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Luke Brunette is a former baseball player for the University of San Francisco, now attending the University of Arizona after entering the transfer portal following his first semester of college.

Passion
Striving throughout high school, both on and off the field, Luke Brunette scored a 4.3 GPA upon graduating high school, as well as multiple Division I offers, including from UC Davis and the University of San Francisco. Following conversations with the coaches, as well as campus visits, San Francisco stuck out to Luke as a fun place to live and a nice campus, leading him to sign an NIL to one of the top baseball schools in the country, the University of San Francisco.

The Baseball Program
With high hopes of becoming the Division I college baseball star he had worked towards, his experience at the University of San Francisco was not what Luke expected. Upon arriving at the campus, the baseball program was not what it seemed. The hours the players were expected to be at the field exceeded what Luke was originally told at the beginning of the season, leaving him with little time to eat or sleep. As stress levels began to rise, Luke became very frustrated with baseball and began to regret his decision to attend USF.

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The School
With baseball not being the only thing Luke wanted out of his college experience, he hoped to meet new friends and try to enjoy everything else the University had to offer. When he visited the campus, he loved the area and could see himself thriving in the San Francisco environment, but this was not the case. With USF being a smaller school, Luke found it hard to meet friends and make connections. On top of the on campus life, Luke did not take into account the area that surrounded the campus, a city filled with homelessness, pollution, and expensive prices left and right. 

Related: Knowing When to Transfer

The Outcome
After just a few months at this University, Luke decided it was time to enter the transfer portal, and begin looking for places that would fit him better. Luke considered a few other top baseball schools to continue his career at, but was overall discouraged the way baseball was in San Francisco, and it just wasn't the same, so he decided to focus on his academics and transfer.

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Photo source: Instagram @lukebrunette_

* Originally published on February 22, 2022, by Finn Rice