A junior with a 4.3 GPA playing MLS NEXT asks if she can play Division I soccer. The speaker says yes, but only if she expands beyond Duke and Michigan to include Division II, III, and strong academic schools like Tufts and Carnegie Mellon. Playing time matters more than the name on the jersey.
If I'm playing MLS NEXT as a junior with a 4.3 GPA, can I play Division I college soccer? On paper, you have a lot of things going for you. Great grades, high enough level where there's going to be exposure, and you're a junior, which means this is the time for you, right? This is exactly when they want to find you. What the questions I would ask you are, are you open to different levels? If you say you're only open to Duke, Michigan, Maryland, Stanford because of your amazing grades and your level, then you may not get to play Division I college soccer because those are very competitive and you have to be not only a very standout player, but at this point as a junior, you should have already had a bunch of phone calls with Division III schools and probably a bunch of phone calls with Division I schools. If you haven't gotten that, then you're behind. On the other side of it, if you are open-minded to multiple different types of schools at the Division I, Division II, and Division III level, your chance of playing college soccer go up by a lot. Especially if you're open-minded to top Academic Division IIIs. Now again, this does depend on what you're looking for. We never want you to sacrifice your education for soccer. So education always comes first. Chicago, Tufts, NYU, Carnegie Mellon, with your accolades, you should be amongst those conversations. But I can tell you, if you're more open-minded and you're less concerned with the name of the school and more concerned about the internships they provide, as well as what job they can get you after college, because there's There's plenty of kids that go to Stanford and leave with no jobs. What you and your parents want to be mindful of is if you want to play soccer, this might be the last 4 years of your life that you're going to get to play competitive soccer. Do you want to find a place that gets you a good internship that maybe isn't as famous in regards to the name of the school that you can still enjoy and play minutes? Going to a Division I school and playing minutes at a Division I school are very different things, especially with the new transfer rules, the roster cuts, and the internationals. If you want more help playing college soccer, give me a call. Links in the bio. Comment the word "call" and we can schedule a call with you and your parents.
