UConn headed to super regionals with nine D3 graduate transfers

He would probably have more fun at a D3 with a good baseball program, and as a national merit finalist, there are plenty of schools that will give him lots of merit scholarship money.  Not the most selective ones, which are need-based, but at all the tiers below that.

There are various paths to playing after D3, which include transferring and graduating in 3 years.  It would help with transferring "up" if he plays in higher-level summer leagues, which is something to ask D3 coaches about during recruitment - some can facilitate that, some assume that their players want to work/intern in the summers.

@Dadbelly2023 posted:

yes. I admit I'm not familiar with the best academic jucos so I should look into this more. I've mainly been thinking he should go to a high academic D3 to play baseball.  The other conflict is he'll probably be a national merit finalist so there are a whole bunch of schools that will give him full tuition or full ride... but he doesn't have the ability to play baseball at most of those (think Alabama, Miss state, A&M, texas tech, etc...)   Free college sounds good to me but he wants to play baseball.

Be aware many HA D3 schools do not offer merit money,  some will have a "presidential scholarship" type offer you can apply for and have a chance to win, but Schools like Tufts, MIT, none of the NESCAC schools (Amherst, Williams, Bates, etc) do not offer merit money, only need based.

It's an issue we are dealing with for our youngest son, really wants to go to a true HA with Engineering but most don't offer any help based on grades.

@HSDad22, the University of Texas-Dallas is a HA public university that is very strong in the fields of science, engineering & technology. They also have a very respected business school. UTD is currently transitioning from D3 to D2 and their (already published) ‘25 roster lists 39 players and 24 are transfers - mostly JuCo. As recently as 3 years ago the number of transfer players on UTD’s roster was maybe 4. Also interesting to note about UTD, not one freshman saw game action in 2024. Not one at bat & not one batter faced.

@adbono posted:

@HSDad22, the University of Texas-Dallas is a HA public university that is very strong in the fields of science, engineering & technology. They also have a very respected business school. UTD is currently transitioning from D3 to D2 and their (already published) ‘25 roster lists 39 players and 24 are transfers - mostly JuCo. As recently as 3 years ago the number of transfer players on UTD’s roster was maybe 4. Also interesting to note about UTD, not one freshman saw game action in 2024. Not one at bat & not one batter faced.

Thanks for the heads up,  He'll probably stay local, but good to give him alternatives.  It will be good to have a few more HA that are D2, there are so few.  I could only think of one, Colorado School of Mines, as a strong academic D2, but that may be because I'm not as familiar with those outside the Northeast.

@HSDad22 posted:

Thanks for the heads up,  He'll probably stay local, but good to give him alternatives.  It will be good to have a few more HA that are D2, there are so few.  I could only think of one, Colorado School of Mines, as a strong academic D2, but that may be because I'm not as familiar with those outside the Northeast.

You are correct about very few D2s being recognized as HA institutions. As D2 baseball becomes more relevant (and I believe that it will very quickly) the D2s that are HA programs should get a lot of interest. Colorado School of Mines is a great example and so is UT Dallas. Other D2s can be leaders in a specific field but not exceptional across the board. The University of Central Oklahoma comes to mind in that regard. It has one of the leading Forensic Science programs in the country - especially computer forensics. They actually have a Forensic Science Research Institute on campus - one of only a handful of universities that can make that claim.

@HSDad22 posted:

Thanks for the heads up,  He'll probably stay local, but good to give him alternatives.  It will be good to have a few more HA that are D2, there are so few.  I could only think of one, Colorado School of Mines, as a strong academic D2, but that may be because I'm not as familiar with those outside the Northeast.

Isn't Bentley University a legitimately good D2 school for those with a business interest?

@Dadbelly2023 posted:

Isn't Bentley University a legitimately good D2 school for those with a business interest?

Yes.

@adbono posted:

You are correct about very few D2s being recognized as HA institutions. As D2 baseball becomes more relevant (and I believe that it will very quickly) the D2s that are HA programs should get a lot of interest. Colorado School of Mines is a great example and so is UT Dallas. Other D2s can be leaders in a specific field but not exceptional across the board. The University of Central Oklahoma comes to mind in that regard. It has one of the leading Forensic Science programs in the country - especially computer forensics. They actually have a Forensic Science Research Institute on campus - one of only a handful of universities that can make that claim.

University of Central Oklahoma has an overall acceptance rate of 81%. My daughter chose USF for its highly regarded forensic science program and to play D1 softball.

She got the degree. But she decided to go to law school. Despite graduating PBK, having high LSAT scores and coming in second in the Southeast Region of the undergrad moot court competition she wasn’t accepted to any of the Ivies she applied or a couple of other highly regarded top law schools. Some people who attended Ivy law schools figured the overall reputation of USF hurt her.

She did legal research in a highly regarded DC law firm for two years. She then got accepted to multiple Ivies based on letters of recommendation from partners at the firm she worked.

In addition to majoring in forensic science my daughter also minored in criminology and French. I think she wanted to be Inspector Clouseau.

Is USF: San Francisco or South Florida or other? 

@Dadbelly2023 posted:

Is USF: San Francisco or South Florida or other?

USF = South Florida. What are we considering HA? For example The University of Texas at Dallas has an admittance rate of 65% With a median SAT score of 1290. I guess specific programs matter, but they should boost the those scores.

Personally I don't think a school is HA if they have over a 20% admittance rate.

@nycdad posted:

USF = South Florida. What are we considering HA? For example The University of Texas at Dallas has an admittance rate of 65% With a median SAT score of 1290. I guess specific programs matter, but they should boost the those scores.

Personally I don't think a school is HA if they have over a 20% admittance rate.

