D3 Grad School Anyone?

Given that most D3 colleges aren't full fledged universities with graduate school programs, staying at current school to play baseball after graduating with bachelor's degree wouldn't be an option unless kid is attending a small handful of D3 universities like WUTSL, Hopkins, Chicago, MIT, etc. 

On the other hand, it would be interesting to see if talented D3 kids with remaining eligibility are able to find a spot on a D1 school as a graduate student. But the Ivy's have a strict rule about that and don't even allow their own undergrads to play their sport as grad student, which is why so many Ivy seniors from last season are trying to transfer to a different school. How likely would it be for a D3 kid to find a spot at a non-Ivy D1 program as a graduate student?

@Zoom 2020 posted:

Given that most D3 colleges aren't full fledged universities with graduate school programs, staying at current school to play baseball after graduating with bachelor's degree wouldn't be an option unless kid is attending a small handful of D3 universities like WUTSL, Hopkins, Chicago, MIT, etc. 

On the other hand, it would be interesting to see if talented D3 kids with remaining eligibility are able to find a spot on a D1 school as a graduate student. But the Ivy's have a strict rule about that and don't even allow their own undergrads to play their sport as grad student, which is why so many Ivy seniors from last season are trying to transfer to a different school. How likely would it be for a D3 kid to find a spot at a non-Ivy D1 program as a graduate student?

Kid from my town graduated from Emory this year and is now about to attend Fuqua (Duke) and is playing his final year (fifth - Covid Year) for Duke baseball.  It's doable for sure.  However, Rich Brereton is a stud, was recruited by D1 but chose Emory due to education and what a great move for him.   

I might suggest people look at Emory as a fifth year option.   Tremendous school.

Does this help:

http://www.ncaa.org/about/reso...-legislation-adopted

Graduate school is so specific.   I'm not sure how it works in your family, but a graduate degree comes with no parental financial assistance at Casa de Fenwaysouth.   The money tree has been harvested to its full extent, and is retiring soon.    Essentially this is your son's chosen profession if he decides to go to grad school.   In my mind, matching your son's chosen profession to the graduate school is a 100% weight...baseball is an afterthought since he is not pursuing a career in baseball.  Undergrad, the weighting decision between academics and athletics can be "squishy" depending on what someone wants to get out of their 4 undergrad years.   In the context of graduate school, baseball is a "nice to have" not a "got to have".   If your son can somehow find a great graduate school program in his chosen field and continue his love for college baseball, more power to him.    Certainly there will be programs looking for experienced talent.

JMO.  Best of luck!   

PS...To answer your question...no.   We did not have this grad school conversation with our oldest son.   He had a job lined up before his senior year started (economy was good), and he did not want to go back immediately after 4 years of engineering undergrad.   He was absolutely ready for something different.   A 40-50 hour work week in the real world was a joke to him, but he needed a couple years off.

@BishopLeftiesDad posted:

Does this help:

http://www.ncaa.org/about/reso...-legislation-adopted

This article is about D3 to D3 transfer but since most D3 schools don't have graduate programs, this mainly applies to kids who are looking to transfer to another D3 while still an undergraduate instead of D3 kids with remaining eligibility looking to play baseball as a graduate student.

Do grad transfers get admissions help and/or scholarship money?  Back when I was applying it would not have been easy for someone to go straight from undergrad to a top program like Fuqua.

We have actually had that conversation as well.  My son is a rising senior and was redshirted as a freshman due to injury and has the extra year of eligibility from last spring.  His college does have grad school, so we are considering it (well he and I are...his mother isn't quite on board yet). 

I do not think that grad students get baseball money but rather credits towards classes. Grad student has to meet certain criteria, both on and off the field. Not 100% sure.

Hey JCG --

The conversation is happening around our table too (early days) ... but so many variables right now. Just hoping for a final season.  

many moons ago, when I was playing at a naia, my buddy was a redshirt law student on the football team (same school as he did his undergrad).  

