The Student Athlete (part 8): FAQs
Quick answers (FAQs) to common student athlete questions.
I'm an athlete.... do grades matter?
Yes. Let me repeat that - yes!
Having a solid academic record will always be better than the alternative.
You are a student athlete, emphasis on the former. Your first “job” in college is college. Your second job is sports.
Other than the obvious need to achieve and maintain good grades in order to remain eligible to participate in college athletics, grades help with landing better scholarships (at NCAA Division I, Division II, and NAIA programs) and in strength of recruiting. Remember that NCAA Division III schools do not offer athletic scholarships. Your primary source of scholarships at these schools is merit-based aid, which is a recognition of your academic and/or leadership achievements.
In order to participate in athletics, you must be admitted to attend college. Coaches coach; admission officers admit. These are separate roles. What this means is that in addition to being a strong fit athletically, you’ll need to be a strong fit academically for the college or university. This is why coaches will often ask for information about your grades and test scores very early in the recruiting process. They want to know if you’re likely to be a strong academic fit as they only want to spend time recruiting athletes who are likely to gain admission.
You may hear about a process called a “pre-read”, where a coach shares your academic information with an admissions counselor at the college or university in order to get signal about your chances of admission. This process usually takes place during the summer before your senior year in high school. The admissions officer provides advance-warning to the coach if there are any academic concerns that might impact your chances of admission. Note that this process looks at all elements of academic performance - e.g. in addition to your grades, admission officers also look at the rigour of your high school courses (are you enrolled in challenging classes such as APs, IB, etc…), how many years of math and science courses you completed, etc...
Occasionally, the result of a pre-read is a “likely letter”, a statement from the college or university that you are likely to be admitted if you apply. If you don’t receive one, that is neither a good nor a bad signal - these are somewhat rare. But if you do receive a likely letter, it's a positive sign of interest on the part of a college or university.
Will athletic ability help me get into a highly-selective college?
Data shows that it can help - https://www.nber.org/papers/w26316.
Recruited athletes are admitted at a higher rate than similar candidates who are not athletes. Gaining admissions as a recruited athlete at a highly selective college is also highly correlated with higher income. Note that these athletes are largely participating in sports other than football and basketball.
But… before you start ditching schoolwork in favour of prioritising lacrosse, fencing, or squash… my advice is to approach athletics as a dimension in which you have distinguished yourself in addition to academic table-stakes, and not in lieu of them.
Stated more plainly - it is the combination of your academics and athletic ability that will matter at highly-selective colleges.
If I play college sports I’ll receive a big scholarship, right?
Maybe, but the odds aren't in your favour, unfortunately. A few key facts:
Only about 2% of high school athletes are awarded athletics scholarships in college (NCAA - p. 30)
In Division I, only 58% of student athletes are on athletic scholarships. In Division II, only 67% of student athletes are on athletic scholarships. In Division III, no student athlete is on athletics scholarship - they are not allowed (though, student athletes often receive other forms of merit aid based on academic achievement and leadership).
Full ride scholarships are typically awarded annually, meaning for 1 year at a time. Multi-year full scholarships are rare. This means that even if you receive a scholarship, you’ll need to continue to “earn” it each and every college year.
Full ride scholarships tend to be the exception, not the rule. College sports can be headcount sports or equivalency sports. Headcount sports - applicable only to Division I revenue sports (men’s FBS football, men’s and women’s basketball, and women’s tennis, gymnastics, and volleyball) - offer only full scholarships. The latter, equivalency sports, encompass every other sport. Equivalency sports can offer full scholarships, but to make their athletics $$$ go farther, they mainly offer partial scholarships. In that way, they can offer at least some scholarship money to more athletes - increasing the chances that programs will successfully recruit more players.
Last, keep in mind the total cost of attendance when considering athletic scholarships. For example, if School A's total cost of attendance is $40K and they offer you a $15K/year athletic scholarship, you are still responsible for $25K. If School B, on the other hand, has a total cost of attendance of $30K and offers you a $7.5K/year athletic scholarship (half of School A’s scholarship amount), you are going to be responsible for a lower total amount, $22.5K in this example, even though you’re receiving a smaller athletic scholarship from School B.
As an athlete, should I apply Early Decision (ED)?
Particularly at highly selective colleges and universities, you may receive input from the coach and/or team to apply early decision (ED). As a quick recap - early decision is a binding promise where, if admitted, you agree to attend that college. You also agree to withdraw all other college applications. You can only apply early decision at a single school.
There are both advantages and disadvantages to pursuing early decision admission as an athlete.
Early decision can be a win/win for both student and coach. Coaches like ED applications as it allows them to secure top talent early in the recruiting season. For students, applying early decision demonstrates a strong commitment to the college, and to the team. NCAA Division III schools do not have a National Letter of Intent (NLI) (because they do not offer athletic scholarships), so in some ways an ED application + acceptance can take the place of “signing” by creating a binding contract between student and school. Finally, applying ED can potentially alleviate stress associated with choosing a college.
Because early decision is a binding agreement, you’ll want to be 100% sure the school is your #1 choice. If accepted, your recruiting process - and college search - will end. If you think you want to continue exploring programs and offers from other colleges, applying ED probably isn’t a path you’d want to take.
