<p>My son wants to attend an academically challenging school with a strong Division III soccer program. Does anyone have information about the Amherst Men’s Soccer team which is nationally-ranked? How well do athletes and non-athletes mix? Son’s h.s. friends are mostly non-athletes with other interests.</p>
<p>pmyen,
My roommate last year was on the soccer team, so I have some knowledge of life as a soccer player at Amherst. The team is a very strong one, and is often nationally ranked. In NESCAC, it is usually among the top 3 teams in the league, and often competes for the league championship with Williams and Middlebury. The team will have a new coach this season, Justin Serpone , former assistant coach at Duke, which they seem to be very exctied about. This is the website of the soccer team <a href="http://www.amherst.edu/sports/current/m-soccer/index.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.amherst.edu/sports/current/m-soccer/index.html</a>. Athletes and non-athletes seem to mix very well. They have plenty of friends not on the team, but also have the team as a cohesive social group. I hope this helps.</p>
<p>Lemonjello,
Thanks for the info and the website address. I looked it up. It is noteworthy that 10 members of the team placed on the NESCAC All-Academic team as well.</p>
<p>My D would like to play soccer for the school if she
attends, but is worried that the time commitment would
preclude her from performing well enough in classes to
go on to grad-school (perhaps law or journalism).</p>
<p>What are the student's thoughts on this?</p>
<p>At DIII schools, the time commitment is generally closer to that of high school than the 24/7 deal at DI schools. I believe that at Amherst, the schedule follows the general structure of 2 hour practices 5 days a week, and games on the weekends.</p>
<p>Depending on her interests, a more important issue than the sheer time commitment may be whether practice will or could conflict with her courses, especially science labs, art studio time, or theater arts time, and whether internships or a practicum will be possible. This is something to look into at each school. Have her ask the coaches and the players but also look for the ones who aren't playing because the conflict was too difficult for them (find them by asking high school and club coaches for leads, by contacting somewhat older athletes from her school or area who may have a wide network they can tap, by talking with students majoring in her subject(s) of interest at each school, and by contacting students at each school who share her non-athletic extracurricular interests.</p>
<p>Remember that, even at NESCAC schools and Ivies, many students train individually or with peers at captains' practices throughout the year in order to stay fit for the team, and, while the practices may be two hours long, this level of training may come as a surprise to some high school athletes.</p>
<p>And, if studying abroad (or away from campus) for a semester or a year is important, how realistic is it to plan to do that and still make the team the next year?
More so at some schools that have worked to accommodate this option than at others, and certainly more possible at DIII schools than at DI schools, but look carefully before she leaps.</p>
<p>Grace,
I would imagine that it is possible for a soccer player to take the second semester of junior year away from campus at a Division III school. Do you know whether that is the case? Thanks.</p>
<p>It definitely is possible for an athlete to go abroad, especially when they go when their sport is out of season. At most DIII schools, going abroad and athletics don't really conflict. I suppose this might be different with winter sports, but for soccer, it shouldnt't be a problem.</p>
<p>My son is passionate about soccer, but unsure whether he wants to go to a DIII school or play club at a top DI school. Besides Amherst, what are some other DIII schools with strong soccer AND academics?</p>
<p>Williams, Middlebury and Wesleyan were (along with Amherst) the strongest soccer teams in NESCAC, and they are top academic schools. Outside of NESCAC, Wash U tends to have strong sports teams, and it is a great academic school as well.</p>
<p>Thanks, Lemonjello. Did your roommate get to go to football games or was he playing soccer on those days?</p>
<p>Here is a site that gave final rankings of the Division III soccer teams: <a href="http://www.d3kicks.com/top25.php%5B/url%5D">http://www.d3kicks.com/top25.php</a>. Amherst is among the top 25. Other academically-oriented schools on the list in addition those mentioned already are NYU, Johns Hopkins, Case Western Reserve, Swarthmore, Brandeis, and Denison.</p>
<p>Thanks, pmyen. This is very helpful!</p>
<p>My roommate usually had games on Saturdays, so he couldn't always go to football games. However, there were times when both teams were home and playing at different times (Homecoming, especially).</p>
<p>Thought I would pass this information along. It was provided by someone at another site. A lot of the men's and women's coaches from NE Division III schools will be instructors, and it may be an opportunity to learn about their progrms first-hand. Amherst women's coach will be there but don't know whether the new Amherst men's coach will be there. My son is thinking of attending next summer as he currently is a rising junior.
<a href="http://www.socceracademies.org/stories/storyReader$63">http://www.socceracademies.org/stories/storyReader$63</a></p>
<p>Thanks, Lemonjello.</p>
<p>The camps can be a wonderful way to meet (and experience what life might be like) with various coaches, improve technique, and get pointers on the admissions process. If you are a full year off from applying, you can research who coaches where and make the decision this summer about what camp to attend next year. A word to the wise: watch the "camp fill up" dates very carefully. The camp that had the coaches my child wanted filled up very quickly in January each year, and then quickly went to wait list status. Athletes did get in from the wait list but sometimes only by missing a week of school if their high school was one of those that started in August (they had to take the much less popular second, later session). It is very hard to schedule the summer before senior year that far in advance, of course, but some of the camps only require a fairly small deposit and will refund most or all of it if the applicant withdraws by some announced date in mid-spring. You can check into these sorts of details now so as to be ready to act in the winter.</p>
<p>The two biggest benefits my child received from from her two years of the camp in question were: 1) realizing that she would not be compatable with the coach at one program that had been of great interest to her and 2) meeting and becoming friends with athletes from her sport from all over half the country who are also passionately committed to the sport (she is in touch with many of them, saw them or their high school teammates at official visits, and saw them at major competitions throughout the year, which created an important network for her and added enormously to her pleasure from participating in her sport).</p>
<p>Grace,
After her camp experiences, how did your d decide on the particular programs she applied to? Did she visit the college teams during practices, watch games, talk with potential future teamates? What type of information was most helpful for her in the search, and decision to attend, her eventual college and its soccer program? Thanks.</p>