I graduated from college during the Carter years. It’s Jimmy Carter’s fault there are too many lawyers. Half my friends couldn’t find decent jobs and went to law school.

My son entered college with an injury knowing he had five years to play four and a load of AP credits. He took some summer courses online, got his BA in three years with the idea he could leave with four years of baseball and two degrees. But it was all at the same D1.

Most private D3’s are colleges and not universities. The graduate options are limited. 

@Buzzard05 posted:

We have actually had that conversation as well.  My son is a rising senior and was redshirted as a freshman due to injury and has the extra year of eligibility from last spring.  His college does have grad school, so we are considering it (well he and I are...his mother isn't quite on board yet). 

Conversation has to be with the coach, many won't use athletic $$$ for 5th year grad school.

MIT, U of Chicago, Washington U., NYU and Johns Hopkins are among the D3 schools that offer the grad degree that my son would be most likely to do.  Could he get into any of those? Could he get playing time at any of those?  Could he balance baseball with the academics? 

Those are all unknowns.

Fenway, the money is a big part of the conversation for sure, and yes, the mommy and daddy well is dry here too.  Fortunately the kid has a few dollars left in his college fund and a little more from family gifts.  I figure that if he did a one-year program he'd need to borrow half the total cost of attendance.  If a a two-year program, then 3/4.  He's the Econ student so he'll be the one to decide if the ROI is worth it.

@JCG posted:

MIT, U of Chicago, Washington U., NYU and Johns Hopkins are among the D3 schools that offer the grad degree that my son would be most likely to do.  Could he get into any of those? Could he get playing time at any of those?  Could he balance baseball with the academics? 

Those are all unknowns.

Fenway, the money is a big part of the conversation for sure, and yes, the mommy and daddy well is dry here as too.  Fortunately the kid has a few dollars left in his college fund and a little more from family gifts.  I figure that if he did a one-year program he'd need to borrow half the total cost of attendance.  If a a two-year program, then 3/4.  He's the Econ student so he'll be the one to decide if the ROI is worth it.

JCG, if your son wants to study grad school Econ, no finer place on the planet than Chicago for that. Great offerings in Econ and Finance at the Booth Business School as well. Of course, MIT wouldn't be a bad option, Saltwater vs Freshwater economics. Both with pretty strong D3 baseball programs too.

@Gunner Mack Jr. posted:

Kid from my town graduated from Emory this year and is now about to attend Fuqua (Duke) and is playing his final year (fifth - Covid Year) for Duke baseball.  It's doable for sure.  However, Rich Brereton is a stud, was recruited by D1 but chose Emory due to education and what a great move for him.   

I might suggest people look at Emory as a fifth year option.   Tremendous school.

Yes, Emory would be a good option too.  But he's more interested in a Masters of Finance than in an MBA and it doesn't look like Emory offers that.

@Zoom 2020 posted:

Given that most D3 colleges aren't full fledged universities with graduate school programs, staying at current school to play baseball after graduating with bachelor's degree wouldn't be an option unless kid is attending a small handful of D3 universities like WUTSL, Hopkins, Chicago, MIT, etc. 

On the other hand, it would be interesting to see if talented D3 kids with remaining eligibility are able to find a spot on a D1 school as a graduate student. But the Ivy's have a strict rule about that and don't even allow their own undergrads to play their sport as grad student, which is why so many Ivy seniors from last season are trying to transfer to a different school. How likely would it be for a D3 kid to find a spot at a non-Ivy D1 program as a graduate student?

I'm thinking that it would be a lot easier for a pitcher to jump to an Ivy than a position player.  Also, my kid's played nearly every game since Freshman year. I don't think he'd go anywhere where he wasn't convinced that he would play. Not saying he'd be right, but if he went to any of the D3 schools you mention, he'd think he was a starter.  Ivy would be a different story.

