Originally Posted By: Anonymous
BoardLord : Your advice and those contributing to BOTN has clearly been focused on academics first, athletics second. In a recent league column, there was a discussion about lower standards for NAIA schools where an entering freshman only needs to comply with two of the following three criteria :

* Achieve a minimum of 18 on the Enhanced ACT or 860 on the SAT.
* Achieve a minimum overall high school grade point average of 2.0 on a 4.0 scale.
* Graduate in the top half of your high school graduating class.

What is your view of worrying about athletic play when these are the academic standards being applied?
Let's start with the standardized test scores. An ACT composite score of 18 is generally held at the 33rd-percentile of those ACT test takers. Since an ACT score of 18 maps to an SAT I two-way score of 860 based on the score conversion tables, the general placement between the two is the same. Do we really need to be focusing on athletics when students are performing in the bottom third quartile?

Most students who fail the NAIA test score benchmark will succeed against the GPA test (2.0 baseline - a "C" average) and 50th-percentile of the graduating class and therefore qualify for NAIA placements.

The question is what NAIA colleges await a potential student-athlete who cannot make the standardized test score cut? The following link provides a link to those NAIA men's and women's soccer programs.

http://www.naia.org/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=27900&ATCLID=205322922

Do you recognize these schools? Would potential employers? Are these institutions in locations where you would want your child for the long haul?

Bottom line: BOTN is trying to help the mass-market with our recommendations and advice. Our approach is to develop the whole student-athlete in multiple dimensions. Sports form just one parameter in a complex picture for a student-athlete and their family to consider for a four-year collegiate education. Choosing a college based on the ability to play soccer simply misplaces the priority and purpose of a college education.

This is one reason why the BOTN College Forum does not "hawk" services to our readers from which we profit. Our goal is education of our college-bound students and their families. Think about that when you consider the source of your advice columns.