I play squash competitively in the US and am ranked pretty high in U17 and have a couple of questions regarding colleges. Is getting recruited a difficult process? Whats a good ranking to have in order to be considered and do you guys have any tips for going through this process?
Thanks!
Most schools that recruit squash players are fairly selective, and many will require decent grades and scores. Make sure you have the academic qualifications. Have you talked to your coach that you want to play college squash? He/she should be your first source of information. In terms of rankings for admissions, you can get a sense by checking team rosters.
Here’s some info to get you started: https://csasquash.com/about/playing-in-college/
Are you a rising junior?
College coaches will follow players’ rankings, but you should reach out to them via their online recruiting questionnaire and email. You might also attend specific summer camps at the programs that you are interested in.
Recruiting is very competitive and each several of the best teams’ slots go to top international players, e.g., from UK, Egypt, India. To get recruitment interest from the best programs, you would likely have to be ranked in the top 30 or so in the US. Perhaps down to 50 for lower ranked programs.
Most squash programs do not offer athletic scholarships, as most of them are in DIII or the Ivy League. Only UVA, Drexel, Fordham, GWU and Stanford (women only) can offer scholarships for squash. Generally, the NESCAC schools will have two slots per year per gender. Your grades and test scores will have to be competitive as well, because squash teams generally raise the averages of the overall athlete department.
Squash is not an NCAA sport, so you do not have to register with the NCAA eligibility center. Do some research at the CSA site linked in #1 and talk to your current coach, who should be able to guide you and provide realistic feedback of your recruitment chances. Good luck.
Thank you both, do you also have an idea for a good competitive sat/act score?
Test score expectations will vary by school. Trinity is dominant on the men’s side, and a much easier admissions acceptance than, say Duke or Northwestern, but Trinity will also be much tougher for recruiting than those schools. A quick look at Trinity Men’s roster shows that only 8 of 23 players are even from the US. Look at the CSA website to see which schools have placed where in the standings and in the divisions of the national championship. Then, check those schools’ Common Data Sets to see what the 25-75% test score range is.
In addition to asking your high school or club coach about recruiting prospects, check the rosters of players at schools of interest to see where those players played as high school students and how they were ranked.