When Carter Leahy started high school at Stone Ridge School of the Sacred Heart in Bethesda, Maryland, she had never played field hockey. But she decided to give the sport a try and saw early success, becoming a two-time Independent Schools League champion and making the All-ISL first-team in both championship years.
With her accolades and performances on the field, playing field hockey in college became a real possibility, which meant she had to begin evaluating what school would be the best fit for her to compete at the next level.
While numerous factors influenced her decision, she said school size was the most important.
“I went to a really small all-girls private school, so I knew I didn't want to go to a big school,” said Leahy, who went on to play at Colgate University from 2018-2021.
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Leahy said playing time was also a consideration in her college choice, citing her “competitive energy.”
“I didn't want to go to a school that I was going to sit on the bench for four years,” said Leahy, who also took official recruiting visits to Lehigh University and Bucknell University.
College athletes commit to their schools for a variety of reasons from Leahy's emphasis on size to location, distance from home, playing time, and more. Though the ability to compete at the pro level is forefront for some athletes, according to the NCAA, only 2% of collegiate athletes go on to a professional career. As a result, a college's academic programs are crucial to many athletes' decisions.
Samuel Gibson, a graduate accounting student on the Pace University swimming and diving team, said the school's academic offerings were a deciding factor over the other schools he considered.
“[Pace's] proven record of having a strong internship program for the accounting field was a big pull for me,” said Gibson, who picked the Pleasantville, New York school over the University of Tampa, Florida Institute of Technology, and Bentley University.
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Kaysie Stuba, who played water polo at Villanova University from 2018 to 2022, had similar priorities.
“Knowing that water polo is not a career or money-making sport, and knowing I wanted to go into education, I was more focused on if the school had a good education program,” said Stuba, who went on to become an Association of Collegiate Water Polo Coaches, ACWPC, All-American Honorable Mention at the Pennsylvania-based institution.
Attending college, even for athletes, can be expensive. The NCAA estimates that about 2% of high school athletes receive a partial or full scholarship. While the combination of athletics and academics tend to be the most prominent factors, sometimes it comes down to which school offers the most scholarship money.
That was the case for former Winona State University gymnast Kate West.
“For me, it was just money, you know, where I was going to get the most scholarship [money],” said West, who also received scholarship offers from Seattle Pacific University and Southern Connecticut State University, in addition to walk-on spots at the University of Missouri and North Carolina State University.
Gibson echoed West's sentiments.
“[Pace] gave me a very good financial package that was beneficial to myself and my family.”
Whatever your reason for choosing your college, just know that, as these athletes prove, it's okay to have priorities that are different from your peers. At the end of the day, make the best decision for yourself.
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Image Credit: Winona/Colgate/Pace/Villanova
* Originally published on March 16, 2023, by Jesse Marsh