Many people (including me) seem to have their own definition of HA. It may well be true but I have a hard time believing that the acceptance rate at UTD is 65%. I know many kids that have gone there (since I live within walking distance) and I consider all of them to be HA students - except for my middle son who only lasted one year at UTD. In this area of the country UTD is very well respected - many degrees on par or better compared to University of Texas and Texas A&M.

I know a little bit about UT Dallas now, having done quite a bit of research as my kid can get a full ride with stipend there. In math, computers, sciences, it is absolutely a HA school. Certainly not on par with MIT, Caltech, Harvey Mudd, etc, but in that next 1-2 tier down.  It's a big school with lots of commuter students and not a traditional school in many ways.  But if you do well in the above programs, it seems you have tons of job opportunities on par with the biggest name schools.

@Dadbelly2023 posted:

I know a little bit about UT Dallas now, having done quite a bit of research as my kid can get a full ride with stipend there. In math, computers, sciences, it is absolutely a HA school. Certainly not on par with MIT, Caltech, Harvey Mudd, etc, but in that next 1-2 tier down.  It's a big school with lots of commuter students and not a traditional school in many ways.  But if you do well in the above programs, it seems you have tons of job opportunities on par with the biggest name schools.

That is a very fair assessment IMO. It’s untraditional in many ways btw. A very high percentage of students are foreign, they have no football team, and there is not much Greek life. It’s also pretty expensive for a public university.

@Dadbelly2023 posted:

Isn't Bentley University a legitimately good D2 school for those with a business interest?

Yes, I had meant to mention Bentley, they usually rank just behind D3 Babson for Business overall but probably ahead of it for entrepreneurial business majors.  And to link this back to the original post, I believe one of the Uconn D3 was from Babson or maybe it was Duke where they ended up.  Oh well, I tried. ;-)

@HSDad22 posted:

Yes, I had meant to mention Bentley, they usually rank just behind D3 Babson for Business overall but probably ahead of it for entrepreneurial business majors.  And to link this back to the original post, I believe one of the Uconn D3 was from Babson or maybe it was Duke where they ended up.  Oh well, I tried. ;-)

Duke had a grad transfer from Babson...I know that a number of schools were interested.

I know that Bentley has a sterling reputation in the Boston area, not sure if it is as well known in other markets. 

If looking at UTD, I'd also consider Cal Poly Pomona. We put them in a similar bucket. Plus, there's just something about the weather in SoCal that just can't be anything but beneficial for pitchers. They've had some draftees recently too. Having watched a lot of online video, IMHO, they play high level baseball and having also researched academics their grads interview for and get similar STEM jobs as the "brand name" schools at 70-90%? discount? 100% if academic full ride is on table which sounds like it WOULD be. Our plan was to seek them out in our AZ Sr Fall classic contingency. Just my $.02

@nycdad posted:

USF = South Florida. What are we considering HA? For example The University of Texas at Dallas has an admittance rate of 65% With a median SAT score of 1290. I guess specific programs matter, but they should boost the those scores.

Personally I don't think a school is HA if they have over a 20% admittance rate.

My point is a school may be highly regarded in one field. But if the overall regard for the school is mediocre it can hurt the student if they redirect their career choice in college. In my daughter’s case it hurt her law school acceptances. She went to work as a legal researcher for two years at a prestigious law firm and accumulated references to Ivy law schools. They even paid part of her ,aw school hoping she would return. They made an offer. She made another choice.

@GratefulNTXlurker posted:

there's just something about the weather in SoCal that just can't be anything but beneficial for pitchers.

SoCal D2 and D3 have some of the best hitting teams at those levels. Definitely for D3. Pitching is hard in those conferences. The weather is certainly nice, but the hitters think so too!

@TerribleBPthrower posted:

SoCal D2 and D3 have some of the best hitting teams at those levels. Definitely for D3. Pitching is hard in those conferences. The weather is certainly nice, but the hitters think so too!

Absolutely! Explains why CPPs recent draftees were ALL pitchers. I can think of at least one Pomona-Pitzer pitcher who was drafted fairly recently as well. Pitching success in the region at those levels can potentially get you to the next level. Iron sharpens iron...

A couple of points:

1. Enjoy your college baseball experience as you are NOT going to make any money in professional baseball. (as a player) That is a fact t hat you and your son can take to the bank. I know it is strange to post on a website for a baseball but - it is a fact.

2. My son played on a championship West Region D3 team with/against  pitchers who were drafted, and they were marginal compared to the D1 competitors. I will say that UTD had one of the very competitive West Coast teams but were routinely beaten by Trinity. When Trinity played OU their top pitchers were 95-98, and Trinity were 90-94.  Competitive, but not overpowering, draftable, but low % prospects.

3. Sorry, but it is a joke to consider UTD as a HA school. There is only one HA school in TX and that is Rice (8% acceptance) with Trinity considered a fringe HA school. (28% acceptance) For all you UTA, TXA&M crazies you are close but no cigar. Personally I would chose Baylor over the above two, particularly for any medical field.

The small D3 UD beats UTD as far as academics, however they stink at baseball. I am an engineer and been recruiting STEM majors for many, many, many, years and have never heard of UTD technical academics. Maybe in a micro Dallas environment, but you can't  even mention them in the second tier HA schools, not even within TX.  Not that this matters frankly as getting a STEM degree sets you on the path to life success so that is awesome and UTD does have great baseball facilities and coaches and that is awesome if it is paid for.

Random input: Anytime I meet parents and their kids I always ask how are they doing in math, as IMO if you can do math you can do anything.

4. Cal Poly Pomona would have significant more brand recognition than UTD as it is in a 15M metropolis and can be linked to Cal Poly SLO one of the top engineering schools in the West. (JMO) I saw that UTD was stepping up to D2 and I am not sure what is driving this, but more power to them.