Tagged With "STEM"
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D1 Baseball + STEM Degree
Our 2020 position player has been working through the recruiting process with a focus on high academic D3 and potentially ivy league schools. He has recently received some interest from a couple of non-ivy D1 schools. He would like to pursue a degree in science or engineering, and we are having a difficult time determining the D1 schools that would make this type of degree possible in conjunction with playing baseball. My impression is that there aren't many D1 schools where this would be...
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Re: D1 Baseball + STEM Degree
Search for Fenway South's input on this q - his son walked that path, I believe.
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My daughter (softball) majored in forensic science. She had to take some of the lab courses in the summer. I’m not sure there is an absolute list of schools. High academics are more likely to be patient with STEM majors. When I was chatting with a NESCAC parent I was told if it comes down to academics or a game the player isn’t on the bus. Look at rosters to see if there are STEM majors on the team. When your son is talking with coaches be firm but not pushy about being a STEM major. Some...
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Re: D1 Baseball + STEM Degree
Backyardonfire, Welcome and best of luck in your son's STEM recruiting journey. In short, my son had the best fit and recruiting experience with D1 Ivy, D1 Patriot and select D3 engineering schools. We did our research, and that is where it took us....over 20 months of trying to figure it out. There are others on the board who took a similar path and came to the same conclusion as we did, and a handful of others who took a different path. It is not a one size fits all solution. I agree with...
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There are several rather lengthy prior threads on similar topics. Fenway, RJM, I, and others who have been through it have thrown in our .02 on several occasions. You should be able to find these by searching for topics like engineering, pre-med and STEM. However, here is a link to one of them: https://community.hsbaseballwe...79#17625209023565179 Bottom line, it's doable. And it's doable at most schools. IMHO, the kid is usually a bigger factor than the school. Best of luck. Let me know if...
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I would suggest asking the HC/RC straight up what problems will exist with a STEM major. My son was leaning towards pre-med/science while visiting D1 schools. His right fit school HC told him up front that it is extremely difficult for those majors since classes will be missed, labs will conflict in the evening, and generally instructors are not very flexible in that major regarding make-up exams, missed classwork, labs, etc. HC said it is possible but decisions will be made during conflict,...
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Thank you for the thoughtful responses. Reading some of the posts on this site just has me a little apprehensive about D1. Hearing that 50% of players eventually end up at another school . . . do you see that same level of churn at high-academic D1s? Our 2020 isn't concerned about the competitive aspects of working to attain and keep a spot, but as a parent I feel like we should be guiding him towards better odds at stability.
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This is my exact concern. Sounds like it really needs to be addressed on a school by school basis.
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There are many coaches in College Baseball, outside of the Ivy, Patriot, and HA D3's, who will discourage STEM majors once a kid gets on campus. Baseball needs to come first in those programs. And with coaching changes & philosophical changes in programs, it is difficult to stay on top of which programs are good for STEM majors. I would have a prospective recruit ask a lot of questions, and carefully examine rosters. Chances are, if there aren't any STEM majors on a roster, your kid is...
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Re: D1 Baseball + STEM Degree
Re high academic D1 and transferring ... Typically kids going D1 see themselves as a pro prospect to some degree even if the odds are long. How the player at a high academic D1 views baseball versus academics will determine whether or not he transfers or not. I’m guessing unless they’re seen as a high level prospect entering a Stanford, Vanderbilt, Duke or similar baseball power five they’re more likely to drop baseball and stay for the academics than transfer.
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Here’s a question Fenway could answer based on his son’s experience ... Is it easier for a pitcher versus a position player to be a STEM major and why?
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And as MTH referenced, here is another relatively recent thread on the topic... thought I'd share this one in particular because quite a few specific schools are named... https://community.hsbaseballwe...chools-with-baseball Do as he suggested and use the search on this site for a ton more info. If you just search "engineering", quite a few threads come up.
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Re: D1 Baseball + STEM Degree
As others have shared ask the coach. My son had coaches that basically said our players generally don't study a that field. Also, look at the rosters of schools of interest. If no players are studying more challenging academic fields it could be they are discouraged from doing so, but you never know without inquiring. A lot of players gravitate to the sports industry which is clearly the primary interest of many. The biggest factor for success academically is time management. The average...
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Hi BYOF: Welcome to the site..like the topic. Many good points so far. One of the best I've read is MTH's which says that "the kid is a factor". Totally agree. My son is a Middle infielder & STEM major (Chemical engineering) at HA D1. It takes good time management skills. Your best options are with the Ivy, Patriot , and HA D3's which have strong science programs. The Ivy league for one has an "off day" (Monday for most) which is when the athletic science majors take labs; the athletes...
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I am interested to see Fenway's experience. I suspect the answer will vary from school to school. At son's school it was HARDER for a pitcher to be an STEM major than it would have been for a position player. Son played for two different pitching coaches. Both required pitchers to be at the field before position players. Even when they were done with their pitching work, head coach required them to stick around to shag balls for hitters. One of the pitching coaches often made them stay after...
