Division I softball scholarship $$$?

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Sorry to disagree but I have 2 or 3 kids get that score and were as heavily recruited as some great athletes are. Their finacial package all but covered thier college expenses.

 

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I would imagine a 32 ACT would get your tuition paid for at many schools, but not at mine. You may get about half tuition and then hopefully grants and softball money will get you to a whole tuition. Our average ACT is a 29, though, so there are plenty of 32s running around campus.

 

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Both of my girls had 32. ACT, depending on school most canbe covered. My oldest went to Akron and what school considered full ride we still had to contribute, will be MD in six years (4th year). My 2nd who plays softball would of gotten full ride on some schools but decided to go to PITT and we need to contribute.
doors open at better school with 32 ACT but unless you have NEED based help, lots of top schools don't give (if at all i.e. ND, Northwestern and of course IVY league) any academic scholarship.

 

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Most important- I love that picture of Morgan's PITT locker. She will always be one of my all time favorites and I am so happy for her.
I think Blue Ice has it right on here. A lot depends on the school itself. A lot of schools have much more academic money than athletic money. So as Tim said these schools would be heavily recruiting girls with high ACT scores so they can get a higher percentage of their school paid for. Other schools that may be fully funded for Athletic scholarships will still want solid students, but can be more interested in softball ability. That being said I believe ALL schools want players with solid academic backgrounds who they won't have to worry about with their eligibility and school issues.
Just a little side story to show how important academics can be in opening doors. During Nationals as a 15u team my daughter was pitching against a texas team. I was standing a few feet away from a coach from the university of utah. He was looking through our team's profile book and he stopped on one page. He got out his phone and called another coach and I heard him tell him to come to this field to see a player. Being the nosey parent that I was I moved closer so I could "overhear" more of their conversation when the other coach arrived. When the other coach got there the first coach opened the profile book to what happened to be my daughter's page. All he pointed at was her ACT Score and said to the other coach she is pitching now, let's watch awhile. They stayed 2 innings. Now we never heard anything more from them so obviously my daughter was not what they were looking for, but I always used that story with her to stress the Academic side. She got 2 coaches from a pretty big school to watch her pitch 2 innings solely based on that test score. As a player who wants to be recruited getting a coach to watch you specifically is all you can hope for.

 

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Most important- I love that picture of Morgan's PITT locker. She will always be one of my all time favorites and I am so happy for her.
I think Blue Ice has it right on here. A lot depends on the school itself. A lot of schools have much more academic money than athletic money. So as Tim said these schools would be heavily recruiting girls with high ACT scores so they can get a higher percentage of their school paid for. Other schools that may be fully funded for Athletic scholarships will still want solid students, but can be more interested in softball ability. That being said I believe ALL schools want players with solid academic backgrounds who they won't have to worry about with their eligibility and school issues.
Just a little side story to show how important academics can be in opening doors. During Nationals as a 15u team my daughter was pitching against a texas team. I was standing a few feet away from a coach from the university of utah. He was looking through our team's profile book and he stopped on one page. He got out his phone and called another coach and I heard him tell him to come to this field to see a player. Being the nosey parent that I was I moved closer so I could "overhear" more of their conversation when the other coach arrived. When the other coach got there the first coach opened the profile book to what happened to be my daughter's page. All he pointed at was her ACT Score and said to the other coach she is pitching now, let's watch awhile. They stayed 2 innings. Now we never heard anything more from them so obviously my daughter was not what they were looking for, but I always used that story with her to stress the Academic side. She got 2 coaches from a pretty big school to watch her pitch 2 innings solely based on that test score. As a player who wants to be recruited getting a coach to watch you specifically is all you can hope for.

I have been within earshot of coaches at tournaments discussing recruits many times, and academics are always part of those discussions.

Coaches of kids currently in the recruiting pool can expand their options by taking notes of what coaches are watching games. Obviously there are no guarantees, because it could be a coach is just curious. And just because a coach is watching doesn't mean a recruit is going to get a phone call. But if the recruit has contacted the coach and expressed interest in the school, there's a much better opportunity. Recruiting is a two-way street, and it's best if the recruit has taken the first step in the contact process.

