For a high school student aspiring to attend a highly selective college, playing an NCAA sport is potentially one way to stand out and gain an advantage in college admission through the athlete recruitment process provided they also meet the college’s academic standards.

A high school athlete who reaches the pinnacle of athletic performance displays many of the highly desirable qualities colleges want in their applicants - excellence, passion, resilience and leadership. And athletes have an advantage in college admissions!

Why do athletes get such a big advantage?

Colleges which participate in NCAA and varsity sports need to fill their teams regardless of which NCAA Division they belong to. NCAA Division 1 colleges, especially, are under pressure to fill their teams with the best athletes in order to stay competitive for NCAA championship events at both the regional and national levels. The only way colleges can be assured that their teams are filled is to offer admission advantages to applicants who will play a sport on a college NCAA or varsity team.

For the highly selective colleges, this means selecting great athletes who also meet their academic standards.

What is athlete recruitment?

Athlete recruitment is an annual exercise undertaken by colleges who are members of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) to recruit graduating high school athletes for their NCAA and varsity sports teams.

High school athletes who receive National Letters of Intent (NLI) or Likely Letters from a college leapfrog the normal admissions process and are generally assured of admission as athlete recruits by October or November of their senior year in high school provided they meet academic requirements . These athletes are known as “hard” recruits.

For high school athletes who are not “hard” recruited through the process described above, there is also opportunity to be “soft” recruited to an NCAA sports team at a highly selective college. In “soft” recruitment, the high school athlete is asked by the college coach to apply through the normal admissions process in Early Decision, Early Action or Regular Decision and the application is advantaged and supported with a strongly worded letter from the coach to the admissions office that the applicant will be a desirable member of the coach’s sports team.

In today’s environment of extreme competition and selectivity in college admissions to the top colleges, pursuing athlete recruitment as a way to stand out and gain an advantage in college admissions looks more and more appealing if you can afford it.

See NCAA Sports played at the top colleges

The Path to Becoming an Athlete Recruit

Before parents eagerly sign their kids up for a sport with an eye towards athlete recruitment to a highly selective college, we must caution you that athlete recruitment to an academically elite college is not easy.

Playing a sport seriously as opposed to playing it for fun requires significant commitments of time from both you and your child. Depending on the sport, very substantial financial investment may be required from you over a period of years to pay for training, equipment and travel to competitions nationally and internationally.

Many of the individual sports played at the highly selective colleges require years of training and competition before the athlete reaches a nationally competitive level for their age group. These sports include fencing, golf, tennis, squash, skiing, equestrian and swimming. The investment required to train a successful athlete who competes at a nationally competitive junior level in one of these sports will add up to tens of thousands of dollars a year over five to six years at a minimum. Team sports can also be very expensive for athletes at the nationally competitive junior levels costing thousands of dollars a year to train and compete.

To be considered seriously for athlete recruitment at many of the highly selective Division 1 colleges, your child needs to achieve some measurable level of excellence based on recognized rankings and benchmarks within their chosen sport. While Division 3 colleges do not set as high of an athletic performance bar for their athlete recruits to clear, your child must still demonstrate commitment to the sport and have undergone high quality training and competition in high school to be considered for Division 3 athlete recruitment.

It is important to keep in mind that every one of the highly selective colleges, whether in Division 1 or Division 3, use slightly different benchmarks in the selection of their athlete recruits. It is important for parents and athletes to be aware of these benchmarks and the resulting athlete profiles on each of their teams to be able to identify where their athlete would be most competitive as an athlete recruit. Keeping track of these profiles as the time for athlete recruitment draws near is crucial to managing the process for your athlete.

When your child starts playing a sport early, you generally cannot predict how successful and passionate of an athlete your child will become. You will only know if your child will make it as an athlete recruit sometime during their sophomore and junior year in high school.

We recommend that you let your child engage in a wide array of sports between the ages of six and thirteen. If your child demonstrates both passion and talent for a specific sport by the time they are in middle school or freshmen in high school, then you can seriously consider whether sport is a viable pathway to building an advantage in admissions to a highly selective college.

Remember that for many high school athletes, playing a sport can crowd out the ability to engage in other activities which can also help your child stand out in their college application.

Athlete Recruitment to the NCAA Divisions

Member colleges belong to one of the three NCAA divisions - Division 1, Division 2 and Division 3.

