"Good Grades"...means what?

I think to sum this all up...."good grades" means grades eligible to get you into the college you want to be at?

 

For example, if the schools' webpage says minimum unweighted GPA of 3.0, that would apply for athletes as well, so don't even bother looking there unless your kid has an unweighted GPA of 3.0.

 

So, follow up question:

 

If you are dealing with the 0-4 scale, F's being a 0 and 4 being an A.  And you aren't taking into account up-scores for honors or AP classes, what is a "good grades" GPA to you?  I'd like to know so if a coach asks me "does your son have good grades" I want to know what my response should be, or should it always just be the unweighted GPA?.

On an unweighted scale, 3.51 and above is typically an "A", so I would consider that "good".  If asked, you can just tell the coach his GPA is an unweighted x.xx and a weighted x.xx . Let the coach decide if that fits his definition of "good grades" or not.  That way there is no misunderstanding.

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If a school is asking, send them your son's unofficial transcripts.  They are very detailed and can usually be obtained online, via whatever system your school is using (mygradebook, Aeries, etc.).  This eliminates any guesswork or confusion.

 

You'll know in a hurry whether or not your son's grades are good enough and they'll know you're not hiding anything.  No sense trying to "fudge" or make excuses.  It is what it is.

CaCO3Girl,

The schools website it not going to tell you what a normal student's GPA/SAT is versus a typical athlete's GPA/SAT.  Those numbers can vary significantly.  If your son is at the same level as a typical student, he should be fine.  If his numbers are the same or higher than an average student, it may be that he could leverage his grades to get into a higher level academic school that was not previously possible.  If his numbers are lower, you may still be fine but need to discuss with the Coach as Rob T suggests.   I would suggest asking for immediate feedback so you aren't wasting his time or your time.

 

Regular students are (typically) pooled against other students and they have to come through the "front door" of Admissions.  Athletes are also pooled, but they go through the "back door" of Admissions and are sponsored by a coach.  The process can vary slightly by school, NCAA level, and conference, but that is it in a nutshell.   

 

Feel free to send me a Dialogs PM if you want to discuss specifics.

"Regular students are (typically) pooled against other students and they have to come through the "front door" of Admissions.  Athletes are also pooled, but they go through the "back door" of Admissions and are sponsored by a coach."

 

Big +1 to that.  It varies, depending on the school, but the application/acceptance process is a LOT different for athletes.

We were asked how #9's grades were several times by several coaches.  A simple unweighted GPA answer and also the SAT score was sufficient every time.  I think it just gives the coach an idea if the kid is admittable to his school or not.  Certainly the coach should have a good grasp, based on experience, on who he can get admitted and how much "weight" he has to influence decisions in the admissions office. 

OK,  So what are "good enough" grades?  Let's say you are a 6'3" position player ranked 9 or above by PG.  You take all collage prep courses, but not AP courses.  How low is too low for a decent D1 school?

 

 

There is no single answer to that question.  The answer varies from school to school.

 

Some will take anyone who's NCAA eligible if they're good enough.  You'll see this more often at the large state universities, where the occasional outlier can more easily be absorbed into the overall student body.  At smaller schools, they are often more wary of trying to absorb lower level students into their freshman class profiles, and in the end what few slots they are willing to give end up going to football and basketball guys.

 

The only answer I can give you is that you need to ask the question of the coaches at the particular school of interest to your son.

 

"Good enough" grades, by definition, are grades that are "good enough" for the head coach to sponsor your son with the admissions office.  Each coach is going to have a different opinion.  As many have already said, the only way to know is to give up the info and see what they say.

 

PG rankings will absolutely get you looks, but in the end nothing will be offered, promised, or otherwise inferred if they don't see production or the potential for production (that's right, the dreaded "P" word).......even with a 4.3 GPA.

From what I have heard over the last several years, (several different) coaches want to see their committed guys break 1000 on their SATs. 

 

Not breaking 1000 isn't a deal breaker though.  Although it could be...depending.

 

Each school is different.

 

This summer, a player was listed as committed to keewartson's school on the PG website.  However, he is now playing at a different school.  Didn't have the scores to get in.  But he DID get in somewhere.

In my experience, "good grades" mean different things for different schools and for players of different ability. I know one kid who is being recruited but is not a star and has a 3.1 unweighted GPA from one of the top-ranked academic high schools in California, 5 AP classes and an 1800 SAT. He has been told by almost every coach at D1 and D3 top academic schools that their admissions office would not admit him. On the other hand, he has teammates who are being highly recruited by large public universities and have been told they can get in with weighted GPAs at or even below 3.0.

This was my sons' experience also, he was followed & recruited starting soph year by 3 Ivy's, some high academic D3, Service Academy & Big 10 & PAC 12 D1, his unweighted GPA was 3.6, weighted a 3.99, Good  is Really, really good, as the coach & admissions do not want to set up a student athlete to fail @ their institution. And this is only the beginning, Dean Stotz told my son his baseball team of 2013 had a collective GPA of 3.88 and were at the bottom of their class and could  son deal with that; Once  in, the academic competition does not end~ In most cases you will be cleared by admissions before an Official Visit is offered so you know where you stand & if you are really being recruited. Then the grind begins. Stay on top of grades from the very beginning!