PDA Girls - College Recruiting

[Guest]

Is PDA the best academy in NJ for girls college recruiting? Thinking of moving my daughter to this club. Thoughts on other academies, clubs, or avenues other than PDA that would give my daughter college recruitment opportunities better than PDA would…

You already know the answer to that question you put out there on TS to get a response. All a parent has to do is there own homework and put in the effort to vette a club in your area. There is no specific answer to your question because every club is subjective. It’s similar to the question of development, it all depends on the individual and the realistic goals they want to achieve. This is not hard to decide objectively if you put in the effort to see what works best for your daughter. If you don’t then you ought to know that PDA is one of the highest rated clubs in the nation. As far as other clubs have your daughter get invited to training sessions and talk with the club yourself. This is much better than asking the opinion of anonymous TS people.

[Guest]

If a school is a perfect fit for academics, financial and geography, then that's great! And if soccer is a low-enough priority where the player doesn't actually care if she plays, then that is awesome. But I thought the thread was asking about PDA being the best place for college soccer placement, which implies that the person was interested in the soccer component of it.

If your point is about using soccer as a way to get accepted into your dream college and not really caring whether or not you end up playing, then I actually agree with your point. But in that circumstance, asking if PDA is the best club for college placement is irrelevant to your goals. If you know your shortlist of dream schools, target those schools directly, and as long as you are on a team that plays in a highly competitive environment (ECNL, GA, etc), you'll have as good a shot as any (PDA or any other). The only exception to this is if your dream school is Rutgers...if your dream school is Rutgers, then PDA would be the best option for you.

No, the point I replied to was about:

"The point wasn't about transfers, it was about placements that result in poor fits and players not actually getting to play. Whether they transfer or not is a secondary point."

[Guest]

No, the point I replied to was about:

"The point wasn't about transfers, it was about placements that result in poor fits and players not actually getting to play. Whether they transfer or not is a secondary point."

Yes, this comment was made assuming that the player was interested in playing soccer. If the player doesn't care about playing soccer, then of course a great academic/financial/geographic fit is more important. But if the player doesn't care about playing soccer, not sure why it's important if PDA is "the best academy for college recruiting" or not.

[Guest]

Yes, this comment was made assuming that the player was interested in playing soccer. If the player doesn't care about playing soccer, then of course a great academic/financial/geographic fit is more important. But if the player doesn't care about playing soccer, not sure why it's important if PDA is "the best academy for college recruiting" or not.

Nowhere was it said the player "doesn't care about playing soccer". The idea is the college athlete, every single college athlete, should be prioritizing their education. If a school wants to give a student 50% off tuition and the player doesn't play much at their ideal school, the school is still considered an ideal fit. And, the club helps facilitate that and would still be (IMO) a good academy for college recruiting.

[Guest]

Nowhere was it said the player "doesn't care about playing soccer". The idea is the college athlete, every single college athlete, should be prioritizing their education. If a school wants to give a student 50% off tuition and the player doesn't play much at their ideal school, the school is still considered an ideal fit. And, the club helps facilitate that and would still be (IMO) a good academy for college recruiting.

Not sure what I said was in conflict with this. My initial suggestion was to look beyond the simple "college placement rate" and look at what happens to those players once they get to college (eg. playing time, quitting, not even making the roster freshman year, etc). Then you (or maybe someone else?) suggested that these other factors (academic fit, financial fit, geographic fit, etc) might make looking at what happens to those players once they get to college irrelevant, to which I answered that if soccer is not a high priority on your list, then that's fine. Where does this conflict with what you said? The only thing I can see is that you say "every single college athlete should be prioritizing their education"...so you judged that making that prioritization an absolute, whereas I left that judgement up to whoever happens to be reading this for their own kid.

Bottom line for me is that looking at college placement rate alone is meaningless. While looking at clubs, IMHO you should be considering whether their placements are resulting in good outcomes...and "good outcomes" could include the fit of the academics/finances/geographies of the school, the fit of the soccer program to the kid's abilities, etc. Asking "Is PDA the best academy for college recruiting" is a reasonable question, but it has to go beyond looking at the placement rate.

