4 YEARS...

4 YEARS

Hmmm 4 years that's quite a chunk of time to make a commitment to.
How many people actually go to the SAME college for 4 years?
~Looking at softball~ the way it is and travel ball I don't think I know any players that are on the same team for 4 years.
Not same coach for 4 years.

Huh maybe considering anybody to make a four year commitment is irrelevant in today's structure of things? (or lack of structure of things?)
Maybe people should be planning college in smaller chunks of time????

Fours Years at the same place?

RADcatchers said:

4 YEARS

Hmmm 4 years that's quite a chunk of time to make a commitment to.
How many people actually go to the same college for 4 years?
Looking at softball the way it is and travel ball I don't think I know any players that are on the same team for 4 years.
Not same coach for 4 years.

Huh maybe considering anybody to make a four year commitment is irrelevant in today's structure of things? (or lack of structure of things?)
Maybe people should be planning college in smaller chunks of time????

Fours Years at the same place?

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If kids are going to college specifically for what it is meant to be - a place to learn, get an education and a degree - then I would say most stay at least 4 years, some 5-6 to get an undergrad degree.

DD’s whole softball class (seniors this year) are the only class while she’s been at college who have not lost anyone. The ones who left the team did stay at the same school. Same coaches as well.

Dd stayed with her last TB team for 3 years. Coaches remained the same, as well.

They don't choose it--though some families do by sending their child to private or parochial school--but kids also regularly commit to 4 years of HS ball. Coaches are often the same. Our HS coach will be entering his 18th season this coming spring. I think HS ball--especially if it is a well-run, competitive program--does more to prepare most players for what they will find in college ball than travel ball. Not saying that in terms of competition faced necessarily, but in terms of how the program will be run, focus on actually winning real games, how playing time is earned, etc.

I volunteer in a kids org - not softball related - and more than 50% of our graduates have transferred colleges in the past three years. A significant number that went out of state have transferred closer to home. (A number had major culture shock in other areas of the country).

I don’t know why kids with the extra stress of finding the school and athletics would be expected to stick at a significantly higher rate. I keep seeing kids commit to schools with 30-50% graduation rates and wondering if sports makes it more likely they will get to the finish line. There are a lot of schools that retain very few kids for four years not even factoring in coach/ team/ sports dynamics.

It would be interesting to know what percentage of college softball players play 4 years at their original school. I would guess the number would be close to 50%. Between portal transfers and quitters.
Four years is a serious commitment. If you don't like the coach, the weather, location far from home or they don't/won't your major, you probably shouldn't go to that school.
Would you or your DD like go to a school across the country that would require 12 to 14 hours of travel time to visit. Travel time includes travel to LAX arriving 1.5 hrs early, 5.5 hour flight. Rent car and 2.5 to 3.5 hour drive in the snow. What if direct flight are not available?
Thank God for Zoom and FaceTime but going to a school that makes any weekend visits almost unfeasible would be tough.

While it does not specify athletes, I would highly recommend looking at a school’s freshmen retention rate and graduation rate. These are very telling numbers.

If your dd is currently in the recruiting process and narrowing down schools I strongly urge you to look at the retention and graduation rates. They also tend to correlate with college selectivity rates.

Vertigo said:

If your dd is currently in the recruiting process and narrowing down schools I strongly urge you to look at the retention and graduation rates. They also tend to correlate with college selectivity rates.

Understanding College Retention and Completion Rates

In this post, we’ll break down retention and completion rates, discussing what each means and how it might be weighed in the college search. If you’ve been wading through college data and have encountered these terms, we recommend you don’t miss this post.

blog.collegevine.com

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Agree, but also more specifically look at the retention rates on the softball team. DD's team has had significant issues with retention. Only 2 of her 5 class members(including her) are still on the team after 2 years. We noted some of the attrition issues during the recruiting process but chalked it up to Covid and the 2 consecutive lost seasons in the Ivy league. Turns out there was more of a team culture issue than we realized. My DD who played for the same travel team with the same coach for 8 years strongly considered transferring after her freshman season.

My DD entered college as one of five recruits. All five started as freshmen and all five graduated together.

Cannonball said:

My DD entered college as one of five recruits. All five started as freshmen and all five graduated together.

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Wow all five started as freshmen great opportunity!