In addition to the NCAA sports played at the top colleges, there are an additional 3 men’s sports and 3 women’s sports played at the varsity level offering great opportunities for athlete recruitment. These sports are not organized by the NCAA and are each organized and governed by their own collegiate sport governing body or national governing body for the sport.

The top colleges provide training resources, equipment and funding to support these varsity sports at a competitive level equivalent to their Division 1 or Division 3 status in the NCAA. These varsity sports are featured in the athletic rosters of the colleges’ athletic departments. Their teams participate in inter-college competitions at both the regional and national levels. These varsity sports are different from the club level sports which do not offer athlete recruitment opportunities.

Athletes who engage in one of these varsity sports can target athlete recruitment to the top colleges either as a “hard” or “soft” recruit, depending on which sport they play and which college they are targeting.

Athlete recruits to the highly selective Division 1 colleges that play these varsity sports can expect to leapfrog the admissions process , while those athletes recruited to the Division 3 colleges will enjoy an advantage in the normal admissions evaluation process when supported with a strong letter from the college coach confirming that they will be a valuable addition to the varsity sports team.

How highly selective colleges in Division 1 select their athlete recruits

Athlete recruitment to a top Division 3 college

Just like with athlete recruitment for NCAA sports, the Division 1 colleges will commence serious athlete recruitment conversations with and make informal offers to potential athlete recruits sometime in the summer between junior and senior year of high school, including taking an academic read to determine if the athlete meets the academic requirements of the college. The Ivy League colleges will issue Likely Letters to recruited athletes in these varsity sports, usually in October of senior year, though Likely Letters can be issued as late as March of senior year.

What are the varsity sports with athlete recruitment opportunity?

• Squash

  Squash is offered for men at 20 of the highly selective colleges, and for women at 21 of the highly selective colleges in a universe with 34 colleges offering men’s squash and 32colleges offering women’s squash at the varsity level.

  As a varsity level sport, the rosters of the squash teams are resourced and supported by the college, and the teams are included in each of the college’s athletic department websites. The squash teams compete in regional and national tournaments organized by the college squash governing body.

  The highly selective colleges dominate college squash, with 59% of colleges playing men’s squash coming from amongst the highly selective colleges, and 66% of colleges playing squash coming from amongst the highly selective colleges.

  College squash is governed by the College Squash Association, which also sets the basic rules and timeline for athlete recruitment to a varsity squash team. These rules and timelines are very similar to those set by the NCAA for its’ collection of sports. US Squash, the national governing body for squash in the United States maintains age group rankings for competitive junior squash players in the country, and these rankings are frequently used by college squash coaches to identify squash athlete recruits.

  The highly selective Division 1 colleges that play squash are active recruiters of top high school squash players, with college coaches prepared to regularly travel to international competitions to observe top American high school players in action and to eventually recruit them to their teams.

  The colleges in Division 3 who offer squash will typically “soft” recruit their squash athlete recruits through the normal admissions cycle with strong support from the team coach.

  While the Ivy League colleges and the Division 3 colleges do not offer any athletic scholarships for squash and there is a very limited amount of athletic scholarships available through the other highly selective colleges that play squash. Needs based financial aid is available to squash athlete recruits just like it is to all admitted students to the colleges.

  Read about Squash at the top colleges.

• Men’s Rowing

  While women’s rowing is an NCAA sports, men’s rowing is not. Instead, men’s rowing is offered by 22 of the highly selective colleges at the varsity level. Men’s rowing is financially supported and resourced by the colleges offering the sport, and the men’s rowing rosters are included in the college athletic department websites.

  The colleges with men’s rowing offer 2 categories, the first is the heavyweight category and the second, a light weight category. At some colleges, both these categories have single gender crews, but at others, the crews comprise a mixed gender crew of men and women in both the heavyweight and lightweight categories.

  The top colleges in Division 1 actively recruit rowers for their men’s rowing crews with verbal recruiting offers taking place starting in the summer between junior and senior year in high school in a recruiting process that closely resembles NCAA recruiting for the niche sports. The Division 1 colleges will also conduct an academic read for their intended rowing recruits during the summer. The Ivy League colleges will typically issue Likely Letters to their men’s rowing recruits once the admissions office has approved the athlete for admission.

  Men’s rowing athlete recruits to the top Division 3 colleges are “soft” recruited though at these colleges many of the crew openings are filled by “walk on” rowers.

  Since women’s rowing is already an NCAA sport, men’s rowing follows the same rules and timeline for athlete recruitment.

  Read about Rowing at the top colleges

• Sailing

  Sailing is a varsity level sport offered for men at 11 of the highly selective colleges, and for women at 12 of the highly selective colleges. Sailing can be a co-ed sport with both men and women on the team, as well as a single gender sport. A few colleges field boats with single gender as well as co-ed crews.

  Overall, sailing is offered at 220 colleges at the varsity level across the country.

  Varsity level sailing is governed by the Inter-collegiate Sailing Association (ICSA), which sets the sailing formats and equipment for championship events. The recruiting rules and timelines are set by the ICSA guided by the NCAA rules set for the majority of its sports.

  While many of the highly selective Division 1 colleges with sailing teams recruit sailors actively including with the issuance of Likely Letters by the Ivy League colleges, athletes are also “soft” recruited through the normal admissions process in Early Decision or Regular Decision at both the Division 1 and Division 3 colleges.

  Read about Sailing at the top colleges

• Women’s Archery

  Columbia University and Barnard College are the only 2 colleges amongst the 61 high selective colleges that offers women’s archery as a sport at the varsity level. There are only a total of 21 archery teams at the varsity level in the country

  Based on the athlete profiles of the archers on their joint archery roster on the Columbia Athletics website, both Columbia and Barnard actively recruit top performing archers for their women’s archery teams. The Columbia/Barnard archery team is considered to be one of the best teams in the country.

  Read about NCAA Sports Played at the Top Colleges

Learn about Sports and Athlete Recruitment as a way to gain priority admission to a top college

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