How to Narrow Down a College

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You have a real opportunity to help your son create a vision for his future. The four years will fly by; your desire to learn will be huge in helping your son define what he wants from his college experience.

My advice for you now is:

Visit as many colleges within 2-hours of home. Make your son take the campus tour, listen to the student talk about their experience at the college.

This spring go to college games at all levels. Not just Stanford or Cal; but the JC's in your area or some of the smaller programs (Menlo, Academy of Art, CSU East Bay).

Get your son in front of his aunts, uncles, cousins, neighbors and anyone else that can talk about their college experience. What they liked and disliked. The purpose is to start him thinking about what kind of college experience he may want.

The reality is your son's knowledge about what it means to be a college student has been shapped by ESPN and movies about college life (Animal House, etc.). Now is the time for you to help him create his own vision of what it means to be a college student.

He will (an you will too) learn that once your son leaves the bedroom down the hall, it may not make a real difference where he is. I would focus on what he wants from college; if it leads him outside his backyard you both may be very happy. Don't be fixated with NorCal. There are far more opportunities to get a good education and play baseball if you expand your horizons.

Continue to stress academics. There are far more opportunities for greats students than there are for average students (no matter how good a ballplayer he is).

Most important; now is the time to learn about what the world looks like for prospective college students.

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EX-SO-LENT!




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Is it too soon to begin the following:

1.) Narrowing down colleges he might want to attend. His current criteria is "I'd like to stay & play in California".
2.) Determine how to best be "seen" by the narrowed down list of colleges (i.e. camps, showcases, JO's, PG, WWBC etc...).
3.) Determine where his baseball skills fit against his peers (DI, DII, DIII, JO, NAIA)?

tlbaseball, to second Woody, welcome to this great site.
As an adjunct to what ILVBB provided, my views directly on your three questions are as follows:
1.) Yes, it is too early to narrow down the schools. Your son will change so much during HS. His talents will change,evolve and hopefully continue to develop. Each of those will play a major role in what happens in 2-3 years. Many of our son's have dream schools in CA. when they are heading to HS. The group that began with our son all did. None went to college in CA and sports played a role in that decision for each. We also need to keep in mind college baseball in certain of the UC system schools, and probably CSU schools is bumpy right now.
2.) Determining how best to be seen in Northern CA. depends on the HS, coaching staff of the HS, quality of your league, and the talent of your son when he becomes a sophomore/junior.
One poster on this site has a son who is top player in the WCAL. That, and a HS coach who is second to none in helping place players in great college situations, was all he needed for exposure. He was a coveted player who just signed his NLI with a Pac10 school.
The Diekroeger brothers at Menlo did little to no showcasing and both are at Stanford. Small HS but big time talent. I talked with the Menlo coach last week and he just had another player commit to Stanford as a junior. Talent or league will both play a major role. Your son may or may not really need all that exposure. I think your HS coach is likely to be a very good resource for you as your son progresses. I am not saying don't plan, but I am saying to make sure the quality of the HS program and coaching staff should be a critical part of your plan.
3.) Way too early to plan or determine where your son fits talent wise, for most players. In the next 2 years, with good coaching, a good program and the development of his talent/strength and conditioning, you won't even recognize him as the same player.
If I have any real advice, it would be have fun and let your son have fun. If he is a top talent, the schools will choose him. Your work will largely be done for you.
If he is not a top tier talent by the time he is ending his sophomore year, that is a good time to take the great questions you have asked and really start working them. That will give you plenty of time.

You have received great advice so far. He has a long way to go so relax dad . For me the first priority would be for your son to determine where his interests lie in school and as a potential career. He most likely will not have an idea on what he wants to do so keep talking to him about it while he is taking various at school. Make sure he is taking a wide range of electives so he can explore the possibilities. Once you get some idea start looking at schools that fit him academically and start building up your list.

I will caution you about just focusing on California schools since there are more talented players in the state than there are roster spots. If you narrow it down to high academic schools the list is even shorter, so my advice is to make a list of prospects in and out of the state.

