As a college athlete that has experienced both Division I and Division III programs, I often get asked about the difference between the two. While they are very different in some ways, I see certain parallels between the two.
I swam at a Division I university for the first two years of my collegiate career, and then transferred to a Division III school for the remainder of it. I was unhappy with where I was at, for personal reasons and with swimming. I did not get any faster in college, and that is what I came to college to do.
Related: Rate your Coaches, Facilities and Campus Visits
The Athletic Workload
As a swimmer, there is a certain level of fitness needed to excel at the sport, and that standard is expected at both levels. Just because Division III is considered a lower division, I was still practicing as many, if not more hours every week than at my Division I school.
There is the maximum 20 hours of practice time across all divisions. In Division III, there would be times that we reached that 20 hour limit, and times at the DI school when we wouldn't get past 16 hours a week.
Related: Flaws of the 20-Hour Rule
The Financial Difference
As many people know, Division III is not allowed to give out athletic scholarships. Division III athletes rely on merit-based scholarships from the school, grants, and or loans. Lucky enough, small Division III schools often give out large scholarship sums for these reasons. When I was a Division I athlete on a partial athletic scholarship and a university merit aid, I was paying more for tuition than I am at my Division III school.
Related: What Makes Division III Scholarships Different
Find your Fit
During the recruiting process, I wanted to be a Division I athlete on a scholarship, for the sole reason of saying I was a Division I athlete on a scholarship. I was not able to sit back and weigh my options financially because of that thought process.
Going through the recruiting process, I was meeting a lot of coaches, on the phone and on official visits. The coach was a big deal breaker for me, and when I arrived at my first school, I was greeted with a team that loathed the coach. No one respected their coaching methods and people seldom took corrections from them.
At my Division III college, the team highly respected the coach and went to him for everything: swimming or otherwise. This year, the Division III coach is up for the CSCAA National Scholastic Collegiate Trophy against big DI names like Braden Holloway.
As someone who has seen both sides of the coin and been through the recruiting process over and over again, I know that it is hard to think about all of these things as a junior or senior in high school. If you're a recruit, and your goal is to only swim in college for the scholarship, think about what the scholarship is actually worth and then take a step back and think about what competing in college is really about.
Have an idea for a story or a question you need answered? Want to set up an interview with us? Email us at [email protected]
* Originally published on March 2, 2022, by Kyle Haflich
