Congrats to the 69 Billiken Student Athlete Graduates

[MB73]

MB I suggest you contact slu and volunteer for next year's presidential scholarship evaluation team. I can assure you that if you met this elite group of students and knew of their academic demands and the requirement to serve as student ambassadors for slu on a constant basis you would not have included them in your comparison.

I have served on that selection council a c couple of times as well as the nervous father of a candidate once. The select winners of that slu scholarship put in a grinding schedule to maintain the level of high achieving scholars and maintain the pristine reputation and appearance needed to represent slu as the ambassadors they are.

You want to create some sort of comparison for general students go right ahead but I would defend the presidential scholarship winners at slu over the student athletes to the nth degree. You typically are right on the mark in your comments in my opinion but in this instance you couldn't be more wrong

I respect your input, and no, I am not familiar with the requirements for Presidential Scholarships.

So tell me, other than studying so hard -- which is not apples to apples since the athletes do not have the time to study as hard -- how much time do they spend as ambassadors or anything other than studying to prepare for their future life, their future careers? (as compared to athletes, during the season: about 3-4pm to 6-7pm every day meetings & practice & weights, plus games, numerous 3-4 day road trips, this includes weekends... plus workouts all year).

[Old guy]

I think we may be stereotyping the various students getting scholarships a bit much here. Yes, athletes getting scholarships are required to go through a grueling schedule of practice, gym, play, travel, summer activities, etc... Academic scholarships holders may be equally required to maintain high grade point averages. However, we might as well face it, life is not the same for a kid that LOVES basketball if he does not get drafted into a program, some of them (the walk on) pay for the privilege of enduring the drills and practices, the travel and the lack of time for study. As far as the academic scholarship holders go, these kids may equally love their books and their learning and would not do it otherwise. If someone is willing to give them a good scholarship for doing what he/she loves to do, much the better. There are scores of kids in fields like pre med and pre law that literally live in the libraries, kids for which a B grade is a perceived threat to their med or law school dreams. Many of these kids are not receiving scholarships but they still put in the work.

You do what you want or LOVE to do, if you get paid to do it (scholarships, grants or what have you), much the better. Otherwise, your dream is still your dream even if you come out of school after years of grind (academic or athletic) owing lots of money.

[NextYearBill]

ive had plenty of classes with athletes(basketball) at SLU..... same class... same teacher... less work for the athlete. stop pretending

[AlumniFan]

ive had plenty of classes with athletes(basketball) at SLU..... same class... same teacher... less work for the athlete. stop pretending

+1

[DoctorB]

ive had plenty of classes with athletes(basketball) at SLU..... same class... same teacher... less work for the athlete. stop pretending

I've taught plenty of classes with athletes (basketball and otherwise) at SLU..... same class... same students... in every class I've taught, and every other class in my department so far as I know, there were precisely the same requirements and work for the athlete. stop pretending.

Before SLU, by the way, I taught at a Big Ten school with a top ten football program, and believe me when I tell you, the difference between the academic side of it at SLU vs. there is like the difference between the lightning and the lightning bug.

I feel like this conversation should begin by separating what's going on at those top 20 revenue generating athletic programs, and what's going on at SLU and other similar schools. And honestly, if I had a D-1 athlete looking for a school, I would do everything I could to get my kid into a place like SLU.

[Old guy]

Doctor B, glad you talk about your experiences at SLU and Big Ten and made the comparison of lightning vs a light bug. I guess the difference for the prospective student (and his parents) should be based upon the value they place on education and on their ideas of how it would be best to prepare their kids for life. I know the NBA goal blinds kids and their families with visions of vast success and lots of money, but the reality is that there are very few kids that can assume a priori they will make it to the NBA. For most other kids playing basketball in a D1 program offers no guarantee to make the NBA. For these kids, the ones that are not certain NBA candidates, a college degree and education is the best way to prepare for life.