Babb told kid to up his SAT score and come to the camp. Kid thanked him, talked to kids going to the school and decided he did not want attend given the rigor.
@2022NYC posted:Babb told kid to up his SAT score and come to the camp. Kid thanked him, talked to kids going to the school and decided he did not want attend given the rigor.
Smart kid for getting "the skinny" before applying or verballing. Talking to other people, unofficial and official visits can provide a lot of information if you are really listening and tuned into it.
I think it works the other way too. For example...kid is serious about academics (or has a difficult major) and notices the baseball team has a significant number of "booze hounds". Kid moves onto the next school on the list.
In my way of thinking, when you look at any school with a starting price over $60K, it better fit like a glove in every way possible. 
JMO.
One of the many great things with this site is there are parents of kids here attending or committed to most of these schools and you can get a good idea up front as to what the academics, social life, baseball experience, safety, etc. are like.
@3and2Fastball posted:“Love” at a private HA D3 = 66% academic scholarship or more.
Is this true? Wouldn't this have to be based on test scores/GPA? Something objective.
I have never heard of discretionary academic scholarships.
@TerribleBPthrower posted:How often do coaches tell a kid they should be good with admissions and then they aren’t? Seems like the coaches my son has interacted with have a good grasp on the minimums.
The key is to ask the coach exactly what grades/scores your son has to get senior year. Don't accept "just don't fail any classes", ask very specifically.
And yes, at a D3, any academic scholarship is required to be based on the same test scores, grades, etc. as for a non-athlete student. Same with need-based financial aid.
@PABaseball posted:Is this true? Wouldn't this have to be based on test scores/GPA? Something objective.
I have never heard of discretionary academic scholarships.
It is not uncommon as part of a pre-read for a coach to relay that the admissions office is willing to offer $x in scholarship grants. (Or rather, that admissions thinks that the player will likely get $x if admitted ED, which they are confident he will be. No one makes definite promises, but you can feel confident relying on this kind of info.) This is a potential option if your son is applying one academic "tier" down from where he could go. (IMO people get carried away with trying to rank schools, but the reality is what it is...) So if an applicant meets the academic requirements at Hopkins, then another school where that kid's scores and grades would be in the top decile might be willing to offer merit-based aid.
Again, the schools at the top of the pecking order generally don't offer academic scholarships. But there is a lot of merit aid available at very good schools, especially if you aren't obsessed with a short list of "name brands".
Just to be clear: These are not athletic scholarships--an applicant is going to have meet whatever criteria apply for the merit-based aid. I do think, however, that because athletes apply ED, admissions offices like the idea of being able to target aid to someone they know will accept an offer. You can also try to talk with schools about merit aid at places where your kid is not applying as an athlete, but the baseball route gets you direct info from admissions decision-makers.
Again, this option is for schools where your son's academic measurables are a cut above the majority of their students. As when looking for a place to play baseball, you need to know what ponds you should be fishing.
@Chico Escuela posted:It is not uncommon as part of a pre-read for a coach to relay that the admissions office is willing to offer $x in scholarship grants. (Or rather, that admissions thinks that the player will likely get $x if admitted ED, which they are confident he will be. No one makes definite promises, but you can feel confident relying on this kind of info.) This is a potential option if your son is applying one academic "tier" down from where he could go. (IMO people get carried away with trying to rank schools, but the reality is what it is...) So if an applicant meets the academic requirements at Hopkins, then another school where that kid's scores and grades would be in the top decile might be willing to offer merit-based aid.
Again, the schools at the top of the pecking order generally don't offer academic scholarships. But there is a lot of merit aid available at very good schools, especially if you aren't obsessed with a short list of "name brands".
I understand, but they're not offers correct? The same money would be available for any other other student with the same scores.
A school can love you, but not be able to give any merit money if you're not in the top ___ % of applicants/scores/gpa/etc.
@PABaseball posted:I understand, but they're not offers correct? The same money would be available for any other other student with the same scores.
A school can love you, but not be able to give any merit money if you're not in the top ___ % of applicants/scores/gpa/etc.
I have never worked in admissions, so fwiw: Some schools do make merit aid available to any accepted student with specified scores and grades. Other awards have a discretionary component. And I think the fact that an athlete commits to attend by applying ED can make admissions feel more generous, but I admit that's speculation. Having gone through the college application process with two kids, one of whom was not an athlete, it's great to be able to discuss potential merit awards before you apply, which non-athletes typically can't do.
As I'm sure you know, D3 schools are not allowed to give athletic scholarships. Would all the athletes at any given school have exactly the same grant awards if they weren't recruited for sports? There is no way to run that experiment. Schools do adjust merit and need-based aid offers pretty routinely, and I don't think it is all constrained by specific guidelines.
Yes, but there seems to be a range of "merit" based awards. I would be willing to dress like Red Skeleton's Freddie the Freeloader at the incoming freshman class gathering if it would knockdown another K off the tab. My wife, the smarter one plans to appeal again after the admissions period in the hopes there could be extra merit
@2022NYC posted:Yes, but there seems to be a range of "merit" based awards. I would be willing to dress like Red Skeleton's Freddie the Freeloader at the incoming freshman class gathering if it would knockdown another K off the tab. My wife, the smarter one plans to appeal again after the admissions period in the hopes there could be extra merit
2022NYC,
My advice is to keep after them like a "rabid debt collector", and keep options open (or at least make them think you have options). We discovered our son's 1st choice school had institutional discretionary funds (merit award) available to match a rival school (son's 3rd choice in the same conference) need based financial package. It ended up being $4K per year for 4 years which isn't bad. We started our dialogue with financial aid folks before he committed.
PS...His top three schools (engineering major) ended up being within $1k of each other. All need based financial aid without athletic scholarships. His first choice was a D1 HA. Second choice was a D3 HA. Third choice was D1 HA. There were many phone calls between my wife (the smart one too) and myself with the financial aid office. Sometimes they did not want to share data points or reasons, but we kept after them. It was worth the time & effort.
Just my experience.....