THIEL COLLEGE

Thiel is in rural northwestern Pennsylvania. It is a private small school with a solid reputation. A new baseball field and indoor practice facility. I tried to talk my son into attending college here and playing on their team so I could attend his college games. He chose to go to a college in South Carolina. The distance was a challenge and in the end he returned to Pennsylvania to finish his college career. They recruit local players from the PIAA and WPIAL and a few from Ohio. Very rarely do they reach out farther not because they couldn't, just because they don't have to. A full year tuition, room and board goes close to $40,000 but you might be looking at a financial aide package of $15 to $20,000 to take the bite out of the cost.

I don’t know much about the program. I know 3 kids on the roster. 2 of them pretty well. They are a few years older than my son.

If they are any indication of the kind of kids the coach recruits, I would highly recommend the school.
Originally the one kid had hoped to start there and transfer out but fell in love with the place and graduated this spring. The school itself has always had a great reputation in the area for putting out quality graduates.

The conference is mostly private schools; they all have great academic reputations. Probably not many draft choices coming from there but I bet they all have a high job placement rate %.

Thank you both for your information. It is very helpful. My son is contemplating what to do.

I am from up there old friend, and actually have a very close friend who's son just graduated from there. I believe he actually played both football and baseball.

He's about 22 or so now, and had a really nice internship and works for the company that he interned with.

My son has been called several times by the Thiel coach. My concern is that only 36% graduate after 6 years (cappex.com). Most other schools we are considering have a number above 50%.

Can anyone shed some light on this apparent contradiction, since the posts in this thread imply quality academics at Thiel?

My guess (and it's only a guess) is that it does not bear on academics. What it tells you is that many kids may leave the school before graduation. After all, it is in the middle of nowhere (from what I gather).

But US News lists it as #29 (or something like that , without looking it up right now) for Northeast regional colleges. And a placement rate over 95%.

Newer baseball field, indoor practice facilities for cold/snow days. Had some modest success a couple years ago. Fairly close to Pitt and Clev. Maybe Clevelanddad has some info.

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My concern is that only 36% graduate after 6 years (cappex.com). Most other schools we are considering have a number above 50%.

I don't think you are off base wanting to get an answer to that.....checking all the schools in the President's Athletic Conference you'll see a high of 82%, two in the 70's, two in the 60's, two in the 50's, one in the high 40's and then Thiel College.

Honestly, for most families the days of sending your kid to an out of state school are dwindling. When you transfer after the freshman year, you still lose ground and if you go after the sophomore year....well you've just bought the five year plan. Because in a number of small colleges the classes needed to finish you up are sometimes only given in one semester and that might be Spring.

So while you won't want to make the selection process a giant project....it would be nice to get it right and be on a four year timeline. But who am I to say, two of my three transferred and had to take summer courses to catch up.

Just my opinion but i'd be asking myself how many schools I'd have to pass by that are just as good an option on the way to another school 600 miles away or for that matter 100 miles away. Distance does matter.

quote:

Originally posted by PA Dino:

Just my opinion but i'd be asking myself how many schools I'd have to pass by that are just as good an option on the way to another school 600 miles away or for that matter 100 miles away. Distance does matter.

Of course. However, those closer schools need to be interested and be able to offer the same $ and quality of academics.

Only 59% return for their sophmore year. That is really low. The lowest rate of the schools we are looking at is 80% and most are 85-95.

I read that the national average is 75% return for the sophomore year.

So much more information easily available these days! (compared to when I was looking at colleges in 1979 - thumbing through catalogs in the HS Guidance Office!)

Thanks to all for your replies.

Here is a link to Thiel College in Students Review.

Student Review - Thiel College.

Take for what it is: a non scientific survey of people who chose to review a school. More likely to get people with complaints than compliments.

http://collegeprowler.com/thiel-college/