Top DIII programs

[nelax]

A friend of mine has decided to play DIII lacrosse instead of DI . She has been contacted by alot of DIII coaches. Does anyone have any insight into good programs and maybe some to stay away from?

[celtlax]

Great question...also what is the major difference between DII and DIII..been to two DIII camps and they have been great....

[laxstar003]

from what i've heard, DII lax is almost nonexistant. there are not nearly as many DII teams as there are in DI or DIII.i don't think the level is as high as DIII, and of course not DI. i'm sure there are exceptions to this, but that is what i've heard.

[Gobbler]

D1 is the tops. Big schools, big athletes..you must have an "A" game.
D3 is next. Smaller schools, more focus on academics vs. sports, competition is good, however, teams may not be as deep.
D2 is last. Smaller schools, many new start up programs outside traditional hotbeds(i.e the Carolinas), much less depth on the teams and competition is just not as strong game in and game out. There are some very talented players in D2 though.
So many kids get wound up into "getting recruited". Pick a school first and your program second. Money is tight and the much sought after FULL RIDE is a rare beast indeed. Especially for a kid coming out of (insert anyplace other than the N.East here), checking out smaller schools is a very viable option.

[laxchc11]

what d3 programs in particular?

[spenny]

d2 is allowed to offer scholarships, that's the biggest difference between D2 and D3.
imho, it seems that most of the D2 schools are not particularly good academic schools.

[celtlax]

d2 is allowed to offer scholarships, that's the biggest difference between D2 and D3.
imho, it seems that most of the D2 schools are not particularly good academic schools.

Hmm..then you would think there would be more people playing DII...because of the schollies...the DIII schools here are nearly $30K a year for tuition....

[laxchc11]

well, back to the original question. The top D3 team is Salisbury right now (even though i hate to say it since they were our #1 rival in the CAC). The academics there are nothing spectacular and the campus is not very attractive, but they do have two great lax teams. The same is the case with TCNJ (The College of New Jersey). The campus looks pretty urban, even though its located in Princeton, NJ. The academics arent too difficult, but their team has won a few national championships in the past. I just remember them for being an incredibly aggressive team. Middlebury and Amherst are two new england teams with great programs and are very academically rigorous schools. You have to have spectacular grades and SATs to get into either, but if you want a northern school, either is great. Also, their campuses are really nice., in true new england fashion.
If you're looking for other top d3 schools, St. Mary's College of MD has a good team and a gorgeous campus. Its also a Maryland honors college, so the academics are challenging. Of course I have to plug my alma mater, Univ. of Mary Washington, but the team is undergoing a huge "restocking." Its now a very young team that was as its peak 4 years ago but has been undergoing a facelift with the addition of many very talented freshman and sophomores. The academics at UMW are very challenging and the campus is gorgeous. But I might be a little biased...

[chmcclellan]

Amherst College

I go there currently as a guy, but our girls lacrosse program is great and the academic program is stellar.

www.amherst.edu

[joeyp2003]

the way i see the division is d I is obviously the best older sibling everyone loves then d II is that middle child that like doesnt get any attention paid then dIII is that baby that people love... point being d II sucks and like said above is really nearly non exsistant

[sumSum]

This I know a lot about, so if you have any questions from your friend, feel free to email me. srodman-sterling@danahall.org

Top D3 Programs;
TCNJ
Amherst
Middlebury
Salisbury
Gettysburg
Washington & Lee
Stevens Inst. of Tech.
Drew
F&M

I'm going through the recruiting thing right now and looking at a lot of D3, some D1 so again, any questions, she can email me. There are other top d3 teams too but that's pretty much them. D3 has a big drop off after the first 10/15 or so.

[nelax]

My friend is looking at schools in NY and New England. She has heaed from some of the NESCAC schools. We both noticed that 8 of the top 20 DIII schools in lacrosse are NESCAC and they are all highly rated academically. Any opinions on these schools?

[sumSum]

The NESCAC is one of the best D3 conferences in women's lacrosse. It is highly competitive within itself and pretty much all of the schools, as you said, are very good academically. In New England NESCAC is considered the premiere atheltics conference to play in if you are gonna stay around there. Within the conference, athletics are highly valued at the schools and well supported by the student body. It's really valued to win the coference, unlike some others where it's not as big a deal.