A couple of resources for you are:

Go to “baseball links” and you will find most of the west coast school programs.

http://www.abdacademy.com/

Here is a google doc spreadsheet with the Ivy’s plus the above list with the coaches and their contact information. This spreadsheet is about 95% accurate as there have been a few changes that I have not updated.

https://spreadsheets.google.co...xMGI5TEE&hl=en#gid=0

Good luck

For most, I don't think the process is about narrowing down your list of preferred schools, its more about finding a coach sincerly interested in having your son in his program.

I would agree that its probebely too early to devote a much effort to checking out college programs, however, it wouldn't hurt to go watch a some college games (D1, D2 and JC) during the season so the both of you have an idea of the "required" level of play at those levels.

As an aside, my son started off like yours, wanting to play in CA, but he eventually discovered his best opportunity/situation was in Virginia.

Good luck with HS.

Sounds like you and your son are right where he needs to be at that age. Bear in mind that there will be many changes along the way, in baseball and in his academics during the next few years. If it makes you feel better you can start researching schools he's interested in. But all the research in the world and choosing a college with the best fit doesn't always mean your son will be recruited by that school so try to keep an open mind about all opportunities.

You really need to look at colleges for their academics and their baseball. As your son gets older you'll know more about where he fits in both categories. Although my son was adamant from about 8th grade and up about what level he wanted to play at, I took the wider view of helping him research lots of different colleges not based on their athletic division or their location. It is really a good idea to go to college games as he gets older so he can see what a step up it'll be.

So research all you want but as BOF says "relax and enjoy the ride". Good luck- there's tons of info here from knowledgeable posters so it's good to go back and read previous threads.

Thanks to all that have replied. CollegeParentNoMore about your son never considering playing outside California and then ending up in Virginia.....Was he recruited by Virginia, did you pursue them or a combination? If I was to research schools from California to Virginia I'd go crazy. I heard someone say there is a ratio of 100:1 (players to scholarships) in California and 12:1 ratio back east....not sure how acurate that is but it makes you think. Agreed about going to different college venues. We've been to Stanford, Sac State and a few JC Games in the past but will make a point to going to more games this spring with a bit more focus towards the future. Also, is it also true that private colleges have more flexibility with academic/athletic scholarships that might make it more affordable then a UC or State College in California?

A couple thoughts;

I have run the numbers (I had too much time); there are 90 roster spots at 4-year schools for every 1 high school player each year. This is not scholarships; as many will be at D3, NAIA, D2 or unfunded D1 programs. I don't know the number but my guess is that it is close to 200 high school players for 1 scholarship here in CA.

We are here in NorCal as well. When my son was looking at colleges he ended up with 4 real offers. Two baseball small scholarships (South Carolina & Oregon) at D1 schools and two nice merit scholarships at highly regarded D3's (Ohio & Texas).

We did what we could to entice the better academic programs in CA but found that the numbers worked against him. Knowing what I do now; unless he is THE all-county stud, I would broaden his horizons.

In that you mentioned Sac State, I will assume that you are out in the valley. I would suggest that you familiarize yourself with the many colleges in the Austin/San Antonio area. I could drop your son in a number of spots in either town and he would swear that he is in the greater Sacto area. Get out and see what is out there you may find that schools half way across the country feel like they are just around the corner.

My point is if you expand your horizons you will be amazed at what you may find. My son graduates from college in two weeks after having a fabulous collegiate career. He has grown as a person and created a new home for himself. He is happy, independent and looking forward to the next phase of his life.

In our opinion the best thing he did was define his priorities (good school, business or engineering program, warm weather, an opportunity to play, an opportunity to play in a collegiate summer league, able to fly home on Southwest Air and access to good cheap golf courses). Once he defined what he wanted it was easier to sort through what colleges made sense and to market him to those colleges that fit his profile.

quote:

Also, is it also true that private colleges have more flexibility with academic/athletic scholarships that might make it more affordable then a UC or State College in California?

