Ivy makes sense?

@SupplyDemand posted:

Our 2026 has been heavily recruited since the Aug 1st opening gun by more than 30 D1 programs.   

he is thinking that maybe Power 4 baseball just isn't for him

strongly leaning toward an Ivy option

He is admittedly charmed by the big names of the Ivies, and this will impressive his primarily high-academic friends.

he seems to fit in better with the Ivy players

Another question is whether an Ivy education is that much better than, say, a 25th ranked academic school?

suspect he would thrive in nearly every scenario, even if my pocket book does not.

That is pretty amazing. Take my thoughts with a grain of salt as this is not our particular orbit but I'll go first.  Sounds like he is a legit draft possibility. If he is a pitcher and will definitely play in a summer league (as opposed to doing an internship), perhaps going Ivy route will be OK in terms of the draft??? If he is a position player, perhaps it is more important to play p4 baseball???

Personally I don't think Ivy is a significant educational advantage over a Michigan, Duke, Virginia, Stanford, Wake Forest, Vanderbilt, UNC, Florida, a few others. 

That all said, seems like he really likes the Ivies... and they'll probably LOVE him.

First, congratulations to your son! He must be a talented player, and he will surely do well wherever he chooses to go.   

The Ivies have some advantages.  He will play, and he won't be cut.  School will be challenging; he won't think it is easy, although there are plenty of ways to make college challenging no matter what school you attend.  Summer placements are solid and plentiful. The Ivies send kids to Northwoods, the Cape, the Futures League, NECBL, and CCL every year.

That being said, the Ivy League conference season is a seven-week, 21-game sprint, and a team might play 40 games overall.   In contrast, an ACC school will play over 60 games and have a 30-game conference season. Ivy League teams never play on Fridays; instead, they have double-headers on Saturday  (just a killer for catchers or two-way players) and an early game on Sunday.  The Ivies are Northeastern schools with long, cold winters, so it will snow at Cornell whenever you play there (or sleet, or possibly hail). The level of play varies from sometimes quite good to often not great.

In my opinion, it is harder for a position player from an Ivy to go pro; pitchers have an easier time. That being said, in the past two years, I think 6 Ivy pitchers have been taken in the draft, and 2 pitchers and 2 more position players have signed as NDFAs that I know of.  While it is possible, for sure, it is a heck of a lot easier to be scouted and play at a high level in, for example, the ACC.

I know it is a lot for a young person to consider, and saying "no" does close some doors.  What does your son think?  Is there a place or person that appeals to him?  Remember, every college or university has an honors program.  You can generally get any kind of education you'd like at most places, although applied STEM and business programs are sometimes much better at non-Ivy schools (think logistics, accounting, insurance, sports management, physical therapy, etc.).  Ivys are great for graduate school preparation, internships, study abroad, undergraduate research, and career placement.  It's just a choice and a preference.  Feel free to PM me if you'd like.

One other consideration: If your son is drafted as a junior, have a plan to finish. Ivys will work with you, but most require you to finish in-residence (not online). Some have a senior thesis requirement, which means your student must complete a long paper (80 pages) while working with a faculty member as a senior.   This structure can be problematic if your student tries to finish College in between "championship seasons."  It would be best if your son had a plan for baseball and school soon, which is a considerable challenge and a full-out family effort.

I'm sure this is an unpopular opinion, but I'm from the Midwest and I'd never, EVER let my kid to go an Ivy league school.  There are many other amazing places that don't have the negatives most of the Ivies posses.

@SupplyDemand

You have received some excellent advice above from RHP.

What really is important, what does your son want to do? I mean what does he REALLY want to do?

It appears that with that amount of interest he has strong draft potential. The 45 man roster more than likely will become more manageable sooner rather than later.  If he is an exceptional player, it really doesn't matter.

Also, don't let the word transfer get in the way. In many situations, transfer has worked for the better for many players.

