Overall is it better to go for the better academic school with significantly better baseball but less money offered or the lesser school with nowhere near the baseball but more money offered?
Original Post
Replies sorted oldest to newest
vtmom,
Can you provide a little more info on your son's goals, and your general financial situation? You've asked a very difficult question that a lot of people wrestle with quite often, and I suspect that most people base their decision on many, many factors. Are there any other details you can provide? Is your son a good student who enjoys learning? Does he want to play baseball beyond college? Thanks.
Can you provide a little more info on your son's goals, and your general financial situation? You've asked a very difficult question that a lot of people wrestle with quite often, and I suspect that most people base their decision on many, many factors. Are there any other details you can provide? Is your son a good student who enjoys learning? Does he want to play baseball beyond college? Thanks.
Of course, probably like most players involved in this site, he would love to play proball. Is it possible? Anything in my opinion is possible, if not probable. Time will tell. He is a good student that could be better, he doesn't live and breathe to go to class and he won't be applying to medical school but he certainly can hold his own. Financially, we like most people, would be better off paying a little rather than a lot but this could be just such a great opportunity for him that it probably would be worth a sacrifice on our part (and probably loans on his part) to do it. I know a lot of college baseball players who have let the money make their decisions and have really regretted those decisions, but no one has a crystal ball to see what the future holds (or could have held) to know if they've made the right decision or not. So I guess my question is, is it all about the money?
IMO the academic decision should be similar to the baseball decision, in that you don't want to chose a school where you will struggle a lot to either get playing time or keep up with the academic load.
If you chose a school where both elements are a stretch I think it will make his life harder than it has to be and he may not succeed at either and he could quickly lose his desire for one or the other, or both.
If you chose a school where both elements are a stretch I think it will make his life harder than it has to be and he may not succeed at either and he could quickly lose his desire for one or the other, or both.
Neither would be a stretch academically or baseball wise and one has much better academic support for the players so I don't think that's an issue.
Take the money. Make the bad team better. 
We were faced with the exact same decision at our house. We picked the school with significantly better academics, better baseball, and less money. Why? Because money is temporary, education if forever, and baseball will eventually be a memory.
Goals. Set them high. Will the academics be harder? Will the playing time be more difficult to earn? Yes on both counts. But the higher the goals are set the higher your son will reach and the more success is possible. You could fail to reach the goals you set but what if you do? You failed trying; you pick yourself back up and you try again. Great lessons for a kid or anyone.
Goals. Set them high. Will the academics be harder? Will the playing time be more difficult to earn? Yes on both counts. But the higher the goals are set the higher your son will reach and the more success is possible. You could fail to reach the goals you set but what if you do? You failed trying; you pick yourself back up and you try again. Great lessons for a kid or anyone.
If the better academic and baseball school is not a stretch either way then go there if you can afford it.
My son would tell you in retrospect that, if he'd gone where the money offered was best, he would have been miserable.
Better baseball programs tend to have a higher proportion of players who have a realistic shot at playing professional ball. The competition among players of that caliber to play a significant number of innings tends to promote an ongoing work ethic that makes players better than they might have been, otherwise. They also tend to be more heavily scouted (Although, many professional players come from less-scouted schools,).
In my opinion, it's not all about the money; assuming that a family has sufficient resources to cover the cost of the available opportunities. If that's present, the better the academic and baseball environment, the better the opportunity for the player to grow and develop.
Best of luck to him!
Better baseball programs tend to have a higher proportion of players who have a realistic shot at playing professional ball. The competition among players of that caliber to play a significant number of innings tends to promote an ongoing work ethic that makes players better than they might have been, otherwise. They also tend to be more heavily scouted (Although, many professional players come from less-scouted schools,).
In my opinion, it's not all about the money; assuming that a family has sufficient resources to cover the cost of the available opportunities. If that's present, the better the academic and baseball environment, the better the opportunity for the player to grow and develop.
Best of luck to him!
Prepster,
Excellent post!
Excellent post!
quote:Originally posted by Prepster:
My son would tell you in retrospect that, if he'd gone where the money offered was best, he would have been miserable.
And my son would tell you that he did take the best monetary offer and was miserable and ended up transferring after one year.....
in retrospect, the best offer turned out to be the worst "fit"....Fit is everything...
TOLD MY SON TO FIND THE PROGRAM/COACH THAT HE WAS COMFORTABLE WITH AND LET ME WORRY ABOUT THE FINANCES--IT WORKED OUT WELL
"fit is everything"
Yep.
Yep.