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

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Academics definitely dominate at LACs. And the proper term is "LACs," not "SLACs."[/quote]

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.

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I am well acquainted with LACs, private National Universities, and public National Universities. The above poster is correct regarding percentage of athletes at small versus large schools. I noticed another difference. At LACs the athletes form cliques that often dominate the social scene. LAC athletes are akin to the BMOC (big man on campus) similar to high school. The large university D 1 scholarship athletes that I knew, although confident when competing in their respective sport, were humble and aware that they could lose their scholarship. I hesitate to use the word fear--or afraid--but they were very aware of the need to remain healthy and to perform at an extremely high level in their sport.

I have read several parents claim that their D3 athlete could have gone D1. And the claim gets extended to the position that some D3 teams are as good as D1 because several of the athletes on the D3 team could have gone D1. While I agree that some D3 athletes have the talent for D1, they do not have the drive and commitment regarding their sport to continue at the D1 level. Progressing to and competing at a higher level develops one skills to a level well beyond that of a D1 talent playing at the D3 level.

D3 athletics is great for one who is a 2 sport athlete without professional athlete aspirations as well as for one whose primary focus in life is not athletics.

My point is that there is a noticeable difference between the campus impact of a D1 athlete versus a D3 athlete with the D3 athlete having a greater impact on the social life of the small school (LAC).[/quote]

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