Transferring from D1 to D3

Look into The University of Texas - Dallas. It’s a high academic public university that offers a number of respected grad programs. Especially in the fields of engineering and business. They also play very good D3 baseball. For the past two years their second baseman was a grad transfer from Cornell.

For particulars on your transfer situation send a PM to Rick at Informed Athlete.

Eastern Connecticut State, which won the D3 College World Series this year, had at least 10 players who were transfers, mostly from D2 or D1 schools.  You can look at rosters of schools that are of interest to you, to see how many transfers and grad players they had last year - most have a few.  A lot of D3 schools are liberal arts colleges without grad programs, but there definitely are many that do have grad schools.

@bossdude12 posted:

Hey everyone,

I am currently a senior at a division one school. I have had limited playing time at the school and am searching for a better fit for me. However, I am also looking to get into a better school. I have a 3.8 GPA and have had internships and other experiences to boost my resume. However, the school I am currently at does not offer the post-grad opportunities I am looking for. With that, I was wondering if it is possible that I could transfer to a top D3 grad school. I have two years of eligibility left due to COVID and a red shirt. If anyone has done this or knows someone who has taken this path, it would be awesome if you could provide some details on how it went. Please let me know.

Thank you.

It's definitely possible, and you should go for it if you want to keep playing.

For specifics on the mechanics of transferring, you should contact Rick at Informed Athlete. He's an expert in NCAA transfer rules - they are quite complex. This is not something message board posters will be able to help you with.

Rick charges about $175 for a consultation, so be sure to come with questions in hand in order to get your money's worth. He can walk you through what you'll need to do and offer a timeline. The transfer window opens and closes at very specific times, and the rules for a grad transfer are different than for an undergrad transfer.

www.informedathlete.com

To put it into perspective, looking to go into finance. I am pursuing a master's in finance and would prefer a school in the Southeastern region but am open to all options.

Northeast gives you quite a few great options for strong (academic) D3s. Southeast has a lot more mid-majors along with the bigger D1 programs. I sent a PM. So much depends on position, where you are transferring from, etc. Not matter what, I love what you are thinking in terms of making a good academic decision as well as hopefully getting some more opportunities to play. Good luck!!

So in reading your posts again, my question is this. Do you plan to get an MA in finance after you graduate anyway, and are wondering about whether you could play baseball at the new school?  And in that case, are you wondering whether a D3 coach could help you with admissions to the grad program?  Or, do you want to play more baseball and therefore look to get an MA in finance?

I ask because there are different answers depending on which is driving the bus. I would imagine that at some schools it would be difficult, if not impossible, to do graduate work and play on a baseball team, at others it would not.

@bossdude12 posted:

To put it into perspective, looking to go into finance. I am pursuing a master's in finance and would prefer a school in the Southeastern region but am open to all options.

Sending you a PM.

@anotherparent posted:

So in reading your posts again, my question is this. Do you plan to get an MA in finance after you graduate anyway, and are wondering about whether you could play baseball at the new school?  And in that case, are you wondering whether a D3 coach could help you with admissions to the grad program?  Or, do you want to play more baseball and therefore look to get an MA in finance?

I ask because there are different answers depending on which is driving the bus. I would imagine that at some schools it would be difficult, if not impossible, to do graduate work and play on a baseball team, at others it would not.

To clear this up. I am in an outfielder on a team in the Southern Conference. Good baseball, but not the best academics. I am looking to get a MA in finance at an elite school and use their recruiters and resources to get a job that I cannot turn down. I have a solid GPA and resume in my opinion. However, with my bachelor's degree at the school I am currently at, I am not sure is good enough to get me into one of these top schools without leveraging my baseball abilities. I understand the workload could be rough but it has also been pretty rough at my current school. If it does get too bad, I always have the option to quit baseball once I am enrolled in the school although I don't see that happening.

@bossdude12 posted:

However, with my bachelor's degree at the school I am currently at, I am not sure is good enough to get me into one of these top schools without leveraging my baseball abilities.

So, really what you're asking is, can any of these top school coaches get help with MA admissions for a baseball player?

I don't know the answer, but I hope someone will reply who does.

Did you reach out to any baseball coaches at the Southern D3 Schools with MBA programs?  

Check out Trinity University in TX, they have an outstanding finance department and you can get a masters in finance/accounting. I would do an internship with them and you will have a guaranteed job after graduation.

Top tier D3 baseball program, but you will have to earn a playing spot.

@2022NYC posted:

Did you reach out to any baseball coaches at the Southern D3 Schools with MBA programs? 

I have not yet. I have not entered the portal yet and was scared that it could potentially be an NCAA violation.

@bossdude12 posted:

I have not yet. I have not entered the portal yet and was scared that it could potentially be an NCAA violation.

First, 99.9% of NCAA rule violations are there for the school, not the student, so don't worry about that. If you were to contact a coach at a new school, it would be his responsibility to politely tell you that he can't talk to you until you're in the portal.

How is your relationship with your current coach? You're going to have to talk to him about your plans. Hopefully, it won't be an issue since you are graduating anyway.

Many grad schools have application deadlines coming up (some may have already passed), so you need to start that process soon. Your D1 school will enter you in the portal, and other coaches aren't supposed to talk to you until you are listed. (I think that pertains to D3 coaches too, but you might want to verify with @Rick at Informed Athlete.)