Girls Soccer Scholarship

Top few ivies with the highest standards for academic index want to see mid 1200 range early on and at least 1400 for admission. Next tier non Ivy schools typically have a few set aside slots for athletes giving them more flexibility, but a kid that scores solid enough to project admission on academic merit alone has complete leverage in the recruiting process. Big state school...helps there too since academic money can be stacked with much lower scores.

Ivy league schools offer no merit and no athletic scholarships. Need based only.

abc000 wrote: Ivy league schools offer no merit and no athletic scholarships. Need based only.

Don't kid yourself, if the Ivy feels they "Need" your athlete enough, the basis for the aid will be there...

abc000 wrote: Ivy league schools offer no merit and no athletic scholarships. Need based only.

True. But we're talking endowments in the tens of billions. Most have near 60% or more students getting some form of aid....with average aid packages over 70% of costs.

70% is more than soccer scholarship money being offered MOST players.

Just saying grades and scores, posted early, put the player in driver's seat.

don't fool yourself. If all you have is grades and scores theres a good shot you still won't get into the IVY. The soccer can get you to the door. You will need the grades and scores to get thru. Know a kid that only paid for 1 summer school class for his yale degree. His high schools valedictorian didn't make the waiting list. Older son was offered a "full ride" if he could meet the minimum requirements. Those requirements while high are nowhere near high enough to get a regular student in.

That being said, if you are doing this for the scholarship stop playing now and just save the money and use it to pay for your school of choice. You play because you love to play

Go..we are saying the same thing. Clearly we're talking about players good enough to be recruited. Schools aren't asking about those specifics early in the recruiting cycle unless they want the kid.

The point is minimum requirements at the top ivies and a handful of other top tier privates are still higher than what will get you academic money at most state schools. Hit those marks early, now recruitable kids that may not be youth national team studs can go ivy and be reasonably sure they will be admitted with lower standards than any non athlete...Ivy and the like just need to be confident they can get the student admitted. Of course same recruitable kid with stellar marks can typically go state u for next to nothing out of pocket since academic money is more attainable. Those type kids are  are like free players for state u since they wont need to use much athletic $ to get them. Only groupss that probably have more leverage are the YNT studs that everyone is after, or the strong players with low income parents that will get full rides worth of financial aid.

As a parent in the recruiting phase at "tier one" colleges I found this site helpful http://www.tier1athletics.org/blug/

There is also an inexpensive book at this site sold on amazon that I found helpful in explaining how recruiting works in the Ivy League.  I am in no way affiliated with the site/book.  Just a parent that was looking for information for my DD.

What we have found important is that the player needs to be sending their scores, even PSAT scores along with grades/transcripts as soon as possible to the coach.  Unless of course your player is YNT pool level then the rules can be a bit different.  The ivy team has to meet an overall Academic Index number so for every "low" AI player they take (relative term for ivy league) they will need to take a high AI player.  So if they want that YNT pool player that is on the lower end of the spectrum they need to take a player with top scores that may be a notch or two down athletically.

Obviously the same guidelines apply of looking at the existing roster makeup.  Do they have a YNT player at your position?  What kind of minutes are you expecting, etc.

An Ivy league coach once told me, "If I'm recruiting a player who's made a 28 on her ACT, then she's a going to be a guaranteed first year starter."

Point being, he wouldn't take the time of championing her cause to the admissions board.

Gunners wrote:An Ivy league coach once told me, "If I'm recruiting a player who's made a 28 on her ACT, then she's a going to be a guaranteed first year starter."

Point being, he wouldn't take the time of championing her cause to the admissions board.

Guaranteed ivy 1st year starter could be  1st year bench at the top power 5 schools. Don't think you need to be anywhere close to a YNT stud for ivy...if you  post the marks.

IMO, a good player even if they don't play DA/ECNL will be found no matter where they are playing and will be offered the same athletic/academic scholarships as players who play DA/ECNL. Those very same college coaches that attend the DA/ECNL events also attend local/out of state showcases. They also appear at NL, RPL, and Nationals which are US Youth events and even scrimmages if your club coach invites them. Whether they are upper D1 or lower tier D1 colleges along with D2, D3, and JC colleges, they all mostly attend all of the events mentioned above. I have a really good friend whose DD plays for a local non ECNL team and they have three sophomore committs to upper tier D1 colleges with more players very close to committing to more upper tier D1 colleges. Guess what I'm saying is that every player's path to play college soccer if good enough is different. There is so many ways to reach that plateau if your DD puts the work in on the pitch and in the classroom.