This depends on the school, coaching philosophy and ability/inability to blend athletic and non-athletic money.
Most of the WCC schools currently run around $50,000 per year. By 2014, that will be higher by some percentage, at least 10% if not more, in all likelihood.
If a player gets a minimum athletic scholarship of around $12,500, the family is looking at roughly $40,000 plus per year when all costs are factored into the equation.
By most reports, one WCC coach gives the vast majority of his money to very few, top, top tier nationally recruited players. He then hopes like crazy they produce, stay academically eligible and don't get hurt. By contrast, another WCC school does not blend money and the program is struggling below what many feel are the expectations.
UC still looks great by comparison unless there is significant additional financial aid in the private school and it can either be blended or it is enough so that the baseball isn't needed. If a school does not allow baseball and non-baseball money to be blended, most private schools in CA. are a big financial commitment.
The CA posters in this thread, who have had sons move beyond HS, all played outside CA. All wanted to stay in CA when they were in HS.
I doubt any of us had the school our son attended on our radar when each of our son's ended their junior year in HS. I can also assure you that each was/is a very fine player who had/is having a fine college career and for a couple, beyond that.
In terms of the skill level of players in CA. vs the number of open slots each year, it is pretty dramatic.
You will find many coaches from around the Country at camps like the Stanford All-Star. They know they can get very good players, with quality academics, who usually can compete and produce pretty early in a college career.

He did not even know VT had baseball until they contacted him (he was playing at a JC).

Its alot easier to narrow down school options once you get a PSAT or SAT score. You could spend alot of time narrowing down a list of schools that have no interest in your son as a baseball player at this time.

Most private colleges are still pretty expensive even compared to compared to out of state public colleges and once you figure in CA housing costs....its even worse. I couldn't tell you about financial aid at private schools, we never got past the cost of tuition and housing in CA. HOwever the the costs of attending a UC, including housing looks like its getting pretty close to the costs of attending some out of state schools. i.e. if I recall the out of state VT tuition was something like 19k v 10k for UC, however housing was about $5000 less in VA so, in many ways the UC system is making out of state schools financially more competitive.

Sounds like you are in the Sacramento area, you might want to check out UCD, and a D2 such as Chico or SSU. The JC games are interesting to watch as there is a wider range of skills on display, inlcuding kids that may have attended your son's high school and you have seen play.

I didn't see it mentioned above. Almost all of your questions can be answered in the Recruiting Timeline. I found this section invaluable.

tlbaseball,
Knowing what we know in the rear view mirror, and being a member of this site, I know what I would do if I were you.
I would try and learn the experience of every Northern CA. poster in this thread to learn the experience of their son, the success/process and result they encountered.
I would include justbaseball in your inquiry.
What a wealth of information you might acquire and what consternation I might receive from fellow posters for suggesting this?

Great news, especially on the grades.

My advice would be to help your son focus on (a) keeping baseball fun while working hard (b) skills development (c) grades (d) building a baseball network.

I would be less concerned about identifying colleges this year.

Great point infielddad, I would also contact 06catcherdad, Dan runs NorCal baseball a very successful, respected and connected organization from the Sacramento area.

Unless he's become part of Norcal baseball, o6catcherdad, Dan Sozzi, runs the EDH Vipers. I don't think he's affiliated with Norcal baseball (that would be Rob Bruno). Both great sources in N. Ca.

Thanks CaBB, mental fade, getting old is well you know...

And maybe one of the most important aspects of playing baseball in college...........GRADES! Your son is on the right track if he's getting A's as a freshman in high school.

If he does go to a private college there is usually merit money available too. Combined with athletic money it is a way for coaches to make their 11.7 athletic scholarships stretch farther. There are thresholds so that the academic money does not count against the baseball team, such as 1200 SAT, top 10% of graduating high school class, or at least 3.5 GPA.