Academics in girls lacrosse Recruiting
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Anonymous
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How big of a role does academics play in girls lacrosse recruiting? Do the high academic schools like Duke, NW, ND, Stanford, have high thresholds for getting in, then look for lax players with talent that fit that or do they lower academics based on lax skills? How much role does having honors/AP play? I have a rising freshman daughter who is high academics and the course load they propose seems very challenging (four honors), I just wonder if it is something that plays big role in recruitment? Her goal is D1. In short, what is driving the train here, academics with great lax, or great lax with academics? |
Anonymous
If you are looking at the Ivies, they are very important. If you are looking at the privates that are a step down, semi important. If you are looking at a state school, good grades are more important than higher level classes |
Anonymous
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I haven't gone through the recruiting stuff for my daughter yet, but I do have a son who is at a school that is good academically and for lacrosse and got offers from several of the top schools. I'll branch the top schools into a few similar groups: Ivy League Schools, Non-Ivy Elite Privates (Duke, JHU, ND, GTown), High State Schools (UVA, UNC, Michigan), and Service Academies (USAFA, USNA, USMA are the D1 ones)
Ivies: Check the academic index. Generally shoot for a 1370+ SAT. 3.7-3.8 UW should be good enough but they like as close to a 4.0 as you can get. For guys lacrosse Harvard, Yale, and Princeton had the highest academic criteria, Penn had a slightly lower bar with the exception of Wharton, and then Dartmouth and Brown, and then Cornell. From what o ne of the Cornell coach told my son, depending on what school at Cornell he applied to, coach said the SAT could be low to mid 1200s with a 3.5 UW GPA. They also (with the exception of some of the schools in Cornell) expect that the rigor that the student takes should be very high. Regarding course rigor, Ivies expect very high course rigor. From my experience, kids who are getting recruited to the HYPs are people who could get into schools like UVA and UNC on their own academic merit. Non-Ivy Elite Schools: Now my son didn't get an offer from Duke and we didn't have too much interaction with the coaches, so I'm not going to act like I know everything, but from what we've heard, if you have a pulse, they'll take you. One of DS's friends who got an offer was TO and had a 3.6 UW and he did not have very much course rigor. JHU also is a step below the Ivies and for most majors, academic selection is a step above Duke. Generally ~3.5 UW with some honors and APs should do the trick. Although, quick note for JHU, if your DD wants BME, they're on their own for that application process. Lacrosse just gets them into the school, not into their preferred major. In fact, we have a family friend who was all set on JHU but chose to commit elsewhere due to the uncertainty around getting BME. GTown also has a pretty low bar. They like students who get mixed A's and B's, but if you hit C's, that's when recruiting there get's a little hard. But course rigor didn't seem too important to the coaches we talked with at GTown. State Schools: Now if we're looking at something like UMD, Penn State, or Rutgers (all of which are great schools), course rigor doesn't matter and grades don't matter too much if we're being honest. But if we look at UVA or UNC, selection criteria is similar to GTown. |
Anonymous
| Oops! Realized I forgot the Service Academies, they're really good options too! All of them tend to take a lot of HS players (at least on the guys side). But they are very good schools. There is a large emphasis on character when coaches decide who to give offers to and coaches look for hard workers in school. But grade-wise, getting an offer from them is just needing like a 3.5 GPA and a decent SAT (maybe like high 1100s-low 1200s). Service Academies are really good options to look at too! USAFA was actually one of my DS's top 3 |
Anonymous
| 4 honors classes (math, science, English, history) is the minimum for schools of that caliber. This isn't football where a recruiter can make $millions for the school. |
Anonymous
| You don’t need the AP classes unless the student is trying to be Valedictorian or top 5 in the class. Ivies do not accept the AP college credit that some students hope to get. Honors classes would be great but if they take a class that tanks their GPA that is something to consider…. Maybe only take 2 honors or 1 AP class in subjects that are relevant to what they may study in college. |
Anonymous
| Go to Google and type AI index. That is what the top schools use for athletes you can search what score each school needs to average. That means all players so if the take a real high score in a class they can go lower on a player they want. The average score is very important to the team or recruiting class average. Keep in mind there are lots of girls who are also high academic so the skill has to be there plenty with both. It is very competitive. |
Anonymous
| Really appreciate this thread. Very useful content. Wish most DCUM threads were like this. Thanks for posting! |
Anonymous
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For girls, we were told lacrosse matters first but there is an academic bar they won’t cross below - which can be very high for the Ivies.
At the same time, if you have a girl who is academically qualified without athletics to be considered for an Ivy, she won’t get a bump above a better lacrosse player who meets the academic requirements. In other words, being wicked smart doesn’t really matter past a certain point. Sweet spot is great lacrosse and good enough grades and rigor for the program you are considering. |
Anonymous
| My daughters incoming class at an Ivy League school had 10 players in it. 5 of them were recruits and 5 of them would be considered walk ons, meaning they were getting in based on their academics not their athletics. They were considered part of the "recruiting class" and balanced out the Academic Index for the whole lot. All of the girls in the class were extremely strong academically, some of the walk ons were not the strongest lacrosse players and may not have made a team at a less academically stringent program. So academics are the primary focus for these schools. |
Anonymous
| Does anyone have knowledge on high academic D3? |
Anonymous
Understanding is that grades are more important at high academic D3 than D1. D3 coaches have less currency with the Office of Admissions than does a D1 High Academic coach. Your DD will be best positioned for schools in which her course choice, grades and SAT largely align with the median of the admitted students. There is no publicly available data or rules, but this is my overall sense. Talk to your club's recruiting coordination and he/she can probably give you more information on each school. |
Anonymous
Played for a high academic D3 and tracking admissions for my kids now. The above poster is absolutely correct, even for football. If you are "in the pool", meaning within the grade and test score range of their normal acceptance group, being a difference maker for the lacrosse team will give you a leg up--but not a guarantee--for admissions. If you are close, but not "in the pool", you have to be a game changer to get the admissions boost. If you are well outside the range, your DD could be Charlotte North and it won't help. |
Anonymous
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What should be the target schools for a kid who has great grades and test scores, great stick skills and field IQ, but not top-tier athleticism? (Or at least, not yet... still only a sophomore, still growing.)
Powerhouse D1 programs are probably out of reach, but I'd hate to see them at an academically "lesser" school than could be obtained on academic merit "just to play lacrosse". |
Anonymous
Take a look at the NESCAC--Amherst, Williams, Wesleyan, etc--and some of the West Coast D3 options like Pomona-Pitzer and Occidental. Can get a great education and enjoy athletics. University of Chicago and it's conference plays D3 sports and there are good options there too academically. There are also some good options in the Carolinas. Not sure if a girl or boy, but some of the top D3s are tough in terms of lacrosse standards. Middlebury for girls and Tufts for boys, for instance, are looking for athletes with pretty much D1 talent who are open to choosing a smaller, academically-strong, school and the chance to play for NCAA DIII titles every year. |