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Conference Profiles:
Name: New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC)
League Web Site: www.nescac.com
Classification: NCAA Division III - no athletic scholarships
Member Schools:
Amherst | Bates |
Bowdoin |
Colby |
Connecticut College |
Hamilton |
Middlebury |
Trinity |
Tufts |
Wesleyan |
Williams
Summary: Some would consider the NESCAC a "Little
Ivy" League in that the member schools are consistently ranked as some of the
top private liberal arts schools in the country by US News and World Report.
Williams and Amherst are usually in the top 3 of that report and most members
are in the Top 25.
All schools are very selective and have high admissions
criteria. The upside is that all are well endowed (Williams has a 1.2 Billion
endowment!) and a high percentage of applicants qualify for and receive generous
financial aid packages, often times better than what might be received as
scholarship money at a D-I or D-II school.
Athletics: NESCAC schools stress participation opportunities and
usually field 12-15 teams or more per gender. Compared to the 5-6 at big
time D-I programs and you can see the emphasis. All teams do get a set #
of "preferred admissions" spots (like most schools), but these are very limited
and you still need to be a pretty good student.
Dominant is one way to describe NESCAC schools lately, both men and
women. Middlebury just won the national championship in Men's and Women's ice
hockey. Williams College Men's basketball was '03 National Champions and the '04
runner-up. Bowdoin College Women's hoops was the '04 runner up. Trinity
Baseball went to the D-3 World Series, Amherst ladies lax won the 2003 NCAA
title by beating conference foe Middlebury. And there were many more
highlights.
General: All schools are small rarely over 2,000 students and Tufts
is the only University in the league. Typically the campuses are beautiful,
sprawling, classic expanses with well cared for grounds and historic campus
structures. Hamilton College (NY) has 1,200 acres for it's roughly 1,800
students, and Middlebury (VT) has a 225 acres main campus plus 4,000 acres of
surrounding woodlands.
The professional alumni network is very strong,
especially in the New England and Northeast areas. Boston, New York, Philly,
Hartford and DC are all very well represented with alumni from these schools.
Recruiting Tip:
NESCAC coaches are not allowed to recruit off campus, so most of
what they do is by phone, email, and mail, plus attending camps and showcases.
They are not allowed any in-home visits.
Contact coaches first with a letter of via the on-line
SA form via the Sports home page at the school and give an accurate report
of your grades, class rank and SAT/ACT test scores to date. This will determine
if they can recruit you or not.
Football In the NESCAC - Competition for slots
in the NESCAC is very competitive. There are a lot of good Division III
caliber athletes in this part of the country, many who attend elite private and
prep schools. Most football players who know they are Division III caliber
want to use that skill to get into the best school possible. These are the
NESCAC schools. In my opinion, if you want some help with the NESCAC
football recruiting process, John Papas is your man. He runs the New England
Elite Football Camp and hires 70 college football coaches a year. He knows
everyone, and has coached at all three college levels himself.
Read more about Papas.
Current School News
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