Academics or Softball Team

[PDad]

So my question is, are any of these poor academic schools? If you want to play championship softball, do you really have to trade your education for that opportunity?

There are some impressive academic names on the list. My question is, do they allow you to take full advantage of their academic opportunities or do players have to settle for a less challenging/desirable major?

[hit4power]

So my question is, are any of these poor academic schools? If you want to play championship softball, do you really have to trade your education for that opportunity?

My employer, a fortune 100 energy company recruits at 9 of those schools for technical staff; engineers and geoscientists. I think you can go to any of those schools and in certain degree programs receive a fabulous undergraduate education. Many of them are (better) known for their graduate programs in specific areas, as well. That said, if you were to look at the roughly 500 girls playing softball at those schools, I'd be curious to know what the breakout of declared majors is amongst the players. I'd be surprised if very many were majoring in the marquis programs at those schools (think engineering at Georgia Tech for example) so I would be concerned that a lot of the players at these schools are going to come out with degrees of moderate to low value and in the economy we are in and likely to be in for a while that could be problematic for securing a decent job. That generic degree in Sports Management or General Studies or whatever from _________ (fill in the school of your choice from that list) may not be the fast ticket to a good job.

My DD doesn't have the talent level to be one of the 125 or so girls who will be signed to those programs in 2012 so we are definitely focused on the academically selective schools and hoping that the combination of grades and softball will give her a shot of getting into a top academic institution, maybe even an Ivy. She takes the SAT this weekend, we shall see.....

[Joe]

Which are you focusing on?

Would you rather a lousy team, but great academic school-(or vice versa)

Free Ride at a poor academic school or the ability to get into an Ivy League school?

Let's see what Sam says?

[jonriv]

Obviously meant as a hypothetical question and certainly one that most people do not get to make but what if....?

[anonlooker]

Obviously meant as a hypothetical question and certainly one that most people do not get to make but what if....?

Well then softball, obviously.

[fasterpitch92701]

From U.S. News and Forbes. Yes, it's THEIR survey, THEY could lean a bit but YOU or I also could have that... ahhh.... lean. I took these three lists and tried to come up with an overall softball ranking based on all the usual attributes, a "here's the top 20" type thingy. On a few I am having a bit of an issue getting 100% of the information on the hard hitting recruiting efforts for this year from these schools but, I am workin' it.... Also, I have a query into ESPN regarding program shifts that would be all inclusive to these studly, bad as*, kick but* softball schools. I didn't check to see ratios of how many students were "Communications" or "Sports Management" or "Sports Medicine" majors. Workin' that too. News at 11.

U.S. New and World Report, top 12 Colleges
Williams
Amherst
Swarthmore
Wellesley
Bowdoin
Pomona
Carlton
Davidson
Haverford
Claremont McKenna
Vassar
Wesleyan

U.S. News and World Report, top 12 Universities
Harvard
Princeton
Yale
Columbia
Stanford
Pennsylvania
CalTech
MIT
Dartmouth
Duke
Chicago
Northwestern
Johns Hopkins

FORBES – From the students view, top 12.
Williams
Princeton
Amherst
US Military Academy
MIT
Stanford
Swarthmore
Harvard
Claremont McKenna
Yale
Air Force Academy
Wellesley

[anonlooker]

Link to Top Schools ranked by starting salary, mid-career salary...

And you can break out various categories.... engineering, liberal arts, private schools, states schools, and the all important... Party Schools!

(UCSB #2 Party School! Go Gauchos! And maybe they didn't have a winning record in softball, but hey, only one team in the entire Big West conference did! )

http://www.payscale.com/best-colleges/t ... istics.asp

While it may be important where you go, it's also important what you study, and what type of degree you earn. Again based on starting and mid-career salary, here are the 10 Worst degrees:

College Degrees Starting Salary Mid-career median salary

1. Social Work $33,400 $41,600
2. Elementary Education $33,000 $42,400
3. Theology $34,800 $51,500
4. Music $34,000 $52,000
5. Spanish $35,600 $52,600
6. Horticulture $37,200 $53,400
7. Education $36,200 $54,100
8. Hospitality/Tourism $37,000 $54,300
9. Fine Arts $35,800 $56,300
10. Drama $35,600 $56,600

FWIW... (so to speak.)

[Blind Squirrel]

Choose the softball program and while you're there don't let academics get in the way of marrying rich.

Svengali Squirrel

[ontheblack]

I went thru the roster of one SoCal state uni and looked at just Jrs and Srs. Half were undeclared.

[anonlooker]

I went thru the roster of one SoCal state uni and looked at just Jrs and Srs. Half were undeclared.

An undeclared senior... really? Is that common these days? That's pretty much akin to asking a 58 year old what they want to be when they grow up.

The NCAA has that nice commercial which states "Most of our student athletes will go pro in something other than their sport"....

What does the typical softball player go pro in? Does anyone know what are the most common degrees? Professional aspirations?