He should be getting lots of draft interest, even where you noted your location.

He has to listen to his inner self.  Son was in this situation many years ago, his goal was to play MLB so he chose the offer where he would get the best instruction.  Be aware, as mentioned, that most D1 top baseball programs don't allow players to major in specific programs, where an IL will.

I can tell you that many programs already have verbal commits from the 26 class. 

Good luck to your son and keep us posted.

A few thoughts (from a former Ivy athlete) :

• The coaches assurances about his spot in the program mean absolutely nothing.
• The content of the undergrad material is probably not much different across most colleges, regardless of reputation.  Where the educational experience might differ is in the quality of the professors, the educational resources available and the caliber of his peers. 
• A school can have a good academic reputation, but is that educational experience available to scholarship baseball players?  Some schools restrict majors and funnel kids into less challenging classes just to keep them eligible and to inflate the team GPA. 
• Not all Ivy programs are alike.  Penn and Columbia have recently performed like solid mid-majors, some others not so much.
• Over the past five years I've talked to dozens of parents of college players from a broad array of schools...it seems to me that there are a handful of places that "thread the needle" of baseball and academics where a kid can come close to maximizing both, but its not a long list.

@Master P posted:

I'm sure this is an unpopular opinion, but I'm from the Midwest and I'd never, EVER let my kid to go an Ivy league school.  There are many other amazing places that don't have the negatives most of the Ivies posses.

It really sucks to graduate and walk into a high paying job on a fast track to professional and financial success. It sucks to have Ivy Leaguers as part of your professional network the rest of your life.

Your impression probably came from seeing about 200 Columbia students protesting on tv. There are 36,000+ total students at Columbia.

@RJM posted:

Your impression probably came from seeing about 200 Columbia students protesting on tv. There are 36,000+ total students at Columbia.

I'm 50 years old. I'd never let one, on going experience shape my opinion.  I know I'm not alone in my feelings.  Especially when you get more than 100 miles from the East Coast.

@Master P posted:

I'm 50 years old. I'd never let one, on going experience shape my opinion.  I know I'm not alone in my feelings.  Especially when you get more than 100 miles from the East Coast.

You are not alone. I’m right there with you. I think that everyone should do a lot of analysis before sending a kid off to college. Any college. You should be doing a cost/benefit analysis and a ROI calculation. And you should look at the political leanings of the school in general - and specifically the instructors. It’s a different world now than it was when we went to college.

@adbono posted:

You are not alone. I’m right there with you. I think that everyone should do a lot of analysis before sending a kid off to college. Any college. You should be doing a cost/benefit analysis and a ROI calculation. And you should look at the political leanings of the school in general - and specifically the instructors. It’s a different world now than it was when we went to college.

Political leanings of professors doesn’t matter unless a kid is mentally weak and impressionable. My daughter was a member of the Young Republicans at an Ivy. She was still selected to be the Editor of the Law Review.

When encountering a very political professor you tell them what they want to hear and walk away laughing with the A. I attended a very left leaning college. So did my daughter. It was my son at a more conservative Midwest college who learned about leftists the hard way.

He got a D on his first college paper about Occupy. He recognized the grievances. But he added personal responsibility is the best avenue for success.

His Poly Sci 101 professor had told the class blame Reagan for success and you will flunk. What my son didn’t consider was a 5’7” 120 pony tailed, grad student with wire rimmed glasses graded the papers. The grad student was probably a communist.

The education side of a college degree is about getting the diploma from the school setting you up for the most potential for success. If you’re going to come out with a six figure job it’s not hard to cost justify the cost.

@Master P posted:

I'm sure this is an unpopular opinion, but I'm from the Midwest and I'd never, EVER let my kid to go an Ivy league school.  There are many other amazing places that don't have the negatives most of the Ivies posses.

