Div III/Ivys - What inning are we in?

My son is currently at a D3 in the Northeast. There are no "official visits" at the D3 level. You can visit as many times as you like.

There are no national letters of intent or verbal commitments at the D3 level. Basically your word is your bond.

You will get an idea from the coach how much academic money( there are no athletic scholarships in D3)you will be getting and in some cases how much financial aid is available prior to applying.

The coach at my son's school invited him to visit the school, and as he got more serious to stay with the team. The coach also visited his high school and spoke to him early in the recruiting process

After earlier getting letters and e-mails, my 06 is hearing from a bunch of D-3's (most everything in Virginia is either D-1 or D-3), asking him to come visit, see a football game, stay with a player, etc.; one even called it an "official visit" although I understand there's no such thing in D-3. I think they can provide football game tickets, but we expect to cover lodging and meals ourselves.

Our impression, just based on our experience, is that the D-3's start in earnest recruiting a little later in the game as logic would dictate they see who the D-1's and D-2's have picked off by now.

You are correct hokieone, D3's usually start in Sept. their recruiting. They usually will pay for the student's lodging and meals but not the parents. They will have the recruit stay with some of the players and have him/her eat in the school cafeteria.

The academics at the D3's are excellent and the top 25 programs can play with the lower tier D1 schools.

My son is very happy with his choice. He feels like a member of a family and not just another number.

We have visited--

We have seen

We like


5 schools in question--have they talked yo you earnestly--it is not "I want ot play there"--It is "Do they Need me there"

Have the 5 schools you visited shown sincere interest in the player ????

That is it---- does the player want to be there---be it the first or 50th offer ?????

In our case, the coach met w/my son and us and gave us the tour. He told us that he was one of his top recruits but also was looking at some others for his spot. He also let him know that if he waited too long and someone else accepted before him that he'd stop recruiting him but would let him know that had happened. He then invited him up for the weekend to stay with some players and take in a class or two. After visits to some other schools, he decided to go with the one he's at and hasn't looked back. The visits seemed to be the deciding factor for him. As Baseball25 said, he feels like a member of a family and not just another number. And they moved up to the #9 spot this year for DIII schools.

jrf1900,

My son did the Ivy and NESCAC route and the only thing I would add to the very good comments is that the Div III NESCAC schools only have 2 "sponsered" spots for the coach to help get applicants through the admissions process. If your son needs the help (Mine did) you need to committ early before they are taken by other players. Otherwise your son will be welcome at any Div III school he can get into on his own.

Good Luck!

Pat's Dad brings up a very good point. D3's are overall tough academic schools with tough admissions requirements. The earlier you decide the better. I like early action applications because it tells the coach your very serious about attending and allows you to know by Dec. if your admitted and by Jan. what kind of academic money you're getting. Then in April or May you will know the financial aid amount. All this and it is non-binding.

My son went this route and when the senior season started he had no pressure and had a great senior year.

The one thing to keep in mind when being recruited by D-III schools is to try to get a handle on the recruiting process.

Some D-III schools recruit their needs, similiar to what PAbbMom stated. The other approach is a shotgun approach. They recruit as many as they can, see who shows up in the Fall and go from their.