[Guest]

Not sure what I said was in conflict with this. My initial suggestion was to look beyond the simple "college placement rate" and look at what happens to those players once they get to college (eg. playing time, quitting, not even making the roster freshman year, etc). Then you (or maybe someone else?) suggested that these other factors (academic fit, financial fit, geographic fit, etc) might make looking at what happens to those players once they get to college irrelevant, to which I answered that if soccer is not a high priority on your list, then that's fine. Where does this conflict with what you said? The only thing I can see is that you say "every single college athlete should be prioritizing their education"...so you judged that making that prioritization an absolute, whereas I left that judgement up to whoever happens to be reading this for their own kid.

Bottom line for me is that looking at college placement rate alone is meaningless. While looking at clubs, IMHO you should be considering whether their placements are resulting in good outcomes...and "good outcomes" could include the fit of the academics/finances/geographies of the school, the fit of the soccer program to the kid's abilities, etc. Asking "Is PDA the best academy for college recruiting" is a reasonable question, but it has to go beyond looking at the placement rate.

Well, because you took a statement that a fit for academics, costs, location, that resulted in not much playing time, to mean the player "doesn't care about playing".

[Guest]

Parents choosing tiny scholarships over quality schools...you are failing your children. FYI, PDA has nothing to do with it. If you child is a player, the schools will find you. The reason PDA blue has good college numbers is bc they have good players. They would obtain those numbers wherever they played. Don't ride the bench or choose a B team bc you think that is what is best. Choose mental health and support.

Finally someone got to what matters. 99% of those still playing will end their soccer careers in college. Choose a club that makes YOU happy.

[Guest]

Well, because you took a statement that a fit for academics, costs, location, that resulted in not much playing time, to mean the player "doesn't care about playing".

Ok. Perhaps I should have said "doesn't care about playing enough to make college recruiting placement a big priority when selecting a club to play for".

[Guest]

Finally someone got to what matters. 99% of those still playing will end their soccer careers in college. Choose a club that makes YOU happy.

Terrible advice. Choose a club that makes YOUR KID happy. You should stay out of it.

[Guest]

Ok. Perhaps I should have said "doesn't care about playing enough to make college recruiting placement a big priority when selecting a club to play for".

You still aren't understanding. Players target their schools for what they could achieve through hard work, not by having it handed to them. College recruitment plays a factor in that.

[Guest]

He’s a story…

smart kid has choice between MFA and PDA white.

asks us where to go, my kids at MFA, we say PDA

Plays for PDA white, ends up going to a D3 school with a 2% acceptance rate. Plays, is happy with team, coach and school.

we stay with MFA because kid happy…same coach…same school says no thanks….coach says looking at winning culture….

my kid loved the coach and school but coach said no thanks

[Guest]

He’s a story…

smart kid has choice between MFA and PDA white.

asks us where to go, my kids at MFA, we say PDA

Plays for PDA white, ends up going to a D3 school with a 2% acceptance rate. Plays, is happy with team, coach and school.

we stay with MFA because kid happy…same coach…same school says no thanks….coach says looking at winning culture….

my kid loved the coach and school but coach said no thanks

Run away from Match Fit as fast as you can!

[Guest]

You still aren't understanding. Players target their schools for what they could achieve through hard work, not by having it handed to them. College recruitment plays a factor in that.

How is that related to what you posted before? How did it go from PDA college placement rate to how were those players' experience in college to academic/financial/georgraphic fit, to now about hard work and not having it handed to them? You are all over the place...

[Guest]

He’s a story…

smart kid has choice between MFA and PDA white.

asks us where to go, my kids at MFA, we say PDA

Plays for PDA white, ends up going to a D3 school with a 2% acceptance rate. Plays, is happy with team, coach and school.

we stay with MFA because kid happy…same coach…same school says no thanks….coach says looking at winning culture….

my kid loved the coach and school but coach said no thanks

What D3 school has a 2% acceptance rate? I thought the hardest ones to get into, like Johns Hopkins, Amherst, Williams, etc had acceptance rates around 8-9%?

[Guest]

He’s a story…

smart kid has choice between MFA and PDA white.

asks us where to go, my kids at MFA, we say PDA

Plays for PDA white, ends up going to a D3 school with a 2% acceptance rate. Plays, is happy with team, coach and school.

we stay with MFA because kid happy…same coach…same school says no thanks….coach says looking at winning culture….

my kid loved the coach and school but coach said no thanks

MFA usually finishes ahead of PDA White in the standings, no?