Well... I pretty much agree with you but I think we should try to temper opinions like this.  I think the key thing for me is free speech and freedom to exchange ideas without ostracization from your peers or instructors. Schools like Univ Chicago do a good job with this even if the overall vibe is well left of center.  Most Ivy schools fail in this measure. That said, we really don't know anything about this 2026 and what is important to him.  So why burst his bubble with negativity?

@Dadbelly2023 posted:

Well... I pretty much agree with you but I think we should try to temper opinions like this.  I think the key thing for me is free speech and freedom to exchange ideas without ostracization from your peers or instructors. Schools like Univ Chicago do a good job with this even if the overall vibe is well left of center.  Most Ivy schools fail in this measure. That said, we really don't know anything about this 2026 and what is important to him.  So why burst his bubble with negativity?

You’re correct, I shouldn’t have said anything.

@K9 posted:

A few thoughts (from a former Ivy athlete) :

• The content of the undergrad material is probably not much different across most colleges, regardless of reputation.  Where the educational experience might differ is in the quality of the professors, the educational resources available and the caliber of his peers.

I've brought this exact point up on this forum a few times and have received nothing but grief and people telling me I'm clueless. Somewhat validating to hear it from someone who has done it.

@PABaseball posted:

I've brought this exact point up on this forum a few times and have received nothing but grief and people telling me I'm clueless. Somewhat validating to hear it from someone who has done it.

Amen!

I think the OP's question was this: Setting aside the money, is the quality of development and competition and exposure to scouts at the Ivy schools good enough?

The answer is probably. . . . if you are a pitcher. 

@PABaseball posted:

I've brought this exact point up on this forum a few times and have received nothing but grief and people telling me I'm clueless. Somewhat validating to hear it from someone who has done it.

Since I'm the one who says it every time, I'll say it again, just so the OP has both points of view.

Classes at a HA are taught at a higher level.  This is from my own experience, and the recent experiences of my sons.

When he was still in high school, my older son took Physics 101 at our local state university.  He then went to an Ivy, and took Physics 102 there.  Then he retook Physics 101 there also.  We asked him why, he said it was much more rigorous at the Ivy, and he would not be prepared for the upper-level classes (his major) unless he took the Ivy intro class.

Professors give readings and assignments that are more complex and demanding when they can expect more from the students.  The work done in groups, and the class discussions, ARE different.   Never mind the difference in funding and research and summer opportunities and connections at super-wealthy private universities.

Do you need all that extra rigor?  Depends what you want to do after.  Of course a bright student will do fine anywhere, especially if he exerts himself to seek out opportunities.  Just like a great baseball player can get drafted from anywhere.  Why would a great baseball player rather play in the SEC?  Maybe because of the better teaching, more rigorous expectations, better nutrition, better teammates, better facilities, better competition?  How is baseball different from academics in this respect?

Plus, if you aren't allowed to major in what you want at a P4, then it doesn't matter how good the curriculum is.

Recent threads about this topic, with posters whose sons went to Ivies and were drafted:

https://community.hsbaseballwe...h-academic-power-5-s

https://community.hsbaseballwe...80#74937977233956480

Maybe consider one of the "public ivies" that will help the wallet and will also have the rigor your son desires?  A quick google will bring them up.

There was an article years ago about how the athletes (football, that I remember) that go to Stanford had to take AP classes TO GET IN, but once in, took all the intro classes to avoid jumping into the 200 level classes their freshman year.  (Some considered it a waste of time and money, while the other side said it would set them up for success in the classroom.....as well as raise the team GPA).  A bit of a scandal at UNC-CH on a similar issue about 12 years ago.

FWIW, as an aside, taking dual enrollment classes in HS, and getting the college credit, saved both my sons time by allowing them them to take fewer classes during the playing season.  The dual enrollment classes were mostly English or literature classes that had nothing to do with either son's majors.

