The first step in finding the right fit for your daughter in college is to figure out what she wants out of her college experience. At the end of the day, the goal is  to know what will make your daughter happy!  You as her parent are in the best place to help her figure out the answers to these  question.  She may think differently, as I know young  high school  adult think they know everything.  Being the parent, you know best.  What I am referring to as experience has nothing to do with softball actually. Let’s take softball out of the equation for now.  Let’s look at the aspect of just being a college student.  What other part of going to college would make your daughter happy at the school she selects?

1.     What size of school would she like?

2.     How far away does she want to be from home?

3.     What type of campus does she like – enclosed campus or campus that’s in a city?

4.     Does she want to be near a city, near the ocean, in the country?

5.     What type of climate does she want to be in?

6.     What type of living arrangement would she prefer? Apartment style, dorms, suites, live off campus after freshman year?

7.     What type of dinning and campus food options will she prefer?

8.     Does she want a car on campus? Is that allowed?

9.     Does she want to be able to do other clubs?

10.  Does she want to be in a sorority?

11.  Does she want to do study abroad?

12.  Does she want her education to have co-op and lot of opportunity for Job internships in her field of study?

Getting the answer to some of these questions, will require actually campus visits so that you can get a baseline feedback of what your daughter likes or does not like. As you figure out these answers to some of these questions, it will also guide you to the level of softball that if your daughter really wants to commit and play in college.  What I mean by that is thatif  your daughter wants to be in a sorority, and want to study abroad or be involved in other clubs, then she will not be playing at Division 1 Softball.   At the Division 1 collegiate level your first commitment is softball and your life will be school and softball.  I know from experience as I did play at Division 1 level.  Answer these question first, as this will help ensure that your daughter will truly enjoy her college experience.