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RJM, MTH, and others My son (pitcher) told me early on that he would not have been able to do what he did as a position player. Those were his words based on his situation. I recall the discussion vividly because he was thinking about asking the coach about becoming a two-way player. His freshmen year there wasn't much offense and he felt he could contribute. I asked him if he had enough time to do this, and he quickly realized that he didn't have time for two workouts let alone the position...
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A friend's son committed to an SEC school as a HS sophomore. They assured him that it would be possible to play baseball and be a pharmacy major. After fall semester of his freshman year he had already found that what the baseball coaches say and what the academic people (professors) say are two completely different things. One prof just flat out told him "athletes don't take my class" when he tried to explain he was supposed to catch a bullpen. He made it thru his freshman year, but there...
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Re: D1 Baseball + STEM Degree
Son's teammate(good hitter) is going to Case Western(D3) for Engineering. There is no doubt that "Student" comes before "athlete", at a school like that. I know that this doesn't directly answer the OP's question.
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57Special, FWIW...Case Western was one of the D3 engineering schools (I was referring to above along with a few others) my son targeted and had many conversations with. Clearly they were looking for players like him and were going to make it work as they had a roster with a handful of upperclassmen engineers at that time. While he did not select Case Western it was a great example of a program that was flexible around my son's academic needs.
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A friend’s tounfer brother and a summer teammate of mine one year entered college as an engineering major. The team was coming off a CWS appearance. He left a Education/Phys Ed degree. He was pressured to change his major when he became the closer freshman year. He was sold he was a MLB prospect. I couldn’t see it. He had great stuff and great command. But in the words of Dennis Eckersley he was throwing salad. He was not drafted. He went on to be a gym teacher and a high school basketball...
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Funny you mention that . . . he took the SAT this morning. He has definitely put the work in. Fingers crossed that it pays off.
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Both Fenway and my son graduated with STEM degrees; his went to an Ivy and mine to a D3. We found out late in the recruiting process that STEM and D1 are NOT compatible. Exceptions were Ivy's, some Patriot, Stanford, Vtech, Cal Poly, there may be a handful of others - but not many. Pitchers can get by much easier than position players. If you are in the recruiting process you need to ask lots of SPECIFIC questions on how they handle afternoon lab time, specifically how certain players...
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Local boy gets recruited to a Patriot engineering school, coach recommended business....engineering wasn’t really an option.
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My son initially signed his NLI with a Power 5 school. He wanted to pursue Biology and then apply to Physician Assistant grad programs upon graduation. He was told it would be difficult before he committed but felt he could handle it. Once there in the fall, the mandatory 6 am workouts along with an average of 25- 30 hours each week at the field made it really difficult. Every extra minute was spent studying with very little sleep. In the spring it got worse. There were 4 weeks where the...
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I would be reluctant to endorse the generation that it can’t be done at the majority of D1’s. It really depends on the player and the school. Several of my son’s teammates did it. One majored in some kind of life science and went to dental school. My son had extra time on campus because of injury and transfer redshirt years, which enabled him to earn a masters in cyber security and quickly land a cyber security engineer job with a defense contractor.
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While reading everyone's responses the main thing that goes through my mind is that NCAA defines them as "student athletes", students first and athlete secondary. Welcome to the real world!
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Agreed. I would not be too quick to rule out a STEM major at MOST D1's. Yeah, there may be a few school schools where it simply can't be done, by anyone. But, I am convinced that it is possible at MOST D1's. Is it possible for every kid? Of course not, no more than it is possible for every kid to PLAY at a high level D1. But, I am convinced that a lot more kids could do it than currently do. TRUST IN HIM, you nailed it. For the vast majority of schools in the Power 5 conferences, it's all...
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The relevance of academics to the coach is maintaining eligibility. To the paying parents academics is getting a good grades in a major useful for getting a good job.
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As a member very large orthopedic group that trains residents, (believe me I am an academics first kind of guy) this may offend some people, but it is just my own opinion, and we all have a right to my own opinion. My personal feeling is STEM degrees are the only degrees worth paying for with very few exceptions. And my advice with very few exceptions is don’t do a STEM degree or attend an HA at any level while playing baseball. Neither I nor any of my partners would advise anyone to do a...
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Agree with this 100%, as it applies to the non medical field as well. One thing I said during the recruiting journey is I want to be sure my son enjoyed his college baseball experience when choosing a school. The job will come and his success will be determined by how hard he works, networks, etc., not based on the school on a piece of paper. Having said that, of course he chose the school with the better academic history and the one costing (for both me and him) the most. He may regret that...
