BOTC - US Lacrosse Community Forum Forums NORTHEAST LACROSSE BOTC MAIN FORUM (LI, CT, WC) Girls 2024-11th Grade Fall 2022/Summer 2023

So , Not true. You do need to continue to email and send updated highlights if you are not committed yet and will be attending a camp or prospect day. You have to keep doing all that until your daughter gets committed. Never too late to get/send a good highlight If not committed! The process doesn’t stop in the summer. Only for committed girls.

You have to start somewhere. Does she know what size school she wants? What kind of location (urban, suburban, rural)? What area of the country is she interested in? You cannot have zero requirements because if you do, once college coaches talk to your daughter they will wash her out since she doesn't know what she wants. I don't think the major matters as much, general ideas are good, but you don't have to have an exact one figured out. Many kids change their minds during their first two years of university.

So, she still emails the coaches with information about herself, what she's interested in, why this school, etc. If you haven't already started driving through campuses while at lax events, you're behind the curve. Have her write down what she liked and what she didn't like. Can you see yourself here? The same goes with attending prospect days and meeting the players. Having experience with sports in college, I always tell players these should be the girls that will be in your wedding and lifelong friends if you choose properly. Who do you want to spend the majority of your time with? That team culture is so important!

If she’s going to a showcase with 20 coaches there and you are just starting the process , email all of them before the showcase. You never know what may happen? At the beginning it’s good to get name out there and attention. As the process goes on, you will see some coaches start to hit daughters sports recruit and can start narrowing things down. In the beginning, cast a very wide net. Making sure to do a little extra to your daughters top 20 choices. Hopefully grab their attention. Most importantly, just try and be realistic about athletic ability and academic ability when choosing the top 20. Good Lick!

Wow, time to take a breath. As one of the others posts pointed out (and you confirmed) "The Draw" is only one piece of the puzzle. I will add, the "Draw Specialist" is only one piece of "The Draw".

Many factors impact the game and the draw is just one of those factors.

Please tell me the OP is a boys coach because it reads much like a boys coach post. A FOGO is not quite the same as a draw specialist, as the FO isn't equivalent to a draw in terms of advantages the boys side starts with.

Reads like a post from the father of a draw specialist.

If the coaches at Northwestern wanted her they would have gotten her in. The above post said "Northwestern can bring in pretty much whoever they want", it did not say "they will admit anyone". Northwestern has more leeway with admissions than just about any Top 10-15 Academic School. That does not mean that they will wave the admissions wand for every player. Simply because a parent gives a reason/story/excuse for why a player didn't get into, receive an offer from or go to a particular school doesn't mean that it's true or that is the way things will be for everyone. I have read many times on here how a player needs "specific" academic credentials to get into an Ivy as if all Ivy's have the same admissions requirements or bring in the same level of athlete (they do not). It appears that many people make statements based on one individuals experience. Remember, every situation is different and what is required of one player (academically) may be very different than what is required for another player even at the same school.

Every school is different, every player is different, every recruiting class is different. One player might be able to get into Duke, Northwestern, Princeton, Stanford, Hopkins, Penn and Vanderbilt with a 93 GPA, 1200 SAT, 29 ACT etc... and another player may be told that they need to have 98GPA, 1350 SAT, 32 ACT (if test scores are needed...) Every single situation is different and so are the requirements for every student athlete, there is a top recruit and a bottom recruit in every class at every school.


.....So that is exactly the point. A Duke, Northwestern, Stanford, Princton, UPenn, etc... can squeek a couple lower achieving students through admissions and will choose to do so if they are studs (certainly not always the case), but even if they can sneak one or two in, they cannot get an entire entering class through admissions. Maryland has a vast advantage, as it is not an academic powerhouse, or remotely close. Graduate HS and they can get you in, and an entire entering class just like you. I know at least a couple current MD players who originally committed to their top choices elsewhere, and these kids were the top choices for those programs, but coaches couldn't get them in, so they ended up going to MD. The message that is often pitched on these threads over and over is "if they are good enough, grades don't matter, the coach will get them in". Too many parents sell this idea on here and to their kids, and you hear kids saying it too. It is not the truth and a really bad path to send these kids down. Study hard, get great grades, work hard on the skills and training, do both and you will have all your options open to you. Push that idea on the kids and they will be much better off for it.

Below is simply not true…

@@. “The message that is often pitched on these threads over and over is "if they are good enough, grades don't matter, the coach will get them in". Too many parents sell this idea on here and to their kids, and you hear kids saying it too.” @@

I have never read a single post that stated “grades don’t matter” and that message is certainly not pushed “over and over”.

Yep! While some kids with bad grades get offers from Syracuse, etc., their offers often stipulate they need to hit a certain GPA to maintain that offer. I know of one Syracuse recruit that has this--Northwestern was interested, but they couldn't pull off getting her admitted due to her grades. Amazing lacrosse player that spent most of her time at practice, etc, but didn't put the same amount of time into her academics.

