DA & college scholarships

so is it much more likely that a u17/18 DA player at a top MLS club like FCD will end up with a full ride, D1? Anyone have any numbers or facts (or know where to look) re DA & scholarships?

Check this out http://www.scholarshipstats.com/varsityodds.html

2017 Soccer Programs: http://www.scholarshipstats.com/soccer.html

Thanks
I came across those sites when I was googling, but I want more specific. There's a huge difference in high school soccer players - some just beginning and then the MLS DA players.
I think the club would talk about how many on the top teams got D1 scholarships and/or how much money they were awarded. I was hoping someone knew where that info would be or if it exists.

No it is not more likely. The most important thing is the GPA and SAT. D1 schools only have 8-9 scholarships to give and they usually have a roster of 28-30 players and they spread those scholarships out. If your BB is a phenom he still wont get FULL ride.

Riquelme Rises wrote:No it is not more likely. The most important thing is the GPA and SAT. D1 schools only have 8-9 scholarships to give and they usually have a roster of 28-30 players and they spread those scholarships out. If your BB is a phenom he still wont get FULL ride.

Agreed. Schools have no desire to waste a scholarship on a kid who can't make the cut in the classroom. You want to worry about your kids stats? Start with his grades in school.

goscore! wrote:Thanks
I came across those sites when I was googling, but I want more specific. There's a huge difference in high school soccer players - some just beginning and then the MLS DA players.
I think the club would talk about how many on the top teams got D1 scholarships and/or how much money they were awarded. I was hoping someone knew where that info would be or if it exists.

I don't believe there is a list out there that states how much scholarship money was divided amongst the players at any given college or from any given club. Also, not sure the universities want the information made public. To be honest, I don't believe the big clubs really know where their players go after they graduate high school. They don't post anything on their web sites and the list is very different from freshman college to senior college.

But, yes, if your bb plays in the DA system, they are more likely to play D1 in college vs a non DA player. I can also say that just because your bb played DA and attends a D1 school doesn't automatically equate to athletic scholarship money.

The SMU soccer coach said it best, 'If your son scores 31 or higher on the ACT, he's likely attending college at no cost anyway.'

finish1 wrote:

The SMU soccer coach said it best, 'If your son scores 31 or higher on the ACT, he's likely attending college at no cost anyway.'

The SMU perspective. The Duke perspective is "you are getting wait-listed with a 31, but I can sneak you in as a preferred walk-on if you are good at soccer".

Number13 wrote:

finish1 wrote:

The SMU soccer coach said it best, 'If your son scores 31 or higher on the ACT, he's likely attending college at no cost anyway.'

The SMU perspective.  The Duke perspective is "you are getting wait-listed with a 31, but I can sneak you in as a preferred walk-on if you are good at soccer".    

This....You can be sneaked in with a 27..... I know that for a fact (relative).

Not sure about you...but I wouold prefer a Duke degree long term then a SMU one....regardless of the scholarship level   

Soccer does not bring money to colleges, so coaches look more at grades (or parents' money) than at soccer skills. If you have the grades, you can get an academic scholarship. Otherwise parents will pay - again - for you to play soccer. Texans are in the worst possible position with only a few D1 soccer programs all in private schools except for one. So out-of-state tuition for attending outside Texas come into the picture and if the grades are not there, it's very hard to be able to accept an offer to play.

Laroja_2012 wrote:Texans are in the worst possible position with only a few D1 soccer programs all in private schools except for one. So out-of-state tuition for attending outside Texas come into the picture and if the grades are not there, it's very hard to be able to accept an offer to play.

Thank you. That statement is for real. If we could keep our Texas D1 talent in-state, we would be the envy of the entire country. It's mind boggling the amount of talent that escapes every year.

My son went to SMU college prep camp this summer. Coach Hudson did a great job of informing parents and players on what it takes. Here are the high level things he said:-

1. SMU only had 3 DA players on their roster last year, the rest came from USYS club soccer, such as Classic League. I thought this was a really interesting statistic and I think plays again to those who can afford it.

2. There are circa 204 D1 schools, and every one has 9 scholarships for soccer.

3. D2 has similar situation

4. SMU are only recruiting around 8-10 players per season to replace outgoing seniors.

5. So you have to divide 8 scholarships, over 30 players, and only 8 are getting recruited each year x 204 schools for D1. Not a big number across the US talent pool.

