sense that she’s been rather subtly but persistently trying to discourage my daughter’s pursuit of an NCAA slot because, as she emphasized, my kid will have to take the same tests for admission to graduate programs (she's looking towards an MD-PhD program) that will be taken by the students who spend their spare twenty hours a week in the library. She said that unless my dd is an Olympian, she’ll probably have to find the time to spend hours doing independent research in a lab in addition to the hours she devotes to gymnastics—and to her studies. My dd's disappointed that her coaches wisely decided to have her repeat Level 9 this year, but then she plans to spend four years at Level 10, but I’m not sure if I should encourage her or just quietly support her and see how this plays out in the long term.

Sorry to thread hijack and divert this thread even further! As a current physician and former med student (UC Davis) - I've had the opportunity to serve on various admissions committee for undergrad and med school as well as residency. You are completely correct in that the student athlete will have to do just as well as the other applicants on the MCAT, GPA, etc. to be competitive. If equally talented academically, we would probably choose the student-athlete.

Imagine her SAT and MCAT scores if she spent all those gym hours in the library and all the gym tuition on standardized test prep classes!

 

[Pogo]

My next-door neighbor, who thankfully has a grandmotherly interest in my child, happens to be a professor who coordinates the efforts of the local university students who are applying to medical schools across the country. With this thread in mind, I asked for her views regarding my child’s future. While she reported that she’s had good success with many of the real stars in various sports (as long as they’d also compiled equally impressive academic resumes), she indicated that merely being on a team is not particularly helpful, and certainly cannot make up for even the slightest deficit in academic heft; in fact I sense that she’s been rather subtly but persistently trying to discourage my daughter’s pursuit of an NCAA slot because, as she emphasized, my kid will have to take the same tests for admission to graduate programs (she's looking towards an MD-PhD program) that will be taken by the students who spend their spare twenty hours a week in the library.

I should point out that "just being on a team" has benefits beyond just a line on the resume. Athletes often get preferential class selection, academic counseling, access to tutoring facilities, and other perks both academic and otherwise, like preferential parking. In fact, my daughter's school has an entire department exclusively devoted to assisting student-athletes. To give a small, but significant example, our daughter's clothing budget has almost disappeared because she wears her school-distributed athletic gear (including shoes) almost 90% of the time. Also, assuming good team dynamics, there is also a built-in support system that non-athletes have to find/create on their own.

Also, is your daughter the kind of girl who would join a school club team, or participate in any other activity if she were not in NCAA gymnastics? If so, then the time savings might prove to be illusory.

 

[gymkat]

I should point out that "just being on a team" has benefits beyond just a line on the resume. Athletes often get preferential class selection, academic counseling, access to tutoring facilities, and other perks both academic and otherwise, like preferential parking.

All of the additional academic support in the world won't make rbw's daughter's week a few hours longer. The problem with pursuing the MD/Ph.D track in addition to gymnastics would be the number of hours in a day: she wouldn't be able to substitute time in the lab with tutoring sessions or with priority registration.

Having done the science research and 20 hours of extracurriculars thing myself (but with half the number of hours in the lab!), I think pursuing an intense research schedule and NCAA gymnastics would only be realistic if she found a school that is flexible with hours (at some schools, event specialists don't put in as much time in the gym as AAers). Of course, she still has 4+ years to change her mind about her major or about doing gymnastics.

 

[bpatient]

Pogo and gymkat both make interesting points. It’s clear that the perks that go with athletic team membership at some universities can be a boon; in the particular case of some state universities like Cal, the priority registration afforded athletes might mean in the light of recent budget cuts and class limitations that athletes will be among the few students there who have any chance of graduating in four years. However, it is true that there are only so many hours in the week, and the demands on a student’s time will vary with each student’s post-college plans.

Like all of the parents here, I’m doing the best that I can to try to understand how to help my child. In my daughter’s particular but not unusual case, her problem will be to find enough hours in the week to satisfy conflicting requirements. Based on my wife’s experience as a D1 athlete (well, it was at an Ivy), it can be tough to put in extra hours of independent research while devoting similar hours to a sport; when she chose to pursue a career in medical practice and research, she left the team because there just weren’t enough hours in the week for both. My own experience also suggests that in certain fields extra time in a lab is simply expected: all the other Ph.D. students in my department at Harvard had put in at least as many extracurricular hours/years of undergraduate research as I had—that was essentially required for admission. My child’s aware of this: when she was ten, she said at breakfast, “I’m not sure that I want to do gymnastics in college, because I want to be a doctor like you and Mama, and I think I’m going to have to study really hard.â€￾ If she was smarter, worked even harder, or was a better athlete, she might be able to do it all—some students can—but we’re just trying to figure out what will work for her. She’s an individual with her own dreams, and it will be interesting to see how she pursues them. Other kids will undoubtedly take different, equally rewarding paths—and some of them will be great gymnasts.

