I think son has found a great fit in a D3 program, absolutely loved the coach, and a top 10-20 school. Better in a lot of ways than we anticipated. He has some leads and interests from D1 mid-majors, but nothing solid enough at this point to "bank on." Do you still continue the process and keep talking to and visiting schools or start to slow it down and just count on the D3 as his future home. I know the topic is vague, but just getting a general feel from others.
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I would think that the odds of picking up a D1 offer at this point for a rising senior are pretty slim....not saying it's impossible, but most schools have likely finished up their 2017 class by now
I'm seeing tweets about D1 commits every day so while it's almost done, it's not there yet.
We were looking at a similar question a few weeks ago and my son decided that the D3 match was so perfect he couldn't pass it up. We're very proud of him for making that decision and we think it's the right decision, especially for the long term. I'm sure it's different for each case but sounds like your son is in a similar situation. Good luck!
My son recently made a similar choice. He has some mid-level D1s from the next state over interested in him. Then a top ranked NAIA school invited him to visit. If he did not play baseball, this school would be a perfect fit. A place he could actually get a degree from. Plus he loved the coach and has a very good chance of starting as a freshman. (HC sees him as their 3 or 4 hole batter.) So he will be going to a school 30 minutes from home where he can handle the academics and play lots of baseball. Seems like a good choice to me.
If this were a year ago, I would have told him to wait.
No reason to hurry in my opinion. He can't apply to the D3 until fall. Is early decision involved? Keep the D3 in the back pocket, and work the D1s. You're only going D1 if something a whole lot better comes along, not just kind of better.
Golfman, that's true - even ED deadlines are not until November 1 for most schools. But if the coach is helping a kid get through admissions, which is often the case with the kind of top 10-20 D3 that Sunwalkingvalley describes, I think he expects and deserves to know if the kid is all in earlier than that.
(But again, of course, each case may be different)
My son did not commit until may of his senior year to his D3. So keep working the program and keep looking. AS many said ED starts in November, but actually few D3's require ED, Most like early action though. Again those deadlines are in November. In my opinion it is way to early to tie down to a D3. If my son had he would not had ended up a OWU. He would have been at another school in the conference. We talked about it several times through the four years he played at OWU. And to this day he is happy he kept looking and kept working, because otherwise he would have never considered OWU and he is very glad he did.
So while your son may think he found the perfect match, there may be a more perfect one out there. (I know bad Grammar) It may be another D3, it may be a D1 walk on spot, or scholarship spot. Now if ED is required by your D3 you still have until November to continue to work your system. But make sure all your ducks are in a row and you are ready to apply ED if that is the path you decide to take.
If the coach/RC is really interested in your son they will not move on at a D3. No one ever told my son they were no longer interested and all of them said they would wait until he made his decision. And if they do move on, What does that tell you about the real interest in your son?
Good luck.
My kid went through something very similar. A lower level D1 (great school) had him on their board behind one other guy, and they didn't seem to be in a rush to get that guy's decision. It dragged out two months until mid-September and son didn't want to wait any longer. He called the top tier D3 that "loved" him and told them he was coming. I thought he should have waited longer, but he was (and still is) happy with his decision. He was also playing soccer and kicking for the football team, so no one new was going to see him play baseball. In hindsight, he could have waited until May 1st and I truly believe it would not have mattered one bit. This school (not an HA) does not stop recruiting when they have all the open spots filled. You'd better show up in the fall ready to earn your spot regardless of how many other guys are there.
Good question & answers. We are in a similar boat. Son was interested in targeting small D-1s and 3 D-3s are currently interested in him. We have scheduled visits to all three colleges with academic visit and prospect camp to see how he fits in and how he feels re: school, baseball & coaches. But he is also applying to D-1s and will apply early action on all of them. Son is an RHP who has not reached the velocity D-1 is looking for (but is almost there!). So he is working on improving velocity, accuracy, finishing, etc. He is also leaning toward D-3s for better academic/athletic balance, likes the smaller schools and the interest from coaches has been very positive. Good luck to your son as he makes his decision!
sunwalkingvalley posted:I think son has found a great fit in a D3 program, absolutely loved the coach, and a top 10-20 school. Better in a lot of ways than we anticipated. He has some leads and interests from D1 mid-majors, but nothing solid enough at this point to "bank on." Do you still continue the process and keep talking to and visiting schools or start to slow it down and just count on the D3 as his future home. I know the topic is vague, but just getting a general feel from others.
Never take your foot off the recruiting gas pedal. Yes, continue the search until he commits, signs an NLI or applies ED. JMO.
Keep working the system... keep your options open.... If there's better comfort and an academic fit with a D3, and a chance to start with D3, maybe D3 is better that mid D1 baseball offer. In a perfect world it would be great to leverage the D1 offer with the D3 coach to see if he can find any other buckets of money to help. This can be done if your son is a strong student.
Comfort and chance to succeed plus a great ROI are key things to keep in mind.
Buckeye 2015 posted:I would think that the odds of picking up a D1 offer at this point for a rising senior are pretty slim....not saying it's impossible, but most schools have likely finished up their 2017 class by now
Buckeye, one of the things that we have learned the hard way is that East coast recruits at least a year faster than West coast. Coaches on the east coast state that the pure density of programs on the East coast forces you to recruit and offer much earlier. In Cali, the programs are very spread out geographically and there are a lot of year round baseball players throughout the southwest. West coast programs, including some Pac 12, WCC, MWC and other mid majors programs will recruit and sign players all the way into late spring of Senior year. We do not want to wait that late, and most of our desired programs seem to be in the East. Our target at this point is to know where is home is going to be by November 1. Here's to hope! If not, I have 3 cases of home brew to drink during the winter, with a couple of more cases on the way.
Unless cost is no object, IMO, November is too early for D3 unless doing Early Decision. Financial packages do not come out until April in most cases, and I would want to keep the door open on your top three or four, until the financial packages come out. Also usually in January or February many schools have honor or scholar days where they bring students on campus to compete for scholarship money. At OWU it is the Schubert Scholarship competition. Depending how a student does during these events it can make a difference from one schools financial package to another.
