Why are DII schools so academically bad?

Guess who's back wrote:

Has it always been this way? wrote:

Name one DII school that has rigorous academics, well known alumni, and a good reputation?

Bentley University

???

Some D2 schools like Simon Fraser are pretty good academically, but you wouldn't get a scholarship for your running to the few of these there are.

Most D2 schools are the smaller cheaper state schools in less populated areas. They cater to the demographic of non affluent suburban kids, or lazy/dumb affluent suburban kids.

They are academically bad because it is unrealistic to expect 75% of high school kids to have the intelligence or work ethic to go to a 4 year university. But we live in a world where everyone is force fed the idea that college is a good option. Universities need to make money, so they need high enrollment paying tution fees, which translate to kids getting accepted who have no business in a college setting.

[quote]You're a rock star wrote:

You obviously didn't do your homework on a very large cross-section of schools. To lump over 300 schools from one division into an opinion shows lack of maturity and ignorance. By the way there are a large number of D3 and D1 schools with mediocre academics so good luck with your search.

There are a number of very good D2 academic schools. I can name several good Engineering schools and your PR's would be average at best on those teams. BTW your GPA and test scores don't mean squat in the real world. Are you a good teammate, can you work with people?[/quote

Hah, here come the Colorado School of Mines alumni to defend all of D2.

"I can name 5 academically good D2 schools out of 300." You're just proving the OP's point. Colorado School of Mines is the exception, not the rule.

Ggggh wrote:

Unless it’s Ivy League nobody cares where your degree is from. Employers just want to see the piece of paper. Whether it’s a D1 state school, D2 state school, or weird D3 liberal arts school, or weird religious school nobody cares.

Not true.

Saint Anselm College

Stonehill

There are quite a few decent D3 schools and almost all D1 schools are good. Almost no D2 or NAIA schools are good. Even if you go one of the best academic D2 schools, it will only be as good as an average D1 school. I would not recommend going D2 for a smart kid because the entire experience will be bad. The fan base at the conference meet will be sketchy and your competitors will be idiots.

Maybe you could find a D1 school to walk on to?

Dee1 wrote:

UCSD is becoming D1.

Yes, DII was just a temporary thing as they transitioned from DIII to DI. Fortunately their academics didn't get dragged down during the transition.

You're a rock star wrote:

You obviously didn't do your homework on a very large cross-section of schools. To lump over 300 schools from one division into an opinion shows lack of maturity and ignorance. By the way there are a large number of D3 and D1 schools with mediocre academics so good luck with your search.

There are a number of very good D2 academic schools. I can name several good Engineering schools and your PR's would be average at best on those teams. BTW your GPA and test scores don't mean squat in the real world. Are you a good teammate, can you work with people?

It's ok that you went to a crappy D2 school, no need to get so salty

Since you're most likely not the next distance God running 8:50's in high school, I would recommend D3. The beauty of D3 is the variety. There are tons of incredible competitive teams (some of which you may not even be fast enough to make) all across the country with incredible high academic standards. Additionally, I have seen too many low teir d1 athletes get chewed up and burned out by the d1 machine as they attempt to compete with their nationally qualifying teammates.

I just graduated from a D3 college myself. At my University, we had tons of athletes at your ability level or better. I can think of at least 4 who ran sub 9:30 3200's in high school.

Just a few Solid D3 schools I ran against:

North Central

WashU

Pimona Pitzer

Carlton

Wisconsin-La Crosse

Williams

Wartburg

Loras

St.Olaf

Get recruited for a nescac. You'd get an ivy-league level education and be in a very very competitive D3 program.

Has it always been this way? wrote:

Name one DII school that has rigorous academics, well known alumni, and a good reputation?

Seattle Pacific

These threads pop up at least two or three times a year and it always makes me laugh.

I went to a top end DIII school, perennially in the top 10 or 15 of those rankings for what that's worth. Yes it was a good school and I got a solid education. Would not be able to afford that now.

However, you can also get a very good education at a lot of DII schools, as well as DIs. An advantage of DII is that they are less expensive than DI or DIII and sometimes you can get some good merit and need based financial aid, and if you're an athlete some scholarship support but without the pressure of meat grinder DI programs. A lot of the better departments at the decent schools will have faculty that will work hard to get their students an education and placed into good graduate schools or entry level positions.

Some of the smaller/less populous states have decent DII schools in certain departments (e.g., Alaska, the Dakotas), and bigger states have directional schools are part of a good overall system (Washington, California).

So stop with your sniffy Ivy snottiness brojos and brojo pals.

Many of the D2 schools that are ranked lower academically are smaller schools, located in isolated areas. They often have limited resources, and serve impoverished communities. (Adams State is a representative example) Their professors train kids to be nurses and teachers, rather than doing research and publishing articles. (Somewhat like community colleges. ) They also, necessarily, admit students with lower SAT and/or ACT scores.

Any student with the mental horsepower to learn and the diligence to pay attention in class and learn the materials in the textbooks can get an excellent education at these schools, but employers and admissions departments in graduate schools will generally consider a degree with excellent grades from a D2 school less impressive than a degree with excellent grades from a D1 school, even if the students score identically on standardized tests like the MCAT or the LSAT.

Seyta wrote:

learn some kid wrote:

Colorado School of Mines

This school is garbage compared to the higher quality schools in both DI and DIII. If that's the best of DII, it's a lost cause.

Just saying, you probably don't know what you're talking about. I didn't do a lot of work, but average freshman at the university have academics just as good as OP.

Pay is excellent.

Reputation is excellent in science and engineering world.

I graduated in 2009 at above average starting salary and my pay has tripled in 10 years. I'd say i'm a typical case.

Ggggh wrote:

Unless it’s Ivy League nobody cares where your degree is from. Employers just want to see the piece of paper. Whether it’s a D1 state school, D2 state school, or weird D3 liberal arts school, or weird religious school nobody cares.

Nothing can be farther from the truth. I work in HR and we use certain schools to filter resumes. Obviously experience is the main factor, but we often use school as a tie breaker.

Here is the list of best d2 schools (nothing to brag about):

University of the Sciences in Philadelphia 99

Saint Michael's College 98

Point Loma Nazarene University 98

Bentley University 98

Stonehill College 96

Maryville University of Saint Louis 95

Davis and Elkins College 94

University of California, San Diego 94

Assumption College 94

Seattle Pacific University 94

Rupp a Lupp wrote:

Ggggh wrote:

Unless it’s Ivy League nobody cares where your degree is from. Employers just want to see the piece of paper. Whether it’s a D1 state school, D2 state school, or weird D3 liberal arts school, or weird religious school nobody cares.

Nothing can be farther from the truth. I work in HR and we use certain schools to filter resumes. Obviously experience is the main factor, but we often use school as a tie breaker.

That is a very dumb thing to do, and your company is almost certainly worse off for it!