Division I vs. Division III: Sports as a Job, or Scholar-Athlete?
Today I spent another fun-filled day at the Colorado Crossroads volleyball tournament in Denver, where nearly 10,000 volleyball players are participating in this national qualifier event.
Parents were steadily coming up to my booth at the tournament (where I was, of course, dispensing some great college advice) to talk about their concerns. The topic of conversation that tended to dominate these discussions was parents’ concern that becoming a Division I athlete was too time consuming and ultimately detrimental to their students’ future success in college.
The first thing I said was that participation in sports was often an indicator of success in college, as varsity athletes tend to have higher GPAs and are more satisfied with their college experience.
However, these parents’ basic concern is valid. Being a Division I athlete is a huge commitment. One must eat, sleep, and breathe one’s sport, and a D1 athelete can plan on training throughout the year to stay in tip-top condition. Further, Division I athletes must commit to playing all four years if they want to keep their athletic scholarship.
But I spent a lot of time explaining that while Division III schools do not offer athletic scholarships, they do recruit athletes in a different way. Every school with a volleyball team (for example) wants to fill its roster with good players who can take a league championship. Thus many colleges offer other forms of scholarship money to entice an able player to join its team–and its student body.
For you see, colleges have needs that they are trying to fulfill. Not only do they need to round out their volleyball roster, but they need a tuba player, an editor of the school newspaper, and a tenor for the glee club. Think of admissions officers as social engineers: they need to populate the campus with a variety of folks to fill certain prescribed roles. The whole process is not quite so neat and clean as that (it’s not very scientific), but the art of the admissions officer is to build a well-rounded class. And in order to do this, they have to meet the needs of the coaches (among others).
So my advice to parents was to relax a bit. Their kids can still find colleges at which they can have a satisfying varsity athletic experience–and still focus on their school work and also allow them to explore other activities (study abroad, a new social cause, artistic pursuits, etc.).
While some kids are seeking the rush and excitement of serious competition a the Division I level, the majority of players that I met today at the Colorado Crossroads volleyball tournament will never be able to achieve that level of competition. But as I explained to these parents, their daughters will have myriad opportunities available to them, if they learn to play the college admissions and athletic recruiting games like a pro.
Speaking of a pro, I have been very fortunate to have Nancy Nitardy, author of Get Paid To Play, working with me at Colorado Crossroads. She is a former Division I swimming coach at Dartmouth, Harvard, and Indiana University. She works with me in advising athletes on their best athletic options, while I help the same students identify their best academic options. Together, Nancy Nitardy and I are able to provide great college advice for college-bound athletes, whatever their level of play.
Mark Montgomery
Montgomery Educational Consulting
Great College Advice
About the Author
Mark Montgomery
As a former professor, administrator, and high school teacher, Mark has the knowledge and skills to counsel students as they make the transition from high school to college.
31 Responses to “Division I vs. Division III: Sports as a Job, or Scholar-Athlete?”
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my son is swimming in a Div 1 college. He is a freshman and is having a hard time getting his school work done. What do other athletes do?
Dear Gail,
I wish I had a really helpful response for you. I would need to know a bit more about how your son is spending his time–outside of class and outside of the pool.
What many aspiring D1 athletes do not recognize–before they sign the letter of intent–is that their sport becomes their primary activity, followed by their studies…and way down the list, everything else. Parties, social life, other activities–all those things are difficult to juggle with the demands of what amounts to semi-professional sports.
My only advice is to say that it’s all about priorities. He has to reorder them to fit the choices he has made: swimming #1, academics #2. All the rest is on an “as possible” basis. This ordering of priorities takes a lot of self-discipline.
Make sure that your son is taking advantage of all the academic support services offered to athletes–which at some schools can be very elaborate. Often athletes can get special tutors and other assistance, paid for in part by the athletic department.
I hope this is helpful. It’s hard to make gross generalizations in this area, as every student is different.
Thanks again for visiting, and let me know if I can be of further assistance!