A few years ago I decided I wanted to self educate myself on Philosophy 101. I didn’t take it in college. I went to the local lower level state university (as in Timbuktu State as opposed to U of State at Timbuktu) and checked out the required reading for 101 at the bookstore. I did the same at a localRicardo university I wouldn't call a HA. It was a next level, top 40 university with an acceptance rate in the teens.

The reading syllabus at the university with the academic reputation was much more challenging with bigger name authors.

No, courses with the same name and same level are not the same everywhere.

Just FYI: I'm also the parent of a recently drafted Ivy League pitcher, so my experience only goes back a few years.  Most of the position players whom I saw scouted ended up in the transfer portal and played their last year of eligibility (b/c of COVID and the two-year hiatus at all of the Ivies except Penn) at very high-level D1 programs (Duke, Notre Dame, etc.).  We will see what happens with them this year, I guess.  I wish them luck!

Would love to know what position the OP's son plays!

@PABaseball posted:

I've brought this exact point up on this forum a few times and have received nothing but grief and people telling me I'm clueless. Somewhat validating to hear it from someone who has done it.

I can only speak about STEM, but there is absolutely a difference. My son is at a school known as one of the most rigorous STEM schools. The he says the math is noticeably harder than math courses he took at Harvard. He has also helped friends from a number of Big State U schools and some prestigious HA D3’s in the northeast and comments how much easier their problem sets are. There is a reason engineering firms target certain engineering schools, software companies target certain CS schools, finance firms target certain math schools, etc. It doesn’t mean they can’t find a diamond in the rough somewhere else but they know they have a much higher success rate out of those schools.

@TPM posted:

@SupplyDemand

....................................

What really is important, what does your son want to do? I mean what does he REALLY want to do?

You need a starting point.  @TPM is spot on.   So, what does he want to do after graduation?   You need to hear him discuss his future.   This is where the conversation with your son starts in my opinion.   First off, "Ivy" is an athletic conference.   My advice would be not to lump them all together.   These 8 schools couldn't be more different from each other, and each has some unique offerings and capabilities.  You need to figure out which (if any) fit your son's needs and goals if he is considering a certain direction.

My son's decision to attend one of these schools came down to their engineering program.   As an example, his university offered the best mechanical engineering major and a materials science minor that he could get admitted to.  He wanted that academic challenge, and he wanted to play college baseball.   This is why he selected the school he wanted to go to.   He did not aspire to be a professional baseball player although he loved the game.  If your son wants to be a professional baseball player then he should probably go somewhere that has experience developing skills to get drafted his junior year.  There are many coaches that have that capability and experience.  Each one of those schools is unique in its own right.

PS...In 4 years of Ivy baseball I never saw snow on the field.  Its not an issue.  One year, I did see some snowbanks off the outfield as plows cleared the artificial turf while visiting Dartmouth.  Yes, it gets a little cold at the beginning of the season.  These are young, healthy men.  They adjust.

JMO, and good luck!

I attended an Ivy as an athlete decades ago.  Our son attended a HA D1, grad transfer year at a non-Ivy Top25 academic ACC school.  A very close friend's son starts at an Ivy currently.

I believe all the salient points have been made above.  I have a few opinions that may add to the discussion.

Harvard, Yale and Princeton are the schools where I still believe that reputation and future-network are compelling enough that it would be very difficult to say no to the 40 year benefits.  The other Ivies are great institutions, but I am no longer clear if the investment there is better than a great state school or a top-tier academic P5.

The friend's son has been exposed to all of the baseball opportunities - NECBL and eventually CCBL - as well as fundamentally unique opportunities - paid internships, exposure to very well known business leaders as part of the school baseball program.

In contrast our son also had interesting opportunities at his transfer school - preferential recruiting by big 4 firms, access to successful grads etc.  However these programs were available if and only if he took personal initiative to engage.

