Skip to main content

Son is a senior and a lot of looks from liberal arts schools but he is studying engineering.  Excellent grades (2160 SAT) great bat, good corner and mid 80 right pitching.  Has been very difficult to find the right match between academics and baseball.  He is not D1 talent.  Also, trying to stay somewhat south because he had options in Boston but that was not of interest.

Are there any schools we may have missed.  With his grades he is not going Junior College and want a good academic school.  He is a young senior (17), 6'2" and 190 lbs so he can play but the mix is important.

Original Post

Replies sorted oldest to newest

I assume he is a 2017. Rose-hulman (Indiana I believe) is one of the country's premier engineering schools. Ratio of men/women skewed a bit.  If he wants a path which ends in a great job - though the school is in the northeast - the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy (low end D3) in King's Point could be an option (or, even the other service academies [though those are D1)). Many D3s have 3-2 engineering programs which may or may not interest him.

Are you sure he isn't D1? His velo could be fine - especially if there appears more physical development may be coming.  If D1 is an option, Dartmouth, Cornell, Princeton produce baseball players who are also engineers (it's hard to do, but I know kids who graduated/will shortly graduate with engineering degrees).  The Patriot League - Bucknell for example - is also a possibility. His scores are good enough to pass admissions as a recruited player - and the Ivyies and Patriot leagues - haven't come close to finish recruiting for 2017s.

If he is a 2016, aren't you limited to the schools to which he applied? If so, which schools have offered him admission?

 

Last edited by Goosegg

DKRAUS,

As you are discovering, there is no easy button when it comes to baseball and engineering.....in my experience there will be trade offs and/or compromises.  It sounds to me like you've discovered this.  

First, in our experience there were a lot more options in the Northeast however those are mostly private schools.  The southern schools that had engineering were mostly large state schools and therefore D1 schools.  So when you say south exactly what do you mean?  Southeast, southwest?  You've mentioned your son's requirements for baseball, what about engineering requirements?  Are you looking for a particular field of engineering or a nationally top ranked engineering program?  I'd strongly encourage you to look at engineering schools and then look to see if they have a baseball team....this will simplify your search.

Good luck and let me know if I can help in any way!

 

Rose-Hulman, While not really south is located in Terre Haute Indiana. So I would not consider it north east, more mid west. If you can live with Ohio weather there is also Ohio Northern. Their baseball team is full of Engineering Majors. If you want warm weather check out Harvey Mudd College. It is one of the Claremont schools and combines with other colleges to form the Claremont - Mudd - Scripps baseball team. 

https://www.hmc.edu/

http://www.cmsathletics.org/sports/bsb/index

 

And if your son is truly elite when it comes to Academics there is Cal Tech. Although historically their sports programs do not do well. But hey who goes to Cal Tech to win in sports. 

I thought Emory had one but they are a 3-2. 

 

This is an old thhread and It is from a Lacrosse site but it may give some in sight.

http://network.laxpower.com/la...;t=40099&start=0

 

Here is an old thread from College Confidential.

http://network.laxpower.com/la...;t=40099&start=0

 

Good Luck in your search. 

 

 

Last edited by BishopLeftiesDad

Thanks for all the input.  CalTech had contacted him, he was concerned about the "whole" college experience as their student body was only 1000 kids.  He is a 2016 grad but i thought that if there was a school that wanted him he could get in despite not applying (i guess i might be wrong here).  We had talked to RoseHulman but believe it or not we were too late - they had capped admissions.  He has been accepted to Texas A&M (obviously just academics) but just seeing if we've missed something.  It may all be too late at this stage.

Some good feedback already.  There are a lot of options, from the more technically oriented schools (e.g., RPI, Rose Hulman, CalTech, Florida Institute of Technology, et.al.) to colleges with more limited engineering offerings (e.g., Trinity TX, Trinity CT, Lafayette, et.al.). 

As a former electrical engineering major and a hiring manager of thousands of engineers over time, I'll add that computer science can be an awesome path too, and one that is more widely available including at many liberal arts colleges.

