Intramural vs. Varsity Sports in college

<p>Hi. I am currently a senior in high school deciding where to go to college. I have wrestled and played lacrosse all 4 years of high school, and would enjoy continuing these sports in college. Unfortunately, I'm not a star athlete or anything, and I doubt highly that I would make a D1 or even D3 team.</p>

<p>So far I've gotten into Penn State, UHartford, RIT, and SUNY Oneonta and I'm waiting on decisions from UMiami, American, and USC. </p>

<p>There are many other factors influencing my decision, but this would help as well. </p>

<p>I know UMiami has a walk-on men's lacrosse club team but I'm not really sure about the caliber and requirements of the wrestling and/or lacrosse teams at the other schools (besides Penn State which I would never make).
If anyone has any information it would be appreciated. </p>

<p>Thank you.</p>

<p>From what ive gathered…</p>

<p>Penn state has lacrosse and wrestling club teams
Hartford has only D1 lacrosse
RIT and Oneonta are D3 in wrestling and lacrosse
Miami, USC, and American have lacrosse club teams</p>

<p>so i guess my question now is, How good does one have to be to play a D3 college sport?</p>

<p>I’ve been an athlete for a while, but my wrestling record is not great. I’ve never placed in the county or state or anything.
I play attack in lacrosse, but I do not start for my team and I barely get playing time. </p>

<p>I get good grades, Ive taken 3 AP’s before this year and I’m currently taking 4. always a scholar athlete. </p>

<p>Despite my athletic shortcomings, would a D3 team take me?</p>

<p>It looks like you aren’t really considering club teams. They may not be varstiy level, but the participants are serious, and you can have a good time, play the sport you love and are good at, and still have a life outside of the sport.</p>

<p>My D played club rugby, and played in Ireland and Germany, and it gave her a great in-group of friends when she did study abroad.</p>

<p>Good luck with whatever.</p>

<p>I am considering club teams, but I also want to know if playing D3 is a viable option. I would definitely want to do either one though.</p>

<p>DIII teams are still serious, and usually you get recruited before going to a DIII team. Look up lax and wrestling recruiting. I know for tennis there is a website that shows each team’s recruits and how good they are. There must be something similar for others sports so you can see how you stack up.</p>

<p>A professor at a college my son was touring had the answer to my son’s question and yours: “Do you want to be a soccer player or an engineer?”</p>

<p>My son decided on that college. Majoring in engineering. Playing club soccer (interscholastic; plays Div 1 & Div 3 club teams, made up of kids like him).</p>

<p>Unless you are a surefire NBA or NFL draft pick (you’d know it by now), you go to college for the education. Those that forget that are those that are on the “5-year plan”. College loan officers love them.</p>

<p>The rule of thumb I have heard is to play D1 sports you need to be among the top 1% of high school players in your sport … and to play D3 sports you need to be among the top 10% of high school players in your sport.</p>

<p>Club teams vary in their quality and intensity … many colleges have more than one club lacrosse team … where the top team is essentially a varsity team … and lower club teams are much more accessible to players.</p>

<p>@dfree124: so if i were going to look into recruiting, should I wait until I enroll in a school? or just do it as soon as possible?</p>

<p>@spacemaned: I am majoring in engineering actually. do you think a d3 sport would take to much time away from that?</p>

<p>I don’t think you got my point. It’s too late to be recruited now, I suggested that you look at recruiting websites, and the websites of your prospective school’s teams, to get an idea of what caliber player plays where. </p>

<p>If you know of any other players who went on to play DI/DIII you could compare yourself to them to get a good idea of where you stand.</p>

<p>Also, top DIII teams would slaughter bottom DI teams in tennis, so I assume the same would be true for lax/wrestling. Just because a team is DI doesn’t mean it’s great, and just because a team is DIII doesn’t mean it isn’t any good.</p>

<p>I looked back at your original post, and it doesn’t look like you were in the top 1% or top 10% of either sport you played, so playing at DI/DIII in college probably isn’t likely. If you didn’t start on your high school lax team I doubt you will be able to play varsity in college.</p>

<p>ohhh alright. yeah you’re right. </p>

<p>does anyone know the caliber of the teams specifically at RIT and SUNY Oneonta?</p>

<p>You should contact the coaches at the schools you are considering. There is a wide variation in the approach taken from school to school.</p>

<p>My S is a high school wrestler and is pretty solid (second in his league but certainly not a state level wrestler). He is considering D2 and D3 schools. The D2 team he is looking at does not cut and welcomes walk ons and new wrestlers. You will get a chance to wrestle in competition. They have also produced some all americans.</p>

<p>The D3 teams seem more competitive and it will be more difficult to make the squad. My s will be visiting the schools and meeting the coaches later this month.</p>

<p>Some do, but it’s really tough to do both serviceably, let alone well. A varsity sport is a job, even in D3, in addition to the demanding needs of engineering studies/projects. Also depends on the sport and the school. Don’t discount club teams. Many schools have excellent players (including former varsity players and grad students) that just don’t want to commit to the daily/pre-season practice time, and want to do other things.</p>

<p>thanks everyone for your help.</p>

<p>sports arent really that much of a priority for me in choosing a college, but theyre something i would be interested in participating in. I feel like Im better suited for club sports and I probably wouldn’t have time for varsity anyway</p>