Hey all -
this is my first post on this blog, so let me just identify myself, since I have nothing to hide, but I do sometimes have obvious biases. I'm Miranda Roth from Atlanta, GA, played for Paideia High School, then Carleton College, then University of Washington. I now play for Seattle Riot, coach University of Washington and Seattle Moho. I also am an assistant coach for the US junior girls team and have coached Seattle Hyak at YCC.
Ok, now that that's out, what I want to talk about is: how important is ultimate in the decision of where to go to college? Where are the best high school players going these days? Do you talk to other players about college and try to go the same place? When I graduated from high school, the first person to recommend Carleton to me was Michael Baccarini, my ultimate coach. I knew that there were three Amherst girls going there and one Madison girl as well plus a Nashville girl (they are still some of my best friends) and we knew that we would play together for four years. The opportunities I had to play in college were a huge part of my college experience and it would have been silly for me to NOT consider this in my college decision.
What is like today? What is recruiting like? In Seattle, there has been a recent trend of high school players staying within the state to go to Western Washington, University of Washington or even neighboring University of Oregon. Is there an attraction to staying near home - perhaps to play with your high school teammates, to continue playing with a local club team, etc?
I would love to know these things since I am involved at high school, college and club levels.
This is the time when kids begin to hear back from colleges for next fall and it will be very interesting to see where this very talented group of high school seniors end up and which high school rivals will be college teammates.
Thursday, January 26, 2006
Going to College
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9 comments:
ultimate played a very big roll in my college decision. i applied to a bunch of schools 11 or so, all around the east coast area, George Washington, American, Scranton, etc etc, yada yada, mostly based on academic options, and where i could and couldnt get in.
when it came down to it though, i didnt really put too much weight on what school had as an academic reputation, i figured no matter where i would end up id find friends, work hard in school and make it what i wanted it to be.
so i started to look into the different ultimate programs that the schools had that i applied to.
out of the schools i applied to the biggest/best programs were George Washington and Pitt, Pitt had previously sent out emails about a recruitment weekend, which although i didnt attend let me know that they were serious about the future of their team.
every school had a team, and i considered the different options. if i went to a really small school (as were a few of my options) surely i could have played a bigger role, but i never would have a chance to get to the really big games. finals at regionals, nationals etc.
so i cant say that ultimate was entirely the deciding factor in my college choice, but it definitely played a role.
*edit: change "very big" in the first sentence to "significant"
I also applied to a number of schools, but ended up choosing Wesleyan mainly for academic reasons but also partially because of the ultimate team. It had a reputation for being very serious and one of the more competitive schools in New England, but was small enough that you could play a role on the team in your first year (for the most part.) I talked to one of Pittsburgh's club players, Brendon Welch and he gave me some info about the team. It really just personally suited me.
I guess ultimate was a consideration in my decision in that I would not go to a school that didn't have a respectable program, but between ones that did, academics was the largest factor.
Hello, this is my first post as well, so I'll introduce myself. My name is Eddie Peters, I'm a senior at Central Bucks High School East, deciding where to metriculate. I applied to UPenn, Pitt, and Penn State, and Cornell. Cornell was my first choice, but I was rejected early. I have been accepted into Pitt and Penn State, but the UPenn application is still out.
Narrowing down my college selection to these four was based primarily on Ultimate. I wasn't going to apply to a college without, at least, a mediocre team; but, since the colleges I applied have very strong teams, I am able to base my decision on academics: with a pecking order of UPenn, then Pitt or Penn State.
Right now I've no hope for UPenn (based on Cornell's rejection), and I believe the academics of Pitt and Penn State are not substantially different (as to warrent one immediately over the other, but I am leaning toward Pitt as it has a better engineering program). Let me just say I know the captain and some players at State College, and I went to First Night of Flight(McCabe and Reed, where were you?), and I saw Pitt play in Regionals. I am impressed by both teams. It will be difficult to choose between the two, but, provided Penn State is UPA sanctioned next year, neither team has enough clout to sway my opinion once I make up my mind. If I do find out Penn State is going to remain banned through my first year of eligibility before the enrollment deadline, I'm going to Pitt. No question. So perhaps Ultimate makes up a larger section of my decision than I'm willing to entertain.
