does athletics dominate SLAC's like Amherst, Bowdoin, etc?

[Anonymous]

There are some SLACs that are less athletic focused like Carleton and Grinnell, although I’m sure there are others.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Academics definitely dominate at LACs. And the proper term is "LACs," not "SLACs."

Amherst 31% of students are varsity athletes, Bowdoin is 36%. Similar numbers at other NESCAC schools. Definitely a sporty set of schools, and has students in sports at percentages similar to HS. Big state schools by comparison are low single digits.

Athletic teams have only so many players. How many kids are on a baseball team, for instance? 20? 25? When you’re talking percentages, you have to be very careful when you’re comparing big state schools, which can have up to 35,000 undergraduates, to SLACs, which have around 2,000 students. Of course, fielding athletic teams at a SLAC is going to require a higher percentage of your student population when you’re talking about a population of 2,000 students.

[Anonymous]

The term is "SLACs" but only for SLACs.

LAC = Liberal Arts College (there are 200+ of them)

SLAC = Selective Liberal Arts College. It's a much smaller subset of the LAC universe.

[Anonymous]

Davidson I believe has Division I basketball. I thought that was weird. There's at least 1 professional basketball player who came out of Davidson. I had to double check. It's was a strange sight.

Pomona did produce 1 professional baseball player, I believe. This made news even in Pomona.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The term is "SLACs" but only for SLACs.

LAC = Liberal Arts College (there are 200+ of them)

SLAC = Selective Liberal Arts College. It's a much smaller subset of the LAC universe.

Small Liberal Arts College

[Anonymous]

^^I always thought it was selective. Pretty much all LACs are small.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The term is "SLACs" but only for SLACs.

LAC = Liberal Arts College (there are 200+ of them)

SLAC = Selective Liberal Arts College. It's a much smaller subset of the LAC universe.

Small liberal arts college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Athletics dominate ADMISSIONS at SLAC's. 40%+ of students are athletes. No these are not D1 atheletes, and they are not on scholarship, but they are at the front of the line for admission. Each coach will have a handful of admits per year - so team sport with a roster of 25 players will get the coach 5 - 6 slots per year. The process is the coach and players connect (either kid wants school or coach sees kid play), summer of junior year you get an academic and FA pre-read from admissions, coach makes 'offer' in early fall, player applies ED, all done by early December.

The pre-read is not definitive - more like 'we're likely to admit you'.

Offer from coach is verbal - 'if you are admitted I'd love to have you play for us'.

THANKS! That is really helpful. I have a younger child (just entering high school) who plays a sport with very little NCAA involvement, so likely to be DIII and I was curious how all that worked. Older child couldn't hate sports more.

A little more color on this - I'm coming at this as a parent with now-D3 athlete. Not the 'wow, who is that kid?' type athlete, but one of those players that is consistent, highly skilled, and makes plays. Probably not going to win MVP, but skilled enough that they'll start and make a big contribution every game.

Here's what I wish I knew at the start of the process:

- Make an honest assessment of where you can get in. If you are a 4.0/1450 student, you can get into a top 10 D3 SLAC as an athlete, when you would just be 1 of a 100 in the regular applicant pool. I'd say being a recruited athlete is worth a 200 SAT points or a 1/2 point on your GPA at most D3 schools. But if you are a 3.0/1250, you can get into a Top 25 school when you really would not have a chance with athletics.
- Visit the campuses and meet the coaches. Schools that admit 1000 students care a lot about demonstrated interest - a coach with 5 slots REALLY cares about demonstrated interest. D3 does have visits, but don't expect is to be like the D1 recruits posting on Instagram. They'll meet the team, go to a game, crash in a dorm room, etc. Try NOT to let your kid stay the night AFTER a game. Lots of parties and alcohol. And it lets your kid meet his potential future teammates. My son eliminated a school that made him an offer (name brand D3, top 25 SLAC) because he did not like the kids on the team.
- Study the various conferences and see what type of athlete they recruit. Especially in team sports, the conferences each have their own style of play and recruiting patterns. Is the team full of 6'5" guys, or 5'10" guys? Every roster has height and weight, and you can look at times/results in the individual sports. Studying the rosters of the teams can give you a clue also on recruiting patterns. NE schools have one type of sports recruit, SE is different. Take the time to figure it out so you are not wasting your time on conferences where you have no chance. Once you settle on a conference, you'll have 10 schools to look at that will all be fairly similar.
- Be prepared for ED. If a D3 coach wants you, they'll want you to apply ED. That is the ultimate demonstrated interest. If you need to see every possible FA and Merit package before making a decision, you will seriously disadvantage yourself on D3 athletic recruiting. Not to say you cannot do that, but it's very hard for coaches to hold open a spot like that for the entire recruiting season.
- Don't count on being a walk on. Almost every athlete on a D3 team is recruited - just because you played in HS does not mean you can walk on. The coach has an investment in his/her recruited athletes - you must really be exceptional to walk on.

Hope this helps. Fire away if you have questions.

All of the kids I know who got 1200-1250 on the sat also had 3.9UW+, which probably isn’t supposed to happen but does and skews things.

[Anonymous]

At NESCACS how hard is it to make the team when you arrive on campus? Is that a thing?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Davidson I believe has Division I basketball. I thought that was weird. There's at least 1 professional basketball player who came out of Davidson. I had to double check. It's was a strange sight.

Pomona did produce 1 professional baseball player, I believe. This made news even in Pomona.

At least one...pretty sure most people know who that is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At NESCACS how hard is it to make the team when you arrive on campus? Is that a thing?

No not really. Look at the team’s website. Dig into the player information. There will be short bios. These will include prior team experience, eg played x years of varsity at y school. Team captain. All state 2nd team, etc. Played with x club. Won a, b, c. It will give you a pretty good idea about the level of athletes who are making the team. Are there walk ones? Sure. But, you have to be involved and talking to coaching staff. Fall practices start before school starts. Need to be cleared medically, need room and equipment etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At NESCACS how hard is it to make the team when you arrive on campus? Is that a thing?

No not really. Look at the team’s website. Dig into the player information. There will be short bios. These will include prior team experience, eg played x years of varsity at y school. Team captain. All state 2nd team, etc. Played with x club. Won a, b, c. It will give you a pretty good idea about the level of athletes who are making the team. Are there walk ones? Sure. But, you have to be involved and talking to coaching staff. Fall practices start before school starts. Need to be cleared medically, need room and equipment etc.

Pp here. Thank you. Yes I meant initiating contact with the coach beforehand but not getting an admissions boost. I’m wondering about this for a timed-sport (not swimming).

[Anonymous]

What I found when I went to a SLAC is that virtually everyone had been an athlete in high school - in addition to volunteering, strong academically, etc. What you had were basically the top 2% of students nationally - class leaders, captains of teams and whatnot. Some go to ivies, some go to NESCAC schools.

Not everyone continues sports in college, especially at D3. Certainly the social scene wasn't "dominated" by athletes or athletics. Typically the athletes were smarter because they had better time management skills going into college.

But it likely depends on the school to some extent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It would seem at 40% all ED admissions would go to athletes.

Coaches only have a few slots for recruited athletes each year, so not all the kids who end up on the teams apply ED.

[Anonymous]

Apart from the astonishing success of Swarthmore's Div 3 basketball team and the decision 20 years ago about getting rid of their football team (took up too many admissions slots), Swarthmore athletics are seen as a hobby not a profession. Students attend games, but aside from basketball for the last couple of years, it's never a sell-out situation.