HOW DO I GET RECRUITED FOR COLLEGE SPORTS?
The process of finding a sports scholarship in America is by no means straightforward and with there being over 1,000 universities that offer student-athletes the chance to play college sports it can be difficult knowing where to start in your search for a school. Coaching teams do not have the resources to find and evaluate every qualified athlete and as you can imagine there are tens of thousands of student-athletes looking to go out to America on a sports scholarship every single year. At U.S Sports Scholarships we work closely with our players to help them navigate through the many sports playing universities to find the school that is the right fit for them from an athletic, academic and financial perspective. If you want to increase your chances of being considered for a soccer scholarship complete our online application today.
HOW TO GET NOTICED
Getting college coaches to watch your matches is not easy, especially if you are located in another country. Because of small recruiting budgets, many sports coaches require you to come to them or rely heavily on the footage supplied to them. In fact, for the top schools in the country it is mandatory that athletic prospects attend their summer camps for further consideration but this isn’t always the case. For more info on our match filming services click here.
HOW THE SPORTS RECRUITMENT PROCESS WORKS…
There are a lot of international athletes looking for USA sports scholarships and thousands of high school domestic athletes for coaches to choose from, and it takes a lot of hard work to show coaches that you are exactly what they are looking for. If you want to play college sports at the top level, it is mandatory that coaches watch you in person. Finding those opportunities is up to you; more info on the process can be found by clicking here.
AM I ACADEMICALLY ELIGIBLE FOR A SCHOLARSHIP?
Based on what level you want to compete, the requirements change. Keep in mind that just meeting the minimum standards does not guarantee you admission into your school of choice. Typically it is required that you have been in continuous education since high school, although you are allowed to take a gap year before starting at an American university. For four year schools they also usually require to you have achieved roughly around a C grade average at high school and to have taken cors subject classes. Any questions regarding specific college division requirements do let us know.
HOW GOOD DO I NEED TO BE FOR A SOCCER SCHOLARSHIP?
There is a definite misconception that you need to of played at a pro club academy in order to be good enough for a soccer scholarship in America, this definitely isn’t the case but naturally a lot of successful student-athletes do come from academies as they are among the best young players in the country. That being said, although at U.S Sports Scholarships we are super selective each year our cohort consists of a mixture of youth international players, ex academy players and players from semi-professional or college led setups.
Over 95% Division II, III, and NAIA soccer players have club experience and nearly 70% of Division II, III, and NAIA soccer players have earned individual recognition at the high school level if they played high school soccer.
Preferred Grades for All Divisions: 3.0 GPA or higher, 24 ACT score or higher and 1000 SAT score (out of 1600) or higher
HOW MANY SOCCER SCHOLARSHIPS ARE AVAILABLE?
Scholarships are only awarded to the best student-athletes. Getting a scholarship is a matter of being honest about your abilities and your contribution to the team.
Soccer Scholarships for high school students. Number of Scholarships Offered per Team, per Year, by Division
The college soccer recruiting process is very competitive. Competition for scholarship money is extremely competitive. If getting a scholarship is the most important thing maybe looking at the NAIA level would be better than the NCAA DII level.Remember, soccer is an equivalency sport which means all scholarships are NOT full scholarships, and coaches may divide the total number of scholarships allotted to them between as many athletes as they wish.
Men’s Soccer. Male Soccer Scholarships
NCAA D1: 9.9
NCAA D2: 9
NAIA: 12
NJCAA: 18
Women’s Soccer. Female Soccer Scholarships
NCAA D1: 14
NCAA D2: 9.9
NAIA: 12
NJCAA: 18
Number of College Soccer Programs
Men’s Soccer
NCAA D1: 204
NCAA D2: 172
*NCAA D3: 394
NAIA: 216
NJCAA: 291
Total: 1,277
Women’s Soccer
NCAA D1: 314
NCAA D2: 223
*NCAA D3: 409
NAIA: 221
NJCAA: 276
Total: 1,443
*NCAA Division 3 schools do not offer athletic scholarships, but can offer other forms of financial aid.
TOP SOCCER SCHOOLS BY DIVISION
The top programs on any given year can change dramatically but at the time of writing this the below list of colleges are among some of the best in the country within their respective divisions…
TOP MEN’S SOCCER SCHOOLS
NCAA D1:Louisville, Akron, Maryland, North Carolina, Butler, California, SMU, UCLA, Connecticut, Princeton, Monmouth, William & Mary, UC Irvine, UC Santa Barbara, Notre Dame, Charlotte, Creighton, South Carolina, Michigan, Virginia, Brown, Providence
NCAA D2:Franklin Pierce, Midwestern State, Colorado Mines, Northern Kentucky, Rollins, Charlestown, Grand Canyon, Truman, Montevallo, Dowling, Regis, Ashland, Flagler, West Virginia Wesleyan, Tampa
NCAA D3:Trinity, Ohio Wesleyan, Messiah, Christopher Newport, Wisconsin-Oshkosh, Bowdoin, St. Lawrence, Washington-St. Louise, Swarthmore, Dominican, DePauw, Emory, Stevens, Middlebury, Wisconsin-Whitewater, Texas-Tyler, Calvin, York
NAIA:University of Rio Grande, Notre Dame College (Ohio), Hastings College, Simon Fraser University, Lindsey Wilson College, University of Maine at Fort Kent, University of Mobile, Kansas Wesleyan University, Bryan College, Belhaven University, Vanguard University
TOP WOMEN’S SOCCER SCHOOLS
NCAA D1: Stanford, Portland, North Carolina, Maryland, Florida, Oklahoma State, Notre Dame, Virginia, Texas A&M, UNC Greensboro, Florida State, Marquette, Illinois, West Virginia, Oregon State, UC Irvine, Ohio State
NCAA D2: St. Rose, Central Missouri, Fort Lewis, West Chester, Grand Valley State, West Florida, Columbus State, St. Edward’s, Seattle Pacific, California (Pennsylvania), Armstrong Atlantic, UC San Diego, CW Post, Tampa
NCAA D3: Messiah, Hardin-Simmons, Otterbein, Loras, Wheaton, Trinity, Emory, Illinois Western, Williams, William Smith, TCNJ, Johns Hopkins, Oneonta State, Eastern Connecticut State
NAIA: Concordia University, Lee University, Azusa Pacific University, Martin Methodist College, Indiana Wesleyan University, The Master’s College, Graceland University, Lindsey Wilson College, Robert Morris University, California Baptist University, University of Mobile, Oklahoma City University
For more information on finding the right university / team for you please click here.