I am an A* ranked squash player from pakistan.
I want to get admission in a good business school in the usa or australia for my bachelors degree in business administration.
I need to know a few things.
Can you name few uni.s for me?
Can i get adm. on a sports seat or concession in fee?
Thanks!
Hello, Sohaib,
Thanks for your question.
My first recommendation is to check out the college squash area on SquashTalk.com: http://www.squashtalk.com/collegesquash/ . This is a great place to start to see what schools are offering squash, and the site includes rankings. Only women’s squash is an NCAA sport, so you’ll not find many–if any–scholarships for playing men’s squash. However, excellence in a sport can help get you over the admissions hurdle, depending on the school and on the timing and on the roster when you actually apply.
Hope this helps. I do consult to athletes seeking admissions based on their sports abilities–and I also consult with international students. So if you need more personalized, help, don’t hesitate to get in touch.
Good luck!
Thank you for your help.
I’ll definitely get in touch.
If i want detailed help, do we have to talk on this website or can i have your phone number?
Or email?
Hello again, Sohaib.
I just sent you a direct email. Happy to make an appointment to chat!
All the best.
Also, you’ll find my email address at the bottom margin of this page.
Gail, it makes me wonder what he does in his spare time. I was a D-1 athlete and didn’t have a lot of time to party, but I lived with 3 teammates so still had some fun socially. I will admit that college life was pretty much practice, class, and school, with maybe the weekend nights for partying. As an athlete it’s easy to fall into a party trap because you bond with the other athletes and tend to party with other athletes. If he’s gotten this far he must have a sense of discipline, but he has to remember to stick to that discipline even in the face of a college party scene. It is sometimes a hard battle but it is not that hard to balance academics and athletics in D-1 sports. It just makes me wonder if it’s only the sport that’s keeping him from getting his classwork done.
Dear HMK:
Thanks for your comment. Your experience as a D-1 athlete is instructive, and your thoughts about balancing coursework and the demands of the sport are helpful. I always try to emphasize with students heading toward D-1 (or thinking about it) that the amount of self-discipline required is prodigious. Some underestimate the requirements, both academic and athletic. And as you say, the social “opportunities” can be a huge distraction. Therefore students need to think carefully how they aim to balance all the different aspects of college life. Some find that they do not have what it takes to be a D-1 athlete, a successful student, and a social butterfly–simultaneously.
Again, thanks for visiting the site.
My freshman son attends an International Bacculaurate school @ his local high school.He is a student athlete (football). He has a 4.39 weighted GPA and a 4.0 unweighted. Do colleges look at I.B. classes any different. Do they look at if they actually obtained the IB diploma at the end as well? His goal is to obviously graduate with a high GPA but to also play football in college. As a 9th grader he has taken the SAT and scored only 1780. Then in 7th grade he took the ACT and had a composite score of 24. Does it sound like he is on track/ Thanks for you advice.
Dear Colleen,
First, let me refer you to some of my other posts that you might find helpful with regard to the IB and rigorous courses in general. The short answer is that yes, colleges do appreciate the rigor of the IB classes, and they do like to see students on track for the diploma.
http://greatcollegeadvice.com/higher-gpa-or-harder-courses/
http://greatcollegeadvice.com/which-is-better-ap-or-ib-advanced-placement-vs-international-baccalaureate/
http://greatcollegeadvice.com/weighted-gpa-unweighted-gpa-class-rank-and-college-admission/
You ask whether your son is “on track.” Well, that all depends on where he chooses to go. He is still young, he has taken some tests early, and he is doing well in school. He is also playing football, but you do not mention what level: is he on the freshman team, JV, or Varsity? Does he envision going to the most selective (popular) college in the land, and/or does he want a full-ride scholarship to play Division 1 football (note that the Ivies do not give athletic scholarships).
