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The Odds of Getting a Sports Scholarship
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| Wednesday, July 25th, 2007 | Robert Seith | CWK Producer |
“Hopefully you have a Plan B. If you don’t, and you put all your eggs into that athletic basket and it doesn’t pan out … then what are you left with?”
– Rick VanHaveren, Ph.D. psychologist
The odds of a high school athlete playing in college vary depending on the sport. So if your child star is hoping that athletic skill will result in a scholarship, he or she should consider the facts. It turns out that athletic scholarships are not the easiest way to get money for college.
Athletes like Tony Plagman, who stars on his high school baseball team, dream of playing in college and getting a scholarship.
“Honestly, it’s all I think about,” Plagman says. “Baseball. It’s pretty much my life. Schoolwork is not as important.”
But the odds of a high school baseball player making a college team aren’t great: just 1 in 14. The odds only get worse for football, tennis and golf. And for high school basketball players, only 1 in 27 will play on a college team.
In other words, experts say, most high school athletes won’t play at college.
“If that’s the only thing this kid does, he is putting all his eggs in one basket,” says Malcolm Anderson, Ph.D., psychologist. “He needs to be studying, he needs to be involved in an instrument, he needs to be involved in community service, he needs to be involved in other things. So when basketball fails … because of an ACL injury in his junior year [for example]… he has other things to fall back on.”
In fact, Anderson says, a much better way to get accepted and earn a scholarship to college is with good grades and high test scores. Because while some kids get athletic scholarships each year, far more receive academic scholarships.
“It’s not nearly as glamorous,” says Dr. Anderson, “so nobody really pays attention to them. But there are a dozen kids for that one kid who got the football scholarship.”
Experts say dedication to sports is fine, but it’s not a sure-fire way to get into college -- or to pay for it.
“Hopefully you have a plan B,” says Psychologist Rick VanHaveren, Ph.D. “If you don’t, and you put all your eggs into that athletic basket and it doesn’t pan out … then what are you left with?”
What We Need To Know
- More than 20 million kids now participate in organized sports. What’s the attraction? Besides the fun and frolic, working parents often view sports as a better way to keep a child busy than after-school day care. Some experts say it’s a good strategy. Sports help build physical skills, emotional well-being and provide simple fun. (American Academy of Pediatrics)
- Childhood is a time for children to be exposed to diverse activities and interests. A child who has a single-minded focus on one sport or skill has at best a long shot at become the next Tiger Woods. More likely, they’ll leave their teen years with a skill that has no future, and no other interests or skills to fall back on. (Rick VanHaveren, Ph.D., psychologist)
