Lessons Learned

By and far, I'd say that the most important factor to me being recruited was grades. I honestly think that the only reasons I had a multitude of options presented to me were my grades and tests scores.

Having high marks opens up doors like you wouldn't believe. So freshmen, study hard!

Great thread idea VARHPmom. Here are the important ones that came to mind:

1) Great grades give you more options as 7Steps already stated.
2) Know where to "fish". Understand where your son fits in the college baseball talent hierarchy, target those schools.
3) Wait as long as possible to commit, and don't be afraid to say "no" to offers that don't meet your goals.
4) Strive to find the right fit or balance with baseball and academics.
5) Never give up the search, and enjoy the journey with your son

Recruited = passion + talent + persistence + luck

1. If your son has a true passion for the game and even a little natural ability - there will be a place for him to play in college. We thought early on that only true stud players (as we saw them at age 12/13 ) could ever hope to play in college. What we see now is that those average players at 12/13 that continued to be passionate about the game and work hard ARE finding places to play college ball if that is their primary goal.

2. Become as educated as you can about the process - do what you know you should do in the recruiting process - then trust your gut and RELAX!!!

3. Do the work to stay healthy.

4. Keep your grades up. If you are an average student do not allow things to go south. If you have the potential to be an excellent student - DO IT! A blue CHIP stud will always find a place to play. A very good ball player with good to excellent grades will have MANY more options than a very good ball player with sub-par grades. An above average ball player with excellent grades will also have choices. It can work either way - excellent grades may provide an average player college baseball options that would otherwise not exhist AND excellent baseball skills may provide a player with average to above average grades with higher level academic school options than would have been available without baseball.

5. Be willing to market your player. In our family we have always said that "if you are really any good you do not have to tell people - they will tell you." While I believe this to be true in everyday life - during the recruiting process you must be willing to promote your son by telling the appropriate people about his baseball abilities ( as honestly and objectively as possible - rankings - videos - stats - etc.) While this marketing will not get you a scholarship by itself - it may begin the process.

All great points! Agree completely that having a great transcript helps open lots of doors. Also it is critical that you get the necessary exposure. Do not assume colleges are beating the bushes looking for players. They now have Perfect Game, Headfirst, Stanford and many other camps they can attend and see signifcant #'s of players in one location. Cast a wide net and don't be discouraged. Colleges are sometimes slow to respond to questionnaires, emails, phone calls.

Lastly, try hard to get an objective evaluation of your son. Helps you focus on the fifth schools.

Meant "right" not "fifth"! My iPad typing skills are not great.

I would say the hardest thing in the whole process is taking the daddy goggles off and truly figuring out where your son fits. If he isn't a high level D1 kid then you can email and call those coaches but he will be left out.

Next I say 50% is playing or working out in front of the right coaches. 25% is your son contacting and staying in contact with those coaches. 25% is your high school/summer/club coach to contact colleges on his behalf.

Also do your research on the colleges you target. Know how many scholarships they have. Know their needs by looking over the roster.

My son ended up committing to a college that saw him at a Perfect game showcase. We visited schools from the D1 to D3 and several junior colleges. Seem what everyone has to offer before you and your son makes this decision.

Hope this helps

Have fun, savor every moment on the field. Abilities don't last forever, memories do.

Can someone define the different levels for grades, please? I see it mentioned a lot, but was curious what baseball considers the different levels.

What is the range for (From a baseball perspective):

- A Great Student
- An Above Average Student
- An Average Student
- A below-average student

These are inversely proportional to the skill of the player…..

LHP 95+ is one set of numbers, RHP 82 is another.

BOF,
I completely understand that. I just thought there might be a general perception of these levels, and then they would swing one way or the other based on the talent level of the player.

Great student: lots of AP/honors/IB classes with more A's than B's in those classes (rigor of HS curriculum), SAT 2100+, ACT 32+.

Above average student: fewer AP's, with more B's than A's, SAT 1900+, ACT 28+.

Good student: average HS course load (sprinkling of APs or honor classes), solid B average, SAT 1800, ACT 27.

