Our daughter went through this process and I can share her experience. Academically she was top 5% of her high school (very competitive in our state), varsity athlete in 3 sports and settled on track and field events by junior year. She could not imagine not continuing her athletic pursuits in college. She was recruited to some T20 DIII schools but was not recruitable to her top D1 schools including flagship. However, because of her academics she was recruitable for a big D1 school who needed more academic athletes on their team. And they had several athletes that were pursuing engineering degrees… which is what she wanted to major in. Fast forward she opted for the lower ranked (academically) D1 school and balanced track and field with academics. Her coaches were very supportive, the school offers athletes priority class registration, free tutoring, special study accommodations; and because the school is athletically driven the professors were also very supportive of her. She graduated and secured a great job in the aerospace industry. When the company she applied to hired her they mentioned her being a student athlete and balancing academics as a major reason why they hired her. Several of her teammates are now in graduate school MIT, Rice, Duke, and a couple are headed to Harvard law. There are many benefits to being a student/athlete even if the school is not as highly ranked.
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