Having a son at WY who I hope will play baseball I can say that if he doesn’t make the team it would not be the end of the world. WY is an amazing school and making a team should not be the reason for going or not going (especially if you are saying he “is not the best player”). He will find that there are an abundance of after school activities to become part of, outside of the sports and I am sure he would be able to find something that will make him a better student, and person for his future. I understand and hope that he can make a sports team, as it is a wonderful part of the HS experience but it should not be part of his choice for where to go. Visit the schools he thinks he might want to attend and see what fits best, distance from home (how will he get to school), size (Lane is big and offers things that might not be at the smaller school like WY but also might be overwhelming for some students), academic rigor (selective enrollment is amazing but will he be able to handle the workload, especially if he wants to play sports), and school personality (each school takes on its own personality from the students and staff that are currently there) should be what you base this life decision on (in my opinion). Sorry I can not give you the specifics of your question as we have not gone through the process yet but hope this will help you and your son make the best decision for him. Good luck and go Dolphins!

Whitney Young is known for being pretty competitive in most sports. Baseball this year only has a JV and a Varsity team – no freshman team, which means there are fewer spots for players. However, there are a lot of no cut sports; I believe bowling is no cut. My son (junior) is on the swim team and plays water polo which are both no cut sports.

As a side note, my daughter (freshman) also goes to WY but is in the orchestra. I think that WY has so much to offer – they may not be Payton in terms of selectiveness to get in, but they have fantastic academics, athletics, clubs, and I think they’re the most diverse selective enrollment school in CPS, which has been great for my kids. We’ve been very pleased with the school so far.