Colleges in Division 1 generally allocate greater resources for sports facilities, training and scholarships compared to colleges in Division 2 and Division 3. All of these member colleges play some combination of the twenty four sports overseen by the NCAA.

The 61 highly selective colleges are either members of NCAA Division 1 (31 colleges) or Division 3 (30 colleges), there are no highly selective colleges in Division 2.

Since Division 1 colleges are generally very committed to the performance of their sports teams, they recruit and train their NCAA teams to win NCAA championships and other inter-collegiate championships. It naturally follows that colleges in Division 1 seek very high performing athletes for the NCAA sports that they play. Those interested in attending a highly selective college in Division 1 should keep these performance pre-requisites in mind.

Division 3 colleges are much less focused on winning championships and do not require their athlete recruits to perform to the same standards as those required in Division 1. Many high school athletes with strong academics have succeeded in being recruited to highly selective colleges in Division 3 without ever reaching the pinnacle of athletic performance in high school.

Division 1 and Division 2 Athlete Recruitment

Division 1 and Division 2 colleges practice both “hard” recruitment and “soft” recruitment of high school athletes.

All 31 of the highly selective colleges in NCAA Division 1 recruit athletes to their NCAA sports teams using both “hard” and “soft” recruitment methods.

Since “hard” recruits leapfrog the college admissions process, these “hard” recruits are usually athletes who have reached the highest levels of performance in their sport. However, because it is not possible for every highly selective Division 1 college to recruit the very best athletes, a hierarchy has developed by sport as to which colleges get to recruit the best athletes who also meet the college’s academic standards.

“Soft” recruitment affords additional opportunity for many high school athletes to gain an advantage in admissions to a highly selective college in Division 1.

“Hard” recruited athletes to the eight Ivy League colleges (Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Columbia, Cornell, University of Pennsylvania, Brown and Dartmouth) receive Likely Letters from the admissions office sometime between October and December of their senior year in high school far in advance of the normal admissions cycle, though Likely Letters can be issued as late as March of senior year. The Likely Letter is a very strong assurance of admission provided the high school athlete maintains their academic standards for the remainder of their senior year.

The remaining 23 highly selective colleges in Division 1 will issue National Letters of Intent (NLI) to their “hard” recruited high school athletes. Depending on the sport the athlete is recruited to play, the NLI is usually signed on a designated national signing day between November and April of the athlete’s senior year in high school.

Once signed by the athlete, the NLI is a binding commitment for the athlete to play the sports they were recruited for for a period of one year at the college issuing the NLI. Unlike the Likely Letter, the NLI is not an assurance of admission. However, in practice, colleges do not issue NLIs to athletes who would not academically qualify for admission to the college.

Division 3 Athlete Recruitment

Colleges within NCAA Division 3, including the 30 highly selective colleges, use primarily “soft” recruitment to recruit athletes to their NCAA sports teams. Potential recruits are told by the college coach to apply through the normal admissions cycle of Early Decision, Early Action or Regular Decision with the coach giving a strong letter of support in favor of the athlete’s admission to become a member of the sports team. The coach’s letter of support lends a clear advantage to the athlete in the competition for admission provided the athlete meets the college’s academic requirements.

Athletic Scholarships for Athlete Recruits

While the Ivy League colleges (Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Columbia, Cornell, University of Pennsylvania, Brown and Dartmouth) do not offer any type of athletic scholarship to their athlete recruits, all of the other colleges in Division 1 offer athletic scholarships, including the highly selective colleges. In lieu of scholarships, the Ivy League colleges offer very generous financial aid to all admitted students, including athlete recruits, on a needs basis.

Due to funding constraints and NCAA limits, not every Division 1 athlete recruit will receive a full scholarship to cover the costs of attendance. Most athlete recruits receive partial scholarships. Athlete recruits can apply for financial aid to pay for attendance costs that are not covered by scholarship money they receive.

Colleges in Division 2 also offer either full or partial scholarships to their athlete recruits.

Colleges in Division 3 do not offer any type of athletic scholarship to their athlete recruits. Division 3 colleges do offer financial aid to all their admitted students, including athlete recruits, on a needs basis. The amount of financial aid available varies by college and very much depends on the financial resources of the college itself and parental income and assets.

Learn about Athlete Recruitment and the Sports Played at the Highly Selective Colleges

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