One of the most important aspects of your recruiting journey is ensuring you’re eligible to play at the college level. Remember, getting to the next level of play is not only based on your athletic ability—academics are the most important part of your achievements as a student athlete and are the biggest blocker if you haven’t met the basic requirements.
The basic requirements include:
- Completing a certain number of high school core courses—view a list of approved core courses on the NCAA Eligibility Center High School Portal to see which of your courses will count towards NCAA eligibility, you can also chat with your school counselor or academic advisor
- Earning a certain minimum GPA in these core courses
- Earning a certain minimum SAT or ACT test score
- Graduating from high school
In order to be considered as a potential recruit, you must register with the Eligibility Center the school is associated with. They’ll review your academic course work, SAT or ACT scores and athletic participation to confirm collegiate sport eligibility. Once you are cleared by the Eligibility Center, you will be cleared to compete at schools falling under the jurisdiction of that Eligibility Center.
Remember to revisit your Eligibility Center profile to update your information with new test scores and transcripts when they’re available. We recommend using a personal email address instead of your school email address to make sure you have access to it after you graduate.
As noted on the NCAA website, “Only about 2% of high school student athletes are awarded athletics scholarships to compete in college. [...] Many student athletes also benefit from academic scholarships and need-based aid such as federal Pell Grants”. If you have questions about what financial aid is offered or can be accepted, contact your school’s financial aid office and athletics department for help.
There are also some instances where athletic based scholarships are not available, but academic based scholarships are, such as NCAA Division III and Ivy League schools. Remember to keep the hard work up both at practice and in the classroom.