Upper School
College Counseling

ATHLETICS

Playing sports at Tower Hill does not guarantee that you will be recruited at any level. If you are not a recruited athlete, your sport will not play a significant role in admission. If you are a recruited athlete or feel confident you will be a recruited athlete, keep reading for helpful information on how the process might be different for you.
1. Will athletics help me get into my first choice college? If a coach comes to look at you, and if the coach decides that you are a strong candidate for their college team, then – and only then – can you assume that athletic talent may play a significant factor in getting into college. If you are not recruited by a coach, athletic ability will play no more (and no less) important a role in the admission decision than any other seriously pursued extracurricular activity, period. Either way, the admission office will make the final decision, not the athletic department or coach.
 
2. Who Recruits? Athletes are recruited at all levels of college athletics. However, the NCAA and colleges themselves put restrictions on each level of sports (Division I, IA, II, and III). The NCAA guidelines for recruiting, as well as the NCAA Eligibility Center form required of all Division I, IA, and II student athletes, are available at http://www.ncaa.orgIt is your responsibility to know the recruiting rules. A student athlete can get a good idea of the coach’s level of interest from the intensity of the recruiting efforts. It is important to remember that athletic ability determines how much support the college coach will give the student in the admission process.
 
3. How do I know if I could be a Division I athlete? Quite honestly, college coaches make the determination of who would be a good Division I athlete, not the student. Therefore, if sports will be an important part of your college life, you should have a good, serious talk with your Tower Hill coaches early on in this process during your junior year and again early in your senior year. The elite of the elite (those who will be offered the very rare “full ride”) may know by July before their senior year where they will be going to college. Other Division I (and often Division IA – Ivy League) athletes may not know for certain until the spring of their senior year where they will matriculate and play.
 
4. What about Division III? If you want to play college athletics, it is critical to match your athletic ability with a college to which admission chances are realistic and at which making the team is likely. In their final analysis, Division I colleges seek only the most elite athletes. Division III colleges combine academic study and athletics in a more balanced fashion, as do Division IA schools. If you are recruited for athletics for a Division III school, you will not be eligible for athletic scholarships, but the interest of the coach could help give you a nudge in the admissions process.

5. What is the NCAA Clearinghouse? How to I register? The NCAA Clearinghouse has an Eligibility Center, which was established to determine academic eligibility for student athletes in Divisions I and II. All students with an interest in Division I or II programs, and especially those interested in making official visits to colleges in the fall of senior year, should register online with the NCAA Clearinghouse before leaving school at the end of junior year. If you have ever attended another high school besides Tower Hill, you will have to pick up a form to be completed by that school as well. These forms are used to certify your academic eligibility according to the core set of courses required by the Clearinghouse standards. The Clearinghouse has a formula that uses your test scores and then confirms that you have a corresponding minimum GPA for those scores as well as the right number of classes.
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