The scenario described by msutt1 takes place hundreds of times every summer at high profile tournaments. Coaches are corresponding all the time and passing info between themselves about recruits. The KEY is to be on the coaches list when that interest is shown. IMO, it's very important to build a list of schools that is far larger than you initially plan on attending. Priorities change, and the broader your horizons, the more prepared a recruit will be. After all, if a coach contacts you that is far down on your list, you can always hedge until a better offer comes.

 

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Sammy, I agree 100%. It is fine to "focus" on a few schools that you believe are your best fit, but things change, you may have missed a great school as an option that you never considered. Contact as many as possible.

 

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We played in a lot of exposure events this past summer and had many conversations with college coaches while handing out player profile books. It was very common for us to hear how impressed they were with the team G.P.A. before we even discussed softball.

 

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One real-life example: Oldest DD recruited in softball and track. Academics and ACT were excellent. Due to what she wanted to major in-Pharmacy-our options were limited. It came down to two schools. One school was in Ohio, the other up North. They both offered about the same, but the school up North was going to charge out-of-state. They got her a "waiver" to charge her in -state tuition, picked up her meal plan, and gave her an incentive based on her performance on how much more they would give her based on her distances and times. She could theoreticaly have a full-ride( with athletic plus academic) next year if she works hard on her sport and keeps her grades up. Her coach told us he has a"pot" he is given each year, and it is entirely his discretion how he divides it. So he chooses to reward those who work hard and put out for the program.

 

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I can only speak for our team and the schools looking at our 2014's. In most cases our kids are looking at Ivy type schools - Holy Cross (offers athletic now), Emory, Princeton, Tufts, Harvard, even Rollins, etc - all look for the highest possible scores first. In some of those they don't even offer until a players senior year so they can be sure they qualify for their school. The lower level D1's like high score kids and if they qualify for Academic money it stays with them even if they don't continue playing. The upper level D2's we talk to LOVE high scores because of how much Athletic $$ it saves them. So whether it's 29, 32 or 72 there is a place for everyone and money is available. They goal of playing in college is still to get an education while playing a game - right.....?

 

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I read some post and i can give you what we have expieranced.....My DD did get offered a full ride to a div 1 horizon league school; this includes tution, books ,dorm (which is unbelievable) and food. This is a school that my dd wrote to because she was interested in it acedemically. On thing they did mention is that she did get a full ride but if she can get acedemic money (which she can) it will help the softball program; meaning, that money "saved" can go back into the funds for another softball student. We went for 100% not a dollar amount; that way when tution goes up we still pay nothing. So I can say yes she gat a full ride becasue she did get a full ride.

 

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What we found to be the best bet was to narrow your schools down to 6 - 8 that you were interested in from the following factors:
1. Distance from home (ie, how far does your dd want to go?)
2. Big School or small or somewhere in between
3. School that is good for your major
4. Then the most important - does your dd like the coach? that seems to drive everything.

Then we emailed the programs alot - I think we sent 12 -15 over the last year until securing an offer

She is very happy

Coach Murph

 

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At OSU ALL the players from west of the Mississippi were on a full ride. Only a couple Ohio players at a time were on a full ride. Most of the Ohio players got from 50% down to "books only". A lot of the Ohio girls qualified for so much academic money, their parents paid little or nothing.
A Full Ride means just that. EVERYTHING is paid for, the parents need not contribute at all. (or at least it was that way up until 2007 at OSU

 

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Some very good posts. It's not about the money, if you make it that then your kid may not go to the school she needs to get a degree from.
Mine picked the school based on
1. She felt it fit her academic requirements.
2. She loved the school and the coach.
3. She liked her fellow players
4. Loved the field , locker room and dorm. Better they are all new.
5. Then she got the offer and it fit our budget during her visit. Like boulders dad posted roughly 25% all athletic, since dd is on an IEP getting a tutor was the biggest draw for us.

 

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My DD picked a school based on:
1. Academics, I told her to pick a school she would love if she played ball for 1 year.
She ended up only looking at schools (in the end) which had dental schools.
Varsity sport & good grades=increased chance of getting accepted to realize her dream.
2. Coaches, she ended up falling in love with how her coaches coached (no yelling, and treated their players like adults)
3. Loved the new stadium, felt like playing in big time
4. Wanted to stay close to home