If you were looking at best colleges for boys soccer programs, what would be on your list? Particularly solid soccer programs at a college where the degree in and of itself is just as good as the soccer program.
All of the Big Ten and ACC is a good start. High academic standards and quality soccer programs. Hard to beat Indiana for the combination in the Big Ten and Virginia in the ACC.
As someone with a son looking at colleges (and running out of time), the "best" college would be where he can play, get a degree he wants, and we can afford.
If you're talking D1 schools, then I agree with illinisoccer - ACC schools primarily with a few Big Ten schools like Indiana sprinkled in, unless you go out west and look at a school like Stanford.
What about a college that produces players that go on to play professionally, anywhere in the world.....whatever,3rd division Singapore, Low gpa requirements, going to class optional. "Financial aid" and "grants" via boosters Generic diploma... Suggestions?
Great schools and some good soccer in the Big East, too -- Georgetown, Providence, ... (they're virtually all name-brand -- and pricey -- schools).
This may not speak to "good soccer," but in terms of winning soccer, the current DI Top 25 has interesting schools, including some that surprised me -- first time I've looked at it this fall: https://www.ncaa.com/rankings/soccer-men/d1/united-soccer-coaches
*HE* needs to focus on some. He actually set up a visit for next week for one college. We've gone to two other college's "Open Houses" and met with coaches at one of those. We have an ID camp this weekend, one Thanksgiving weekend, and one the first weekend in December. They are all "multi" college camps. He's not doing things on *MY* timeline or the way *I* would do things. That's my issue.
He's only a freshman so I am thinking about what ID camps to do for next year. I think D1 is a good place to start.
Just my .02: 1) What does your son want? Does he want a larger school (D1's would typically be pretty good size)? 2) What I've heard is, especially at the "big" schools, unless you have a direct invitation from a coach (not a mass email), they won't really look at you. Sure, they'll take your money, and you'll get some training, but it might not be as beneficial a recruiting tool as what you'd think. 3) I would suggest finding 1-2 multi day camps over the summer that fit with your schedule, budget, and location. 4) You might find some one day camps at schools in Jan/Feb to go and try. DS did that 2-3 years ago and got invited to that school's multi-day camp that summer. He made the all star team, then hasn't heard anything from the coach since. I'm not sure how accurate #2 is. Again, just my opinion, and I wish you and your son the best.
Good points. I would like to at least check the D1 schools out. My son doesn't really know what size of college he wants yet. He can compete against top players. I was thinking if a camp was 3-4 days long that he would at least get a chance to be looked at versus a 1 day camp where they probably only look at the kids that they invited. He has only done one soccer camp and it was the junior college ID camp with a top D1 school--they were all 13 and 14 year olds. He got MVP and a D2 coach at a top D2 soccer program asked us to stay in touch, so I was thinking that with a longer camp, you have more opportunity to show your soccer skill level.
If your son is still a freshman, he's not going to get scouted by any college coaches at this time. From now until the end of January, college coaches are focused on the class of 2022 and filling next year's roster. Right now, you are primarily working on name recognition with college coaches. D1 coaches cannot talk to or correspond with high school athletes until after their sophomore year.
Not true as far as scouting is concerned. Schools are absolutely looking at underclassmen right now. They are compiling their list of targets. They are talking to club coaches and letting them know the players they are interested in. The class of 22 high school class is pretty much wrapped up for the top D1 teams. Now they are re-recruiting their current players and getting ready to fill holes via the transfer portal.
It's not about getting recruited right now. It's about starting to check out schools so we can start checking out some of their games or if we want to do college ID camps, we can start planning trips for those.
You can check out every school's soccer program on their school website. Just Google the school name and men's soccer. On their soccer page, you can see their roster, schedule, upcoming ID Camps. All of the schools my son is interested in, also, have a recruiting tab where you go and fill out a recruiting questionnaire specific to that school. Filling out the questionnaire will get you on their soccer email list. We have found it useful to check the roster, and each of the player bios, for the type of player they are looking for: year, position, height, in state/out of state, US/international, etc. On the schedule, most teams have a link to live stream their games (but this years regular season is now over).
You can, also, get the coaching staff's email addresses on the Coaching tab. That way you can start communicating with them and sending highlight videos and updates on your son's soccer season.