I’m a senior with good stats (4.0, 34 ACT) and decent EC’s. I received a offer to play football for a D3 school and have been in contact with their coach. However, D3 colleges don’t offer athletic scholarships they only offer academic scholarships to athletes that they want to ply there. I was wondering if this still counted as being a “recruited athlete” hook for college admissions.
Technically, they offer FA or merit scholarships to students they wish to have purely based on academics. Not to students they want for athletics. Your stats, however, would likely put you in the group of highly desirable students who would get a merit scholarship if the school has them.
An athletic coach may request that of the many qualified students, they admit you because he wants you for the team.
If you get a merit scholarship, you will probably have to maintain a certain GPA to keep it. Whether you continue to play your sport will not affect it (either way.)
Yes, at some D3 schools being an athletic recruit is a hook if the coach wants you. At others it makes little to no difference. I’d ask the coach directly how the admissions process works for athletes: can he support recruits and could you expect his support? (Use your own words to ask those things). Coaches deal with these questions all the time. Don’t feel stupid for asking.
In D3 there’s no money other than academic merit or need, so the only reason you’d need a hook is to get in. With a 4.0/34 most places will roll out the red carpet for you, but for the places where it’s super competitive and those numbers are just average you’ll need to ask the coach what he can do for you. In the current D3 top ten only John Hopkins wouldn’t be impressed with your book work, so you might do well on the merit front even without football if you’re willing to accept not attending an elite academic institution.