What Do You Need to Qualify for Athletic Scholarships?

Qualifying for college athletics is an extremely serious issue in the DC area. We are a hotbed of basketball, football, and boutique (lacrosse, tennis, golf) NCAA athletic talent. Yet in some sports, the most talented athletes do not fully address qualifying until the beginning of their senior year. This is particularly tragic given the true nature of college admissions. You have to have both a GPA and a test score to be eligible to play sports. The GPA creates all kinds of confusion. Athletes can play in high school with a 2.0 across all of their subjects, no matter whether they are college prep or college core classes. Unfortunately, these students who qualify to play high school sports for four years may not qualify to play Division I or Division II college sports for even one year. After the jump I'll describe and interpret eligiblity requirements in greater detail as I refer to the NCAA Clearinghouse Chart.

The first thing you have to do if you want to qualify is know the NCAA Clearinghouse chart. Here are a few key things to note about this chart:

• The NCAA requires that you take 16 core courses. Your GPA is calculated from your grades in those core courses. Note that courses like physical education and health are not included in that list or core courses (social science, comparative religion, math, science, English, foreign language). Non-core courses may help a student hit 2.0 for high school and play, but recruiters will shy away from these athletes if they can't demonstrate success in core courses.
• Students are required to take four years of English, three years of math, two years of science, and at least one extra year in those fields. In other words, students should seriously consider taking math all four years whether or not it's a graduation requirement at their school
• Both SAT and ACT are accepted. It's important that students take at least one ACT (which does not have guessing penalties) early on the process to see which exam is a better fit.
• Know how the SAT scores compare to the average scores for your district and ideally for your school. In Prince George's county the link to SAT scores can be found here.  In Montgomery County, there is a huge Achievement Gap. Even if your child attends a "good school", it's quite possible that he or she may score far below the school average and struggle to qualify.
• Remember that PSAT scores are designed to give families an initial snapshot of where their children are likely to score on the SAT. You can add a zero to a PSAT math score of 35 to get 350 and know that your child may not have a large chance of clearing 400 on the math section by the end of the junior year.
• Division II is a little bit easier to get into but not much. You still have to have an 820 on the SAT. Given that this is higher than the school average at many DCPS and Prince George's County Public Schools (PGCPS , it's not but so much easier to qualify for Division II than Division I, where a GPA higher than 2.5 makes it possible for a student to qualify with less than an 820 SAT. An average GPA of 2.5-2.8 (solid C/B-) can make it easier for a student to qualify for a Division I school than a Divsion II school.

Given the lackluster record that DCPS and PGCPS have in generating positive SAT scores, it's not suprising that many schools struggle to have all of their athletes qualify. Attending a private school may not be the answer either, though. These more rigorous schools are likely to inflict greater GPA pain. Yes, you're more likely to get a high SAT scores, but it's highly possible that you'll get a lower GPA that more than balances that out. I'm personally familiar with a Catholic school basketball team that won a lot of games and had multiple Division I recruited athletes but had multiple failed qualifiers as well. In many ways, these students had been punished for their choice of going to a more rigorous school than some of the weaker schools in the area.

Lastly, I'd encourage students and families to realize that the goal is not just to qualify and survive college. The goal should be to thrive in college. If you can easily pass these qualifying hurdles, you can spend more time preparing to succeed in college. If you easily pass these hurdles, you are also more likely to be recruited at schools that need academically strong students to help maintain program eligibility and total scholarships at a school. In other words, your great grades may help the coach recruit another student who barely qualifies. That means great grades can help you get recruited to play just like playing for a high-profile team or having outstanding tape on film.

As a community, we have an urgent responsibility to publicize the qualifying problem and maximize the scholarship and admissions outcomes of the students we care about so deeply. I hope this post will provide some helpful information for all who are affected by this issue.