 

[mpkbt]

Woohoo! My dd's teammate just verballed at SUU for the 2012-2013 Season!!! She had 17 schools contact her and was on the top 5 list of about 8. She is a Junior but has never made it to Nationals. It just proves that you can get to a top 20 school without being elite or winning nationals. She is a great gymnast but Region 1 is really tough to be in the top 7. She did go to NIT as a first year 10 but had a broken foot and didn't know it. By the way, she wants to go to med school and they have one of the highest percentages of athletes getting in to medical school.

2012-13 Divino to SUU

 

[Granny Smith]

That's awesome, congratulations! ^^^^^

 

[lorain]

college

My daughers gymnastic scholarship is for 5 years and covers summer school, so they do not need to take as heavy load of classes. They allows them plenty of time for studying and doing gym.

 

[mpkbt]

lorain "My daughers gymnastic scholarship is for 5 years"

This is something that I am wondering about. Are all scholarships the same or is the amount offered different for each school. I don't mean the amount of tuition and such but the extras. Do all schools have a 5 year option? I know that they are renewable up to 4 years, one year at a time, but do all schools offer the 5th year even if they only have 4 years of eligibility? I was also told by someone on the scholarship hunt that they could offer up to $10,000 a year extra for travel, books, a car...... I don't trust this source so I would love to have some more info on this before we get much further in the process!

In a nut shell, what does a full ride scholarship cover.

 

[jasmine196]

Pogo and gymkat both make interesting points. It’s clear that the perks that go with athletic team membership at some universities can be a boon; in the particular case of some state universities like Cal, the priority registration afforded athletes might mean in the light of recent budget cuts and class limitations that athletes will be among the few students there who have any chance of graduating in four years. However, it is true that there are only so many hours in the week, and the demands on a student’s time will vary with each student’s post-college plans.

Like all of the parents here, I’m doing the best that I can to try to understand how to help my child. In my daughter’s particular but not unusual case, her problem will be to find enough hours in the week to satisfy conflicting requirements. Based on my wife’s experience as a D1 athlete (well, it was at an Ivy), it can be tough to put in extra hours of independent research while devoting similar hours to a sport; when she chose to pursue a career in medical practice and research, she left the team because there just weren’t enough hours in the week for both. My own experience also suggests that in certain fields extra time in a lab is simply expected: all the other Ph.D. students in my department at Harvard had put in at least as many extracurricular hours/years of undergraduate research as I had—that was essentially required for admission. My child’s aware of this: when she was ten, she said at breakfast, “I’m not sure that I want to do gymnastics in college, because I want to be a doctor like you and Mama, and I think I’m going to have to study really hard.â€￾ If she was smarter, worked even harder, or was a better athlete, she might be able to do it all—some students can—but we’re just trying to figure out what will work for her. She’s an individual with her own dreams, and it will be interesting to see how she pursues them. Other kids will undoubtedly take different, equally rewarding paths—and some of them will be great gymnasts.

I'd like to chime in here. While its not easy it is possible. There is a gymnast on the UCLA team, who is in the nursing program. She is required to do so many hours a week in the hospital. UCLA is working her training schedule around this, which means she may only practice once a week with her teammates. Stanford is another program that will work around your major. I believe that over 50% of the team at Stanford is Pre-med (human biology) majors. Its obviously one of the harder majors, but they work with the girls to make sure they get their academics in along with all the thingst they need to get into grad school. So while its harder, its possible. Obviously, only time will tell if your dd can do both. I wouldn't discourage it at this point, take a wait and see approach. Maybe she'll want to do a different major in 4 years, you never know.

 

[lorain]

college

no cars, no travel . the scholarship consist of tuition, books, room and board, and athletic clothing. some schools offered the 5th year some did not, same with summer school.

 

[gym law mom]

Ask Reggie Bush about getting cars and money and what it does to your NCAA eligibility.

 

[aakmlee]

Hi this is my first post

My daughter started gymnastics last year. We live in a very rural community and drive 45 miles to gym so didn't let her start until last year. According to her coach she will compete at level 5 and maybe 6 by the end of the year. She has all the floor and vault requirements, needs to work on back walkover on beam, and just needs to do the push up on the free hip circle. I know she hopes to go to level 7 next year. The problem is that she is already in 7th grade. How fast do you move up the optional levels. If she moves up one a year she will be level 10 by junior or senior year. I know her ultimate goal is college gymnastics and I don't think she cares about Division 1, 2, or even 3 if they can give her some academic scholarship. What do you think her chances are?

 

[coachmolly]

no cars, no travel . the scholarship consist of tuition, books, room and board, and athletic clothing. some schools offered the 5th year some did not, same with summer school.

Not sure what you mean by travel, but my roommates are all on scholarship at a D1 school for a different sport and all of their travel to/from games is completely payed for by the school, including meals and even some entertainment while they are on the road. I'm not sure if this is the norm, but I'm guessing it's also not against the rules. Money and cars are a definite no, though.

 

[mpkbt]

No....they weren't going to buy her the car, they just were going to give her a stipend and she could use it for what ever she wanted to. The travel was to and from home. Another girl from our gym got academic as well as the full ride and in that case she was able to use the money for whatever she wanted to. We were told by a college coach that the "cost of education" includes some of these things. Also that any academic scholarship money they receive ( as long as it has no athletic component) they can also use for travel, cars, and anything else.