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Yes but smaller classes are not necessarily better. I would agree in HS but at the college level they do not spoon feed the student. They often don't cover all the relevant subject matter. When I went to college I had classes with a couple hundred students and others with 25/30. The Profs expected you to do the work. If you needed help they would give it outside the class of you see tutors supplied by the BB team.
Post grad is totally different again. Undergrad is quite unremarkable in most colleges. The reputations are usually a result of the post grad academics.
quote:
Yes but smaller classes are not necessarily better. I would agree in HS but at the college level they do not spoon feed the student.


In my prior posts I mentioned that, when talking about academic excellence at D3 schools, folks are often talking about the top academic D3 schools. Students at these schools do not typically have to be spoon fed. Also, the LAC's I was referring to do not have graduate programs...they are known for the quality of their undergraduate teaching, so the statement "Undergrad is quite unremarkable in most colleges" would not be applicable in those schools.
BHD,
You have often posted about playing against the beet competition makes you a better player.
The same is true in the classoom. If you are at a highly competitive smaller college/university, that level of academic challenge increases the results.
Having full profesors for every class, as opposed to TA's.
Having those professors paid based on being in the classroom teaching rather than researching/soliciting grants, etc makes a difference.
Being in classes where the number of students is 10-18, attendance is mandatory, where class participation is part of every grade all make a difference.
I think JT talked about this earlier.
When you are in an environment where academics are the priority, the professors can truly ratchet up the academic challenges, demands, and results.
Gee, sort of like baseball and playing against the best. If you have the best baseball coaches who teach the best skills and recruit the best players, we rank them in the top 25 every year.
From my view, those results are even more apparent in the classroom.
Last edited by infielddad
infielddad,

I agree with all the above. But also the same does happen at some of the small D1 schools also. St Marys in Ca. small class size, students expected to participate intensely, others like that also.
It is juts such an individual choice, I wanted my son to go to a D3 we visited, I loved the school, the coach the academics, it was also Christian,great baseball school. My son wanted to try something else. yes hes at a JC, but is working hard to achieve something else. he wants a bigger school. I believe some of the D3 are excellent schools, some with excellent academics and baseball but its not what everyone wants.My son has a friend at UCLA, wants to work towards curing cancer, it wouldnt matter if there were lecture halls with 200 kids, that boy will be at the top of his class. Comparing a big D1 to a small D3, there is too many differences to count, but I believe students can get a excellent education at both if they really want to learn. I persoanlly like the smaller class size as well as the personal invovement of the professors and the mandatory attendance.
quote:
But also the same does happen at some of the small D1 schools also. St Marys in Ca. small class size, students expected to participate intensely, others like that also.


Absolutely agree. Santa Clara is another great example.
Whether you are at UC Berkely, Stanford, Santa Clara or Williams, great educational options exist.
What I learned from our daughter, who attended a top ranked, very large national university is the quality of undergrad academics can be mediocre. Taking economics from a TA with a very heavy Eastern European accent was not an ideal learning experience.
She transferred to the University of San Diego and found the learning opportunity and experience significantly enhanced.
infieldad, I agree with you wholeheartedly but couldn't have expressed myself as you did.

My son is a freshman at one of the Claremont schools and his experience so far is better than we even hoped for. Hands on, one on one with your professors if needed, and surrounded by high achieving students. Playing ball there is really the icing on the cake, plus playing in Feb after coming from Chicago is too good to be true.
Inf I stated many times that I like my son playing against the best colleges but never stated it made him a better player. The reason was to prove he could pitch against them. He already had the tools to pitch against them.
I have been a beliver in college undergrad work is a place to break away from the HS hold your hand mentality. Some of my profs open about what we were there for and that was to learn how to learn and not to parrot what they heard and were told. To uestion and to examine and reach our conclusions based on rational examination of what we learned. We had no TAs back then but we had some very excentric professors. I could elaborate but I won't. Lets just say they were very strange. Some of our Profs said they didn't care if you didn't attend class and that we were adults and were on our own. Udergard work is not that challeging. Grad work is a total different thing all together.
I attended The Inns of Court in London England. It is where all British Barristers graduate from and is separate from the education of Solicitors. My classes were in the 1st Chancery Court built in 1066 by William The Conqueror. It was just like an old church and really quite shabby by our standards. The Profs read out of books and did nothing remarkable either. We had to do it ourselves. There were tiny black boards and the Prof was actually very awkward out of her element. Every Barrister in the British common wealth was taught by people in one of the 4 Inns. Same law books ,same case law and really not very different than what I experienced getting by Bachelor of Commerce. These Profs were supposedly the brightest legal people in GB. My best friend was from Bernuda and became the Crown Att. of Brmuda. I sat with people from all over the world. The experience was remarkable but not the teaching. I had to do it myself. They had a standard bar exam administered by The legal Council of Education. A separate entity and you could challenge the exams anytime you wanted.
I can remember at my University whcih had a Law school, Med school and had several Rhodes scholars. that students constantly bragged about attending this U. To me the undergrad stuff was unremarkable. Same text books , similar strange Profs. In fact I would rather go to a wealthy U if I were taking certain subjects in grad work simply because they have all the reaserch, libraries etc that the less weathy ones have.
I thought under grad was not much more than an extesion of HS interlaced with some more relevant subjects and without the training wheels.
Last edited by BobbleheadDoll
Absolutely not. The experience of attending college is a once in a life time deal. Hopefully it is a great experience even without BB. My son's experience had been wonderful. I also believe he could have gone to many colleges and had a different but also wonderful experience.
My experience in college and law school was almost legendary. I worked in Harrods on Knights Bridge. Did their books in the music dept and sold guitars after the book keeping was done. Sold a piano to the Bee Gees and invited to a party by The Stones. I venture to say my life was remarkable even by any standards.
I have to agree with infielddad's analogy between sports and academics.