Anyone can verbal commit and at any time. Verbal commits mean very little. D-1 coaches are great at getting players to come in with little money or none at all.

Exposure of your team and its players should be your number one goal. Where can players talents be evaluated by the masses of D-1, D-2, and D-3 colleges avaialable to them.

ECNL is doing it the best. DA has not started yet so it remains to be seen.

Agree with you Zizou...exposure is the key. Verbals are pretty solid when your DD has many choices and the coaches know they are practically bidding for your DD. Coaches find a way to lower or raise the athletic scholarship amount depending on what current players they are losing and how each new recruit will offset the 14 athletic scholarships that the coaches have to split up based on academics. The package could look totally different if your DD is much better by the time she signs her senior year and vice versa. The good thing which I think has been mentioned already in this thread is that the scholarships are now good for four years. College athletes do not need to annually renew their athletic scholarship like past athletes had to do.

TalkW/feet wrote:Agree with you Zizou...exposure is the key. Verbals are pretty solid when your DD has many choices and the coaches know they are practically bidding for your DD. Coaches find a way to lower or raise the athletic scholarship amount depending on what current players they are losing and how each new recruit will offset the 14 athletic scholarships that the coaches have to split up based on academics. The package could look totally different if your DD is much better by the time she signs her senior year and vice versa. The good thing which I think has been mentioned already in this thread is that the scholarships are now good for four years. College athletes do not need to annually renew their athletic scholarship like past athletes had to do.

Anyone know if that is true across the board?  

Thought is was some schools doing it on voluntary basis but nothing binding?

TalkW/feet wrote:Agree with you Zizou...exposure is the key. Verbals are pretty solid when your DD has many choices and the coaches know they are practically bidding for your DD. Coaches find a way to lower or raise the athletic scholarship amount depending on what current players they are losing and how each new recruit will offset the 14 athletic scholarships that the coaches have to split up based on academics. The package could look totally different if your DD is much better by the time she signs her senior year and vice versa. The good thing which I think has been mentioned already in this thread is that the scholarships are now good for four years. College athletes do not need to annually renew their athletic scholarship like past athletes had to do.

This is on a case by case basis, so not entirely true. The contracts can be fully guaranteed for four years. They can be guaranteed for one year and change in year two etc etc.  Imagine a contract with four lines and on those lines coaches can specify what they are guaranteeing for each year.

I imagine the better the player, the more leverage that player has with guarantees.

One more thing to consider is that these guarantees aren't really guaranteed. There are multiple ways for coaches to relatively easily get out from under them.

Most of the big conferences are doing the guarantees but it's not across all conferences.

Gunners wrote:

TalkW/feet wrote:Agree with you Zizou...exposure is the key. Verbals are pretty solid when your DD has many choices and the coaches know they are practically bidding for your DD. Coaches find a way to lower or raise the athletic scholarship amount depending on what current players they are losing and how each new recruit will offset the 14 athletic scholarships that the coaches have to split up based on academics. The package could look totally different if your DD is much better by the time she signs her senior year and vice versa. The good thing which I think has been mentioned already in this thread is that the scholarships are now good for four years. College athletes do not need to annually renew their athletic scholarship like past athletes had to do.

This is on a case by case basis, so not entirely true. The contracts can be fully guaranteed for four years. They can be guaranteed for one year and change in year two etc etc.  Imagine a contract with four lines and on those lines coaches can specify what they are guaranteeing for each year.

I imagine the better the player, the more leverage that player has with guarantees.

One more thing to consider is that these guarantees aren't really guaranteed. There are multiple ways for coaches to relatively easily get out from under them.

Most of the big conferences are doing the guarantees but it's not across all conferences.

Academic $ are usually good for all 4 years once granted (assuming you maintain minimum GPA) so subsequent years and renewal are typically under the control of the player.

I was speaking to athletic money only.