Squash at the Top Colleges

Varsity SportsNCAA Division 1NCAA Division 3NCAA Sports
Written By Donna Meyer

Squash is a varsity level sport dominated by the highly selective colleges in a universe where only a total of 34 colleges play men’s squash, and 32 colleges play women’s squash.

A total of 20 highly selective colleges offer men’s squash with a total of 308 players , and 21 of them offer women’s squash with a total of 289 players. This means about 59% of the colleges playing squash are from amongst the highly selective colleges and 66% of colleges playing women’s squash are from amongst the highly selective colleges.

The 10 highly selective colleges with men’s squash and the 11 highly selective colleges with women’s squash in Division 1 actively recruit squash players for their varsity teams, following similar timelines as the niche NCAA sports. The remaining 10 highly selective Division 3 colleges with men’s squash, and the 10 colleges with women’s squash in Division 3 “soft” recruit their squash players through the normal admissions cycles with strong letters of support from the college squash coach.

The average team size for men’s squash is about 16 players and the average team size for women’s squash is about 14 players. These team sizes imply that there are on average about 3 to 5 athlete recruits annually to each of the men’s teams, and about 3 to 4 athlete recruits annually to the women’s teams. Keep in mind that these are averages only, as the Division 3 colleges are more likely to complete their teams with “walk on” squash players rather than recruit every player on the team.

US Squash, the national squash governing body in the United States, maintains age group rankings with the BU19 ranking being the most relevant for knowing the number of competitive junior squash players in the country. The BU19 ranking for men currently lists 142 players, and the BU ranking for women lists 104 players, indicating the universe of competitive junior squash players for colleges to draw on is small.

Squash CSA Rules and Calendar for Athlete Recruitment

How do top colleges in Division 1 select their athlete recruits?

Athlete Recruitment to a Top NCAA Division 3 College

Watch out for:

How to get athlete recruited for squash to a top college

Squash team profiles at the highly selective colleges

List of Highly Selective Colleges that Play Squash

Data obtained from college athletic websites

Squash at the Highly Selective Colleges
DivisionMen'sWomen's
Amherst CollegeIIIYesYes
Barnard College (comb w/ Columbia University)I -Yes
Bates CollegeIIIYesYes
Bowdoin CollegeIIIYesNo
Colby College IIIYesYes
Columbia University (incl Barnard College)IYesYes
Cornell UniversityIYesYes
Dartmouth CollegeIYesYes
Georgetown University INoYes
Hamilton CollegeIIIYesYes
Harvard UniversityIYesYes
Haverford CollegeIIIYesYes
Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyIIIYesNo
Middleburry CollegeIIIYesYes
Princeton University IYesYes
Stanford University INoYes
Tufts University IIIYesYes
University of Pennsylvania IYesYes
University of Virginia IYesYes
Vassar College IIIYesYes
Wesleyan UniversityIIIYesYes
Williams CollegeIIIYesYes
Yale University IYesYes
Total Athletes308289
Donna Meyer

Donna is the founder of X Factor Admissions and the popular blog Fencing Parents , the single most important reference source for college bound fencers interested in athlete recruitment. In preparation of her sons’ applications to college, she spent years learning the intricacies of college admissions, consulted with a variety of admissions experts, and talked to admissions officers, NCAA coaches and many parents. She is a firm believer in data, and she uses it extensively to gain insight into the college admissions process. She sees that there is method in the madness.

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