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I agree with your statements about college baseball and STEM degrees in general. I understand 100% where you are coming from. I will disagree that if you want to pursue both STEM and college baseball that you have to settle for teams that "suck". But, I guess "sucked" is in the eye of the beholder...in this case, your son. There are D1 programs that can provide both a high level STEM education and a mid-level D1 baseball experience for those that are passionate about both....I believe that...
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When my cousin’s daughter didn’t get into an Ivy or a NESCAC he told her she’s going to UConn. He told her he wasn’t paying 65K per year just so she could say she didn’t go to her state university. He can afford any college. He doesn’t believe in wasting money. From growing up in New England I know in my generation there’s a stigma attached to attending a state university. Some are much better than they used to be. New Englanders don’t understand away from New England a lot of state...
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I agree completely that there are schools that can provide it at every level. What I am saying is that anyone puts themselves at a disadvantage if you are trying to compete at a HA school while playing a truly competitive sport. You will get slaughtered in the classroom by your classmates that are every bit as bright as you, but don’t have the demands of a sport.
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As Pedaldad said, sure you can do both and I agree that the athlete is at a disadvantage. The issue is attaining the grades to move on after graduation. A high GPA is required for my son to even entertain thoughts of securing a spot in a Physician Asst. grad program. 800 to 1,000 applicants for 40 spots at most schools. I'm sure not all STEM programs are so driven by GPA. At all levels of BB there are only so many hours in the week. And, when the player is spending an average of 25-30 hours...
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Again, I think we are going to have to agree to disagree mostly on the term "anyone" because I know quite a few folks that have made this work and gone on to be Vets, Lawyers, Pediatricians, Orthopedic Surgeons, Chemical Engineers, Nuclear Engineers, Material Science Engineers and Mechanical Engineers. By far getting into Vet school was the most difficult . These people thrived in this environment. They found an extra academic gear in college when they were challenged by both. In addition...
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I respect pedaldad's opinion - particularly regarding the competitive nature and the need to excel in terms of GPA, etc. I also applaud his acknowledgement that his opinion may offend some readers. I suppose I'll take exception to his opinion that STEM degrees, with very few exceptions, are the only form of degree worth paying for. The world is a better place with more passionate, young elementary school teachers entering the workforce, for example, is it not? Our son was a "dreaded" History...
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Generally, only the best and brightest aim for STEM degrees; and a significant portion of those will change majors (like most college kids). For baseball players (actually all athletes), their teammates will probably have significant influence on the academic rigor your son may choose - and in a D1 environment that influence may not be positive. (As opposed to a Rose-Hulman or MIT squad. In D1, the service academies also are STEM schools.) So, when parsing a roster and you find that STEM...
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Re: D1 Baseball + STEM Degree
Where you attend college may matter depending on your objectives. My daughter’s undergrad school was one of the top in the country in her major. But in the big picture it was seen by northeast corridor (Ivy, Georgetown, UVA) elite law schools as a mediocre southern school. She was shut out despite graduating PBK and a top 5% LSAT. She worked in a prestigious Washington international law firm for two years building contacts and references to get accepted to some of those law schools that...
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Schools would be Rice, UT, UT-Arlington, Texas A&M in our neck of the woods
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Does anyone have experience with schools that would accommodate an Architecture major with playing baseball? I'm assuming the time constraints would be similar to STEM at a high academic school because they have required studio/shop time. This is my son's main area of interest and initial feedback indicates that it's really hard to combine :-(. He talked to an Ivy League coach yesterday - the school has one of the top architecture programs in the country - and he told him they have no...
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Re: D1 Baseball + STEM Degree
BBMomMaz, So, Architecture was the one major my oldest son (Ivy engineering major) said would be impossible to do at his school, and play baseball. Take that for what it is worth. He said it was ridiculous how busy architectural majors are, as he knew a few socially. Good luck to your son, and let us know if you find out anything different.
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Does anyone have experience combining architecture undergraduate studies with baseball? If so, I'd love your insight. I presume the conflicts with architecture studio/shop time would be similar to labs for a STEM major. My son knows it's a demanding major, but not sure I'm willing to accept that it can't be combined with playing baseball. Like others said, it would be important to have an understanding with the coach going in. He was also told he couldn't combine baseball with music in high...
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Thanks fenwaysouth. We're checking the rosters of the schools he is most interested in. So far, he discovered that Stanford has 2 players with architecture majors. None at the other schools so far, even the ones with strong architecture programs (Cornell, Cal Poly, USC, UT Austin).
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try academy of art in San Francisco. D2 ball . also look into what other majors will lead to architecture. My younger son was looking into it once and he said there was different routes. some more lime a master's.
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Thanks 2boydad - we will check out Academy of Art. My concern is that if he changes his mind on major down the road, there are not a lot of alternative fields of study at that type of school. There are a couple of routes to take in architecture. He was hoping for 5-year accredited Bachelor of Architecture program. The other option is any undergraduate (as long he gets pre-requisites) and then 2-3 year Master's program.