@Zoom 2020 posted:

This article is about D3 to D3 transfer but since most D3 schools don't have graduate programs, this mainly applies to kids who are looking to transfer to another D3 while still an undergraduate instead of D3 kids with remaining eligibility looking to play baseball as a graduate student.

Actually this article specifically mentions D3 players with eligibilty left:

Division III graduate and postbaccalaureate students with remaining eligibility will now be permitted to participate in college athletics at the Division III institution of their choice.

Somehow I am missing your point. Yes most d3's do not have graduate schools, But this legistlation, Allows D3 students to transfer to another D3 that has a grad school. In the past that was not possible. If you had eligibility left you had to find a D1 willing to take you. We had a long time poster who actually went that route. He had an injury and when his D3 playing time came to an end he had eligibility left and he moved on to play at a D1 as a grad student. J H. He no longer posts.  

@BishopLeftiesDad posted:

Actually this article specifically mentions D3 players with eligibilty left:

 

Division III graduate and postbaccalaureate students with remaining eligibility will now be permitted to participate in college athletics at the Division III institution of their choice.

Somehow I am missing your point. Yes most d3's do not have graduate schools, But this legistlation, Allows D3 students to transfer to another D3 that has a grad school. In the past that was not possible. If you had eligibility left you had to find a D1 willing to take you. We had a long time poster who actually went that route. He had an injury and when his D3 playing time came to an end he had eligibility left and he moved on to play at a D1 as a grad student. J H. He no longer posts.  

And there is also this from the article:

During Saturday’s Division III business session at the 2018 NCAA Convention in Indianapolis, delegates voted to adopt a proposal that permits those who have graduated from Division III schools and have remaining athletics eligibility to compete at another Division III school. Students must be seeking a second baccalaureate or graduate degree, and participation must occur within the legislated 10-semester/15-quarter

Do any of those schools list grad students on their rosters?  Lots of D1 schools do, but I wonder what the grad degree is.  It's hard to imagine that doing a Finance MA at a top HA school would allow enough time for baseball, even if the school allowed it.  You could easily look up the class times of grad classes on the current schedule (well, maybe last year's schedule), to see when they are offered, and whether it could work.

@anotherparent posted:

Do any of those schools list grad students on their rosters?  Lots of D1 schools do, but I wonder what the grad degree is.  It's hard to imagine that doing a Finance MA at a top HA school would allow enough time for baseball, even if the school allowed it.  You could easily look up the class times of grad classes on the current schedule (well, maybe last year's schedule), to see when they are offered, and whether it could work.

All good questions that I'm sure hardly anyone had ever considered before CoVid.

Yes a D3 graduate can transfer and play at as a D3 graduate. With that said each program and each coach is different. Some are more open to it than others. Its recruiting all over again. Fin aid depends on school. Also do they need your son's skill set. Best to contact each coach and discuss. 

A former contributor here was a D3 player who had an opportunity to play as a grad student at a D1, though not with any baseball money. IIRC, he got hurt and never played at the D1. But the opportunity did exist. He was a strike throwing soft tosser who proved he could get D1 hitters out in a summer league.

My son played two years as a grad student with baseball scholarship money at the D1 he transferred to after his first school didn't work out. He needed and got a waiver of the five year clock from the NCAA, and the school gave him his scholarship money for his "double redshirt" senior year before the waiver came through. 

Year 1: True freshman year at SEC school, where he had knee surgery, played little, and got cut at the end of season.

Year 2: Transferred to another D1, sat out a year while on scholarship.

Year 3: Redshirt sophomore year. 

Year 4: Redshirt junior year. Injured at end of season. 

Year 5: Graduated in December. Started master's program in January. On roster, but didn't play because of surgery rehab.

Year 6: Double redshirt senior year. School won conference. Ended career at a regional. Got masters and a job. Married shortstop from the softball team.

It's a pretty good six-year plan if you can pull it off.