Hi there,
I’m a female junior from the northeast interested in playing a sport at an academically well-regarded D3 school. I’ve been in contact with coaches from most NESCACs and other D3 schools of that academic caliber. As of right now, my top choices are Williams, Amherst, Tufts, Hamilton, Middlebury, Bowdoin, and Grinnell. Just a bit about myself- objectively, I’m a D1 caliber recruit looking to play D3 for a number of reasons. Therefore, coaches have described me as being at the top of their lists (though I’m taking that with a grain of salt lol.) I’m interested in studying political science and economics and I am looking for strong programs there. Grades are important to me, but I’m looking to go to a school with active social life/party scenes. I’m pretty normal and can’t see myself going to a school with a large number of snotty rich kids or extremely liberal hippies. Although I realize that most D3 schools don’t revolve around sports, I want to go to a college with a decent amount of school spirit/pride in sports teams. I don’t mind isolated campuses, but I am looking for a vibrant, outgoing student body. I want to be able to know my professors, and small classes are pretty important to me. Academically, I have been enrolled in almost all honors and AP courses. I have a 95 unweighted GPA with a high upward trend and a 2200 SAT (though I am retaking it.) I do a lot of service, I’m editor of the student newspaper, and I participate in speech and debate and various clubs. In my sport, I have played varsity since freshman year, will be captain junior and senior years, and have been all-league, all-state, all-region, and team MVP. I’m wondering-how much would being a recruited athlete help me at the schools I’m looking at? Based on my criteria, which of these schools might be the best match for me? Of the schools I’ve visited, I absolutely loved Hamilton (it’s my top school and I am a legacy), really liked Williams, but got a weird vibe about Amherst (then again, I visited on a Saturday and campus was dead so it might’ve been a fluke). Thank you all so much 
You will have to ask the individual coaches how much being a recruited athlete will help you. There are a LOT of posts on this subject, but in general, the coach will ask you to apply ED to get either full(slot) or part(tip) support. With your grades, activities, and SATs, you are a competitive applicant at all the NESCACs even without support, but there are 7-10 applicants for every spot, so it’s great to have the sports to help.
Figuring out where you want to apply ED is your main goal for this year, and it would help me give you advice if you could tell me your sport to give advice which school might value your talents more BUT you really can’t go wrong with any of them.
Unless you are an Olympic hopeful, my advise is always to apply to the school that will do the most for you academically, and your sport should come second. Pretend you might be injured, or the coach you LOVED leaves before you play your first season. You don’t want to have to feel you are stuck at a school you don’t like, or isn’t great for your future. Saying that, if you plan on playing a varsity sport you will be spending 4 plus hours a day in season with your teammates, eating with them, and “partying”(or not) with them, so you’d better like them.
Hamilton is well within your reach with or without support. It’s out in the boonies, and to quote the Princeton Review- “Hard liquor is popular”.
Williams is in a slightly less isolated town and very sports-minded. The one-on-one tutorials with profs are very popular, and unique.
Amherst is the most diverse on paper but my sons felt it was uber-preppy when they interviewed there 6-7 years ago.It’s in the consortium with several other schools, so there is a huge amount of academic variety available. The pool is very small, if you are a swimmer.
Midd(I’m prejudiced because my sons both attended, one as a recruited athlete) is a bit bigger than Williams, and within reach of Burlington. It has a fabulous newspaper and active social life. There aren’t too many hipsters there-they are all at Vassar, Bard, and Wesleyan.
Tufts is in spitting distance of Boston…
Grinnell in a cornfield…
Bowdoin struck my boys as too preppy as well but lots of people will argue against that.I’m a Batesie so I’m not a big Bowdoin booster either…
Al these schools have a large proportion of rich kids, but there are plenty of “normal” people.
Good luck. Look up some of my other posts for more info. Sounds like you are in a good situation.
@OldbatesieDoc – Even with the preface that my S16 athlete has just applied ED to one of the schools that you’ve described above in less-than-glowing terms, I must say that you are a phenomenal resource on these threads.
We’re out in California, but we have two grown kids living outside of Lewiston (Wales and Monmouth). . . As you know, the folks in Lewiston peer out over the river at Auburn and think, “Maybe someday . . .”
@qwerty42 – Read his first few paragraphs very closely. Lots of wisdom there. And go back and look at any thread in the Athletic Recruits section that has D3 or NESCAC in the title. You’ll find similar wise words written by a lot of parents whose kids have gone through the process.
My D was an athlete in your exact situation, looking at many of the exact same D3 schools, plus Swarthmore, Haverford, the Claremont Colleges and others. She is a West Coast kid and the farthest thing away from being a prepster that you can imagine.
She fell in love with Amherst and is extremely happy there. It is very diverse for an LAC, and that means the real kind of diverse. Not just some racial minorities who grew up in the suburbs or went to Andover, but actual poor kids from all over who got massive amounts of financial aid to go there. All LACs talk the talk about diversity, but Amherst (and Vassar and Swarthmore) actually walk the walk with their admissions and aid policies. Amherst didn’t feel nearly as preppy to us as Middlebury and Williams did, and go visit Dartmouth to experience maximum, overwhelming preppiness. Amherst is liberal, but not heavily politically correct-hippy (especially not compared to Wesleyan or Swat. Athletics are well supported and attended, but the students are students first, athletes second, as it should be.
In a thread like this, everyone is going to hype up their own favorite colleges (which is fine) and rip on the others (which is not so good), so I won’t do that. All I will say is that her favorites were Amherst, Tufts and Pomona, with Amherst way out in front. So far it
Seconded. My kid’s friends are all over the map, literally - rich, poor, middle, from all over the country and world.
