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Hello Teamliquid,to start things off just a quick introduction. I started following Starcraft upon the release of Starcraft 2. I played WoW for six years and was looking for something new and different and Starcraft 2, mainly the community (TL) captivated me. I'm going to try to keep this blog as humble as possible as I am not trying to brag in anyway. This is totally unrelated to Starcraft, but I am looking for advice from a community I respect and follow daily.
I always wonder how many Starcraft fans play lacrosse. Here's what the sport looks like for those who have never seen it. (I play goalie btw) Lacrosse is fairly popular on the East Coast of the U.S, mainly Maryland, Long Island, Pennsylvania etc.. I have been playing lacrosse for eight years and have, essentially, completed my goal of getting to play in College at the Divison 1 level. Technically, I will only be a junior in highschool next year. This might sound alarming to people who are not familiar with the recruiting process in Lacrosse. Almost all of the top 20 Lacrosse schools have halfway filled up their recruiting classes with people my age, which is why I am.. not rushed.. but definitively needing to start making my decision on which school to go too.
This summer I have gone on visits to the University of Massachusetts, University of Virginia, Hofstra University, and Penn St university, four Division 1 programs, one of which (Virginia) just won the National Championship. For those of you who aren't familiar the schools here they are -skill wise- ranked:
1. Virginia
2. UMass
3. Hofstra
4. Penn St.
If you had to ask me what schools I would go to in a fantasy world, it would be:
1. Virginia
2. UMass
3. Penn St
4. Hofstra
This is based on my overall feel of the schools and their programs. However, each program comes with their own advantages and disadvantages. I am only 16 years old. Most kids my age have no business making a decision this big at this age. If any of you have been to these schools and can give me your opinions on what it was like going there, please help me out.
At UVA, they recruit a Goalie almost every year, It would be very hard for me to play more than a year, unless I outpreform the other goalies.
At UMass, I could potentially start 3 years, 4 if I red shirt.
Penn St, there is a goalie a year older than me going, so if I don't out play him I could be behind him until I am a senior.
Hofstra, is a similar situation to Penn St and Umass.
If you were in my position, what would you do? It might be tough for you guys to understand that the decision has to be made fairly soon, some schools are already pressuring me for a decision. That's just the state of recruiting right now.
Thank you to anyone for advice or opinions!
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Lacross: the national sport of Canada (although many consider it to be the national 'summer' sport).
Come join us up North 
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I can't speak to lacrosse, but UVA gives you the best educational opportunities out of the four (well, I've never heard of Hofsta, so I don't know about them). So there is that to consider. I know that the decision right now is mainly about lacrosse, but academics are another consideration.
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United States7481 Posts
If you can, go to UVa. not only for the program (which it looks like will give you the best opportunity to grow as a player) but also for the quality of the academics, which as far as I know are significantly better than the other 3 schools you listed for undergrad. You may not care about that 2nd part right now, but you will in 5 years.
good luck with your decision no matter what you choose!
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Having been through this process in Hockey let me give you the advice I would give myself back then. Go where you are going to play. It's as simple as that. It doesn't matter if your team wins the National Championship if you are sitting on the bench, trust me. It doesn't matter if it's a more prestigious school with a better name that will sound cooler to your friends. You will enjoy competing more than any other part of your school experience so go where you can do that the most. I'm sure you have a gut feeling based upon who is there now/the recruits they have lined up where you will get the most playing time. I guess the only thing that could effect that decision is if you had to pick between something like Notre Dame and a school with not so great academics. Then the potential value of your degree would be a huge concern considering (I don't think?) there are many pro lacrosse opportunities. If all the schools are relatively the same academically then trust me, go where they want you and you are going to play. Good luck
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What else are you looking for besides lacrosse? Big campus? Social activities? Academics?
I assume you probably won't be playing lacrosse professionally out of college (unless that is your ultimate goal), so pick a school that you would feel comfortable at academically/socially for the next 4 years, rather than a school where you think you have the best chance of being on a top lacrosse team for only 4 years.
You may love lacrosse, but the game is the same no matter where you go. If you really have a passion for it, then it won't matter which school you go to. Just go to play and get an education, not to win a national championship.
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I already go to a really large high school and I knew from the beginning I didn't want to go to a small school, which kind of excludes Hofstra from my choices. My intended major in college is business and from what the coaches told me, Penn St has a superb Business school, UMass has a good one and so does UVa. Professional Lacrosse is pretty much just a hobby so I do agree with you guys, my education is certainly the most worthwhile thing to get out of my experience.
Thank you to all of you for your advice. It's certainly easing the weight off my shoulders. I never expected to be in the position I am in now, and it is 100x more stressful then I ever could have imagined. I definitely want to play in college, however Goalie is a really tricky position. You only have one of them on the field at once. I'm confident in myself that if I were to go somewhere, I could work hard enough to win the starting spot.
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I'll echo the common theme of the thread here.
Lacrosse isn't the benefit of going to college in the long run, it's the means for you to do it. You're lucky enough that you'll probably be able to attend a great school for little or no money. Focus on your lacrosse, certainly, because it'll be important to keep your scholarship. But throughout school, you REALLY want to milk the free(ish) education for all it's worth, so that you have something to do AFTER college. UVa is the best academic school on the list. If you can get in there and pay very little for the four years you'll spend there, AND their lacrosse program is acceptable for you (it probably shouldn't be the biggest factor, but since it's your life for four years, you'll want to at least consider it), take your academics seriously and come out of school with little debt AND a fabulous education.
Congratulations for having such an enviable problem. =]
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Finally!!! I know exactly where you are at right now.