My son did very well in an excelerated honors program in HS. He didn't work very hard to maintain his grades.

He was a jock so he went to a jock school, that was very important to him. Large part of his choice was based upon athletics.

I remember him calling me after the first two weeks, "mom, college is not HS". If he thought that it was an extension of HS, he wouldn't have had to work as hard as he did for 3 years.
He also went there because it was his belief that his pitching coach was one of the best and this would be helpful later on, to teach him what he needed for the profession he wished to be in.
The same I would imagine would be for a student who wants to be a doctor would want to attend a top pre med program, if they had that chance, to learn from the best and be surrounded by the best.

I have really enjoyed this topic and learning about the D3 experience, let's not clutter it up with the way things were 25-30 years ago. Thanks.
Last edited by TPM
Anytime you 'broad stroke' an issue, there will de divisiveness. So I can only speak for my son's experience thus far. He is at a DIII, Princeton Review's "Best Master's University in the West" sixteen years in a row. If you ask people in Texas what are the top two 'academic' universities in the state you'll get an answer of, "Trinity and Rice, but they're not one and two, they're tied."

Now my kid's experience is somewhat unique in that he basically grew up in a 'small-town' overseas American community in Korea. It was very important to all of us that he not be buried in the midst of 25,000 other students on a massive campus and in auditoriums of 500 students where you need opera glasses to see the prof who will probably never know your name.

His first semester was tough in the beginning as he made the adjustment to, ironically, being back home. But he absolutely loves his school. His profs all know him by name. They check in with him (and their other students no doubt) by e-mail and phone. They have been pretty flexible when baseball conflicts have arisen. One day he was sick and missed his first two classes that day -- and had two e-mails from both profs that same day asking if he was okay and to get back to them ASAP to review what was missed.

He has described his classes as being vastly more interesting than anything he's ever had before. His horizons are widening by the day as he gets to know his profs and they share their passion for their subjects one-on-one.

That's exactly the academic experience he wanted, and his mom and I wanted. Fortunately, he's also in a very strong baseball program there, and has had an equivalent experience on the field thus far. He LOVES his coaches. It's all good.

We will also be steering son #2 (now a HS soph) in the same direction with no regrets whatsoever, baseball or otherwise. It would be virtually impossible to build any DI interest from living abroad, but even if any would have evolved by some weird alignment of the planets, I still think we would have gone DIII (esp at the school older son is at now). Great academic and social experience and we know, if he gets to that level of ability, that there are scouts traveling along the I-35 corridor, as ifd mentioned, and they know by now that a stop in San Antonio may be fruitful.

I encourage any player with an interest in a very deep academic experience and personal relationships with their profs (even a first-week freshmen) AND some quality baseball at many of the DIII institutions, to at least look into DIII and not just blow it off because it's not "DI".
Last edited by Krakatoa
I wish I could find more DII and DIII options in California. There just aren't that many good science and engineering schools that fit that bill.

My son has worked hard to get good enough grades to get into nearly any college and he doesn't want to choose a lessor academic school just for baseball. The Claremont Schools and UCSD are the only two that match up well with my sons academics needs. Neither if those schools are big on baseball scholarships.

Am I missing any top quality academic schools that play DII or DIII (or even NAIA)? He also prefers a school that isn't strongly affiliated with a religion.

Anyone know of some other options either in CA or at least in the Western states (AZ, OR, WA)?
Krak,
My son did not go to a D3 and had the same relationship with some of his profs too. He also chose where he went to for small prof/student ratio, as he had been in a program in HS with small teacher/student ratio.

Did he get a better education than he would have at a D3? I don't know. Sometimes it's just about taking advantage of opportunities. I do know one thing, he would have liked to have taken on engineering, they wouldn't let him, and I suppoose that may be a big difference between attending a D1 program vs. a D3 program and why they do not give out athletic scholarships. I am pretty sure if his true career goal was to be an engineer, his choice may have been different.

