Reply to Do you have to be a top athlete to be recruited at SLACs, MIT (D3) and the Ivies?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Or is a very strong student at a top high school plus a good but not tippity top club/varsity player enough?  Are there many top athletes out there who also have the academic chops to hack it at these colleges?  I am sure it depends on the sport, but how about for sports outside of football and basketball?  If your SAT is in the 1550-1580 range, high rigor at a strong, nationally recognized HS, and let's say you are an ok lacrosse/volleyball/soccer/track athlete, what are the odds that you'd get recruited by a top academic institution?  Obviously no chance at Duke, Stanford and the likes.

I am new to this site and process and curious how it all works. [/quote]

There have been a lot of changes in NCAA athletic scholarships that took effect this year. In practice, it has meant that many D1 schools have had to cut rosters in non-revenue sports like track and swimming. It is tougher today to land a spot and/or a scholarship on a D1 team than it was last year.

Generally, being an ok athlete is not going to be a hook that moves the needle at the top academic D1 schools - Ivy league, Stanford, Vanderbilt, Duke, Northwestern, Berkeley, Michigan, etc. All roster spots at such schools are going to go to extremely strong recruited athletes. No one casually joins Stanford swimming or Duke lacrosse or Yale hockey or Michigan track. It wasn't happening last year, and it's definitely not happening this year.

Strong academic students who are good but not great in their respective sports will have better luck reaching out to coaches at the D3 level. Most schools will have practical info somewhere on their websites - student athlete bios, recruitment/walk on times, etc. It's useful to take a look there for general guidance. [/quote]I'll add that almost any competent high school athlete can find a D3 program that will allow them to continue their athletic career. As others have said D3s can run the gamut of athletic talent from D1 or near D1 talent to a reserve high school player. [/quote]

This is not true for men's soccer.  D1 and D2 rosters have so many international players that many top American MLS academy and ECNL players are playing D3, club, or not at all in college.  A "competent" high school boys soccer player has a very low chance of making a D3 roster.[/quote]There are somewhere around 400 D3 soccer programs. Sure some of the top ones are good, but there is plenty of space for average HS or below average HS players.  [/quote]

Instead of guessing, you can look at the Massey rankings. It’s far from perfect, but it can give you a sense of the schools where your average HS player could walk on. And spoiler, it’s mostly schools you have never heard of, or have acceptance ratings over 50%. The top of D3 is generally UAA and NESCAC + Hopkins, MIT, Swarthmore, Pomona and then some oddballs like Messiah and CNU.

UAA being D3 is completely a joke - the schools are larger, have better research programs and 10x more money than 75% of D1 schools. Emory, WashU, Mellon are big name schools that have the academic clout to forgo big D1 football programs, so they like D3.

If your kid wants to play soccer but is not doing MLS Next or ECNL, then top D3 schools are going to be tough to get recruited for.

If your kid wants to play soccer at Yeshiva or St. Joseph’s NY, chances are pretty good! (Not to worry, there are lots of schools in between as well.

[/quote]Thanks for making my point that there's a D3 sports program for nearly any skill level. I'm convinced that many schools at all levels exist primarily to provide students a college where they can participate in athletics. Look at a D1 college like Presbyterian, where there are about 450 athletes out of approximately 900 undergraduates. The school essentially exists to give students a D1 college experience. Many D3 schools have similar ratios or worse.

So if you're okay attending a small, unremarkable school and can afford it, then almost any decent athlete can get their NCAA sports experience.[/quote]

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