6. As said above, either your parents have to be really fortunate, or you need an academic scholarship.

7. If you don't have those you are looking at $72k per year.

Realistically scholarship ain't happening for most people, even the best players. And if those best players cannot afford it, it is not going to happen anyhow...

scottallison1 wrote:My son went to SMU college prep camp this summer.  Coach Hudson did a great job of informing parents and players on what it takes.  Here are the high level things he said:-

1. SMU only had 3 DA players on their roster last year, the rest came from USYS club soccer, such as Classic League. I thought this was a really interesting statistic and I think plays again to those who can afford it.

Um, yeah, well if Hudson told you that, he's full of crap. There are 7 kids from Dallas on the SMU squad and every one of them came from the DA.

My bb went to his camp last year, made the Top 11 All Star team, and played against the SMU first team and the end of camp. After camp, Hudson told me that since bb is from Dallas, where the DA is strong, SMU recruits primarily out of that league. That was fine with me as SMU was not an option because of cost.

I will admit that there will be 1 local player next year at SMU from Classic League and not DA, but his parents can afford to pay the tuition.

Here's a high level opinion. I estimate the top line SMU camp revenue at about $300k and ran mostly on volunteer labor. I'm sure there are some facilities costs, but this is a money grab.

Socceroo wrote:

Number13 wrote:

finish1 wrote:

The SMU soccer coach said it best, 'If your son scores 31 or higher on the ACT, he's likely attending college at no cost anyway.'

The SMU perspective.  The Duke perspective is "you are getting wait-listed with a 31, but I can sneak you in as a preferred walk-on if you are good at soccer".    

This....You can be sneaked in with a 27..... I know that for a fact (relative).

Not sure about you...but I wouold prefer a Duke degree long term then a SMU one....regardless of the scholarship level   

I'm not sure about me either    

IMO, paying private school money to go to a local private school (TCU, Baylor, SMU) that is worse than the local public schools (A&M, UT) seems like a bad idea.   School loyalty or whatever aside.   Personal experience would suggest that most of the people who have the money to pay for their kids to go to an expensive good private school....are people who themselves went to good private school.   Hmmmm...wonder why that is?    So yeah, long term NPV I'd say on average Duke >> SMU and other lesser schools.  Or whatever flavor of good private school one prefers.  

My plan all along was that if BB was good enough, he'd use soccer to help lubricate the admissions process to a good private school.   Similar to your nephew to Duke story.   But you never know how things shake out.   He may not be good enough in 3 years.   He might just get in on his own academic merits to anywhere he wants to go.   He might decide he wants to follow some 18 year old skirt to UNT and live at home.  Plans that involve teenagers are always a bit dicey.   Frankly it's an ass-kicking saving for private college for 18 years for 3 kids, if one of them chooses something cheaper I get a few more years on the beach.  

In the end you mostly just have to like soccer.  Player and parents.  And the ride has to be about the ride itself...be it DA, CL, HS whatever.   Everything else beyond that is dealing on the margins of the distribution.  

All college sports camps are a money grab.  That's how the coaches of the non-revenue sports get paid.

finish1 wrote:
I will admit that there will be 1 local player next year at SMU from Classic League and not DA, but his parents can afford to pay the tuition.

If this is the same player I know of, he comes from a team far better than the Solar and DT DA teams.

"far better" is a term that will hopefully play out in Dallas Cup.

earbucket wrote:"far better" is a term that will hopefully play out in Dallas Cup.

Getting to the semi-finals in 2016 is good enough for you compared to the Solar and DT DA teams that did not even get out of their brackets?

Recently had a chance to talk to a coach at a Large Nationally Prominent D1 program and he indicated the following:

1. Kids normally come to him so he doesn't have to do much recruiting.

2. The only place they do recruit is the DA showcases.  When at the showcase, they are only looking for the standout best player on the field, not the second best player.  

3. They have 28-30 kids on the roster and only 9 scholarships so you are lucky to get much money even if you are very good.  He had two kids on full scholarship last year and they were both National team starters for many years.  ( pretty much stated he really only wants national team players)

4. Its a full time job and not for everyone, even if you are very good.  He texts the kids daily even in the summer and they are to do work all year long. during the season its really hard to keep your grades up.  

5. the school he is at is pretty expensive so most of the kids on the team parents are paying over 30K a year even with academic and sports money.