This has been a good topic, as Fungo posted, D1,2,3 classifications is only for athletics, not necessarily the education put in front of you. But I do understand the D3 experience a whole lot better than I did before.

Some people argue that it doesn't matter where you get your undergradiate degree, I do not agree. I have two brothers, one an engineer and one a doctor, both attended two of the best undergraduate schools in the country, because they knew that those degrees would help them further their careers, and the diploma hanging on the wall was important.

Unfortunetly my younger brother didn't take care of business and had to go to medical school outside of the US and don't beleive for one minute he didn't hve trouble getting his internship and residency where he wanted to.

I didn't mean for this discussion to get off track.
franks, most of the DIII's I know of in your west coast range are LAC's. As far as science/engineering.....hmmmmmm.......I think Cal Tech is DIII, but their baseball program is not so hot. It seems like at least one or two of the schools in the SCIAC would have a stronger sci/eng program, but son't know for sure. Is Cal-Poly-SLO a DII or DI?

If your son were to look outside the west, one super-strong engineering program at a DIII, with solid baseball, would be Rose-Hulman.

I hope someone with more detailed knowledge of 'fit' schools in your area will chime in.
Cal Poly SLO is a very good DI in the Big West.
One of our son's former teammates at Trinity U was an engineering major. After his sophomore year, he transferred to Oregon Tech, which is either NAIA or DII.
Charlie was a very good student and good baseball player. You might look there as an option for baseball and engineering.
If you have an interest, Trinity has a highly rated engineering program.
My guess would be one of the NWL schools in Washington/Oregon would also. I think Willamette U could be one. Dad08 looked at many of those with his sons, so maybe he can help here.
Blprkfrnks:

In reading your post I am making my interpretation of what you have said and asked, if my interpretation is incorrect, my apologies.

If your son is at the academic level to attend the Claremont schools, than he and you need to be congratulated. That in itself is an accomplishment.

As a California family that went through similar thoughts as to schools and majors, I would strongly recommend broadening your prospective.

First, my son thought that he was going to be an engineering student while playing baseball. Well that did not last one semester. My point is find schools where if his first choice does not pan out (trust me kids change their minds) that there are other good options.

Second, please broaden your horizons beyond the west coast. I have one son in Texas and one in Virginia (both are on planes tonight). The numbers both in terms of schools and baseball opportunities are far greater outside California and the west. That is not to say that you can't get a great education or play great ball.

Once your son leaves the bedroom down the hall it won't make any difference where he is, he will be gone. With cell phones you will likely talk with him nearly daily and it won't really matter were he is.

We have learned that once a California kid steps out of his back yard, the options expand exponentially. With this comes scholarships and grants that generally are not available to west coast kids staying on the west coast.

As to distance from home, unless they go to a school in your general vicinity they will be not less than 2 hours away and likely more than 5. If that is the case, distance wise you can cover much of the country in that time.
Regarding D3 or D2 baseball programs that also have high end engineering/science schools - there really aren't any in CA other than UCSD, Harvey-Mudd, and Cal Tech. There are some marvelous D1s like UCLA, Cal, Stanford, USC and Cal Poly but not much else in the D2/D3 range.

If you go north, Willamette and University of Puget Sound are two that I would recommend with both high end academics and decent baseball. 08Son also looked at Trinity and really liked it - so I would suggest looking at it as well.

Feel free to PM me - I have a spreadsheet with most of the west coast colleges on it that I can send you.

08
My son was actively recruited by most of those schools and really liked the Puget Sound coach and program. Lewis and Clark was another one in that conference he really liked but they don't have the science and engineering reputation.

Willamette has a new coach this fall so I don't know about that coach - but both my son and daughter loved the school.

Linfield is a notch below academically but probably the best baseball in the NW - Scott Brocius is the coach (former Yankee) and is building a first class program.
Thanks for the input everyone.

It sounds like I'm not really missing any schools. Caltech does not give any admission preference to athletes, so I don't think he would get in there. Most of the kids there have nearly a 1600 SAT and many science or math accolades. Harvey Mudd would only work if the coach can assist his admission, which I got the impression he could. Cal Poly Pomona is a DII with engineering, but a lessor academic school.

It is my son that prefers the west coast and the warmer climate, more than I. I'm going to look at Rose Hulman, Williamette, Puget Sound, Oregon Tech, and I think there is a school in St. Louis that has shown interest in his academics.

As far as his major vs. baseball, I think I have to just let that play out. He may lose interest in Engineering as a major, or he may not reach the college level of baseball skills that he is hoping to reach. Hopefully after his Junior year, he will have a better idea of where he stands.
There are several several Institute of Technology schools up and down the eastern corridor that play D3 baseball, with various levels of success.

Haverford had played many of these schools on Florida spring trips over the last ten years:

M.I.T.
N.J.I.T
R.I.T. (Rochester)
Worcester Polytechnic Institute (Worchester, MA)
Wentworth Institute of Technology (Boston)
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

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