As Fenway notes, there are tradeoffs.  Not a ton of engineering majors on baseball rosters.

Your son is a 2016 like mine. HM is not an option at this point. My son was verbaled there contingent upon getting through admissions. He ended up not getting admitted even when he was on the coaches supported list. UCSD is also done with their recruiting except for maybe a stud pitcher. They too have already sent out their admissions. My son like yours will be majoring in engineering. He was accepted into some very good schools UCLA, UCSD as well as AF Academy. Wherever he goes he will attempt to walk on. He has decided on the academy and has started his campaign of trying to get the attention of the Head coach.  I've got to believe that with those types of scores your son has already applied to many schools and have been accepted to some of them? It seems a little late to be asking these questions.  

You pretty much have everyone that was on my son's list. UCSD is likely not an option due to cost and lack of scholarship $$ since you are out of state. It looks like you are from San Antonio and likely Trinity is too close to home but they have an amazing new engineering facility, which you are probably aware of. If my son got into Cal Tech I would highly encourage him to go there, that is a life changing school. It is possible to get into Mudd by going to Claremont and keeping a min 3.0 in their eng management program and then finish at Mudd. It is not too late if you had been in contact with schools and baseball programs, but out of the blue it is too late IMO.

Good Luck! 

My son is a 2017, but otherwise sounds like an almost identical situation for him lies ahead.  Will graduate as 17 year old, so he is at a bit of a disadvantage physically.  Almost 6' tall but struggles to stay above 170.  He is positive he wants to do mechanical engineering, so we've gone through the same search for engineering schools that have baseball programs that are not part of the elite D1s, and then expanded to D2 (where we have found few matches beyond UC-San Diego) and D3.

One site I found helpful in building the list is this one:

http://best-engineering-colleges.com/

I am not sure how accurate their rankings are, but what is really nice is that you can sort for engineering schools by state and see how they are ranked by state and within the region and nationally.  As you scroll down the lists, once you see the engineering programs number dwindling, then you know they do not really specialize with engineering.

Then you can compare engineering schools with the various lists out there for baseball programs.  This one has a good list of all D1 programs:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/..._I_baseball_programs

Good luck with the search, and come back to this forum to let us know where he ends up.  You are not alone in facing these issues so it helps the rest of us to learn from others experience.

standballdad posted:

Your son is a 2016 like mine. HM is not an option at this point. My son was verbaled there contingent upon getting through admissions. He ended up not getting admitted even when he was on the coaches supported list. UCSD is also done with their recruiting except for maybe a stud pitcher. They too have already sent out their admissions. My son like yours will be majoring in engineering. He was accepted into some very good schools UCLA, UCSD as well as AF Academy. Wherever he goes he will attempt to walk on. He has decided on the academy and has started his campaign of trying to get the attention of the Head coach.  I've got to believe that with those types of scores your son has already applied to many schools and have been accepted to some of them? It seems a little late to be asking these questions.  

Good stuff! (The Right Stuff)

Last edited by Gov

It's really late for acceptance to college. At this point any interested D3 would tell your son, sure walk on. It's a crap shoot. The coach has already recruited the six to eight studs he was looking for.

You might want to consider club baseball at Texas A&M. Club teams don't travel as far as varsity programs. Homework and grades is more of a priority than baseball. At a school like Texas A&M the team might be a bunch of players who tried to walk on or washed out of the program and didn't transfer. In other words, reasonably talented.

Another couple thoughts as you are considering southern D3 engineering schools:

1) You can use this tool to generate your list.  http://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/  I just used it based on the information you provided, and as expected it is slim plickings.  You may want to expand your geography beyond the south which is exactly what my son did a bunch of years ago.  He grew up in Virginia but ended up going to school in the northeast.

2) You'll want to verify the college's engineering discipline is ABET certified.  As a matter of fact, you can go to the ABET site and search by state which schools or disciplines are ABET certified.