It sounds like your son is being successful by the statistical or numerical measures, and that he is challenging himself athletically and academically. He is doing his best. Since you ask for my advice, I’d simply tell you to relax with the knowledge that your son will find his own path, that he will be successful, and (we hope) will learn something both in the classroom and on the gridiron. The answer to the question, “where will he go to college?” will be answered in due time. Keep your own goals for him real: his happiness, his success as he defines it, and his continued learning and growth.
I hope you find this somewhat helpful, and thanks for stopping by. Let me know if you have further questions; I’d be happy to help!
My son is in an IB program finishing 10th grade with a GPA unweighted about 3.1 and weighted 4.3. He is also a top player on his varsity tennis team and commits many hours to this as well as community and school activities. His concern is whether it is better to give up tennis to bring up his grades and be equal to the IB kids who have no other involvement in activities and are with 3.6-4.0 unweighted GPAs or stick with the tennis (which is his passion) and hope that colleges recognize the time committment needed to succeed in both. Thank you
Hello, Michael. I wish I could give you specific advice, but there is so much more I’d need to know in order to be helpful to your son. He is asking the right questions. Activities are definitely important, but grades often trump the activities. Dropping sports, however, may not be optimal, either. Further, is your son comparing himself to others in a way that is unhealthy or that would force him to make decisions that he would be unhappy about? Sometimes a kid might be best off keeping the things he loves on his schedule, working as hard as he can, and being at peace with the 3.1 unweighted GPA. What, really, is his concern? If it’s a concern that he won’t get into a “good” college, that concern is probably overblown (of course, we’d have to think about the definition of what constitutes “good” in his context–which is what I do as a college consultant). For the most part, colleges do “recognize the time commitment need to succeed in both.” Some colleges will be delighted to turn that recognition into an acceptance letter. Some will not. His strategy will be to identify the schools that value him most for who he is and the choices he has made. And perhaps I could help in crafting that strategy and identifying those schools. Feel free to give me a call if you’d like to chat further.
Thanks for visiting my blog, and best of luck to your son as he charts his path.
I was wondering can you still play Football in a D1 college without getting recruted or if you already graduated. Can you still try out for the Team.
can an athlete get into a division 3 school based on there athletic abilities and not grades?
Hi, Jimmy.
Your question bothers me, to an extent, because the answer bothers me. Frankly, there are some colleges out there that are so desperate for students–and especially for students ones who can play a sport–that they will hold their nose when looking at a student’s transcript (or when reading an essay in which the words “their” and “there” are misused) and accept students who are academically very weak. Especially if those students are willing to pay full price at a Division III school, some schools have no shame. Fortunately, this is a tiny minority.
But remember, being accepted is no the same thing as graduating: only about 37% of students who go directly from high school to college will graduate in four years.
Grades always matter, Jimmy, not because you may (or may not) be barred from going to college. Rather, grades are a proxy for how much you have learned–in an academic sense. If you plan to go to college and be academically successful, then you should be working hard in school, doing your homework regularly, and performing well on tests. It’s always nice if you can play a sport-but the skills you learn on the field are not the same ones that serve you well in the classroom.
So if you want to play your sport in college–and graduate from that same college–then grades matter. Anyone who tells you differently does not have your best interests in mind.
Best of luck to you, Jimmy.
hello, I am a senior at my high school and am debating on which school to attend. I think I want to begin at a division 3 college for volleyball, but feel at times I can do better. If I were to attend a division 3 school, could, after a year of playing for them, be recruited to a divison 2 or 3. Do scouts attend college games looking for new players?
What schools have scouts that recruit athletes out for professional volleyball play?
