Best NCAA D3 Men’s Lacrosse Colleges

[Nosey Ned]

While doing some “research” for my reply to the 2022 Pre Season Top 20, I stumbled across a website I’ve never seen or heard of - but found interesting nonetheless. Apparently there is a group out there called “Next College Student Athlete” (NCSA) and they list the best 50 schools to play D3 lacrosse at. I have to say, IMHO they seem to underweight success on the field too much (the current National Champion comes in at #50) but that said, one metric they use among many apparently is the interest displayed by current HS lacrosse players with a particular school. This kind of dovetails to some recent posts about which types of schools are competing against each other for players - so I thought I’d throw it up here as discussion fodder while we all anxiously await the new season!

To the list …. I’m sure to no one’s surprise, all 11 NESCACs are on the list. The Liberty League has 7 members listed; the Centennial and NCAC 5 each; the CAC and SAA 4 each. Three other Conferences have 2 members listed and then single entries from all other conferences that had a member make the grade. I’ll admit being surprised at seeing 5 NCAC schools listed - and happy of course to see Denison at #13. And btw … the 3 schools being questioned for appearing on the Top 20 of US Lax mag list are all on this list as well.

Don’t shoot the messenger but please do comment if so inclined.

https://www.ncsasports.org/best-college ... e-colleges

By the way, on the original topic I was looking for last year’s final US Lacrosse mag rankings as I’m in agreement that very little to no effort went into the new release. We should all know that it’s not worth taking seriously. The Top 5-7 will no doubt be in the mix as they typically are … the rest, we’ll just have to wait and see their results on the field. Thankfully no one gets crowned on the back of a pre season ranking!

[smoova]

Very interesting. Thanks for posting this.

[richard]

I have no idea how any stock could be put into this ranking if RIT is #50 and Salisbury is #29. Crap.

[OSVAlacrosse]

While I am not a huge fan of this organization and pushy sales tactics I think the list is valid. This has nothing to do with lacrosse results but where student athletes can benefit from lacrosse. Take out lacrosse and Salisbury is below top 50 on any college list. MIT would be number one.

[Nosey Ned]

While I am not a huge fan of this organization and pushy sales tactics I think the list is valid. This has nothing to do with lacrosse results but where student athletes can benefit from lacrosse. Take out lacrosse and Salisbury is below top 50 on any college list. MIT would be number one.

That was my concern about posting this …. is it a “pay for play” type arrangement but saw that it was not a lacrosse only service as they run the rankings for most sports so I thought why not see what reaction it gets. Also should be no surprise most of these top 50 are on the radar screens of all prep school college advisors. Agreed … this is about more than on field results - it’s about opportunity during and after college.

[ergit]

No comment…

[richard]

This group sets themselves up as a service for recruits. Ok, how many high school recruits even have a shot at getting into the top schools on this list? You are talking schools that have acceptance rates of 10% to 15%. You can look at the US News school rankings and get the same garbage as this. This has nothing to do with lacrosse. That I might agree with.

[OldWU]

The biggest revelation from this website is that prestigious, elite colleges are offering lacrosse players tuition that is similar or even lower than state supported colleges and universities.....examples being MIT ($18.3K), Colby ($18.6K), Williams ($21.2K), Bowdoin ($21.3K), and Swarthmore ($21.1K). These are lower or in the same range with public options like Salisbury ($17.7K), SUNY Geneseo ($18.4K), St, Mary's College of MD ($20.6K) and Christopher Newport ($24.2K)

This really can't be accurate info and what is the source? They cite US Department of Education but I checked the spreadsheets and don't see any lacrosse-specific tuition information.....

[ergit]

Take ‘average cost after aid’ with a grain of salt. Most of the aid is needs-based. If you own your own home and have any assets at all, you will get little aid. I know this from our own experience through the recruiting process. I would think most lacrosse players are getting less than average aid compared to the student body at large in many of these schools.

[DeepPocket]

Yea, those “average costs” are laughable. Do a google search on this company and read the most recent reviews.

I get “needing exposure,” whether through Hudl or Connectlax or club tournaments etc. But in a world of all that and more being available, If you’re paying a service for access to the recruitment process, then you aren’t really being recruited at all.

Perhaps this site should post where they’ve placed players over the years, like a club team does (if they do, I couldn’t find it). Then maybe I’d have more faith, because I can’t fathom players who would be on a highly competitive lacrosse program at an institution requiring GPAs north of 4.0 as many listed do, needing to pay a service for access to be found (especially knowing those few qualified players who appear on these rosters largely hail from a handful of hotbed prep schools that these elite schools already have histories with).

I also see on their site that they use engagement counting not only for players’ favorites, but also for the colleges & coaches usage too. It outright tells you they prop up those institutions who use their site more, as “colleges of the month” etc, which will naturally lead to more “engagements” for the school and increase their overall score. I wouldn’t doubt that this is also a pay subscription for schools, and those listed schools with large athletic budgets will be able to blindly cut that check, whether or not they are pulling any players from it. It might make sense for schools that can, since if you search “diii lacrosse rankings” somehow this site comes in towards the top of the results, among Inside Lacrosse, USILA and the like.