Good luck!  I have a special place in my heart for engineering athletes.

dkraus posted:

Son is a senior and a lot of looks from liberal arts schools but he is studying engineering.  Excellent grades (2160 SAT) great bat, good corner and mid 80 right pitching.  Has been very difficult to find the right match between academics and baseball.  He is not D1 talent.  Also, trying to stay somewhat south because he had options in Boston but that was not of interest.

Are there any schools we may have missed.  With his grades he is not going Junior College and want a good academic school.  He is a young senior (17), 6'2" and 190 lbs so he can play but the mix is important

dkraus posted:

Son is a senior and a lot of looks from liberal arts schools but he is studying engineering.  Excellent grades (2160 SAT) great bat, good corner and mid 80 right pitching.  Has been very difficult to find the right match between academics and baseball.  He is not D1 talent.  Also, trying to stay somewhat south because he had options in Boston but that was not of interest.

Are there any schools we may have missed.  With his grades he is not going Junior College and want a good academic school.  He is a young senior (17), 6'2" and 190 lbs so he can play but the mix is important.

I almost thought you were talking about my son for a minute, right down to the age, size, height 6'3", SAT etc.  I would take a look at NYU, Lehigh, RPI, and WPI. All of these schools have great engineering departments and would fit the academic profile for your son. Good luck.

Enjoying the Ride posted:

Just an update on UCSD potentially moving to D1:

http://www.sandiegouniontribun...division-one-change/

They definitely ought to do it, as it would be enhance the school's national profile.  But asking a notoriously nerdy, academics-only student body to pony up another $495 fee per year to finance the change, this on top of an already rapidly climbing cost of attendance?  

Not.  Going. To. Happen.

JCG posted:
Enjoying the Ride posted:

Just an update on UCSD potentially moving to D1:

http://www.sandiegouniontribun...division-one-change/

They definitely ought to do it, as it would be enhance the school's national profile.  But asking a notoriously nerdy, academics-only student body to pony up another $495 fee per year to finance the change, this on top of an already rapidly climbing cost of attendance?  

Not.  Going. To. Happen.

Do you happen to know how many scholarships they currently fund?

MidAtlanticDad posted:
JCG posted:
Enjoying the Ride posted:

Just an update on UCSD potentially moving to D1:

http://www.sandiegouniontribun...division-one-change/

They definitely ought to do it, as it would be enhance the school's national profile.  But asking a notoriously nerdy, academics-only student body to pony up another $495 fee per year to finance the change, this on top of an already rapidly climbing cost of attendance?  

Not.  Going. To. Happen.

Do you happen to know how many scholarships they currently fund?

I do not.   But it's a  tough school to get into, and in-state tuition is less insane than privates, so I'm sure many families would be happy with a minimal offer. 

leftyshortstop posted:

Swarthmore has a 4 year engineering degree with a strong emphasis on software.  Lehigh would be a good baseball fit at mid-80's.  Why no D1 interest at mid-80's?

I'd think that Bucknell and Lafayette would be worth a try too, but the kid's a 2016, so....

Leftyshortstop - i am by no means an expert at this, we had always simply hoped he would play highschool ball and gradually realized he's pretty good.  In my experience the D1s with good engineering programs won't look at a pitcher unless he's touching 90 as a righty.  Lefties is another story.  The funny thing is we've always thought of him as a pitcher but his bat is incredible;  3 for 5 last night, a home run and 5 rbis with exit velocity of low 90's.  Swarthmore had contacted him earlier this year and the only reason he did not pursue was location.  Another liberal arts school contacted his select coach yesterday but i have a feeling at this point he will go to Texas A&M and try a walk on;  if no luck there go to club ball at A&M.

I truly appreciate all the advice from this forum.  Has been very helpful and does make you realize there are many going through similar issues - all GOOD issues to be addressing.  

dkraus posted:

Son is a senior and a lot of looks from liberal arts schools but he is studying engineering.  Excellent grades (2160 SAT) great bat, good corner and mid 80 right pitching.  Has been very difficult to find the right match between academics and baseball.  He is not D1 talent.  Also, trying to stay somewhat south because he had options in Boston but that was not of interest.

