How do we start looking for colleges?

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My DD is an '00 14U player and in 8th grade. She carries a 4.0 GPA, is in all advanced classes, and is taking 2 high school classes. She is VERY motivated. She's interested in the medical field but it's too early to know exactly what kind of route she wants to go. I know it's time to start researching colleges but I'm feeling a little overwhelmed. Where do you start? Is there a list of DI and DII colleges somewhere? Research from there and then look for camps offered by the college? Is it true that DIII doesn't offer softball scholarships? Any and all advice and suggestions are welcomed. Thank you!

 

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at 14 you prob have a pretty good idea of her ceiling athletically , SEC ? MAC ? small D-2 etc . Pick 3 " dream schools" and 3-6 good fits , and 2-3 " I can always fall back on that types " location plays a role , what majors are offered plays a role, but you are on the right track , academics are where the money is ( mainly ) . pull that magical 30 on the ACT and you wont have to worry about it .

 

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Find schools she loves...academically. SEC talent and playing means nothing without dicipline and degree from chosen school. Taking physics, chemistry with Lab takes great discipline and sacrifices. Too many kids change their major because of conflict...game of softball lasts 4 years but chosen profession hopefully lasts a life time of comfort. FYI, not all schools give academic scholarship no matter the ACT scores.

Good Luck and don't let anyone tell you she can't...

 

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Here are some links to d1, d2 and d3 schools.
List of NCAA Division I institutions - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
List of NCAA Division II institutions - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
List of NCAA Division III institutions - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

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WestsideSteelie love the avatar. Tell your dd to keep up all the hard work love that 4.0 GPA.

 

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I bought an app titled softball university. It lists all the colleges with softball programs by their division, the head coaches contact info, and a link to their website. It was only $1.99.

 

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Send me a private message...I can give you my contact number there. I coached travel, JV, Varsity High School and DIII college softball. I hope I can answer questions you might have.

 

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She should be taking a 8th grade career aptitude test (she may have already done so...) to help find a career pathway. So, use this info to help start your search on a career choice.


If she is serious about nursing or the medical field she should look into your local CDC programs in your area for her High School JR/SR year.
If you have one that offers secondary nursing and she can meet the requirements to get in that would be a great start.
I attached a link of what our area has.

http://www.greatoaks.com/HighSchool/CareerPathsandPrograms/Secondary Practical Nursing/Pages/default.aspx

As far as DIII there is no scholarship dollars but; if her ACT, GPA, attendance is good and she has recommendation letters she can receive awards that are as good if not better than some scholarship offers so I would consider all schools. DI II, III NAIA they all have pros/cons.
The main thingis you do need to help her do her research and be realistic on athletic ability.


One thing we found while doing clinics, camps, combines and showcases is some coaches at all levels may try to get DD to look at other programs because they do not offer what you are looking for academically so be careful. I attached a link with some other info that can help as well.


http://attach.captainu.com.s3.amazonaws.com/team_resources/CaptainU Recruiting Study.pdf





Know where you want to go. Do not dream about it plan for it.Set goals and Make It Happen!

 

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The College Board has a good website with lots of good resources to get you started - Big Future - Get Ready For College. I particularly like the college search feature because the multitude of search criteria will get her thinking about the many factors to consider.

 

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Food for thought.. DD's Organic Chemistry professor wants her to take an exam while she is traveling with her coach monitoring her.

 

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Start by taking athletics totally out of the equation. Then, add athletics back in when you find out what schools she loves academically and schools you can afford financially.

 

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great post wvanalmsick.

Gerry Quinn- director of the Illinois Chill- has some really good handouts on his teams site that are a good read- you can check them out here: Illinois Chill Organization: 18u GOLD

 

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Have you considered how far away she wants to be from home or have you bothered to even ask her yet?
If she is a Mommy's girl or a Daddy's girl makes a difference also as they do need support from home. Especially that first three months. They ALL get homesick even the boys and how well do you really know your child?
Many of the kids do not even know how to do their own laundry yet or what time management is. May sound silly however who gets them up in the morning....you or the alarm clock? When you are going to practice do they have everything they need, glove, bat etc and if not whose responsibility is it?
Consider what they want to be when they grow up After college is over!