Finally - political orientation of an institution is somewhat unimportant from a baseball perspective.  The student spends essentially 75% of their time with the 34 other guys on the team and baseball doesn't tend to lean left

@SupplyDemand posted:

Our 2026 has been heavily recruited since the Aug 1st opening gun by more than 30 D1 programs. There have been some pretty generous scholarship offers, ranging all the way up to full scholarship + NIL by top 25 baseball programs. He's exceedingly fortunate to be in this position, but it is also difficult juggling all of the interest and making a final decision.

He is also high academic and wants to ensure nothing is lost on that side of the equation. We've pretty quickly ruled out schools that are not also strong academically. This still leaves a number of Power 4 programs with good academics and good baseball. But we've been put off by the fact that some of the locker rooms have upwards of 45 names in them this fall, and that over half of the players are new this year (10-14 freshmen and 10-14 transfers, or thereabouts). The coaches assure him that he would be at no risk from this churn and a lot of favorable player comps have been made to prior first round draft picks from the various programs, but of course recruiting involves a lot of flattery. There was one school that was particularly well regarded academically and athletically, but they came in with the lowest scholarship offer, suggesting an elevated danger of being discarded there.

At the moment he is thinking that maybe Power 4 baseball just isn't for him, and so is strongly leaning toward an Ivy option that would obviously tick all the academic boxes, but plays a somewhat lower level of baseball. (It is also extremely expensive and we do not qualify for aid). He is admittedly charmed by the big names of the Ivies, and this will impressive his primarily high-academic friends.

Setting aside the money, is the quality of development and competition and exposure to scouts at the Ivy schools good enough? I know some Ivy players get drafted, but never particularly high, and it is quite rare that they make it all the way to the major leagues. Is he effectively closing off the admittedly slim chance of a baseball career? On the plus side, the roster size is much smaller, he would probably play as a freshman, he seems to fit in better with the Ivy players, the quality of life is better as they train for maybe 3-4 hours a day rather than 6 hours, he can still play summer ball with the top collegiate athletes, etc.

Another question is whether an Ivy education is that much better than, say, a 25th ranked academic school?

Any advice is welcome and I suspect a decision will be made within the next week. I also suspect he would thrive in nearly every scenario, even if my pocket book does not. But it is painful process to close the door on so many incredible opportunities, and to make difficult trade-offs.

Thanks kindly.

Very good questions. My son is at an Ivy and I'll give you a quick response (happy to discuss further in PMs):

* Exposure isn't the same as in larger programs during the season. You play fewer games and few people show up. That said, two of my son's teammates were drafted last year (mid and low round).

* Summer ball (NWL etc) is the great equalizer - see whether the program you're evaluating places kids in good leagues across the nation.

* Quality of education is what your son puts into it. I'll say my son (who's a middle-of-the-road student) is very glad he's at an Ivy academically. The degree travels with a strong alumni network regardless of which Ivy you pick.

* No worries about transfers coming in and taking a starting job away. The same crew for four years. My son tells me this is huge for him and his teammates. It feels like a team and not a bunch of free agents.