Are there any schools we may have missed.  With his grades he is not going Junior College and want a good academic school.  He is a young senior (17), 6'2" and 190 lbs so he can play but the mix is important.

Sounds like my son's long lost twin brother and I feel your pain. If you find any such school taking applications after the deadlines have passed, please let me know. Same boat.

Reviving the thread for yet more engineering/baseball questions... 

I'm trying to provide guidance for a player interested in engineering (of which I know far too little).  He is a 2017 here in California, not getting D1 interest but will be a solid player at another level.  He is getting JC interest. 

My question is this... is JC even a feasible option for an engineering major that doesn't want to spend unnecessary years in college?

Last edited by cabbagedad
cabbagedad posted:

Reviving the thread for yet more engineering/baseball questions... 

I'm trying to provide guidance for a player interested in engineering (of which I know far too little).  He is a 2017 here in California, not getting D1 interest but will be a solid player at another level.  He is getting JC interest. 

My question is this... is JC even a feasible option for an engineering major that doesn't want to spend unnecessary years in college?

IMHO, the simple answer is YES . . . particularly in California for California schools.  For example, it's not unusual for a good 2 yr. JC student getting into Cal Poly. 

cabbagedad posted:

I'm trying to provide guidance for a player interested in engineering (of which I know far too little).  He is a 2017 here in California, not getting D1 interest but will be a solid player at another level.  He is getting JC interest. 

Has he applied to UCSD (high level D2)?  Do you think he could play at that level?

cabbagedad posted:

Reviving the thread for yet more engineering/baseball questions... 

I'm trying to provide guidance for a player interested in engineering (of which I know far too little).  He is a 2017 here in California, not getting D1 interest but will be a solid player at another level.  He is getting JC interest. 

My question is this... is JC even a feasible option for an engineering major that doesn't want to spend unnecessary years in college?

Yes.  I've seen a number of kids go to our local community college and then transfer to the University of Illinois to get the their engineering degrees.   The counselors are dialed into which classes are transferable.  The student-athlete really has to hit the ground running with the grades.  The four year engineering schools have more respect for certain JC's than others, you can talk to their admissions people as well.  

Can be done, and it will save a lot of money.

I am surprised I haven't commented on this yet, but I can offer insight into the JC to Engineering thing. 

Calculus transfers, Chemistry Transfers, English transfers, Physics transfers, along with other classes.  When you graduate from the four-year institution after transferring from the JC, all that matters is what it says on your final degree.  You do well in the above noted classes and other ones you need to at the JUCO, you'll have no problem getting into just about any Engineering school in America.

 

Thanks so far, guys.. answers to questions... he is leaning heavily toward mechanical engineering but some interest in aeronautical.  My son played in same conference as UCSD last year so I think I have a pretty good feel for whether this player would fit at that level.  He is a small LH CF with definite D1 speed, excellent defense, great swing mechanics.  He definitely has the passion and work ethic to succeed with college ball (although I don't know the extent of added difficulty engineering will present) .  Has very good grades but not sure if they quite get him in UCSD.  Physical size and arm strength aren't quite at target level for high D2 baseball but getting there.  I think he would likely sit as a freshman and then have a good shot at contributing as a soph or junior.  Not sure if the size issue would keep him from getting a look with them, in fact I'm pretty sure he has been in front of them - he has played quite a bit with the Trosky program.  So, he is even more of a stretch for Cal Poly, although that would be his dream school.  That's part of why he is considering JC route.  He would be an instant contributor to most decent D3's/ NAIA's.  Ceiling is higher but he is very open to smaller schools and understands that it may work better with his major of interest.

My intention was not to do his work for him , just ask my initial question about the JC issue.  But since questions are coming, I'm glad to answer what I know to help him with information.

ClevelandDad posted:

I am surprised I haven't commented on this yet, but I can offer insight into the JC to Engineering thing. 

Calculus transfers, Chemistry Transfers, English transfers, Physics transfers, along with other classes.  When you graduate from the four-year institution after transferring from the JC, all that matters is what it says on your final degree.  You do well in the above noted classes and other ones you need to at the JUCO, you'll have no problem getting into just about any Engineering school in America.