Unfortunately goalies are possibly one of the most locked postions out there. When I started at Hopkins (as a middie), a friend of mine ended up as the second string goalie, and he had fucking ass burns from riding the bench so hard. Even in our our senior year he only started 60% of our games, it was ridiculous. That was my only experience with goalie play time though.
Basically you want to go with whatever college you like the best. In the end where you get your degree from doesn't matter. If you want to play, I would probably go with U-Mass. I knew a few guys that went there (years ago though) and they said the campus was fucking awesome (parties, girls, profs were good also). Besides Virginia just won the championship (by luck though...), so they're aiming high right now. If they repeat next year (which I doubt) then your chances hit very low for the preceding years. So if you want a balance of play-time and a good college system, U-Mass is your best bet.
Personally Hofstra, even though I only googled and checked into it briefly about 10 minutes ago, would be a pretty crappy choice as a college. The campus is decent, but I imagine the amount of fun to be had there is a fraction of the other three colleges. And personal bias eliminates Penn State as I would rather kill myself then say anything good about any sports team from Pennsylvania.
The biggest thing for me is the financial situation. Although I wouldn't advise going to a college you hate even if they offered you a full ride, it should be with lax and academics in importance to your choice. You'd be best off talking to your parents about that. Thats all I got.
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Go to UVA if you look forward to wearing a polo or button-down shirt every day. Because otherwise you'll get mocked by the shitloads of spoiled rich kids at that school. Otherwise, you could become a hipster. Because there are plenty of hipsters.
It also depends on what you want to major in. From what I hear UVA's humanities program is good, but they don't have an engineering school to speak of.
Can you tell I went to VT?
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On July 29 2011 05:27 Uranium wrote:
Go to UVA if you look forward to wearing a polo or button-down shirt every day. Because otherwise you'll get mocked by the shitloads of spoiled rich kids at that school. Otherwise, you could become a hipster. Because there are plenty of hipsters.
It also depends on what you want to major in. From what I hear UVA's humanities program is good, but they don't have an engineering school to speak of.
Can you tell I went to VT?
Hope this helps...
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I go to UVA, I'm not too familiar with lacrosse recruiting but I'll still try to weigh in.
We have a very good mens lacrosse team as you're obviously aware of, yet they've been rocked by a few issues in the past two years. And like you mentioned, it may be difficult to play the amount you want because of the number of talented players UVA brings in.
In terms of academics UVA probably ranks at the top of the colleges you mentioned. The academic atmosphere is very competetive. The commerce and law school are ranked particularly high.
Charlottesville is a pretty ideal location to go to college - it's a nice cutesy city not too far from NOVA, where the plurality of students come from. Some colleges are located in the middle of nowhere but there is a ton of stuff to do in and around Charlottesville.
Oh and we party a lot too, probably only behind Penn State on your list in terms of party schools. And of course a tightknit group of SC gamers :D
Ultimately I would recommend looking beyond the lacrosse program when you select your college. I'd recommend just applying to all the schools and visiting each of the schools you get accepted to in order to evaluate the atmospheres and see which you prefer. Feel free to send me a pm if you have any questions
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On July 29 2011 05:27 Uranium wrote:
Go to UVA if you look forward to wearing a polo or button-down shirt every day. Because otherwise you'll get mocked by the shitloads of spoiled rich kids at that school. Otherwise, you could become a hipster. Because there are plenty of hipsters.
It also depends on what you want to major in. From what I hear UVA's humanities program is good, but they don't have an engineering school to speak of.
Can you tell I went to VT?
And obviously we have a pretty big rivalry with VT. Students at VT actively hate us, most kids at UVA don't really care. Yes we have a rep for being snobbish... no we don't mock you if you don't wear a polo or button-down? lol. Some students are snobbish I guess, and yes some students are spoiled and rich, but certainly no more so than students at VT. UVA has a solid engineering program as well (I'm doing chem engineering), if you're interested in that
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I think highly of Penn State University, if that's the one you are referring to. But is this undergrad? I can only think of PSU nicely on a research/graduate level. On the other hand, I have hardly heard of any of the other universities you mentioned.
PSU suffered a deep funding cut earlier this year, which they lost almost 50% (or more) of their state funding. However, the other ones you mentioned are also public universities, thus may have suffered the same.
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On July 29 2011 04:21 AllTheWay wrote:
I am only 16 years old. Most kids my age have no business making a decision this big at this age.
Trust me, this notion doesn't change when you're 18. In fact, I know plenty of people with Bachelor degrees that they're not using and have no intention to use. Our education has a bearing on what we become, but sometimes that education points us in another, more fulfilling direction. I took five years for engineering undergrad and only discovered what I wanted to do with it during fall semester of the fifth year. To do that I needed grad school, and now I'm doing something a lot different than expected, but I am enjoying it. Pursue a course of study you see yourself enjoying and finding your place in. You'll hear "major in something you love", but comparatively few people find that so easily.
Anyway, sports! Virginia is a great school all-around. The question then remains, "is it worth the risk if you can't play lacrosse as much?". If that's the case, you're probably better off going to UMass. That's not a bad school, either. If you haven't already, get yourself on a campus tour and start talking to potential academic advisors. Junior year is when you're supposed to start doing this stuff anyway. If you have no idea what you want to study that's fine, just don't give up on it and live in lacrosse-land your entire time at college.
Personally, I'd go with the option that let's me grow more as a person while doing what I want to do, so I'd go to UMass in your situation. However, go with the school that FEELS right. I did that in 2005. I picked a ranked 95 school over two great big ten universities. It felt right, and it turned out to be the best decision I could have made!
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EPT