Assuming these students are also ballplayers of a category who would interest a coach, these players could get into a school whose average academic stats may be higher than the players academic stats. (In other words the player could be in the lower half of the college class and be admitted.)

Lefty,

It is a combination of academic rigor, grades, test scores, rank, etc. Ivy's have the AI that is available to figure out where a player fits.

I will take a stab at it, I am coming from the upper end. Great is the lower acceptable limit for many Ivy's. (again you have to do the AI calc)

A lot depends on the institution, for example to get into a UC in Cal. you will need around a 4.0 and 1850 SAT just to get into most of them, the state schools are below this. I think the model is to take the top 10% for UC's and top 15% for State schools.


GPA SAT

Great 4.4+ 2150+
Above 4.0 1850
Average 3.3 1700
Below sub 3.0 1600

Are AP/Honors classes taken into consideration when a school is looking at a prospective student? IE: is a 4.0 with a heavy AP load looked at more favorably than a student who takes a standard class load and receives a 4.0? Also, when you are referring to a GPA of 4.4, I am going to assume that is a weighted GPA.

I think I read somewhere that the AP's were not taken into consideration, only the GPA when applying to school (4.0 scale, unweighted). I believe I came across it on the NCAA site... but I can’t recall.

Ok, I come from the "old School" of a 4.0 scale.

Seeing BOF's range, I am not sure if I am more enlightened or more confused.

How do schools compare private to public HS's?

Question related to the "Average and Below" students out there.

I see a benefit to taking advanced classes for success when you get in college, but to get a B in an advanced class, instead of an A in a grade level class seems to be counter-productive to the entrance process. I can see the hope that by taking the advanced classes, you do better on the standardized test (SAT and ACT) but it also seems that if you have a better GPA, you can afford a lower SAT/ACT score.

What am I missing?

So on a 4.0 scale, where does a good player with a 2.8GPA and 24 ACT score end up? (I just made that up to get a sense where that level of players fit.)

From NCAA.org Im with lefty

I get you Lefty, it took me a while to figure it out also. The top schools are going to expect you to take an academically rigorous schedule that includes AP courses. (classes that you can get a “5” in) I believe they start these in the Soph year. If you are not competing with the top kids you will most likely not be considered by the most selective colleges. So it is better to get a “B” in and AP class than an “A” in a non AP class.

In my son’s case he went to a diverse HS, so basically all of his (non baseball) friends were from the “AP track kids”, almost a school within a school. My son did not take all AP classes and for example did not take AP Physics since the AP physics teacher was horrible and he knew he was going to have to take it anyway when he got in college. So I think his load was 3-4 AP classes per semester.

To further confuse you a HS student can take an “AP test” at the end of the year and depending on how he scores, he can get college credit for them. It depends on the school whether you get credit for it. They are scored on a 1-5 scale and depending on the school you can get credit from a 3-5. My son is at a selective college and he found out that you pretty much have to get “5’s” in them to get credit for them so it is costing me a few more bucks because he got mostly 4’s in them…..

Not sure if it helps, but that is the way it is.

Good advice here...like the early posts of Fenway & YesReally.

This is for those parents who are seeing some of these academic stats being thrown out there and saying to themselves that their kid doesn't get these types of numbers.

My son has a 3.3 GPA, 24 ACT (National average is around a 21.5-22 I think), never has taken an AP course, ranks around the middle of his class and has signed an NLI to a D1. He's a RHP and hasn't hit 90 yet. He accepted a very good scholarship offer (pitcher money).

A D2 offered him nearly a full ride. Sure, being a "great" student makes it easy on a college but "good" students get great offers too.

Be seen by the colleges you are interested in, play on a well known competetive team if you can and work hard.

I agree with Strike 3, not all kids are as gifted academically as others, just like baseball, or anything for that matter.

My son has a friend who is graduating in 12 and he worked very hard and just got admitted to a Cal State school and I am very very proud of him. It does not make him any less of a person or student. He worked just as hard as my son.

It really depends. I think the best advice is to "take classes that you can excel in". Meaning you have a chance to get an A and with hard work can get a B. C or D's in AP classes are probably not a good idea.