First, congrats to you and your son. Everyone on this board respects the level of sacrifice your son, and your family, has made to get him to this point. Sorry about the lengthy post but this thread hit home for me. My post is a vote for the Ivies and I appreciate all the pros and cons mentioned in this thread. My son plays baseball at a high academic D1 and I played football at Princeton. Agreed, the Ivy cost is high for those without aid -- I know as I have a football player at Cornell also. That said, the ROI on the network and opportunities are unmatched -- especially at Princeton, Harvard, Stanford, Cornell and Yale who have incredibly strong alumni networks. These networks are not haphazard, word of mouth but highly formalized private social networks with access & postings available only on the alumni web. I grew up poor in a trailer park in the Midwest and I retired at 45 as a direct result of these “connections”. My first job was at a private equity firm in San Francisco. I didn’t even know what private equity was but my boss was a former Princeton athlete so I got the job. No way I get that job on my own. He was a Stanford B school professor and my next opportunity came via Stanford. All network. Further, classes are different and the faculty is different. I studied genetics in the nineties and worked with several Nobel laureates who were in a quest to map the human genome. Yes, state U has genetics but the elite schools have opportunities others do not. I taught in grad school at Cal Berkeley and I can say this with confidence and some perspective. Not to say you can’t make it from anywhere (think Steve Jobs, Reed College) but it is easier from an elite school due to the connections. Lastly, my son has had a different team (think 70% turnover) every year he has been at the HA D1 with four rounds of cuts each year -- Fall, Winter, Spring and Summer (most think it’s just Fall & Spring). As a result, the baseball is insanely good, with 7 drafted the last two years. Making the roster is tough and getting playing time is extremely difficult. My son chose the “better” baseball – 60+ games; ACC/BIG midweeks – but he has not had the “team” experience I had at Princeton. Thankfully his coaches have been awesome but working, living, studying, and growing with my teammates for four years was priceless whereas D1 baseball currently is free agency outside of the Ivies. I asked a former teammate of my son now playing AA ball what was the difference between AA and college and he said, “I love the consistency with my team, people get traded or cut but it’s not big changes every season.” Think about that response, there is more “team” at the professional level than in college baseball. Assuming you can make it work financially, not going to an Ivy, if given the opportunity, would be the strikeout of a lifetime.

@GIANTS_FAN posted:

First, congrats to you and your son. Everyone on this board respects the level of sacrifice your son, and your family, has made to get him to this point. Sorry about the lengthy post but this thread hit home for me. My post is a vote for the Ivies and I appreciate all the pros and cons mentioned in this thread. My son plays baseball at a high academic D1 and I played football at Princeton. Agreed, the Ivy cost is high for those without aid -- I know as I have a football player at Cornell also. That said, the ROI on the network and opportunities are unmatched -- especially at Princeton, Harvard, Stanford, Cornell and Yale who have incredibly strong alumni networks. These networks are not haphazard, word of mouth but highly formalized private social networks with access & postings available only on the alumni web. I grew up poor in a trailer park in the Midwest and I retired at 45 as a direct result of these “connections”. My first job was at a private equity firm in San Francisco. I didn’t even know what private equity was but my boss was a former Princeton athlete so I got the job. No way I get that job on my own. He was a Stanford B school professor and my next opportunity came via Stanford. All network. Further, classes are different and the faculty is different. I studied genetics in the nineties and worked with several Nobel laureates who were in a quest to map the human genome. Yes, state U has genetics but the elite schools have opportunities others do not. I taught in grad school at Cal Berkeley and I can say this with confidence and some perspective. Not to say you can’t make it from anywhere (think Steve Jobs, Reed College) but it is easier from an elite school due to the connections. Lastly, my son has had a different team (think 70% turnover) every year he has been at the HA D1 with four rounds of cuts each year -- Fall, Winter, Spring and Summer (most think it’s just Fall & Spring). As a result, the baseball is insanely good, with 7 drafted the last two years. Making the roster is tough and getting playing time is extremely difficult. My son chose the “better” baseball – 60+ games; ACC/BIG midweeks – but he has not had the “team” experience I had at Princeton. Thankfully his coaches have been awesome but working, living, studying, and growing with my teammates for four years was priceless whereas D1 baseball currently is free agency outside of the Ivies. I asked a former teammate of my son now playing AA ball what was the difference between AA and college and he said, “I love the consistency with my team, people get traded or cut but it’s not big changes every season.” Think about that response, there is more “team” at the professional level than in college baseball. Assuming you can make it work financially, not going to an Ivy, if given the opportunity, would be the strikeout of a lifetime.

Great post and Go Tigers!

