COLLEGE SCHOLARSHIPS?

why do people on the forum continuously bash parents for chasing soccer scholarships? my son would play if there were no trophies or chance of scholarship. buy the hype? no, parents pay big bucks for higher levels of competition lol

Because the prestigious universities, by and large, don't have soccer programs, division 1 scholarships are limited to 9.9 for the entire program, and there is life after soccer.

Rightback wrote:Because the prestigious universities, by and large, don't have soccer programs, division 1 scholarships are limited to 9.9 for the entire program, and there is life after soccer.

as i said "my son would play if there were no trophies or chance of scholarship" its his passion

Rightback, what do you consider "prestigious?"

It is pretty sad IMO that N.Tx is such a haven for boys soccer, yet outside of SMU, there really aren't any boys soccer programs at the collegiate level.

Must be decisions made by some of the same local school districts who require all boys in athletics to play football, whether on the A, B or C teams. It's the most ridiculous thing I've seen.

We are surrounded by soccer programs at the collegiate level. SMU is the only D1 school in Texas. The next closest D1 is Tulsa.

SMU is not the only D1 program in Texas. HBU (Houston Baptist) and IWU (Incarnate Word) have mens D1 soccer programs with more schools to be added in the future from what I am hearing.

Club/HSparent wrote:SMU is not the only D1 program in Texas. HBU (Houston Baptist) and IWU (Incarnate Word) have mens D1 soccer programs with more schools to be added in the future from what I am hearing.

Thank you for sharing that. At least there is a glimmer of hope! For us, if it keeps him focused and out of trouble through HS, it was worth the expense.

And don't forget UCA (University of Central Arkansas) and ORU (Oral Roberts in Tulsa)...Majority are only going to recruit DA players. That said, if you're not a DA player; it's gonna be tough to get noticed.

Rightback wrote:Because the prestigious universities, by and large, don't have soccer programs...

Glancing at the 'prestigious' universities, most of them do have men's soccer programs. Here are the top 25 (technically 26 due to a tie) national universities according to US News and World Report in their annual college rankings. 23 of the 26 have an inter-collegiate men's soccer program. Many of them probably don't offer scholarships. Some of them are in D3, and in fact, looking at the soccer page of Carnegie Mellon's athletics program shows a local kid having scored the game winner and being named conference player of the week.

I grew up in ACC country where most schools had men's soccer (and excelled at it) and my wife grew up in Cali where most schools had men's soccer (and excelled at it) so I'm kind of expecting my kids to move far away for college and find something that will fit their academic abilities and if they choose to pursue it, their athletic abilities as well.

I would be quite proud of my son for attending any of these universities and playing soccer whether on scholarship or not (though hopefully he'd have some academic scholarship or dad's going to need a second job).

Prestigious Universities with Men's Soccer
Princeton
Harvard
Yale
Columbia
Stanford
U of Chicago
MIT
Duke
U of Pennsylvania
Cal Tech
Dartmouth
Johns Hopkins
Northwestern
Washington U in St Louis
Cornell
Brown
Notre Dame
Cal Berkeley
Emory
Georgetown
UCLA
Virginia
Carnegie Mellon

Prestigious Universities without Men's Soccer
Vanderbilt (not surprising since they're in the SEC)
Rice (not surprising since they're in Texas)
USC (maybe your son can switch to men's water polo)

From my understanding although they have a mens soccer program and a couple compete very well; no IVY league school offer athletic money for soccer.

soccerdadrandy wrote:why do people on the forum continuously bash parents for chasing soccer scholarships? my son would play if there were no trophies or chance of scholarship. buy the hype? no, parents pay big bucks for higher levels of competition lol

IMHO; no parent should be bashed for chasing soccer scholarships for their BB. That said, most parents need to be realistic in regards to their BB play D1 soccer.

Club/HSparent wrote:

soccerdadrandy wrote:why do people on the forum continuously bash parents for chasing soccer scholarships? my son would play if there were no trophies or chance of scholarship. buy the hype? no, parents pay big bucks for higher levels of competition lol

IMHO; no parent should be bashed for chasing soccer scholarships for their BB. That said, most parents need to be realistic in regards to their BB play D1 soccer.

well stated C/HSP but where is the proof that "most" aren't realistic in regards to their BB.

soccerdadrandy wrote:

Club/HSparent wrote:

soccerdadrandy wrote:why do people on the forum continuously bash parents for chasing soccer scholarships? my son would play if there were no trophies or chance of scholarship. buy the hype? no, parents pay big bucks for higher levels of competition lol

IMHO; no parent should be bashed for chasing soccer scholarships for their BB. That said, most parents need to be realistic in regards to their BB play D1 soccer.

well stated C/HSP but where is the proof that "most" aren't realistic in regards to their BB.

From my experience talking to parents (and I used to be one myself) many believe that just because their BB is playing CL
D1 and their respective team is in the top tier of D1; they SHOULD have the chance to play D1 college ball. That's not being realistic in my eyes. Us as parents should let chips fall where they may and let the BB's enjoy this game and quit roaming the sidelines looking for D1 scouts @ games and/or showcases. Just saying.

Roaming the sidelines in search of scouts is their duty lol. Doesn't mean they are delusional IMHO

soccerdadrandy wrote:Roaming the sidelines in search of scouts is their duty lol. Doesn't mean they are delusional IMHO  

Roaming the sideline like a rabied dog will make any parent look delusional...

Club/HSparent wrote:

soccerdadrandy wrote:Roaming the sidelines in search of scouts is their duty lol. Doesn't mean they are delusional IMHO  

Roaming the sideline like a rabied dog will make any parent look delusional...

Lol I haven't witnessed this YET my BB is just now 14

If within the first 15 minutes of the match you don't recognize the delusional parent, you are the delusional parent.

Now that's funny

Its all about money. The NCAA decides how many scholarships each sport receives and the schools have to balance women's sports (Title IX) without football and wrestling as an option for them. Football receives 85 Scholarships, compared to 9 in soccer nationwide. That's even in states where soccer popularity may be just as high as football. The lowest % states that have D1 soccer schools - Louisiana 0%, Texas 10%, Alabama 11%, Tennessee 33%, Georgia 43%. What do all those states have in common? Old school brains and football, football, football! Until that good o'l boy mentality goes away, I would not hold your breath for Soccer.

My son plays because he loves the game of soccer. Not for a scholarship lol

You have parents that think playing HS soccer is good for the BB in regards to getting exposure...NOW THAT'S DELUSIONAL!!!

Agreed, my sons (3) play because the like the game. They are also good scholar athletes, so a great GPA will do more for them. That being said, a partial scholarship playing the game they love would be a bonus. Kids play high school soccer to have fun with their friends and impress the 3 girls that watch from the stands.

Bboys wrote:Agreed, my sons (3) play because the like the game. They are also good scholar athletes, so a great GPA will do more for them.  That being said, a partial scholarship playing the game they love would be a bonus. Kids play high school soccer to have fun with their friends and impress the 3 girls that watch from the stands.  

Exactly right. Very few scholarships available for soccer that are not also tied to academics.
FYI the service academies are pretty prestigious, have D1 soccer and all students chosen are on 100% scholarship(sort of).

Club/HSparent wrote:From my understanding although they have a mens soccer program and a couple compete very well; no IVY league school offer athletic money for soccer.

Because they offer academic scholarships to their players! Most do it for all their sports this way, not just soccer.