College recruitment of High School players seems to be on a 'sight-presence' level. If you're skills look good and you're in the presence of anyone in College, you will be barraged with such subtle suggestions as "Go to [my College]." I've been to a few college tournaments and club tournaments, and each time someone has plugged their college. At First Night of Flight (college hat), I got four of these suggestions. Some people were serious, some only half-heartedly filling in conversation, some were only joking, but that's the extent of recruitment I've seen.
Still it is very flattering (and perhaps I would give them more thought if deadlines hadn't passed), but it doesn't qualify as recruitment; the people who really made an impact on me are people I've played with. Guys like Owen Ricardi (captain of State College, played 04 Summer league, East grad) from Penn State, Andrew Willment (5th year/Grad, captain of my FNOF team) and Reed Verdesoto (Junior, played 05 Summer league, East grad) from Pitt, and Rob Olson (coach) for UPenn. These are men I've played with and respect. I learn a great deal from them every time I see them play. I could say the same for any PADA or college player I admire.
Interestingly, talking to women about the men's teams is a good gauge of the team's strengths and skills, the players, and the future of the team. They women seem, on average, less biased. Before I was rejected, a few women from Cornell talked to me, and I also spoke to one State College woman. They were all very candid and encouraging.
I know players from both Penn and Pitt who will still be around next year, and I know some kids going up to Penn State. If I didn't, I don't think I would be as excited going to either college. Even knowing only two or three guys will make the transition from my High School team to College much more smoothly. I'm fortunate, because if I go to either college I will have at least one person from my High School on the team.
As for staying in-state, for me it was nearly happenstance; there was an appeal to UPenn being near PADA, but Penn State and Pitt are both over four hours away. Staying near Philadelphia would be great, as it would enable me to play club this year, instead of waiting to establish myself in another area.
-Eddie Peters
p.s. McCabe, you forgot a bio of Andrew Ip in your Rundown. Miranda, I'd like to meet you down in Atlanta.
hey eddie, yeah i missed out on FNOF.
if you get a chance drop me an email (mmccabe at gmail dot com) if you have any questions about pitt, and i can let you know what happened/is going to happen with our recruitment. additionally id like to ask you a few questions about phuel n stuff, do if you get a chance just drop me a line.
did you check out your bio there on the previous post? accurate? complete blasphemey? lemme know.
I'm no star, and academics are _very_ important to me, but Ultimate did help shape my decision. With 1st choice CalTech, a weak team, deferring me, my other schools let their teams talk a little -- and Queens-Kingston has a strong program that definitely attracts me a lot, and their program really puts them over the top over similar schools. We'll see if I get in, of course, first.
this is slightly off topic, but still along the lines of college recruitment.
many many many programs - good programs - have no real active recruitment, or any recruitment at all. this does NOT mean that they do not want you.
my advice to any high school student interested in a school and possibly playing in college, contact the team members. if nothing else they can tell you what the school is like. meal plans, housing all of that stuff, ask them questions.
i strongly strongly encourage those interested in ultimate to use current teams as a resource for info about the school, and hell the teams themselves. email them before you visit and try to meet up with a few of their players to toss.
any contact will help you learn more about the school and their program.
I'm a senior from around Pittsburgh and I play as much ultimate as I am able to find. Although ultimate is perhaps the largest part of my life, I chose my school based on academics and environment. I applied to Pitt for ultimate program and friends on the team, Bucknell for the campus and engineering program, and Lafayette which was not the best in any category.
Bucknell was my first choice and I got accepted there. I decided to go to Bucknell because it is well known for Engineering and has a respectable team (4th at sectionals). I figure I can play a bigger role my freshman year at Bucknell than I could at Pitt, and I will recieve a great education in the process.
In hindsight, ultimate played an embarrassingly huge roll in my college selection. Do I regret it? No. Would I have regreted it if I hadn't landed at an academically rigorous school? Probably.
My advise to those looking at schools with ultimate in mind would be two part.
First, if ultimate is a serious part of your life, accept it and look at schools accordingly. Don't deny yourself the chance to play at the top of your game just because you don't play a "serious" sport.
Second, be realistic about the fact that ultimate is a pretty small sliver of life and make sure you go to a school that can provide a more holistic experience (i.e. an education). If you spend time looking I would bet that there is a school out there that can meet your individual desires in both areas.
Third (I know I promised two), if you are serious about getting better as a player, don't seek out programs where you will be able to make an impact your first (or even second year). There will never be motivation to improve. Your first two years should be spent being humbled/taught by older players who are much much better than you.
Great post Miranda. Keep up the good work.
Cheers,
Philip
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