Questions for Division III parents

[Anonymous]

DS considering both Division I and Division III options.

How much academic support do kids get at DIII? Are they just treated like another student or do they have study hall/tutoring available? What are the time commitments in-season and out-of-season? Seems similar to DI but not sure.

Also, how would you compare the level of play from solid ECNL club to DIII. Is it a big step up from u19 to essentially u23?

Thanks.

[Anonymous]

My DS was a D3 swimmer at a SLAC. No academic support that I was aware of. Study hall didn’t exist because it’s college. D3 is less intense than D1.

[Anonymous]

D3 has less money for sports but some are very committed to the athlete. One aspect for finding that committiment in D3 is to ask abt the fitness program and injury support for all its athletes. I think that is where you can find the difference btwn D3 schools.
One aspect /difference btween DI schools is how the fitness/sports meds is organized/distributed. Some will share a fitness coach btwn a few sports, others will have a dedicated one for your child's sport.
We have had an athlete consider both D1 and D3 for swimming, chose D1 then transferred btwn D1 schools. The fitness aspect were revealed as we went thru the whole process. and was not an aspect we thought to focus on initially so I hope this info helps another....

First D1 : one fitness person btwn two sports and favored the one sport. Program for once per week.
Second D1 : manual muscles testing at beginning of season for all athletes then program written to work on weaker strengths and muscles groups in beginning of season. Program two/three times per week.
one D3 : Had transport for all athletes to sports meds and would go around the school and pick up all athletes/sports each day/week.

Injury prevention and recovery important in the long run, IMO as every athlete will go through an injury......

[Anonymous]

I was a D3 athlete. Some of the athletes (those who were recruited with grades/test scores below the norm) had study hall several evenings a week with tutors available. I used to work as one of the tutors (so just other college kids).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DS considering both Division I and Division III options.

How much academic support do kids get at DIII? Are they just treated like another student or do they have study hall/tutoring available? What are the time commitments in-season and out-of-season? Seems similar to DI but not sure.

Also, how would you compare the level of play from solid ECNL club to DIII. Is it a big step up from u19 to essentially u23?

Thanks.

All of the DIII programs we visited had no specific academic support for athletes. Typically they had some form of academic supervisor that helped athletes plan their course of study and monitored grades, however it was not tutoring. The larger power 5 DI programs we visited had dedicated academic support and tutoring. Mid-major DI's were a mixed bag. Focused tutoring for athletes does not necessarily equate to better support though. Some of the higher academic schools may have better tutoring support period.

With regard to time commitments, we found the more competitive DIII programs were every bit as time intensive as DI during the season. The difference is in the off-season where DIII is typically much less of a commitment.

In terms of level of play, that is tough to assess since there is alot of variation in ECNL and in DIII. One way to make this assessment is to watch games yourself, and look at the backgrounds of athletes on the current roster. Your player will know from watching if they can fit in.

[Anonymous]

Have DDs who played both D1 and D3. No real academic support at D3 specifically for athletes, other than study halls, but plenty of support generally because academically focused, smaller school. No comparison in terms of off-season commitment - D1 is basically year-round, and D3 has long break after the season with a very light spring practice schedule. Play depends on school, with the better D3 teams being similar to a good ECNL team but less physical and strong than a solid D1 team (because less lifting in the off season). No question that in D1, soccer is the only extracurricular activity the player has time for, while student can play D3 and still be involved in other clubs, activities, etc. and have a more typical college experience. D1 players often (usually) stay on campus all or most of the summer to train so do not have internships, etc. during college, which can definitely effect career path (for example, kids going into finance need to do summer internships).

[Anonymous]

D3 school I attended had study hall for all players first semester. Maintain a 3.0 and you could get out of it. All student athletes had academic advisors that you met with once a week during your first semester. It limited after that.

D1 school offseason has a few months that they are allowed to train. D3 has like 15 practice days and 1 to 2 play days. You can practice as many times as you want in those days and you can play as many games on those days.

[Anonymous]

On woman's side...AAU programs seemed to have more academic support in place than the nescacs. But that is generality and we did not have contact with all the programs.

[Anonymous]

We spoke to a D3 college and they mentioned having mandatory study hall required if a member's grades weren't very good. I think this was a coach requirement and not a school-mandated one.

[Anonymous]

Was at son's first Division III game this weekend. Two fringe Top 25 teams. Level of play was better than many ECNL clubs we saw around here. But not overwhelming for a freshman. Interested to see some of the elite teams when time comes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We spoke to a D3 college and they mentioned having mandatory study hall required if a member's grades weren't very good. I think this was a coach requirement and not a school-mandated one.

There is study hall, and there is dedicated tutoring for athletes. Not necessarily the same thing.

[Anonymous]

Daughter playing at strong academic D3 school - no special tutors or dedicated study hall for athletes, but coaching staff monitors academics with players, and university has expansive academic support programs (including tutors) available for all students.