When starting the recruitment process for college athletics, most kids tend to have their sights set on a big division 1 school. Those are usually the schools that they know well or have watched on TV. But as one goes through the recruitment process and begins to discover how many colleges are actually out there, their sights may start to change a bit. More often than not it’s normal to set your sights high, especially when you start the process as a freshman or sophomore in high school and aren’t exactly sure what you want in a college yet. Kids often get so caught up in the idea of playing for a big school that they forget to look at what else would surround their college experience there besides their sport. I know for a fact that I am guilty of this.

The recruitment process for me started around the end of my freshman year when I had my sights set on going a division 1 school like all my teammates. But as I went through high school, I began to form a better idea of what I looked for in a college and of what I wanted to study and have as part of my college experience. Countless hours of research went into these years as my mom and I would sit at a computer googling different colleges. What we came to find was that the division 3 schools tended to fit more of what I was looking for. On my visits to some of the D3 schools, I observed the level of play to what I had seen from D1 and 2 schools and found that it was still a very competitive, high level of play. Despite what some people may think, division 3 athletics are still very competitive and have athletes of great skill participating in them.

It was very important to me when picking a school that I would still be able to study abroad, and when playing a sport at a division 1 school it is very hard to do that. Being gone for an entire semester (typically the off-season) would put an athlete behind skill-wise and fitness-wise. At division 3, the off-season isn’t quite as much for the sport, typically workouts a few days a week but not as demanding as divisions 1 and 2, allowing for athletes to have the opportunity to study abroad.

In order to not be a completely broke college student, a lot of people like to hold a job during college. Whether on campus or off, it’s nice to have a little cash flow coming in. As a division 1 or 2 athlete your schedule is most likely too demanding leaving little opportunity to have a job. At division 3 you not only have more time for a job, but if you really wanted to go for it and have one during season, you could. Of course that all depends on class schedules, practice times and games but it’s possible!

When you play a sport at a division 1 school, you are in a sense, owned by that sport. It consumes all your free time, wears you out, and takes away from your social life. You are your sport 24/7 pretty much. At division 3 you are still very consumed by your sport during season, but in the off season your social life opens up. You can go to all those things that you may have missed when your sport was in season. And in reality, you can still have a social life while you’re in season, it may have to be a little more “monitored”, but the opportunities to go out are there.

Although a lot of division 3 schools are private schools and are fairly expensive, they tend to give good financial aid. At the D3 level, athletic scholarships are not allowed to be given out, however, there are usually alternative ways in which the school can help you pay. Between academic money, FASFA, and money from the school, there are a bunch of options to help pay for a college education.

So while a Big10 or PAC12 school may seem appealing, don’t count out that small division 3 school that has also peaked an interest in you. You can put them on the back burner while you are still exploring your options and doing some more research on what you want in a college, but don’t forget about it. You may end up finding it has more to offer you than what you initially thought.