At the end of this I asked about the trend of the very best kids going to pro contracts instead of going to school ( Ie the Weston Mckennies of the world and Paxton Pomykals) and asked if he felt he would then go recruit lesser accomplished players.  His response was "No" we will start to recruit more heavily in Europe for the kids that washed out of Pro academies and want to come to the US for an education.

Overall, if your kid wants to play in college he has to really want it and be dedicated to it even though the pro route is probably no longer an option and this is the end game for him.  ( less and less kids from college will probably go MLS as the years go on, that's my 2cents but seems that way).  So if you aren't going pro, and your parents are still paying a ton for your school, is it worth it to spend all  your freetime playing soccer in college.  That is for each kid to decide.  

As a personal note, I have an associate that came to my firm recently who played in College his first two years.  He quit his junior year and when I asked why, his response was: "almost everyone quits when they see soccer is not an option for the future and you have to really buckle down in school and determine what's next career wise."  Soccer was taking up too much time for him to get ready for grad school.

Laroja_2012 wrote:

earbucket wrote:"far better" is a term that will hopefully play out in Dallas Cup.

Getting to the semi-finals in 2016 is good enough for you compared to the Solar and DT DA teams that did not even get out of their brackets?

So, results in 99s division is equivalent to results in 00's or 98's division last year in DC? I prefer head to head results, maybe we will get that in 18 DC.

BTW, the U18 DT team did make it out of brackets and the current DT 99/00 team has several members from that team including some former DA players from other clubs.

If the 99 team you are referring to is "far better" than the U19 DA DT and Solar teams, then I will be interested to see the totals on signing day in February.

Ok so here's a hypothetical what-would-you-do:

Your super smart, 5.0 GPA, super athletic 10th grader loves LOVES soccer. He's so great that the MLS academy team decides they must have him.
But - he's also been playing varsity football & is really good (not talking to college scouts yet as a 10th grader but good enough to on sept 1 JR year) but he doesn't really care about football, just likes the high school glory that goes with it...does he:
Quit football and go Academy for the love of the game, hoping & praying for enough academic+soccer money to cover college? Or say no to the academy and play football for the better chance of college money?

Oh and you're poor so there's no paying for college!
Thoughts?

goscore! wrote:Ok so here's a hypothetical what-would-you-do:

Your super smart, 5.0 GPA, super athletic 10th grader loves LOVES soccer. He's so great that the MLS academy team decides they must have him.
But - he's also been playing varsity football & is really good (not talking to college scouts yet as a 10th grader but good enough to on sept 1 JR year) but he doesn't really care about football, just likes the high school glory that goes with it...does he:
Quit football and go Academy for the love of the game, hoping & praying for enough academic+soccer money to cover college? Or say no to the academy and play football for the better chance of college money?

Oh and you're poor so there's no paying for college!
Thoughts?

Has he been invited to the US National team for soccer yet? If so, stick with soccer and with those grades he may get soccer covered. If not, stick with football if priority is paying for college.

goscore! wrote:Ok so here's a hypothetical what-would-you-do:

Your super smart, 5.0 GPA, super athletic 10th grader loves LOVES soccer. He's so great that the MLS academy team decides they must have him.
But - he's also been playing varsity football & is really good (not talking to college scouts yet as a 10th grader but good enough to on sept 1 JR year) but he doesn't really care about football, just likes the high school glory that goes with it...does he:
Quit football and go Academy for the love of the game, hoping & praying for enough academic+soccer money to cover college? Or say no to the academy and play football for the better chance of college money?

Oh and you're poor so there's no paying for college!
Thoughts?

Football is a better vehicle to get college paid for than soccer.   But whatever.   If you love soccer, play soccer.   That's the end of the story for me.   Poor and super smart is probably a better vehicle to get college paid for than any sport, use that to cover your bases on college.  

Raise your hand if you know anybody that is poor, super-athletic, and also super-smart.

Number13 wrote: 

Raise your hand if you know anybody that is poor, super-athletic, and also super-smart.

If you are the opposite of those three factors, then I know several clubs who would be interested.

He won't be super smart for very long if he keeps getting concussions from playing american football.....

American football has turned political anyway. No real reason the watch any more and it's not like the Cowboys are going to win another super bowl.

earbucket wrote:

Number13 wrote: 

Raise your hand if you know anybody that is poor, super-athletic, and also super-smart.

If you are the opposite of those three factors, then I know several clubs who would be interested.