squash… field hockey?
I understand that squash is not an NCAA sport, so it not technically a D1 sport. The Ivy league schools are generally the most competitive in squash, along with a handful of NESCAC schools – and neither Ivy League nor NESCAC offer athletic scholarships. George Washington made the press a few years ago when it began offering squash scholarships, I don’t know how many schools have followed in that path. Some smaller schools, such as St Lawrence and Dickinson, have fielded competitive teams, and those two schools do offer merit scholarships. Franklin & Marshall, historically a strong squash program, only offers financial aid, not merit awards.
No familiarity with field hockey – though can only expect that, even though these are not well-known sports in some regions, they are still very competitive for recruiting.
okay so squash is not a scholarship sport Div1. Field hockey is competitive in the northeast but doesn’t appear to be as competitive out west… reason I say that is because most of the girls recruited out West are from the East coast it appears.
Rowing.
Look at number athletes /number scholarships ratio.
I don’t understand why squash isn’t a Div1 scholarship sport, since Trinity College, Mt. Holyoke and other strong squash schools have the bulk of their teams made up of highly ranked international players, all on scholarships…
My Holyoke isn’t giving sports scholarships (I know, one of my kids was a recruited athlete there).
Pick up an oar.
Hmmm… I recently hosted two international Mt. Holyoke squash players taking part in a tournament in Denver. Both had full rides at Mt. Holyoke; in fact, one was 3/4ths through a college degree in her home country before being recruited as a freshman there!
I suppose, it’s one of those Ivy-like arrangements… we don’t give out “sports scholarships” but if you happened to be top in a sport we like, we will just happen to give you a full ride…
I’ve heard crew and bowling.
Apparently most top squash players are international. I know some kids that play and one of the girls who competes regularly will not be recruited anywhere because there are too many amazing internationals.
That is indeed the case, @SeekingPam. 11 of the 15 women on Trinity College’s team are internationals.
golf?
The point is, squash is not an NCAA sport. It is not an Olympic sport either. For whatever reason, it doesn’t get a lot of love.
Schools which are either D1 or D3 schools in other sports field squash teams, but there is no NCAA tournament. The national tournament is, I believe, run by the College Squash Association, and there are different divisions, with Potter Cup being the top, and descending in competitiveness from there. Schools may offer scholarships, depending on their internal practices, but it is not a NCAA sport, and therefore, not a D1 sport.
Personally, I do not know whether Ivy league schools, which do not offer athletic scholarships in their NCAA D1 sports, are able to offer athletic scholarships for squash because it is not a D1 sport. Someone who has been through recruiting at the Ivies for squash would know the answer for that.
Many of the top squash players are international players, with the locus of the sport in the US being the northeast/middle atlantic area.
Hockey
I’ve heard crew but can’t find the data. @Middleman68?
field hockey… all the girls seem to come from Pennsylvania and internationally there are strong players… so applying to a West Coast school in field hockey could be an advantage.
golf I would assume is competitive… yes as other posters said maybe crew is the least?
Someone posted this on another thread
great… fencing and ice hockey are the 2 standouts
You have to separate the sports/schools by NCAA division. NCAA has 3 divisions. To be in D1, the school has to sponsor a certain number of teams, men and women, and I think it is 10-12 for each gender. If a school is D1, it is D1 for all sports. The Ivy league is an exception as it is D1 but gives no athletic scholarships.
D3 schools do NOT give athletic scholarships. There is no winking and nodding, they don’t give them. The merit or need based aid from D3 school is given under the same terms as it is awarded to all students.
What NCAA D1 teams can give a lot of scholarships (not all schools fully fund every team and the coach may not have the maximum number of scholarships to award): Ice hockey 18, crew 20, tennis 8 (headcount sport, can’t be split), lacrosse 12, bowling 5, field hockey 12. Your best chance of getting a full scholarship in a non headcount sport is hockey or crew. Good enough for the team, likely to get a fairly decent scholarship. Headcount sports, tennis, volleyball, basketball, gymnastics, are tough because one athlete gets the entire scholarship.
What are the odds of a high school girl playing a sport competing in college (not getting a scholarship, just competing):
Ice hockey 23%, 7% in D1 (scholarship possible)
crew - the number in college exceeds the number in high school (international student and those from other sports) so the odds are pretty good for a high school student to get a crew scholarship
tennis 5%, 1.4% in D1
lacrosse 13%, 3.4% in D1
Bowling 5%, 1% in D1 (but actual numbers of athletes is small)
Fencing is interesting as the percentage from high school to college is high, 38%, but the actual number of college participants is only 677, and the number of D1 schools is high 23%, but you’d have to subtract the Ivies from the scholarship eligible number.
Which sport is best for a scholarship? Hard to tell.
My guess is that those two squash players from MHC had financial need. They may have gotten an admission tip, but the aid is need based.
Also, lots of high school fencers don’t have school teams, they just club fence. So I am not sure that link is accurately representing them. Possibly the same for crew.