<p>I know that DI athletics are by recruit only, but are DIII recruit only as well? Does this depend on the college? Are there no tryouts?</p>
<p>D1 athletics are not by recruit only. There are walk-ons in DI, DII, and DIII.</p>
<p>Are you serious?!?!? One of the D1 schools that I visited said recruit only... but it's a really small school.</p>
<p>Walk-ons can happen in D1's but it is rare except for the "semi" walk on -- someone who was being looked at as a probable recruit but the school decided not to use a scholarship on that person but encouraged him to come and try out anyway.</p>
<p>For D III's, walk-ons are common although the schools usually try to recruit for their premier teams (like football or basketball if they have it). However, for most sports in D III the strategy is to not be a true walk-on. You should engage in self-recruiting by contacting the applicable coach and providing him with what you are doing on the high school team and keep him updated and possibly even visit the college to do a work out to show what you can do.</p>
<p>You should also contact the coaching staff of any schools you are interested in and see what the procedure for making the team is.</p>
<p>It also depends a lot on the sport. DI sports with limited space, for example, basketball may allow only 1 or 2 walk-ons and even then they may be "recruited" walk-ons (reruited by no schlarship) ... while other sports, for example, cross coutnry and track may allow anyone to walk-on although you may not get to participate in a lot of meets. It depends on the sport and the school ... best bet, contact the coaches at the school in which you are interested.</p>
<p>Thanks. I am interested in baseball. I've contacted a few coaches via email about a week ago but none of them have responded to me.. I wonder how long it typically takes for them to respond, if at all.</p>
<p>I agree with 3togo. Sports with less roster space generally have less walk-ons. Football, for example, could have quite a few walk-on spots because there are so many roster spots to fill and the university/college can't afford scholarships for all of their players.</p>
<p>While most DIII schools are walk on, some teams (the competitive sports at competitive schools... like swimming at Kenyon) are not. It's always a good idea to check in with the coach of your sport(s) at your prospective schools.</p>
<p>As to waiting for return email, most usually get back to you fairly quickly. However, if it is baseball and you sent the emails a week ago you face a likelihood that the coach is currently not available to respond (such as being on vacation until the school's semester begins). If you do not get something in the next couple weeks, you may want to call or send a follow-up email</p>