Going to college or one that sounds great is a dream what is the reality....have you been to the campus yet? Have you attended a clinic there yet? What is the security at the college like at 10 PM at night from the parking lot to the dorm? Have you actually seen any practices yourself and how the coach really handles their players? Talking to current players AND parents about the coaches can be eye openers in my opinion.

How big is the school? How far is the dorm from the classrooms.....thinking about an umbrella yet?

We have had enough kids go to college and the information above came from them.

When they are at home and you can go to talk to the high school coach and or the travel ball coach about why she was late or has to leave early or she does not feel well today....who are you going to talk to when they go to college? Who is going to talk to the college coach?

It is not just where she wants to go to college, is she ready and does she have the maturity. Sometimes you have to be a parent and not the coach in my opinion.

Howard

 

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WestsideSteelie love the avatar. Tell your dd to keep up all the hard work love that 4.0 GPA.

If you knew our DD, you'd know how appropriate the avatar. Thanks for the helpful links!

 

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The College Board has a good website with lots of good resources to get you started - Big Future - Get Ready For College. I particularly like the college search feature because the multitude of search criteria will get her thinking about the many factors to consider.

Thank you for the link. I will definitely give it a look later tonight.

 

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great post wvanalmsick.

Gerry Quinn- director of the Illinois Chill- has some really good handouts on his teams site that are a good read- you can check them out here: Illinois Chill Organization: 18u GOLD

I loved all the info so much I printed it our for future reference and to pass along to a few friends and team mates. Thank you!

 

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1. Find a school she will love for 4 years.
2. Find a school that can be afforded if the athletic money disappears.
3. Find as school where she will play a lot, or one with a good, positive support system/social nest with the team if she doesn't play that much.
4. Find a school that you can visit often.

 

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Go to the Kent State camp sign up's are in Sept there are at least 100 coaches there some d1 and d2 and a lot from d3 ,Community colleges and NAIA schools,also it will give you and you'r DD a idea of the competition that is out there and where her talent and skill level is at , If she is good she will be talked to by someone . Try not to get overwhelmed yet as her being a 8th grader let her have all the fun she can without pressure so she will keep playing well ,When she hits 16u and is a good ball player they will find her, thats where coaches really start to recruit unless she has already been noticed than it,s time to start stressing out. Good Luck.

 

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Find the school first for her degree first. One she would want to be if she god forbid had a career ending injury.

sign up for the Queen of Diamonds South and North to learn the selling and communication side that comes from those....

 

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Find the school first for her degree first. One she would want to be if she god forbid had a career ending injury.

sign up for the Queen of Diamonds South and North to learn the selling and communication side that comes from those....

Kirt (Queen of Diamonds) does a great job of answering "how do we start looking for colleges" in a series of emails that will come to you if you sign up for this event. I've read Gerry's info and Kirt's emails are as helpful or more considering where you are in the process. I don't think it would be necessary to participate in both north and south however. North should do it. One thing we did when we were at this point a few years ago was to go to the NCAA website and look at the top D1 and 2 softball programs to start a "wish list." We then went to US News and World Reports to start crossing academically weak schools off of our list... then used geographic location to cross off more... size/major/etc to cross of more... until we had a list of about 15 D1 schools, 10 D2 schools and 5 NAIA schools. We then started a campaign of emails to see who was interested and who could care less. We started WAY TOO LATE in this process, but your daughter is at the perfect age to start doing this now. Also, if you are going to start contacting college coaches, you will need a skills video of your daughter to attach to the email. Very unusual to get any sort of useful dialog with a D1 or 2 college coach if there is no skills video attached ... at least in our experience. Good luck to you guys!!! Those were some very busy, but very exciting times for us.