Academic DIII

[Unregistered]

What does “student size” have to do with academics? I’m not saying Stetson or JU are strong academically, but the enrollment size is meaningless relative to academic rigor. Poor argument.

Student size = school resources = investment in staff and facilities = quality instructors

Basic economics. Enrollment size is definitely an indicator.

[Unregistered]

Thst’s good to know. Thanks.

Quick question....... did your child consider any of the D2 schools in state? If so any feedback on them?

She was recruited by a few of them early on, made some visits and got some offers. However, none of them seemed like good fits. Embry Riddle was more about aerospace and defense while FIT did not impress for a various reasons.

When we visited WPI, MIT and Tufts; every coach was about education first - soccer second. The athletic tours all emphasized the support given to their student athletes to study, go to class and do research. The Florida schools were about social life and the closest beaches.

UF and UCF tours were the only ones who talked more about the education than the social life during the tours. To be fair, that was our experience and may not be everyone's.

[Unregistered]

Embry-Riddle is very well-known in the aviation industry. It is a top producer of commercial airline pilots.

yes but you are reinforcing that is highly specialized. An engineering student might not yet know what area they want to focus on so a program with more breadth would be a better choice for them.

[Unregistered]

A D1 designation is no assurance of better academics. Look at Stetson and Jacksonville University for example. D1 sports, but no bigger in student size than Florida Southern, St, Leo, Lynn, or Rollins. University of Tampa is D2, but nearly identical in size to FGCU.

You are confusing academic rigor with size. Yes smaller classes often provides a richer academic experience but it's not an assurance of academic quality. There are small schools, especially D3, that have outstanding academics, and some smaller schools that are anything but.

[Unregistered]

Student size = school resources = investment in staff and facilities = quality instructors

Basic economics. Enrollment size is definitely an indicator.

You cannot make that broad sweeping statement that isn't always true, not even close. There are small schools that are scraping the bottom of the academic barrel and top universities that have 40,000+ students.

[Unregistered]

She was recruited by a few of them early on, made some visits and got some offers. However, none of them seemed like good fits. Embry Riddle was more about aerospace and defense while FIT did not impress for a various reasons.

When we visited WPI, MIT and Tufts; every coach was about education first - soccer second. The athletic tours all emphasized the support given to their student athletes to study, go to class and do research. The Florida schools were about social life and the closest beaches.

UF and UCF tours were the only ones who talked more about the education than the social life during the tours. To be fair, that was our experience and may not be everyone's.

Earlier you questioned if it's worth taking on more debt for those high quality educational experiences. I think you know the answer to that question. If she's admitted to the northern schools I would highly recommend Tufts and certainly MIT. WPI may be less worth the $ and Worcester is pretty skanky and there's not much to do. Boston is a fantastic city to be a student and the job market is hot there. The travel for soccer isn't too terrible either (an important consideration because of the time away from school). That said, if she thinks grad school is in her future then graduating from a FL school with no debt is very appealing.

Yes I'm biased I'm from MA originally:).

[Unregistered]

Absolutely true. Same with Ivies. It's not final until you get that acceptance letter. Now it generally works out, but plenty of kids get burned every year.

That is where she is now. On the wait list and trying to figure out if the "wait" is worth it. One coach said he would talk to admissions to find out what happened because he thought her chances were very good. The other coach recommend she accept the wait list status but start moving forward with one of her other choices. The conversations were friendly enough but I suppose coaches don't have time to spend on maybe at this juncture.

That being said, if the any of the others come back at $30K/yr as well, this may be a pointless pursuit.

[Unregistered]

Earlier you questioned if it's worth taking on more debt for those high quality educational experiences. I think you know the answer to that question. If she's admitted to the northern schools I would highly recommend Tufts and certainly MIT. WPI may be less worth the $ and Worcester is pretty skanky and there's not much to do. Boston is a fantastic city to be a student and the job market is hot there. The travel for soccer isn't too terrible either (an important consideration because of the time away from school). That said, if she thinks grad school is in her future then graduating from a FL school with no debt is very appealing.

Yes I'm biased I'm from MA originally:).

