Parents Clueless how college stuff works...

[Traci]

Since most Div. 2 and 3 schools do not offer scholarships - do they have anything "else" to offer?
Just wondering....

 

[MILgymFAM]

For many, a boost in admissions.

 

[reluctant]

For many, a boost in admissions.

I'd say a chance to be a college gymnast. Most Div II schools have pretty generous admission standards. I don't see any with an admit rate below 55%.

 

[Gigi]

Div II schools can offer partial scholarships.

 

[MILgymFAM]

I'd say a chance to be a college gymnast. Most Div II schools have pretty generous admission standards. I don't see any with an admit rate below 55%.

Hey, some kids can use any boost they can get. My DD was looking at a number of highly selective Div 2/3 schools. None of them had gymnastics teams, but their recruited athletes in general got a nice bump. I agree that getting to compete in college is part of it.. but honestly you can compete in college on a club team at a school specifically chosen for other reasons and have a similar experience without the need to be a top gymnast. I hope they’re getting something else out of it.

 

[CuriousCate]

I think that doing college sports in any division really helps with post-bac applications to many professional schools (med, law, etc) and even afterwards. I know in medical fields, when we are interviewing med school students for residency, we frequently look more favorably upon those who did a sport, regardless of division. It is pretty universally agreed upon that if you were able to maintain high academics while doing a sport at a collegiate level, you are a pretty damn good multi-tasker and clearly quite driven.

 

[reluctant]

I think that doing college sports in any division really helps with post-bac applications to many professional schools (med, law, etc) and even afterwards. I know in medical fields, when we are interviewing med school students for residency, we frequently look more favorably upon those who did a sport, regardless of division. It is pretty universally agreed upon that if you were able to maintain high academics while doing a sport at a collegiate level, you are a pretty damn good multi-tasker and clearly quite driven.

I disagree with this. I don't think anyone should be do any college sports because they think it is going to help get them into graduate school. That time would be better spent elsewhere. However, there are lots of other benefits of playing a sport. I do think that high school athletics helps with the college admissions process.

 

[CuriousCate]

@reluctant I'm not saying that this is the reason to do a sport in college...simply answering if "they have anything else to offer". I think that certainly there can be a clear downstream benefit, though I agree with you that this shouldn't be the reason to do it.

 

[gymgal]

Since most Div. 2 and 3 schools do not offer scholarships - do they have anything "else" to offer?
Just wondering....

As someone mentioned, D2 offer partial scholarships. D3s are not allowed to show favor toward athletes, whether it be monetary, academic, or extras (early enrollment in classes, dedicated sports tutors, athlete food buffets, etc). It may still happen but if schools are caught, they risk their status as a D3.

The benefits are more athlete and experience based. When we first starting looking toward D2/3, I found this article, In Defense of D3 , and others like it. I would not say it is all true to every team or that D1s don't have any of these but it really helped to open dd's eyes to being able to have more balance between college life, academics and sports.

 

[Flyaway]

@reluctant I'm not saying that this is the reason to do a sport in college...simply answering if "they have anything else to offer". I think that certainly there can be a clear downstream benefit, though I agree with you that this shouldn't be the reason to do it.

Yes, I totally agree. I work at a medical school, I can tell you that the competition is so fierce that anything a person can put in their application that will set them apart is crucial. Obviously you don't tell your kid, "play sports in college so you can get into med school", but it certainly doesn't hurt - as long as they keep the GPA up.

 

[mommyof1]

My husband was a D3 athlete. He says: “In D1 your sport is a job, and in D3 it is for fun.” D3 offers kids the chance to keep participating in their sport at a high level longer than most kids get to, without selling their souls to the D1 machine. That is pretty valuable.

 

[Traci]

My husband was a D3 athlete. He says: “In D1 your sport is a job, and in D3 it is for fun.” D3 offers kids the chance to keep participating in their sport at a high level longer than most kids get to, without selling their souls to the D1 machine. That is pretty valuable.

Interesting!

 

[Muddlethru]

My husband was a D3 athlete. He says: “In D1 your sport is a job, and in D3 it is for fun.” D3 offers kids the chance to keep participating in their sport at a high level longer than most kids get to, without selling their souls to the D1 machine. That is pretty valuable.

You’ll get a different perspective from athletes participating in D1 and D2 teams, athletes from different sports, different schools, etc. Going with perhaps the same “era” and gender, my husband was a football D1 athlete. He would never categorize his experience as selling his soul to the D1 machine though I know there are D1 athletes who will agree with your husband. My point is, that statement is not the general consensus of D1 athletes and I feel is not a valuable or accurate commendation for D3 participation.

NCAA has a 20 hour practice rule. My daughter committed to a D1 team but I know several girls who are currently D2 and D3 athletes, and they practice about the same hours. I am pretty sure many of the top D1 teams have more competitive coaches whose salaries may rely on how the team does; and so they may put more pressure on their athletes. But we had 4 Level 9s compete for D3 teams 2 years ago and they’ve all quit except for one citing the coach was mean and too competitive. So, there are no guarantees that a D3 team will have more of a ‘fun” environment than a D1 team. D1 teams are more desireable because of the scholarship aspect and hence get more competitive athletes. As far as what do D2 and D3 offer? I’d say everything a D1 school offers sans scholarship money and D1 recognition.

Remember too, if for financial reasons, a free ride is what you need for your daughter to get an education, there are many merit scholarships, need based scholarships, state scholarships you can apply for to get your daugther’s education paid for.