NESCAC Schools:
Amherst
Williams
Bates
Bowdoin
Tufts
Colby
Middlebury
Trinity
Wesleyan
Hamilton
Connecticut College

Last season Middlebury won the NESCAC for the 5th straight time. Other perennial title contenders are Amherst, Williams, Bowdoin. These were the final four for the conference title last season. Check out http://www.nescac.com for more info.

[laxchc11]

note that all the schools in the nescac have VERY competitive admissions... median (old)SAT score of about 1400. Thats something to think about when applying because odds are, no matter how amazing of a lax player you are, the odds of getting accepted are low if you have nothing higher than about a 1200. Also, you won't get a break in academics at these schools like you would at a DI school, so if you don't have a good GPA now and/or arent taking really challenging higher level classes, then these schools might not be a good fit.

no matter what, do not, i repeat, DO NOT choose a DIII school just b/c you like the coach/lax program. If thats the only thing you like about a school, its probably not the best choice for you. Can't tell you how many people i know who went to a school, loved the program but werent very keen on the school itself. They ended up going to the school and realize that the program wasnt as great as they thought and transfer or stay at the school and are miserable.

[CTLaxer]

I've had friends that went to a lot of different D3 schools. Some played sports, others just went to school. Regardless, they're GREAT schools. D3 schools I would recomend:

Middlebury (friends went there, played there. great school and great teams. visited many times)
Gettysburg (best friend went here, same as middlebury, visited many times)
Colby
Colorado College
Bowdoin
W & L
St Lawrence (best friend went here, as did a lot of my family)
Williams
Denison
Lynchburg
Roanoke
Susquehanna (brother went here, teams are brand new)

All these schools I have some sort of experience with and some of them my friends have played various sports at. Any of these schools are top tier eduactional instituitions and any degree you get from them would take you far in life. The lacrosse teams run the gamut from being in top 10 to being middle of the pack. Either way, they all play quality opponents.

The beautiful thing about D3 is that it's not soley focused on your sport like D1 is. Don't get me wrong, you'll spend a lot of your time with your team and playing/practicing, but it's not the end of the world like in D1, it's more of a relaxed atmosphere shall we say.

Which would I recomend off the bat? Middlebury and Gettysburg. I love both those schools, have been to them many times, and have tons of friends that have graduated from both and have played lacrosse at both as well.

Remember, don't choose a school based on the lacrosse team. Choose a school that you would like to go to even if you didn't play lacrosse, or were injured and couldn't play lacrosse. After you fine one you like regardless of lacrosse, then look into playing there.

[stan]

The NESCAC schools are generally excellent academic, and at the top end, also excellent lax schools. Middlebury, Amherst, Bowdoin come to mind as strong lax and academic schools. Other schools, such as Williams, are top end academic, but currently not quite as strong in lax.

I can't comment on the southern schools.

Colorado College is a place to consider. The block system (one course at a time) gives the school year a very different feel. The academics are strong. They were a final four team last year. The weather in the spring is far less brutal than northern new england, but the skiing is still better.

Another reason to consider D3 is if you are thinking of a science major with a heavy lab load. It is possible at some D1 schools, but I think it is far more difficult.

[carllax]

so this is a bit late on this post, but i thought i'd add some input from someone who's been there. not to be negative or anything, but just to give a warning. many DIII schools are EXTREMELY hard to get into (for many of them that's frankly the whole point). it really is a toss-up if you get in or not. i applied to a lot of the ones that people are talking about and let's just say i got into some that were a stretch and got rejected from some that i was way overly qualified for. i agree with what people are saying though, pick the school for the school not the program. i ended up at a school that has a club program instead of DIII because the school was a better fit than any of the ones with DIII programs.

which leads me to another point. don't necessarily reject the idea of a club team. many are highly competitive, practice very hard, and have plenty of strong players. playing on a club team often gives dedicated women (and men, i have friends playing for mens-side club teams at both big and small schools) a chance to really be a leader and a powerful force on a team, which might not be as possible on DI or even DIII teams.

[Trilax03]

gettysburg,salisbury,middlebury,and tcnj r the top d3 colleges of womens lax...d3 is more popular than d2...basically the order of "goodness" (sp) is d1 d3 d2...i know a couple of ppl who g2 gettysburg and love it