Yes and no. As you know, MIT gets huge endowments and is not as "need sensitive" as the other two schools. Still, probably would've taken a loan if she got in though. However since she was already declined, the point is mute.

Tufts was great and the town was beautiful but UF is right in line with the rankings there. We got the same impression visiting WPI as you stated. Skanky is a polite term. Got flipped off and offered colorful direction advice driving around trying to find parking and the service was less than stellar at the Goats Head.

[Unregistered]

You are confusing academic rigor with size. Yes smaller classes often provides a richer academic experience but it's not an assurance of academic quality. There are small schools, especially D3, that have outstanding academics, and some smaller schools that are anything but.

The original statement made was that D2 schools in Florida are not worth looking at. I rebutted with the comment that there are D1 schools, with fewer resources, student body, and higher academics, than those D1 schools.

I am not confusing anything. The comment is correct. How you want to read into it is your choice.

[Unregistered]

You cannot make that broad sweeping statement that isn't always true, not even close. There are small schools that are scraping the bottom of the academic barrel and top universities that have 40,000+ students.

Please re-read the context and reason why the comment was made. If you want to take the statement as a sweeping generalization, that is your discretion.

[Unregistered]

The original statement made was that D2 schools in Florida are not worth looking at. I rebutted with the comment that there are D1 schools, with fewer resources, student body, and higher academics, than those D1 schools.

I am not confusing anything. The comment is correct. How you want to read into it is your choice.

Correction...D1 schools with fewer resources, student body, and lower academics, than many of the Florida D2 schools.

Stetson, JU, BC, and UNF should not be in the D1 category. FGCU is borderline.

[Unregistered]

I read the original posts but this thread seems to be going in a slightly different direction. My daughter wrote several schools and coaches did come to see here play at Jefferson Cup. She was invited to camps at Carnegie, Amhurst, Swathmore and Washington Lee. She did not get much interest from the coaches outside of invites back to this years camps but fell in love with Carnegie, applied and was accepted. She plans on studying robotics.

The only Florida school that showed interest was Univ of West Florida which was never a consideration academically, She may have never visited Carnegie if not for soccer so for her, it was worth the ID camp disappointments.

[Unregistered]

I read the original posts but this thread seems to be going in a slightly different direction. My daughter wrote several schools and coaches did come to see here play at Jefferson Cup. She was invited to camps at Carnegie, Amhurst, Swathmore and Washington Lee. She did not get much interest from the coaches outside of invites back to this years camps but fell in love with Carnegie, applied and was accepted. She plans on studying robotics.

The only Florida school that showed interest was Univ of West Florida which was never a consideration academically, She may have never visited Carnegie if not for soccer so for her, it was worth the ID camp disappointments.

Congrats to your daughter. I hope she gets some academic money to help with that $75,000 tuition. That is painful.

[Unregistered]

I read the original posts but this thread seems to be going in a slightly different direction. My daughter wrote several schools and coaches did come to see here play at Jefferson Cup. She was invited to camps at Carnegie, Amhurst, Swathmore and Washington Lee. She did not get much interest from the coaches outside of invites back to this years camps but fell in love with Carnegie, applied and was accepted. She plans on studying robotics.

The only Florida school that showed interest was Univ of West Florida which was never a consideration academically, She may have never visited Carnegie if not for soccer so for her, it was worth the ID camp disappointments.

Great school, congrats! And Pittsburgh is a great city - used to be nasty but it's really been turned around.

Too many people get caught up with their kids playing D1, like it's some kind of badge of honor. If kids are playing college ball that's a badge of honor. Few make it that far. For many players D3 may be a better option. First D1 is a huge commitment that not everyone wants. D3 offers more of a balance in academics and being a regular student. The soccer isn't always top notch but is pretty solid, especially at the top. Academics at places like Johns Hopkins, Chicago, Rochester, MIT - there's just no comparison to most FL schools.

[Unregistered]

Congrats to your daughter. I hope she gets some academic money to help with that $75,000 tuition. That is painful.

They came back with a pretty attractive package overall which puts our out of pkt about $18,000/yr. It will be tough but Carnegie is a top 3 robotics program and between travel soccer and her robotics competitions, I would wager we spent at least $10,000 last year.