 

Bingo

cabbagedad posted:

My intention was not to do his work for him , just ask my initial question about the JC issue.  But since questions are coming, I'm glad to answer what I know to help him with information.

I think UCSD used to participate in a transfer program that guaranteed admission, but that's no longer the case. See the "Transfers" section of this page. I would imagine this route is highly competitive, but might be worth the risk for your player. San Diego Mesa to UCSD sounds like a pretty good college experience to me.   

http://www.ucsd.edu/catalog/curric/SOE.html

cabbagedad posted:

So, he is even more of a stretch for Cal Poly, although that would be his dream school.  That's part of why he is considering JC route.  He would be an instant contributor to most decent D3's/ NAIA's.  Ceiling is higher but he is very open to smaller schools and understands that it may work better with his major of interest.

Even if his dream school looks to be out of reach, keep encouraging him to aim high, as it's particularly hard to achieve those dreams otherwise. 

cabbagedad posted:

Reviving the thread for yet more engineering/baseball questions... 

I'm trying to provide guidance for a player interested in engineering (of which I know far too little).  He is a 2017 here in California, not getting D1 interest but will be a solid player at another level.  He is getting JC interest. 

My question is this... is JC even a feasible option for an engineering major that doesn't want to spend unnecessary years in college?

Saw this and was about to reply with a 4 year school idea, (Colorado School of Mines) but then realized that that's not your question, and that your question has been answered -- yes, it's feasible.

But there's another question that's harder to answer.  What are the chances that a student who matriculates at a JC will graduate from a 4 year school in 4 or 5 years? Those are hard numbers to pin down, in my experience.   I did find this page:  http://www.thebestschools.org/...leges-united-states/

Describing SBCC, which this website ranks as the #2 JC in the country, and which I'm guessing would be on your student's list of JC options,  it says:  

57% of full-time students at SBCC transfer to four-year colleges; more than half of those ultimately earn a bachelor’s degree. Agreements with 76 colleges (in and out of California) guarantee that SBCC credits are accepted for transfer; several schools ensure admission if a student meets academic requirements. 

For me as a parent the takeaway is that a full time student at a highly regarded JC has an approximately 30% of graduating from a 4 year college.  Not bad for a JC, but I do not love those odds when compared to graduation rates from UC's or Cal Poly!

Just a thought....

I can add my 2017 looked into UC-San Diego very closely and had dialogue with the coaches.  Engineering as a major going in was not an option--not even with the coaches support.  They said they could get him in through another major, and then each year there is a competitive transfer request process that he would have to take his chance with against all of the other students wanting to get in, the vast majority of which would not be challenged by playing baseball.  My son agreed that it would be too big of a risk since he is certain he wants to do engineering and would likely have wound up a Physics major for four years and then needed to go to graduate school.

We got the impression that Engineering as a major is so impacted at UC-SD that you would need top of the elite academic credentials to have a chance at the admission stage.  I cannot imagine a JC trying to transfer in during year 2 or 3 would have an advantage versus the students already there who are also trying to transfer in and taking the same courses at UCSD as the JC student was. 

LOTS of great information, guys... thanks again.  I will make sure he gets on here to put good use to all of it!

He applied to School of Mines and recently found out he was denied... numbers may not be right but he said something about falling short of the 4.3 GPA they were looking for.   I think he had three or four target schools with the JC route as a backup plan that is attractive to him.  I'm fairly certain that he didn't dig deep enough to have a really good understanding of the specific challenges of the engineering/baseball combo or JC to 4yr w/engineering combo.  So, now he probably needs to to some quick learning, re-evaluation and cast a broader net at the right targets.  

So, what is missing from this thread is a successful JC baseball player who transferred into an engineering program and continued to play D1 or D2 baseball (per CabbageDad post).  If anybody has gone down that path, we'd like to hear from them.

