Athletics
College Athletics
Playing College Sports at Highly-Selective Academic Schools
Playing College Sports - More Attainable Than You Think - Extremely Helpful in Admissions
Playing college sports is a valuable and highly rewarding experience. It allows students to take the path less travelled, broaden their horizons and connections, and elevate their future prospects in numerous ways. Perhaps more importantly, playing college sports can be a substantial factor in leveraging admission into highly-selective academic schools.
In the last few years we have had students from several different sports attend Top 20 academic colleges and universities, in large part because they were recruited athletes and were given one of the coveted “slots” that exist at most schools for student-athletes. Some of these schools include: Princeton, Penn, Yale, Columbia, Vanderbilt, MIT, Georgetown, University of Chicago, Middlebury, Tufts, Hamilton, Claremont McKenna, Emory, Wesleyan, Kenyon, and Washington & Lee.
Be Proactive and Open Minded
When exploring the possibility of playing a sport in college, keep in mind two things:
When exploring the possibility of playing a sport in college, keep in mind two things:
- Maintain an open mind when thinking about the types and locations of schools. Starting with a narrow geographical approach or a bias towards the size of school significantly narrows your opportunities; and
- Realize that while every student-athlete starts with the dream of being a major college sports hero, historically only about 1% of our students play D1 college sports. It’s great to aim high athletically, but avoid tunnel vision -- have a fall back. D3 sports are highly competitive, allow for a more normal college life, and involve some of the most highly-selective academic schools in the country. Many of our students are particularly well-suited for D3 because they are excellent athletes, but also excellent students. Being recruited at the D3 level requires students to be proactive -- you need to be the one reaching out and making contact with college coaches - not the other way around. To learn more about the experience of playing D3 sports at top academic colleges, please watch this video below.
Video - D3 Sports Experience
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Playing D3 Sports at Great Academic Schools
In this short 15-minute video, 5 recent MBA graduates describe their experience of playing D3 sports (baseball, football, lacrosse) at highly-selective academic schools across the country. They describe the time commitment and benefits, as well as how it has afforded them a balanced academic, athletic, and social experience in college.
Our mission in the Athletics Department, in close cooperation with College Counseling, is to teach our students and their parents how to navigate the recruiting process and to leverage sports into admission into the best possible academic school, consistent with overall student fit.
Process in a Nutshell - Attend the Annual MBA College Athletics Night
Our annual “College Athletics Night” will give you an overview of D1 versus D3 college sports and how we recommend approaching the recruiting process. Following that presentation, MBA staff and coaches will conduct sport-specific team/group meetings with students. After that, we recommend that interested families of 10th and 11th graders contact the Athletics Office to set up an individual meeting. These individual meetings with students and parents are critical because they are specific to your personal circumstances. We will discuss course work, grades, athletic ability, and an action plan specific to your sport and capabilities. We also talk about college recruiting questionnaires, letters to coaches, camps/showcases, and study habits. The earlier you begin this process the less overwhelming it is -- starting early spreads out the process and allows you time to tour more schools and be organized. While some students have started with us as late as fall of their senior year, it is not optimal.
If you have any questions, please contact the Athletics Office. We look forward to working with you!
MBA College Athletics Night
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College Athletics Presentation
This newly updated presentation provides an overview of the college recruiting process. It describes the differences between DI and DIII sports, academic opportunities, headcount and equivalency sports/scholarships, conferences, MBA student-athlete trends, and other resources/links for additional information. This is only a starting point, as everyone's recruiting journey is unique.
MBA College Athletes: 2000 - 2024
List of 13 frequently asked questions.
Montgomery Bell Academy
4001 Harding Road
Nashville, TN 37205
(615) 298-5514