All you can ask of your kid is give as much effort in the classroom as he gives on the field. Accept nothing less than the same effort; if the player does that they reach their potential which is all anyone can expect.

Lessons learned for me and my son?

1. Grades and SAT's matter: All schools have their minimum standards, some higher than others. This topic was the FIRST question asked by the head coach during our "offer" meeting. Thank goodness my son met this coach's (and university's)standards. It would have been a deal breaker otherwise.

2. Exposure, exposure, exposure: Find a team and coaching staff that have a proven track record of being able to attract college recruiters to games, no matter what the tournament venue is. Even more important is how well the coaching staff is networked with the college recruiters. It is important that the coaches have relationships with the recruiters.

3. Skills development: Do not limit exposure opportunities to only camps or only showcases. Do it all. Attend college camps, play in competitive showcase tournaments, practice with a coaching staff that will make your son better. When all is said and done, your son must be able to play the game well at his position.

4. The "DREAM" can come true: Know when to let the UNC's, Virginia's, Texas's, etc. fall by the wayside and pursue the REAL opportunities. Playing where they "want" you verses playing where they will "take" you is a big difference.

4. Dumb luck: My son was seen by a JUCO coach at a major D1 college camp. That JUCO coach later left his job at the JUCO and ended up with a coaching job at the D1 school my son will be attending. When asked how he came to be at that major D1 camp, the coach said, "I heard they were having a camp, and I had nothing else to do on a Saturday morning, so I went over there to watch." As luck would have it, my son was on the mound that morning, and happened to be pitching well.

Retriever Dad....

PERFECT.

A couple of people laid out their classifications for grades and test scores. Some excellent students don't do as well as expected on standardized tests. Some students outperform their grades on standardized tests. I have one of each in my family.

While great grades and test scores open up options if the baseball program wants the player, he only needs the minimum standards. I know a kid who will be playing at a very good academic university who didn't meet the NCAA requirement until the third time taking SAT's. He's in.

While my son was in high school I watched a lot of college baseball in person. I made conversations with parents and asked as many questions as I could about their son's recruiting process to the program. Parents love to talk about their kids when asked. At one ACC school considered very difficult to get accepted without sports, I was told several of the players got in with high school gpa's between 2.5 and 3.0. None of these players were major pro prospect studs.

As for gpa's, neither of my kids were ever asked their weighted gpa's. They were asked their unweighted gpa and what level courses they took. There isn't a standard weighting system. An AP course at my kids high school raises the grade .4. At some high schools it's a 1.0 bump.

d1 and major jucos want the most talented players they can keep eligible. if they have a guy recommended by an mlb scout that they think can stay leigible, and a 3.5 student who is not recommended by a scout, who do you think they will take? who would you take when your career, job, and program reputation depends on wins and losses and how many guys move to the next level.

don't forget the weight room and speed when you are working on getting to the next level. most next level players are stronger (i didn't say physically bigger but it helps)and/or faster. it looks like it boils down to your performance. can you outperform the other guys they are interested in and stay eligible.

Its been a while since my son was involved in this process, he did it twice once in HS and once in a JC, my daughter also had some college experience with s****r, here are my takeaways:

-If playing baseball is very important to your son, go to the school that really wants him i.e they pursue him and have definate plans/vision for him. Your son is not their second choice.

-Some make the process far to complicated, no matter what you do most HS kids will never have enough info to make an informed decision, it will involve a bit of luck and chances improve if he was able to figure out which school really wanted him.

-Don't be afraid to move in a different direction if its not working out. Yes, "Blah blah blah teach him to stick it out, blah blah blah", your son has only once chance at college baseball and you might be surprised to find out how important playing is to your son and how many times a gut feeling should be followed. Your son has had 18-19 years to work on his gut feeling with your help

=The second time around I didn't visit any of the schools with him or even talk to the coaches, he had some very good choices with programs always in the CWS but choose a school that hadn't been to a regional in years because he focused on how much he trusted the coach to not blow smoke.

It worked out much better the second time around.