Somebody with a business savvy saw a way to make a buck. Good on ‘em.

[laxdad30]

Any parent/player with half a brain can do what this site offers. When my son was looking, they contacted us MANY times. We had done tons of research before so I had an idea of what to do. Their program outlines and costs were laughable. Costs changed from player to player. A lot of there college "info" is dated or misleading. And I have no idea where they come up with these average costs. My son had a 4.15GPA in HS. Only thing that we found that made them affordable is either GREAT grades and testing OR LOW INCOME family. I have a spread sheet of the costs of the schools my son applied to and was accepted. All with scholarships, grants and loans added. I could share this if anyone wanted to see it.

NCSA is a joke in my opinion. I dont trust anything on their site. Clickbait.... all of it.

As said by Deeppocket Any great player wont have a problem with a school finding them.

They definitely do cater towards colleges who pay for their services. We've had coaches tell us this.

[Laxaholic123]

It looks like these ratings are based solely on academics. Should be labeled "Best Colleges that have D3 lacrosse". With that said, I take all of these lists with a grain of salt and recommend actually getting on campus and getting a feel for the school/team. As for NCSA, if you really want to play at a low tier school and are not being seen by any colleges it is helpful. Otherwise not worth the money

[smoova]

It looks like these ratings are based solely on academics. Should be labeled "Best Colleges that have D3 lacrosse". With that said, I take all of these lists with a grain of salt and recommend actually getting on campus and getting a feel for the school/team. As for NCSA, if you really want to play at a low tier school and are not being seen by any colleges it is helpful. Otherwise not worth the money

The rating formula is:
30% Number of kiddos marking the school as a "favorite" in the NCSA system
30% US News Ranking
30% Graduation Rate Ranking
10% Average Cost After Aid Ranking

Your summary of the NCSA's target market is perfect.

[JPAtlantic]

Many kids use lacrosse to get into a school they otherwise could not attend based on their grades and SATs. With D1 scholarships being so low (25% of tuition for most), the real payoff is admission. Many of these schools have huge endowments and will make it affordable for anyone that gets admitted to attend.
Here are the hardest D3 schools to get into by admittance rates (US News Data):
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) 7%
Bowdoin College 9%
Swarthmore College 9%
Colby College 10%
Amherst College 12%
United States Coast Guard Academy 13%
Bates College 14%
Colorado College 14%
Williams College 15%
Tufts University 16%
United States Merchant Marine Academy 16%
Hamilton College 18%
Haverford College 18%
Wesleyan University 21%
Middlebury College 22%
Washington and Lee University 24%
Vassar College 25%
Babson College 27%
Denison University 28%

[Dehuntshigwa’es]

Many kids use lacrosse to get into a school they otherwise could not attend based on their grades and SATs. With D1 scholarships being so low (25% of tuition for most), the real payoff is admission. Many of these schools have huge endowments and will make it affordable for anyone that gets admitted to attend.
Here are the hardest D3 schools to get into by admittance rates (US News Data):
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) 7%
Bowdoin College 9%
Swarthmore College 9%
Colby College 10%
Amherst College 12%
United States Coast Guard Academy 13%
Bates College 14%
Colorado College 14%
Williams College 15%
Tufts University 16%
United States Merchant Marine Academy 16%
Hamilton College 18%
Haverford College 18%
Wesleyan University 21%
Middlebury College 22%
Washington and Lee University 24%
Vassar College 25%
Babson College 27%
Denison University 28%

All great schools! W&L admits approximately 450 students each year. 10% of the incoming class will earn a Johnson Scholarship which is a purely academic scholarship, you pay nothing. The W&L men’s lacrosse team has had a number of players over the years that have won that academic scholarship.

[Nosey Ned]

Many kids use lacrosse to get into a school they otherwise could not attend based on their grades and SATs. With D1 scholarships being so low (25% of tuition for most), the real payoff is admission. Many of these schools have huge endowments and will make it affordable for anyone that gets admitted to attend.
Here are the hardest D3 schools to get into by admittance rates (US News Data):
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) 7%
Bowdoin College 9%
Swarthmore College 9%
Colby College 10%
Amherst College 12%
United States Coast Guard Academy 13%
Bates College 14%
Colorado College 14%
Williams College 15%
Tufts University 16%
United States Merchant Marine Academy 16%
Hamilton College 18%
Haverford College 18%
Wesleyan University 21%
Middlebury College 22%
Washington and Lee University 24%
Vassar College 25%
Babson College 27%
Denison University 28%

Well that’s interesting! Take out the 2 “Academies” and Babson (surprisingly), the remaining 16 schools are all ranked within the Top 18 on this list. I guess they are saying, if lacrosse can get you in one of these schools, you go! Pretty simple really.

Which is the same advice the college advisor at all prep and boarding schools in the NE are giving their lacrosse players… these are the schools feeding this Top 20 in most cases anyway.