speaking purely theoretically...

The national merit finalist should get him in alone. My daughter was a national merit finalist and got contacted by about 100 schools.

For baseball, he needs to be 84-86. Have your son email all of them regulary, sending them his schedule, etc. Have him pick up the phone and attend any showcase in which their coaches might be present. Contact PG.

Academically, he is fine (obviously).

Baseballwise...it depends. It's all about someone liking him. Given the fact that he does not light up the radar gun,
he will have a smaller window to impress someone.

If he is solid in the classroom, why choose a PG year?

smithers505,

I agree with redbird5. Theoretically, he should be fine academically if his ACT scores are representative of his other academic achievements includng GPA, and classrank. In addition, the Ivys we dealt with want to see a well rounded student who takes a challenging work load and excels under these circumstances. Your son may already have the academic performance to get accepted into an Ivy. In which case, he could try to walk on. There is a slight admissions benefit to being a recruited athlete, but you still have to get approved by Admissions. Your son may not need this boost from the coach.


Baseball wise he has to find the right situation and need. There are a handful of teams in both the Ivy Rolfe and Gehrig divisions that are mostly left hitters. Dartmouth is defintely one of those "lefty bat" teams that comes to mind. It seems like everybody that came out of that dugout was batting left handed. So there may be interest by Harvard, Yale and Brown for lefty pitching as an example becasue each one of those schools will face Dartmouth for 4 games.

THose are a lot of "ifs" for your PG year. I'm not sure I understand the PG year when he has so many academic options available including walk-on and D3 (theorectically). Why can't he put on 10 lbs this year, get his mph up and try to walk on to these schools if he wasn't recruited due to a recent injury. I would make sure the coach is aware of his situation if he is able to come back from the injury, put a few pounds on, and add a few mph. JMO.

Best of luck!

I'm going to take you in the other direction. My son has a good friend, who is a RHP. During the fall of his senior year he was only being recruited by some of the top D3 academic schools. He was probably sitting at 82-84 and his dream was to play baseball at an Ivy league school. His ACT was 33, with appropriate grades. He decided to do a PG year, worked real hard in the weight room and on his core. He was also young for his grade with a September birthday, and physical maturity may have contributed as well. He ended up having a very good senior year in HS, and during that summer added 3-4 mph to his fastball and was a viable recruit for several Ivy league schools. He is currently at Brown contributing as a pitcher.

I guess what I would say is he must be focused and dedicated for this route to work out, but it can work! And being left-handed can't hurt.

RightyShortstop had a very similar situation. In his case he had a severe injury at HeadFirst prior to senior year. Some Ivy's previously recruiting him suggested a PG year to see how his arm heals. Higher level D3's came into the picture saying commit now and no need to PG. Patriot league schools said come here, you will get in anyway, and be an invited walk on. When your arm heals everything will be great. There was risk in all three scenarios, but he finally chose the high D3 route because, based on official visits, he felt the Williams, Amherst, Swarthmore group and the smaller Ivy schools (Dartmouth, Brown) were very similar in both baseball quality and academic experience. I was pushing the PG option but I am very happy he saved $50k, is playing in warmer weather, is more active in non-baseball campus activities, and getting absolutely sand blasted in the classroom.

However, one important caveat needs to be mentioned. As a very young college freshmen (17) it was a more difficult for my son to adjust to the rigors of top academic and athletic life. College sports are very difficult. I was an All-America at a Patriot League school and both the academics and athletics have become much more intense since my day. We used to say that of the three "lives" at school (academic, athletic, & social) we could choose any two. Today, the demands are that much greater on these kids. I know because I lecture at a Patriot League school and an Ivy League school, so I am on campus often. It often takes a younger kid, a longer time, to learn NOT TO BALANCE. At this level, commit to two lives, because thats all you can really do well.

unfortunately, ADD we never treated led to lower grades than he really should have (3.1 unweighted, but class rank in the top 9.5% out of 650), so an ivy as a non-athletic applicant would be more than a long shot. he's had coaches from academic D3's talk to him, but he still wants more; i honestly don't know if he could handle even a D3 schedule with his maturity level.

he's essentially in the same boat as birdman jr.'s friend--he should grow another inch or two, and he'll be 18 for most of the PG year rather than barely 18 as a college freshman. where did he PG?

smthers505,

That is real important additional data. In the Ivy admissions world they could possibly look at that (35) ACT score as very, very strong and the GPA and class rank as very good but not as strong....and wonder if he is an underachiever in high school. That assessment would most likely be determined by Admissions folks familiar with his high school. Tpically, I've seen (anecdotally) class rank in the top 5% and unweighted GPAs > 3.7 but it depends a lot on his high school and/or school system. If the high school is a very competitive and very well known, the college Admissions can give him a bump.

Also, You'll have to do the Ivy League AI calculation to figure out where your son's numbers are for ACT, GPA and class rank. An AI of 171 is on the low end and 240 is the high. Understanding AI
Essentially, he is competiting against other baseball players and his entire class in the eyes of Admissions. That number is important as well as how badly a coach wants to sponsor him through Admissions.

You've raised questions about your son's maturity and growth....you know him best. I'm really beginnng to think this (PG year) may be a worthwhile path to consider IF you think it will help him in the long run, you can afford a PG year, and your son really wants this, and will work hard to get the numbers he needs to get into his top choice. Birdman (as always!) offered up a great example of how it can work in a specific situation as it did for his son's friend.

Afterthought and PS....my middle son (hs junior) turns 17 this week. that got my head spinning. in no way would he be ready for college or college athletics.

Smithers505, I think you're doing a good job of looking at all the possibilities and doing your due diligence. I did not catch the ADD refeence until now as Prepster pointed out. I thought you were ADDing data points to the thread and read right past the "treated" reference. My bad. As a formerly diagnosed youth ADD patient I should have picked up on that.

quote:

Originally posted by smithers505:
unfortunately, ADD we never treated led to lower grades than he really should have

A quick side-note on the ADD: Assuming that he's now medicated and ends up playing in college, make sure that he communicates his medication routine to the team's physician as he arrives. That way, they'll be able to avoid any potential conflict with the NCAA's long list of banned drugs and the periodic tests that come with the enforcement of their policy.

Best of luck to him!

he's now medicated, and it's made a world of difference. the kid's getting straight a's with a 5-AP course load!

we're going to have a big talk tonight. he's got interviews with deerfield, andover, hotchkiss, etc., coming up in a few weeks, and he truly loves the idea--he always wanted to go to boarding school, and now (besides the financial ramifications) there really aren't any negatives to going

My daughter is at Kent - a Field Hockey player. PM me about questions regarding PG'ing, the process etc. My son didn't. My daughter is.

quote:

Originally posted by smithers505:
unfortunately, ADD we never treated led to lower grades than he really should have (3.1 unweighted, but class rank in the top 9.5% out of 650), so an ivy as a non-athletic applicant would be more than a long shot. he's had coaches from academic D3's talk to him, but he still wants more; i honestly don't know if he could handle even a D3 schedule with his maturity level.

he's essentially in the same boat as birdman jr.'s friend--he should grow another inch or two, and he'll be 18 for most of the PG year rather than barely 18 as a college freshman. where did he PG?

PM me, and I'll see what I can do about putting you in touch with his Dad.

leftyshortstop,

you have a PM

birdman, you've got a pm