Choosing a college – Part 1

** NOTE:  I found out late yesterday that the links I provided in yesterday’s post were not working.  Sorry for the mistake on my end.  They are now working.  You can access yesterday’s post again by clicking HERE.

 

Many senior high school baseball players in the country are winding down 
their college selections for next year.  It’s a long process that can
 involve lots of stress for both the player and his parents.  Soon, many
 of the top players will be declaring where they intend to enroll using
 the “early signing period” (November 14-21).  Others will carry that 
process well into the

winter and possibly even the spring (2nd signing
 period – April 17 – August 1). 

Unfortunately, many seniors are now
 realizing that they made one major error over the past few years.  That
 error is … a lack of focus on their grades.
  It certainly is not uncommon for the youth of the world to pay more 
attention to current wants as opposed to future needs.  A number of
 recent studies have pointed to the teenage brain as the main culprit.
  The problem is that most players who want to play in college cannot 
afford to make this mistake.  Most players are not studs who can sit
 back and wait for the top programs to come to them.  Most players also
 do not have the talent to persuade admission offices to be lenient 
regarding their transcripts and SAT scores.
 

Because of all this, too many players due to academic performance (or
 lack of) in high school are forced to enroll in whatever college program
 shows interest.  In short, players who fall into this category don’t
 have many options when choosing a school.  Often the player ends up
 attending a school simply because the coach showed some interest instead 
of making the choice because it’s the best fit overall for the
 student-athlete.  I’ve seen this happen much too often.
 

Hopefully this heads-up will force current sophomores and junior 
players to put more focus on excelling in the classroom.  Doing so will
 allow the players many more options when it comes to selecting a college
 and their baseball program.  When this happens, the players will have
 control of the selection process and will not be at the mercy of just 
the one or two schools that they are able to get into.