For a high school student aspiring to attend one of the 61 highly selective colleges with acceptance rates of 25% or less, sports offers an opportunity to excel and stand out from the crowd, creating a big advantage in the admissions process as an athlete recruit.

High school students who excel in an NCAA sport played by top colleges in the NCAA’s Division 1 are positioned to leapfrog the admissions as athlete recruits bypassing both the Early Decision and Regular Decision admission cycles provided that they also meet the college’s academic performance requirements.

Dedicated high school athletes who apply to the top colleges in the NCAA’s Division 3 will also enjoy an advantage as “soft” athlete recruits over other applicants during any of the Early Action, Early Decision or Regular Decision admission cycles if they receive the college coach’s written support that the applicant will be a strong addition to their NCAA sports team.

Since there will never be enough elite athletes who can meet the academic bar to qualify as athlete recruits to the top colleges, sports offers opportunity to strong athletes who are not in the elite ranks to also be athlete recruited to the top colleges. After all, every NCAA sports team needs athletes, and a top college will athlete recruit some of them, even if some members of the team are “walk on” athletes

Read more about How to Stand Out when Applying to a Highly Selective College

The 61 highly selective colleges play a wide range of NCAA sports, from popular sports like football, basketball and soccer to niche sports like fencing, and water polo.

Some popular NCAA sports played at a large number of the top colleges also require large teams to play, offering up numerous opportunities for high school athletes to be recruited to the NCAA sports team. It is, however, important to remember that the more popular the sport at the high school level, the greater the likelihood that a potential athlete recruit to a top college will encounter fierce competition for the same position on the team.

A niche sports like fencing, for example, attracts fewer athletes as it is expensive to become a nationally competitive fencer with a strong ranking on the National Points List. Good fencers with great academics can always find a position on a fencing team at a top college as an athlete recruit if that is what they desire. However, fencing is a sport with somewhat below average popularity at the top colleges since it is only offered for men at 15 of the top colleges and for women at 21 of the top colleges, limiting the choice of colleges for fencers who aspire to be athlete recruited to one of the top colleges.

Every athlete and their parents should be aware of the options they have for athlete recruitment to a top college in the sport they play. If attending a top college is the priority, then it is important for an athlete to choose a sport that is played by a reasonable number of the top colleges.

For example, only 3 of the top colleges offer men’s gymnastics and only 9 of the top colleges offer women’s gymnastics. For men especially, gymnastics is not an optimal sport if the main goal is to get into one of the top colleges. For women, gymnastics offers a slightly better path as an athlete recruit to a top college, but the pathways are still limited. Engage in gymnastics if you love it but be clear that it is offered by too few of the top colleges and engaging in gymnastics cannot form part of any admissions strategy to a top college.

We would put bowling, rugby, rifle and equestrian sports in the same category as gymnastics if athlete recruitment to a top college is your goal. Too few top colleges offer these sports at the NCAA level, seriously limiting your choice of colleges to which you can be athlete recruited.

While golf is a rather popular sport amongst the top colleges, the golf teams are small limiting the number of athletes recruited to the team annually.

So, you can see that there will always be trade-offs involved no matter which sport you pick. Once you do pick your sport, then focus on developing excellence in that sport, which is the path forward to becoming an athlete recruit.

Take note that there are 3 men’s sports and 3 women’s sports that are not offered as part of the NCAA, but they are played by the top colleges and also offer athlete recruitment opportunities.

Learn about The Varsity Sports that can get you athlete recruited.

Here’s the complete list of NCAA sports at highly selective colleges that can get you athlete recruited

While the NCAA offers a total of 24 men’s and women’s sports, the top colleges only offer 23 women’s NCAA sports and 20 men’s NCAA sports. Some sports are so popular that they are played by men and women at nearly all of the top colleges, while other sports are played by fewer than 5 of the top colleges.

Men’s NCAA Sports

We list below the 20 Men’s NCAA sports played at the highly selective colleges in order of popularity and the number of colleges that offer them

Basketball - 59 colleges

Tennis - 58 colleges

Cross Country - 57 colleges

Track & Field - 57 colleges

Baseball - 55 colleges

Soccer - 54 colleges

Swimming & Diving - 52 colleges

Football - 49 colleges

Golf - 47 colleges

Lacrosse - 33 colleges

Ice Hockey - 22 colleges

Wrestling - 19 colleges

Fencing - 15 colleges

Water Polo - 13 colleges

Volleyball - 10 colleges

Alpine Skiing - 8 colleges

Nordic Skiing - 7 colleges

Gymnastics - 3 colleges

Rugby - 2 colleges

Indoor Track - 1 college

Rifle - 1 college

Women’s NCAA Sports

We list below the 23 Women’s NCAA sports played at the highly selective colleges in order of popularity and the number of colleges that offer them

Basketball - 61 colleges

Cross Country - 60 colleges

Swimming & Diving - 59 colleges

Tennis - 60 colleges

Track & Field - 60 colleges

Soccer - 59 colleges

Volleyball - 57 colleges

Lacrosse - 48 colleges

Softball - 47 colleges

Golf - 43 colleges

Field Hockey - 41 colleges

Rowing - 32 colleges

Fencing - 21 colleges

Ice Hockey - 17 colleges

Water Polo - 14 colleges

Gymnastics - 9 colleges

Alpine Skiing - 8 colleges

Nordic Skiing - 7 colleges

Beach Volleyball - 7 colleges

Rugby - 6 colleges

Bowling - 2 colleges

Equestrian - 2 colleges

Indoor Track - 1 college

Rifle - 1 college

If your child starts playing a sport before age 13

While sports seems like a great way to build an advantage in college admissions, sports will demand substantial commitments of time from parents and the young athlete over a multi-year period. Depending on the sport, parents must also be prepared to pay for what could be very substantial costs for equipment, training and travel with an uncertain outcome especially if a sport requires that an athlete gets started in the sport at a relatively young age. At the younger ages, it is prudent to let your child explore several sports and play them for fun. This is the only way to find out which sport your child actually enjoys. You will be able to eventually evaluate once they enter high school which one of the sports they play offers potential for them to athlete recruited.

Grades matter as much as athletic performance for a top college

It is important to keep in mind that because you are targeting a top college to be athlete recruited to, your academic performance will be a material part of the consideration in whether the college recruits you or not. Do not neglect your grades and test scores in favor of spending time improving your athletic performance. One cannot happen without the other. There have been too many instances of athletes who focus on sporting excellence only to find that their grades are not good enough for the top colleges.

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

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