Just another worthless post from someone trying to disparage "Syracuse etc"... Just as some other posts tried to knock Maryland.

"I know of one".... "One of my daughters teammates"... You might as well say "my sisters daughters teammates cousins mothers brothers girfriends sons girlfriends sister was Stanfords #1 recruit and was told that she needed a 100 GPA and a perfect score on her SAT/ACT in order to get in..., she didn't have the grades for Stanford so she went to XYZ University..."

It is all just BS. Not sure why people post such [Censored] when they really know nothing. I guess they have their agenda and obviously want to promote certain schools and knock others while somehow hyping the players who commit to a particular school and tearing down players who commit to other schools.

Very transparent and sad.

Because it is true. Keep kidding yourself that girls with bad grades get into top schools oe even mediocre schools with full rides. They don’t and that’s because there are so many better girls with better grades. You go with the known quantity not the potential headache.

The sentiment that if coaches want a player bad enough, they will get them in no matter what, is posted constantly on these threads, for the last ten years. I am certain I could find at least 100 posts through the years, even though I am not going to do that. You do you, I made sure my kid knew that grades were of the utmost importance, she worked hard both on the field and in the classroom and had all options open to her at the highest level of lax and academic. Everyone should be promoting getting the good grades.

I agree with this 100%. There are so many girls that are great at lacrosse and great in the classroom. Coaches at top programs don’t need to waste their time with good players with mediocre grades.

Regarding the whittling down process, one suggestion is to take lacrosse out of it for a minute. Does your daughter prefer:
- large (think 20,000+ undergrads, school is often a town unto itself, probably major football, etc)
- medium size ( maybe 6-10k undergrads), campuses often more self contained, probably not major football (w/ a couple exceptions)
- smaller size (maybe 1500- 4k undergrads), often liberal arts focused schools

also, how about location? is New England, Mid-Atlantic, Southeast, Midwest preferred? can you knock any out?

how important are academics? perhaps a conference like the Patriot league where most schools are pretty strong academically is of interest ... if grades are good, you might be surprised at what schools a player can get in to if the coach wants them

what about history and competitiveness of the lacrosse program? is a recent D1 program of interest or not really?

just a few ideas, to help you whittle down from 120+ to a more reasonable target size

for my daughter (a 2021), academics were important and she wanted a medium sized school, so we were able to knock it down to a uiverse of about 25 potential schools pretty quickly

^^^^* Excellent post and great advice! Thank you

If you cannot handle the truth, so be it. I know the player, I know the parents, I know the GPA. If you are sub 3.0, it gets harder the closer you get to a 2.0. Then they put a requirement on getting your GPA up so you can actually get in. This 100% happens.

I have no bias against Syracuse, I think it's a great school and the campus is gorgeous IMO, great coaches, etc.

The NU comment is 100% true, too, since it was a point of discussion with the club director and the coaching staff, as well as the player. Sometimes the truth hurts and I'm sorry I hit a nerve.

OMG. Get off your soap box. I have literally never read anywhere in here or anywhere else that grades do not matter. From day 1 I have heard nothing but the opposite. Which of course is true. So calm down. We all know your point of your post is to brag about how smart you are, but the reality is you are no smarter than anyone else on here.

Yeah so we whittled down from 550 plus schools to under 200. I kid you not….she has no idea about anything. I got a NE to SE but maybe Cali. Major is maybe something in science. Size-wise not sure. I can’t believe cen get an urban or suburban or rural answer. I think it is overwhelming so she doesn’t think about it. Thanks for your feedback…we are going to have to squeeze some visits in over the next year but again, hard to figure out where to start.

You didn't hit any nerves and everybody can handle the truth. Everyone knows grades are important and there have been no posts on here stating otherwise. For some reason you find the need to state the obvious. Thanks for the brilliant insight, we would have never guessed that it is important to do well in the classroom. Did you really say "I know the player", "I know the parents", "I know the GPA".... are you kidding? Master of the obvious, what a clown. Get over yourself.

I do think that it’s ridiculous that they have to start figuring this out in the fall and spring of sophomore year. My daughter was 15.

My daughter was 15 when she committed this fall. Pretty fool.

The post obviously wasn’t for you, clown. The post prior stated I was trying to disparage Syracuse and it was all made up. Try some anger management classes, as you seem like you’re a real peach.

Jeez. The point being what the heck do you know what you want to do for the rest of your life at 15? Good for your daughter. Hope not living vicariously thru u. Committed at 15. #fake news

Why would it be fake news? Any November birthday is going to be 15 for at least a full two months after Sept 1 of their junior year.

next suggestion is go visit a large, medium and small campus near you - that could help with the size question, actually seeing them. be sure to go when the kids are on campus

Not who you are responding to, but…. you were not only trying to knock Syracuse and other academically comparable schools you actually went after the kid who you claim to know personally. Very slimy.

