Difference between D1 and D2 scholarships

[DonnieS]

>>. Only point I was making is that sometimes they get an extra year so they can finish their degree. <<

That would be sweet. Hopefully she will earn that if she needs it.

[Lannie]

Or on the other hand..............

A couple of boys that grew up around here that you might know..... Thomas and Julius Jones got their degrees in 3 years. One from Notre Dame and the University of Virginia. Good high school academic prep classes helps as well.

[Skarp]

Skarp,

As I mentioned before "The top 10th - 15th percentile does make a difference if you graduate from their but the rest not so much" You keep listing Virginia, Duke, Stanford, etc. to support your posts, yet these are the same schools I'm agreeing with you on.

Let me clear myself up a little....The major that you intend to study has more to do with the University (in most cases). An example would be if a person wants to be a veternarian and attends Washington State (a top veternarian school) would be no better than if they attended another school with more prestige but did not offer veternarian medicane as a major. Washington State is not a prestigous University (usually not in the top 25 for overall academics) but it is in veternarian medicine. That's my point about it doesn't matter where you get your degree.

Of course there are other factors included in the decision such as, student-athlete academic support, safety, distance from home, etc.

I pretty much agree with all of this, and it's a lot different than what you were saying originally. Some schools are elite/prestigious pretty much all the way around. Some are elite/prestigious in one or more areas of study. And some...many, actually...are mediocre (or flat-out suck) through and through. If your kid wants to be an X, and D2 scholarship school has a much stronger X program than D1 scholarship school, then it would be foolish to pursue elite softball at the expense of the superior education. Softball should be the factor that gives way, not the other way around.

[DonnieS]

I I really don't know how kids can play athletics, especially ones with lots of mid-week travel, and have the "harder" majors.

I dont know how it works for most people but what I found for myself and for a lot of people I knew in college was, there was a problem for some with lots of off time. For me, when I was only working 20 hours a semester, which I did for 1 semester, my grades were not good compared to when I was working around 30-35 hours. It was an issue of diminishing returns though with the happy medium being around 35. The semester I worked 55 hours (2 jobs), I received 6 'D's, went on scho-pro, had to attend counseling, etc , the next semester I only worked about 30 and went 4.0. I maintained 4.0 grades as long as I was in that 30 area, but I had the bitch semesters that required a lot more hours on the jobs. As long as I was busy, my time management was much more effective - I pray that its the same for the kid. From what I can tell, the sports takes up at least that much time, - she starts in September - so I have been asking her teammates about it. Like I told her, you can do the sports, or you can do it my way. However, one thing I can tell you, no one cheers when I came walking in the grocery store with my apron on and a broom in my hand.

[bronco28]

Skarp,

As I mentioned before "The top 10th - 15th percentile does make a difference if you graduate from their but the rest not so much" You keep listing Virginia, Duke, Stanford, etc. to support your posts, yet these are the same schools I'm agreeing with you on.

Let me clear myself up a little....The major that you intend to study has more to do with the University (in most cases). An example would be if a person wants to be a veternarian and attends Washington State (a top veternarian school) would be no better than if they attended another school with more prestige but did not offer veternarian medicane as a major. Washington State is not a prestigous University (usually not in the top 25 for overall academics) but it is in veternarian medicine. That's my point about it doesn't matter where you get your degree.

Of course there are other factors included in the decision such as, student-athlete academic support, safety, distance from home, etc.

I pretty much agree with all of this, and it's a lot different than what you were saying originally. Some schools are elite/prestigious pretty much all the way around. Some are elite/prestigious in one or more areas of study. And some...many, actually...are mediocre (or flat-out suck) through and through. If your kid wants to be an X, and D2 scholarship school has a much stronger X program than D1 scholarship school, then it would be foolish to pursue elite softball at the expense of the superior education. Softball should be the factor that gives way, not the other way around.

It's not different than what I was saying it's just more detailed as to what I originally wrote. I can see how my other message's were misinterpreted. If all things are equal, academically speaking, between a D1 and D2 school I would prefer my dd play D1 ball.

[Skarp]

Skarp,

As I mentioned before "The top 10th - 15th percentile does make a difference if you graduate from their but the rest not so much" You keep listing Virginia, Duke, Stanford, etc. to support your posts, yet these are the same schools I'm agreeing with you on.

Let me clear myself up a little....The major that you intend to study has more to do with the University (in most cases). An example would be if a person wants to be a veternarian and attends Washington State (a top veternarian school) would be no better than if they attended another school with more prestige but did not offer veternarian medicane as a major. Washington State is not a prestigous University (usually not in the top 25 for overall academics) but it is in veternarian medicine. That's my point about it doesn't matter where you get your degree.

Of course there are other factors included in the decision such as, student-athlete academic support, safety, distance from home, etc.

