My daughter would have 100% turned down Florida and PSU for Lehigh. She's committed to a top 20 high academic school. But Lehigh was very high on her list and not at all on her list?.... PSU, Florida, Stonybrook, Maryland, Syracuse...nowhere, because those are not her thing what-so-ever. Not everyone is looking for the same thing. She will play top 20 lax and get to the NCAAs every year, plus go to a great school. Win-win for her, but she would have absolutely chosen a lesser lax program for a high academic school.[/quote]

Would have?

Lehigh is not a top 20 academic school and many people would never choose Lehigh over Penn State, Florida, Maryland or Syracuse (I would not put SBU in the same category). It’s about personal preference and there are many students as well as student athletes who want the education / athletic and overall college experience that you get at those schools.

As far as going to a Top 20 academic school that is terrific, congratulations.

14 of of the Top 20 schools have D1 women’s Lacrosse:

Princeton
Columbia
Harvard
Yale
Stanford
Penn
Duke
Hopkins
Northwestern
Dartmouth
Brown
Vanderbilt
Cornell
ND

Out of the above only 7 will likely go to the NCAA tournament every year.

Princeton
Stanford
Penn
Duke
Hopkins
Northwestern
Notre Dame

In my experience, the majority of players who get recruited by those 7 schools are not considering Lehigh. Lehigh is neither a top Lacrosse school or a top academic school.

The funny thing is that parents of players who go to Florida, PSU, Maryland, Syracuse usually seem genuinely happy and they don’t feel the need to justify their daughters decision. On the other hand, I have heard many times from parents of players who do not go to Top 20 lacrosse schools try to justify it by saying they prioritized academics that’s why they are at a school like Lehigh or even a DIII school. The reality is that if the player is a Top Tier player, there are plenty of high academic schools to go to.

It’s a self defense mechanism…. Some parents are simply not able to admit that their daughter is not considered a top tier recruit by the coaches at the best college programs.

Nothing wrong with Lehigh, it’s a good school as are Florida, PSU, MD, SBU and Syracuse.
But please stop trying to elevate Lehigh above them.[/quote]

They didn't say that their daughter chose Lehigh. They said it was very high on her list. They say she's going to a top 20 academic school (but they don't name it).