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Okay, so you're a top-rated soccer or volleyball player, you've broken state records in football or track, or you're a standout swimmer or diver. You show up to all your practices and games, have a great reputation among coaches and competitors, and are widely known and respected among recruiters. You don't need to worry about doing anything except playing the sport you play so well, right?
 | Wrong. Assuming that all they have to focus on is playing sports and that everything else will fall into place is probably the No. 1 mistake high school student-athletes make. |
 | Think about approaching scholarship searches as you do the sport you play: In your sport, proper equipment is paramount to your success. Think about the money you and your family have invested in shoes, apparel, balls, and sport-specific gear for your practices and competitions. Think about the time and energy you've invested in practicing, perfecting your technique, and competing. Think about the time and money your parents have invested in getting you to your practices and games, getting you enrolled in club leagues, and allowing you to attend select camps. When you're going for a scholarship, you have to put in the same kind of time and effort. |
Your educational choices are as wide and varied as are your choices in sport. But before you can make an informed decision about what school you want to attend, you have to decide what you want to achieve with your degree and what, if anything, you plan to do athletically after you graduate from college. You have to make this decision because different types of schools offer different advantages academically and athletically.
Universities are four-year institutions with a variety of colleges or professional schools (such as colleges of liberal arts, business, law, medicine, and theology) and several kinds of degrees in many areas of study. They offer bachelor's degrees in arts or sciences after four years of study; graduate degrees (master's degrees and doctoral degrees), which require additional years of study; and nursing, dental, and medical degrees, which also require additional years of study after completion of a bachelor's degree. Universities are usually much larger than colleges, carry out research, and offer on-campus housing.
Four-year colleges usually concentrate on one major area of education (such as colleges of liberal arts) and offer bachelor's degrees. Colleges generally do not support research or offer graduate programs, but they do have on-campus housing.
Within the category of four-year schools, there are large and small colleges and universities. Most large institutions participate in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) sports. The large, Division I universities and colleges are the schools that send the majority of football, basketball, and baseball players into the major leagues. So, if your dream is to be a professional football or basketball player, you should shoot for attending an NCAA Division I school.
Many small colleges and universities are superior schools with excellent academic reputations and prestigious faculty members. Many student-athletes who are interested in education first and athletics second attend small universities, which often participate in National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) or NCAA Division II or III athletics. Many student-athletes also attend NCAA Division III schools for the opportunities to play in multiple sports (which is usually not allowed by NCAA Division I schools).
Community colleges or junior colleges offer associate's degrees, which typically take two years to complete, and typically do not have on-campus housing. There are many reasons for attending two-year colleges:
- Some students are interested in obtaining an associate's degree to pursue specific technical careers.
- Some students begin at a community or junior college with plans to transfer to larger colleges or universities because they didn't qualify academically for admission into four-year schools. They plan to earn the grade point averages (GPAs) required for admission to four-year schools and then transfer.
- Some student-athletes start out at junior colleges when they haven't been accepted by the athletic program at the four-year school of their choice. They hope to maintain acceptable GPAs at the junior college, accrue playing time in the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA), and attract the attention of recruiters from four-year schools.
The most difficult chore, of course, is narrowing down the list of schools in which you're most interested. You don't want to choose a school based on its team mascot, whether your dad went there, or because it's where your best friend is going. Finding the right program requires researching which colleges offer the programs you're most interested in, student graduation rates and transfer rates, academic and athletic success, athletic probation, recruiting methods, the coaching staff, and more.
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