I pretty much agree with all of this, and it's a lot different than what you were saying originally. Some schools are elite/prestigious pretty much all the way around. Some are elite/prestigious in one or more areas of study. And some...many, actually...are mediocre (or flat-out suck) through and through. If your kid wants to be an X, and D2 scholarship school has a much stronger X program than D1 scholarship school, then it would be foolish to pursue elite softball at the expense of the superior education. Softball should be the factor that gives way, not the other way around.

It's not different than what I was saying it's just more detailed as to what I originally wrote. I can see how my other message's were misinterpreted. If all things are equal, academically speaking, between a D1 and D2 school I would prefer my dd play D1 ball.

Not me. My kid sucks.

[Lannie]

Thats a fecal comment.......................

[DunninLA]

I gave up on page 4. My humble contribution here is to point out fallacies as I remember them from the first four pages:

1) D2 schools require less softball time/commitment than D1. FALSE about a third of the time
2) D1 schools have a higher quality of softball. FALSE about a quarter of the time.
3). D1 schools offer a superior education and furture employment prospects. FALSE about a third of the time, depending. There are D1 schools with great and some with crappy academic reputations. The following are D2/D3 schools that offer a superior educational experience, 1st job interview prospects, and grad school opportunities than 95% of D1 schools: Outside Socal: Williams, Amherst, Swarthmore, U of Chicago, Emory, Smith, Bowdoin, Haverford, Wellesley, Wesleyan, Reed, Whitman, Oberlin, Grinnell, Carleton, Davidson, Middlebury, Barnard, John Hopkins, Tufts, Bard, Vassar, and the list goes on. In Socal: Pomona College, Claremont Mckenna, Scripps, Pitzer, Harvey Mudd, Occidental, Caltech, Then there are the Ivies, which though D1, put much somewhat less stress on the athlete's time commitments because there are NO athletic or academic merit scholarships at all, just the most generaous NEED BASED financial aid available anywhere.

Maybe one or two of those will be D1, I just don't have time to look them up. However, speaking only of academic prestige at the UNDERGRAD level, most of those schools would be ranked above almost all D1 schools. Many of them are D3 which will award academic MERIT money instead of athletic money (which is better in a way because it is usually irrevocable as long as the student maintains appropriate grades, even if they are cut from the team).

Here is a website where these COLLEGE CHOICE (nothing to do with softball) issues are discussed every hour of every day: http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/col ... selection/ Here there is heated debate about the relative desirablity of a large public (almost alway D1) research instituion vs. a small (<5000 students) Liberal Arts college with high academic standards, less class flexibility, and more direct interaction with professors. There was a particularly interesting thread last year about a young lady who turned down Harvard for Pomona College, and her reasoning for that decision. She later posted toward the end of her first year that she remained confident she had made the right choice for her.

As to SOFTBALL experience at each of these schools, well, that require research into each of them. I would expect 4-5 of these schools do not offer softball at all.

[Gone in 2.6]

If your daughter has a scholarship for a D1 school and one from D2 school she should go D1. Only people whose kids can't make it at a D1 program will say go D2. The competition is like night and day. It's like saying rec ball is better than travel ball, so why not play rec. It just doesn't make sense.

Uhhh...the comparison between rec and travel is one of softball quality only. If that's all you are looking at when comparing college options, you are probably too stupid to go to college at all.

If it's not an Ivy League school, or a few select Universities (Cal, Stanford) a College Degree is a College degree. Your dd must be one of those in D2 or D3 so you obviously would argue my point moron.

This ranks as one of the dumbest comments ever posted on this site. Only the parent of a kid destined for the nearest party school would make such an idiotic claim. Tell you what...you go ahead and send your little softball prodigy to whatever D1 school will accept her 2.0 g.p.a. and 1100 SAT score. No need to do any research--any school with a D1 softball program will do, as long as they accept her. Maybe one day she can regale us with stories of her exploits facing such superior competition...while she hands us our extra value meals in the drive-thru line, perhaps...

Hey there watch it. I resemble that remark.

[ECSB]

OK, I need to weigh in on this one. I got my undergraduate degree in engineering from a small, eastern mid-major D1. Not very selective academically, not considered a big name school. I loved it, got a great practical education, and because my grades were good, got lots of scholarships. I got my Master's in Engineering at MIT, when it comes to engineering, that is the tops. My MIT experience sucked. It was the worst two years of my life. I learned nothing practical, just math. However, the MIT name opens doors still today.

My take - go to any school for undergrad - it doesn't matter. Get good grades and go to the big name school for your master's. And this is JMHO, but there are only a few schools that open doors like that. Most high priced D1 schools (BU, BC, Holy Cross, Notre Dame, Rice, Duke, ....) just don't get you anywhere after you get your first job. Harvard, MIT....those open doors forever.