 

[jillc]

My husband was a D3 athlete. He says: “In D1 your sport is a job, and in D3 it is for fun.” D3 offers kids the chance to keep participating in their sport at a high level longer than most kids get to, without selling their souls to the D1 machine. That is pretty valuable.

I was a D3 athlete for a 2 years (non gymnastics) and generally agree with this concept. However I wouldn’t say D3 was more fun — but just that you were just doing it just for fun with no financial conquences. If you didn’t like it or you didn’t want the commitment — you could stop without having to worry about scholarship ramifications.

I also was only good enough to be considered for a athletic scholarship at a few schools. But I had a very specific major and type of school I was looking for academically. So I picked the school first, then chose to join the D3 sports team for a sport I really enjoyed. I only played 2 years because it got difficult to coordinate with my academic schedule and I had some nagging sports injuries . I am very glad I played those 2 years, but I am also glad it was fairly easy to stop after that. I felt bad leaving my teammates, but knew it was the best decision for me.

 

[Gigi]

I was a D3 athlete for a 2 years (non gymnastics) and generally agree with this concept. However I wouldn’t say D3 was more fun — but just that you were just doing it just for fun with no financial conquences. If you didn’t like it or you didn’t want the commitment — you could stop without having to worry about scholarship ramifications.

That is true. Someone mentioned merit scholarships, need based scholarships, and state scholarships. Since those are not linked to the sports even if the coach helped you get it, I assume the athlete should still get to keep them. Although It seems there aren't a lot of money out there where we look. Maybe we are not looking at the right place. One school told us their school doesn't give academic money, but there are merit scholarships but they are all so specific




(ex. STEM

 

[tomtnt]

It's actually more complicated for D1 and D2 athletes- you have to meet certain criteria as an athlete to be eligible to receive academic merit scholarship without it counting against the alotted athletic scholarships the school has to offer.

The intent of the rule is to prevent coaches from gaming the system (mainly popular sports like football and basketball) and creating fake academic scholarships to allow them to recruit more athletes beyond the scholarship count. Imagine a football powerhouse maxing out their athletic scholarships then recruiting athletes through "academic" scholarship funded by boosters.

The rules for D1:

To qualify for academic scholarships, a student generally must have a 3.5 GPA or higher, 25 ACT score or higher, 1200 SAT score or higher, and must rank within the top 10 percent of the class.

That is true. Someone mentioned merit scholarships, need based scholarships, and state scholarships. Since those are not linked to the sports even if the coach helped you get it, I assume the athlete should still get to keep them. Although It seems there aren't a lot of money out there where we look. Maybe we are not looking at the right place. One school told us their school doesn't give academic money, but there are merit scholarships but they are all so specific




(ex. STEM

 

[Gigi]

It's actually more complicated for D1 and D2 athletes- you have to meet certain criteria as an athlete to be eligible to receive academic merit scholarship without it counting against the alotted athletic scholarships the school has to offer.

The intent of the rule is to prevent coaches from gaming the system (mainly popular sports like football and basketball) and creating fake academic scholarships to allow them to recruit more athletes beyond the scholarship count. Imagine a football powerhouse maxing out their athletic scholarships then recruiting athletes through "academic" scholarship funded by boosters.

The rules for D1:

To qualify for academic scholarships, a student generally must have a 3.5 GPA or higher, 25 ACT score or higher, 1200 SAT score or higher, and must rank within the top 10 percent of the class.

Where do you look for merit scholarships? Are they school specific? Are coaches pointing you to them? We looked at scholarships.com and there aren't many that would be enough to make a dent on tuition, or they are so specific. This makes out-of-state walk on out of reach.

 

[tomtnt]

Your schools’s college counselor hopefully has info. I’m only familiar with the public California system with the Regents and ALumni scholarships which are both merit based.

Where do you look for merit scholarships? Are they school specific? Are coaches pointing you to them? We looked at scholarships.com and there aren't many that would be enough to make a dent on tuition, or they are so specific. This makes out-of-state walk on out of reach.

 

[wandrewsjr]

Where do you look for merit scholarships? Are they school specific? Are coaches pointing you to them? We looked at scholarships.com and there aren't many that would be enough to make a dent on tuition, or they are so specific. This makes out-of-state walk on out of reach.

In addtion to all of the specific scholarships out there, Merit Scholarships are also given directly by colleges, usually based on SAT/ACT and GPA. Look at each college's range of ACT/SAT and GPA for admitted students. If student is in the top 25% of a school's admitted students in those, they can expect a merit scholarship to cover a significant chunk of tuition. My recent experience is with moderately competitive private colleges(those that accept 40-60% of students), where a 30 ACT and 3.8 GPA got my student merit scholarship offers of about half the cost of tuition.

 

[gymgal]

Where do you look for merit scholarships? Are they school specific? Are coaches pointing you to them? We looked at scholarships.com and there aren't many that would be enough to make a dent on tuition, or they are so specific. This makes out-of-state walk on out of reach.

There are a lot of outside scholarships out there for every area, not just academics. Do Google searches for particular areas of Interest or talent and start there. I would not be looking for the large scholarships. They are really difficult to win, with so many applying for them. Look to the smaller award ones. $1,00-2,000 scholarships do not sound like much but if they can win several of these, it can significantly reduce your tuition bill.

Most private colleges will award merit scholarships (aside from the Ivies). Most public colleges offer very little in the way of financial assistance to out of state students. There are exceptions but in general, the money is earmarked for in state students so expect to pay for most of it yourself, unless yor child is top of the top in something.