Transferring to a university best fit for BC athletes

IMG_8332dStudents at Bellevue College that participate in athletics, have the similar goals of accomplishing their academic ambitions like most. There are ten sports offered on campus and students must meet certain requirements to be able to be a part of their preferred juncture. Students who play sports at BC also have the chance to earn a scholarship to the four-year institute of their choice. The question is where do they go.

To even be able to participate in sports on BC campus, students has to at least be enrolled into a 12-credit of courses and have a minimum grade-point-average of 2.0. Attempting to get a scholarship because one can dunk like Michael Jordan, is not as easy as it sounds. According   to  the  Northwest Athletic Association of Community Colleges, a parent organization to over 34 community colleges in Washington and Oregon, there are several rules and guidelines for athletes to pursue their university goals. The NWAACC first states a “variety of administrative responsibilities including conference tournament management, eligibility, publications, rule enforcement and sports information.”

The NWAACC offers several awards this winter quarter, such as: All-Stars Men’s and Women’s Basketball, Academic Leadership Winter, 2013 and Coaches of the Year-Fall-Winter, 2013. For this spring, all the baseball players may be eligible for All-NWAACC Baseball-NWAACC Gold Glove, awards.

Transferring to a university based on your athletics is not always an easy choice. There are countless universities that offer scholarships for students who are talented in a sport and plan on participating at their future school. The idea of students choosing to transfer to a university based on sports alone is hard to specify. Generally, after BC students transfer to a school more focused on their future career path, rather than purposely going somewhere because they have a football team.

Jeremy Eggers, head coach of the Men’s Basketball team here on campus said, “We have student athletes that transfer to all different universities across the United States at all different levels. I wouldn’t recommend any specific universities for our student athletes, as it all depends on who is recruiting them and what their interest are in a university. We truly have student athletes that transfer all over the place.” The Athletic Director of BC, Bill O’Connor, had a similar point of view when asked where students who play sports here on campus choose to transfer more in particular. O’Connor stated, “They transfer to different four year schools. I believe that most students will transfer to the college of their choice.”

Katherine Oleson, chair of the    c ommunications department here at BC mentioned how students in the athletics are usually recruited from certain universities that the student would like to transfer to. Usually when a student wants to be recruited or play sports for a certain college they want to transfer to, they work exceptionally hard so that their academic and athletic ambitions do not go unnoticed.

For students at BC there are a number of universities and colleges that are willing to provide recruiting options and scholarships. It all comes down to what transfer option best suits every individual athlete.