Many students attend games, whether they themselves are athletes or not.
If you are a D1 caliber athlete, Hamilton may not provide you with a very competitive team, depending upon your sport. My kid was in your situation exactly last year, being recruited by all NESCACs. She decided on a West Coast school that strongly meets all your criteria. Feel free to message me if you would like more info.
Qwerty,
If you asking whether athletics can help your application, without knowing more than you have given to describe yourself, the answer is yes. It can. How much help and which school might provide the best fit for you are fairly personal to your own situation – your position, your sport, and the specific needs of the program at hand.
OBD always has good insight. However, I might disagree with the generalizations attached to the schools as described. No school – including LACs – are one-dimensional. There are many layers to the student-body personality. I could go on with my own assessments of the NESCAC schools, but it is really immaterial. What is important is how you feel about each student body. So go at it. Research and visit. Go when classes are in session and at a time when you would expect college students to be awake.
Beyond that, at this point, you also really need to be in contact with the coaches. The coaches will let you know if there is a fit with their program, and that may be the best way to narrow your choices. Be proactive. Call, email, write, and visit. That will make you stand out in their minds.
@qwerty42 – You’ve already received lots of good advice here. I’ll add one more piece.
Relatively early in the process my son (currently a senior) was in contact with a coach at a wonderful (in every way) D3 school. To him (and us) it was clear that’s where he was headed. But I was concerned about him putting all of his eggs in one basket, in case something unexpected happened (like maybe a faster recruit showing up). I told him he had to visit at least a couple of other schools. I figured that it would be just a going-through-the-motions sort of thing, and wouldn’t change anything. He liked one of the other schools enough to go to a recruiting weekend there, and also went to a recruiting weekend at his first choice. You can already see where this is going. He ended up loving the ‘other’ school – liked it more academically, liked his prospective teammates a lot more and loved the coach – and that’s where he just applied ED (with the coach’s support).
So as has been suggested, get in contact with coaches and cast a wide net to start. Visit the schools while they’re in session, and then figure out where you want to go for recruiting trips. All the schools that you named are excellent from an academic standpoint, but they also differ academically. And if it matters to you, at some schools the kids on the team hang together more than they do at other schools. At all the schools on your list academics matter a lot in terms of admission, but your stats appear to be good enough. And yes, your sport can definitely get you in if the coach supports you.
Best of luck. Come back on this thread and give us follow up at some point. Just be careful about mentioning specific schools (so you can’t be identified) until the acceptance is in hand.
I felt like my elite NESCAC school was VERY diverse. As an example, I actually had friends whose parents drove their own car! Now THAT’S diversity!
And in my defense, I think I confessed to extreme prejudice and over-generalization, plus that the OP couldn’t go wrong, and that s/he should visit.
But seriously, everyone posting on this thread has great advice. Number one to moi is that you’ve gotta love the school first, sports team second.
People have different ideas of what diversity means. To me, I like to see economic diversity as well as geographic diversity. Years ago I visited my cousin at Williams and she went on and on about the diversity. Really? Of the 6 of them in the suite, 2 were from Mass, 2 NY, 1 Conn and 1 RI, and three of the six were named Katie. I don’t think there was much economic diversity either.
My daughter is the only minority on her team, but there is plenty of racial, geographic and financial diversity at her school, so she feels very comfortable being a minority, from a different state, and poor.
@OldbatesieDoc – You provided a crystalline clear preface regarding your biases and over-simplification. Sort of like a trigger warning. . . .And to second your main point: My son swims on a nationally renown club swim team for some very seasoned coaches. They tell the kids unequivocally that it’s school first, swim team second.
@twoinanddone – If we’re on the topic of diversity, how about diversity of thought and opinion? My son is president of his ultra-liberal high school’s Republicans Club (he’s actually a libertarian, but he doesn’t know it yet). Even though he’s a white kid from the San Francisco suburbs he’ll add that aspect of diversity to any of the NESCAC schools the day he steps on campus.
Yes, I’d like a nice political diversity too, but that might just be too much to hope for…I know it is too much to hope for with my FB friends.
I haven’t read this site too much since my daughter stepped back from athletic recruiting after a significant injury the end of her 11th grade year, but we visited most of the schools you mention (not Tufts or Grinnell) while she was looking and meeting with coaches. I just wanted to offer this link: http://nothingbutnescac.com/?p=1952 for the description (below the Youtube clip) of NESCAC fans last year during men’s basketball. It sounds like fan enthusiasm is increasing. The writer is a Bowdoin student by the way and it’s a fun site to read for the sports they cover.
And to respond to your question, qwerty, being a recruited athlete will help you alot, more at some schools than others and depending on your sport somewhat. You have good grades, strong SATs, and should have a great shot at any of your schools. Good luck!!
These NESCAC colleges, particularly the first four, have notably strong economics departments as measured by faculty scholarship:
Williams
Middlebury
Wesleyan
Hamilton
Bates
Bowdoin
Trinity
Amherst
(“Economics Departments at Liberal Arts Colleges”/ IDEAS.)
For political science, look for schools with courses in the subfields of American politics, comparative politics, international relations and political philosophy/theory. Colleges with semester-in-Washington programs or “public policy/affairs” centers on campus may have a particularly strong commitment to the field.
“To quote the Princeton Review, ‘Hard Liquor is Popular’ [at Hamilton College]” (post 1)
The category is captioned, “Lots of Hard Liquor,” and does not include Hamilton.