Certainly, I undertand the goals;

1) play baseball in college 2) get an engineering degree from an accredited school  3) only pay for the necessary courses to advance/transfer into an engineering school

My opinion is this is really difficult to pull off not just on its own but there are many moving parts.  Certainly playing baseball in college and majoring in engineering is tough.  Certainly transferring from a JUCO into a engineering program is tough.  But when you mix it all together, do you really want that much excitement in your life.  I think the chances of graduating on time would get smaller...how much money would you really save?  In addition the engineering classes in years 3,4 are going to be much more difficult than the non-engineering classes in years 1,2.  I would proceed with a lot of caution with this approach of doing it all.  Again JMO.

Fenway,  I basically went down that path myself (with minor variations) although it was along time ago.  I only played 1 yr of JuCo and transferred to D1 w/ major of Architectural Engineering, which is not near as demanding as Electrical, Mechanical, etc.  It required an extra year for me to be able to keep a 3.0 GPA and meet the time demands of baseball.  Also, the time demands of D1 baseball have gone way, way up since back in the day.  Its basically a full time job now.  Having said all of that, I still think it is not impractical to think a kid could go JuCo for 2 years and transfer successfully to play D1 or D2 and major in engineering - as long as it's a credible JuCo & planning regarding transfer credits is done on the front end.  However, it isn't practical to think you could do that in today's world and graduate in 4 years.  It would take 5 for most anyone IMO. 

I went to the University of Illinois for Mechanical Engineering, and I knew of and worked with several students who transferred in after two years, and they were successful.  As mentioned, have to do your homework on what's transferable, what the school is looking for, etc.  With the cost of school getting beyond ridiculous, I think this will become a route more take.

FrankJP posted:

I went to the University of Illinois for Mechanical Engineering, and I knew of and worked with several students who transferred in after two years, and they were successful.  As mentioned, have to do your homework on what's transferable, what the school is looking for, etc.  With the cost of school getting beyond ridiculous, I think this will become a route more take.

Exactly the college I referred to....  a few guys I know did this, one played one didn't.  As mentioned above, probably would turn into a 5 year program these days; there could be a way to leverage any "redshirt" offering because the player is focused on his degree while continuing his play.

fenway - no doubt you have as much experience on this topic as anyone. 

I'd like to add that transferring from JUCO to Engineering school is painless - assuming GPA and course requirements are met.  The first two years of Engineering are basically the courses I outlined in my above post.  They consist mostly of math and science along with some humanities like English.  A student who does well in the math and sciences will basically start their 4 year school as a junior.  The 5 year option is not a bad strategy for an Engineering student even if they don't play baseball.  Obviously, the cost to attend for 5 years is a consideration. 

Statistically the odds are long for a combined engineering and baseball experience and when you put in the additional issues of how a 4 yr baseball program recruits the transferring from a JC to a 4 year program makes it even more daunting.  ... but the JC route is a great way to go to reduce the financial burden of a likely 5 yr process for many. 

Last edited by BOF
fenwaysouth posted:

Adbono - Good feedback especially on your opinion about taking more than 4 years in todays world.  That makes a lot of sense to me.

FrankJP - were these JC engineering transfers baseball players at Univ of Illinois?

No, they were not.  I was referring more to to the question of transferring in and the success they had, especially at a highly rated engineering school.  

Best of luck, can always use more engineers!

After 2020 the discussion on engineering taking 4 years or more may be a mute point.  There has been discussion since 2006 about changing the Model Law (by NCEES) for engineering licensure to a Masters or equivalent (MOE) degree.  It was suppose to take effect in 2016 but got postponed until 2020.  There currently is discussion of extending it further but that is not a done deal yet.  If NCEES adopts the new model law then a four year degree may not be a licensable degree.  Engineering students after a certain date will have to have a Masters or something more than the 128 required hours to obtain licensure.

I know this isn't baseball related but it may help to look at engineering as a 5 year professional program similar to architecture and some others.  I don't know if this helps or changes the thought process but it may make scheduling courses in the spring a little easier if you have longer of course the down size is it's another year in school and more money out of pocket.

Add Reply

×
×
×
×
Link copied to your clipboard.
×