Looks like the commitments for 24’s have really slowed down. Are colleges moving to the 25’s now ?

Nobody has to know what they want to do for the rest of their life at 15 years old. Help guide your child, encourage her to explore and learn about all of the various college options available. There are so many possibilities, use this time to expose your daughter to as many as possible. There are large state schools, small private schools, city schools, suburban schools, southern schools, west coast schools, east coast schools etc... Lacrosse is just one piece of the puzzle but hopefully it can help to open some doors that might otherwise be closed. While going through the process always remember that choosing a school is just another life progression, don't make it out to be more than it is. Some kids have an idea of what type of career they would like to pursue, some do not. Some kids know what they want to study, some have no idea. Do your best to help make this a fun experience, try to help her understand that this should be an exciting time to learn, not a pressure filled nightmare.

No

Never once have I read a post on here suggesting that "girls with bad grades get into top schools oe even mediocre schools with full rides". Why do you post such nonsense?

Looks to be about 1,060 24s committed so far. Probably will be 2,000+ by the time they are done with 24s. So, I think only 1/2 done. Good luck to the 24s still in the process and stay positive. There seems to be plenty of spots somewhere that are left, if the past 5 years are any indication of how recruiting goes?

Sure looks that way

Do I send any videos to coaches from the upcoming HS season ? The travel season did not go as planned and just would like some feedback

Absolutely. Any good film you get send it. This is about selling yourselves. Despite what some say you have time and places to go. Good luck.

Remember the number of D1 commits (excluding transfers) is usually around 1200. The rest of committs for D2 and D3.

Most top-50 teams are pretty much done. (With a few exceptions). Some lower conferences like MAC, NEC and Big South have more sports available.

I would expect this class to be a bit larger than last classes as the number of 5th year girls will greatly drop off

Top 50? How do you even define Top 50? Lower Conferences? You imply that all teams in a given conference are the same which they are not. North Carolina and Va Tech are not the same, Maryland and Ohio State are not the same, Loyola and Bucknell are not the same, Princeton and Cornell are not the same, Stony Brook and Albany (or should I say William & Mary) are not the same. All teams in a conference are not created equal and they do not necessarily recruit or get the same caliber of player. The reality is only the coaches at the individual programs know if they have spots left. My guess is that if the right player expresses interest or decommits from a verbal commitment many of the programs that you say are done would find a way to make it work if they believed the player could help their program. Maybe coaches are saving spots while waiting to see which players enter the Portal. If the coach doesn't land any big transfers maybe they offer the spot to a HS player.

Posting this link again in an effort to save all of you from the ill-advised speculation that typically dominates these forums...

https://laxnumbers.com/recruits.php

Amazing how many spots have decreased since athletes were granted an extra year because of covid. Is 2024 the last year affected ??
Seems like D1 is mostly done. Coaches talk about the last wave being presidents cup and how they want to be done by Christmas with their rosters. Seems like a few girls announced after New Years but might just be published late. I doubt much if any $ left for D1 but you may still see names going to D1 but the longer it goes the more likely that they will be practice players.
There are a ton of D2 and D3 schools that have yet to start signing players. They basically wait until after D1 is done to start committing players. Enormous amount of spots left and you will see them filling up between Feb and late summer into the fall of 2023.

Why do you break it down by division? You make it sound like all schools in each division are the same which they obviously are not. They are not the same academically and they are not the same athletically. Smart people use lacrosse to help their child find the best possible fit as well as to help them gain acceptance to the best possible academic institution and hopefully receive some financial assistance (merit, athletic, need).

Once you get outside the Top 10 - 15 Division 1 programs does it really matter what "Division" the program is? If the kid isn't going to one of the programs that always seem to be ranked in the Top 20 (most if not all of which are excellent academic schools as well) Does it really matter what division we are talking about? Not talking about a team that gets ranked once or twice every 10 years or so. Personal "fit" and quality of "academics" should be the priority, what athletic "division" a school is in really shouldn't be of concern.

If your daughter is offered a spot at some of the following she is most likely a legit top tier player but for the majority of players the following schools will not be an option.

Maryland
North Carolina
Boston College
Northwestern
Syracuse
Stony Brook
Princeton
Florida
Virginia
Notre Dame
Penn
Duke
Stanford
USC
Penn State
JMU
Michigan
Loyola

Once you start to get outside that list (and a few others) what difference does the division make? Help your daughter find the best academic, social, financial, athletic etc... fit possible.

If you are placing the "Division" as a priority you might want to reevaluate. That is not to say... you should not consider other schools that are DI, just saying that IMHO the "Division" should not be the driving factor when trying to find the best overall fit for a student athlete.