@TerribleBPthrower posted:

I can only speak about STEM, but there is absolutely a difference. My son is at a school known as one of the most rigorous STEM schools. The he says the math is noticeably harder than math courses he took at Harvard. He has also helped friends from a number of Big State U schools and some prestigious HA D3’s in the northeast and comments how much easier their problem sets are. There is a reason engineering firms target certain engineering schools, software companies target certain CS schools, finance firms target certain math schools, etc. It doesn’t mean they can’t find a diamond in the rough somewhere else but they know they have a much higher success rate out of those schools.

This is a discussion I'm more open to having. The previous discussions where I get told I have no clue what I'm talking about - are not.

If you tell me Program X provides more value at Princeton than it does Arizona State I'll listen; I'll most likely agree. If you tell me that all the work at Brown is more valuable than all the work at Penn State we are better off not discussing anything.

@SupplyDemand posted:

Our 2026 has been heavily recruited since the Aug 1st opening gun by more than 30 D1 programs. There have been some pretty generous scholarship offers, ranging all the way up to full scholarship + NIL by top 25 baseball programs. He's exceedingly fortunate to be in this position, but it is also difficult juggling all of the interest and making a final decision.

He is also high academic and wants to ensure nothing is lost on that side of the equation. We've pretty quickly ruled out schools that are not also strong academically. This still leaves a number of Power 4 programs with good academics and good baseball. But we've been put off by the fact that some of the locker rooms have upwards of 45 names in them this fall, and that over half of the players are new this year (10-14 freshmen and 10-14 transfers, or thereabouts). The coaches assure him that he would be at no risk from this churn and a lot of favorable player comps have been made to prior first round draft picks from the various programs, but of course recruiting involves a lot of flattery. There was one school that was particularly well regarded academically and athletically, but they came in with the lowest scholarship offer, suggesting an elevated danger of being discarded there.

At the moment he is thinking that maybe Power 4 baseball just isn't for him, and so is strongly leaning toward an Ivy option that would obviously tick all the academic boxes, but plays a somewhat lower level of baseball. (It is also extremely expensive and we do not qualify for aid). He is admittedly charmed by the big names of the Ivies, and this will impressive his primarily high-academic friends.

Setting aside the money, is the quality of development and competition and exposure to scouts at the Ivy schools good enough? I know some Ivy players get drafted, but never particularly high, and it is quite rare that they make it all the way to the major leagues. Is he effectively closing off the admittedly slim chance of a baseball career? On the plus side, the roster size is much smaller, he would probably play as a freshman, he seems to fit in better with the Ivy players, the quality of life is better as they train for maybe 3-4 hours a day rather than 6 hours, he can still play summer ball with the top collegiate athletes, etc.

Another question is whether an Ivy education is that much better than, say, a 25th ranked academic school?

Any advice is welcome and I suspect a decision will be made within the next week. I also suspect he would thrive in nearly every scenario, even if my pocket book does not. But it is painful process to close the door on so many incredible opportunities, and to make difficult trade-offs.

Thanks kindly.

To answer this question I would say comfortability with the coaching staff should play a big role nowadays with the portal and recruiting being the way it is. If that means Ivy, it means Ivy.

I would not let the friends or the perceived prestige of the institution play any role in the decision. You all need to decide which level he belongs at, and which level will be better suited for his attitude, work ethic, and goals. If your son isn't pumped about spending 6+ hours a day being around baseball facilities - sending him to a program where that is what's necessary for success will not turn out well for him.

Is the quality of the development in Ivy program good enough? Yes

Are there more promising options for your son? It would appear that way. But if he's a pitcher and he really gets on with a PC at an Ivy - it would be a better developmental option than going to a national championship contender and not clicking with the staff at all.

I would make the decision based on comfort, goals, and finances.

Something to consider: Going back to the well regarded academic/athletic school with the lower offer. Letting them know you love the staff, the program, but given the other offers they would need to be closer to _____% in order to make it work financially. If they could bridge the gap he'd commit on the spot.

Ex: If the other offers are 100% + NIL and they are 40%. If they could get to 65% you would gladly commit.