Hello, Angelica. I’m an expert on colleges, including college sports. I don’t really know much about pro volleyball. I would guess that pro volleyball depends on your performance in college. For example, will you be on one of the top NCAA Division I teams during college? Are you winning individual awards (MVP, for example) that distinguish your play? Frankly, I’m not sure that there is a clear pathway from HS to pro volleyball, other than to be recruited by a top-level NCAA team, and then become one of the standouts in the sport. Pro volleyball is a tiny (and not very well paying) corner of the professional sports world. (A professional player for the Colorado Mammoth Lacrosse team–which plays at the Pepsi Center here in Denver and is quite successful, is also a middle-school teacher at my son’s school: most professional sports are poorly paid, and you may want to consider having a “day job” in addition to your professional sports career). You might want to contact professional teams to see how it works, too. Or study the backgrounds of professional players: where did they go to college? I’ll bet you can find players’ biographies online.
Hope this helps, Angelica, and good luck!
Hi, Angelica.
If you’re a senior and have not yet been picked up by a Division I NCAA team, I would be seriously considering Division 3. Remember that the sporting world is sort of pyramidal in structure. The higher up you go in skill level, the smaller the number of players who consistently perform at that level, and the less demand there is for new blood. I also do not think that coaches from D1 schools recruit at D3 colleges: there is so much top-notch high school play going on–and coaches can get a student for four years instead of three, two, or one. Sometimes players at D3 colleges do try to get recruited by coaches, and perhaps coaches do pick them up from time to time. But I’m guessing this is the exception, rather than the rule.
Good luck, Angelica, in finding the right college and the right team. If I can be more helpful, please let me know.
What is the different between DII and DIII? I am looking at schools in both divisions and am getting a lot of interest from a DII coach but I don’t know how much of a commitment DII is compared to DIII. It it more like DI or DIII?
Hello, B.
In my mind, there are two big differences between D2 and D3. The first is money: D3 does not offer athletic scholarships, while D2 does. However, this does not mean that a student choosing a D3 school may not be getting some merit scholarships that will reduce the overall cost of attending college. It’s just that these scholarships will not be tied to the sport and will not be called “athletic scholarships.”
Second, most D2 schools (but not all) are public universities that are not the “flagship” schools of their state.
With regard to level of play, usually D2 is considered less competitive than D1 and more competitive than D3. However, there are some D2 schools (and players) who can run circles around some D1 teams, while there are also D3 schools that could compete against many a D1 school.
Of course there is much more to say about the differences between D1, D2, and D3. I hope you found this abbreviated answer helpful!
thank you so much! you were very helpful!
You’re welcome!
Happy New Year Mr. Montgomery!
I’ve read all your comments and found them very helpful! thanks.
So here is my situation.
I have this D3 school in mind which has a good business program as well as a soccer program.
And let’s say if I get accepted to that school, is it possible for me get any “merit scholarships” for playing soccer there as a Walk-On?
Thanks,
Hello. You might get some “merit aid” from a D3 school, but it will not be tied to the sport. Thus you can go to the school (with or without said aid) and try out for the team–and walk on. Keep in mind that the “merit” is usually awarded for academic talents. Sometimes there might be another kind of award (e.g., a “leadership award” or something equally vague). But D3 schools are barred from giving athletic scholarships. This doesn’t mean that athletes don’t scholarships. They just don’t get scholarships that are called anything remotely like “athletic scholarships.”
Hope that clears up some confusion.
Mark
I have a brother-in-law who plays football. He started playing his Junior year in HS & started kind of late in recruiting. He is being recruited by several D3 schools, some NAIA schools, Some Junior Colleges, & University of Toronto. Every kids dream is to play for a D1 school because it gives them a better chance to play professionally. What route gives him a better chance in playing for a D1 type school after one or two years. Now I have heard of colleges recruiting from a JC, but I haven’t heard of D1 colleges recruiting from a D3 school.
Hello does someone playing division 3have a chance of going pro in the sport they play?
Howdy.
It is possible to play pro after D3. The odds are long, but it is possible. Depends on the team, depends on the league, and (of course) depends on the talents of that particular player. From your email address, it seems that soccer is your sport. Do you know how much a star player (other than Beckham) makes as a professional soccer player in MLS? You might want to check that out.
Good luck, and have fun!
Nice write-up on Div I demands vs. Div III. How demanding is Div II vs. Div I?