Tip #2: Academics, Academics, Academics!

Let’s not forget that in the recruiting process, you are not just being recruited for your athletic abilities on the court. You are being recruited as a student-athlete. And this means that as much as you focus on the volleyball court, you need to be able to focus in the classroom as well.

I personally was (and still am) competitive in every realm of my life. And I carried my competitiveness from sports over into academics. Just like in volleyball, I had to work hard for my good grades. I had to sacrifice fun for studying after volleyball practice. I was just as much of a perfectionist and over-achiever in the classroom as I was on the volleyball court. And I cannot be more thankful for my hard work my freshman, sophomore, and junior year of high school, because I honestly don’t think I realized at the time the impact that my grades and GPA would have on my choices of universities and my life path.

While yes they vary among different universities, there are academic expectations that must be met, even for those receiving full athletic scholarships. For universities such as Rice where I attend, and Stanford, they heavily weighed my academics when recruiting me because they have to follow a more strict process with their recruits similar to the Ivy Leagues, where their desired recruits have to be approved through general school admissions. Basically, at top academic universities it DOESN’T matter if you’re a stud athlete if you don’t have the grades, and the coaches cannot do anything about it. At many universities, you are at the mercy of the admissions process.

Granted, I am not trying to scare you. And I understand that many universities are able to work the system for getting their desired recruits in, as long as they meet the minimum NCAA requirements for grades and SAT scores. But why risk making your chances smaller for receiving a scholarship when you could offer coaches more reasons for why YOU deserve to go to their school?

What I want you readers to get from this post is that even though you are working towards earning an athletic scholarship for a Division I volleyball program, your academics not only reflect to coaches your ability to get good grades, but your over-all work ethic, as well as your likeliness to meet academic expectations in college to stay eligible as a student-athlete.

While some universities have different standards, NCAA requires all potential student athlete recruits to meet the following academic requirements in high school:

http://www.ncaa.org/wps/wcm/connect/af238a804e0b869285bcf51ad6f8b25/Quick+Reference+Sheet+for+IE+Standards+-+6-18-09.pdf?MOD=AJPERES&CACHEID=af238a804e0b869285bcf51ad6fc8b25

            On top of the requirements to get into a university as a student-athlete, there are NCAA requirements for remaining eligible as a student-athlete once you are attending:

http://www.bsubeavers.com/media/pdf/NCAA_Requirements_for_continuing_eligibility.pdf

            Aside from NCAA expectations, different universities often have their own expectations as well. Rice for example, states that their student-athletes must have a 1.667 semester GPA and cumulative GPA at the end of each semester to remain in good academic standing (off probation and suspension). They also state that any semester GPA below a 1.00 will result in an academic suspension, except for your first semester on campus.

            Again, I am not trying to overwhelm you readers and I want you to know that as long as you are as disciplined and dedicated in the classroom as you are on the court, everything will fall into place and you will be find the university that is perfect for you.

So remember, before you hit that gym floor make sure to hit those books as well!