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Are you eligible to play in college??
Tensey Pricer (PelicanPreps.com)
If you want to play college athletics, getting in the best physical shape of your life is a key goal. However, the first thing you should do is find out if you are on the path to being academically eligible to play college athletics.
It's a process that evaluates three variables:
1. Completion of a required number of NCAA-approved core courses.
2. Test score results from either the ACT or SAT.
3. Grade-point average in only the NCAA-approved core courses.
If you have not actively kept track of your GPA during your high school career, this could seem like a daunting, anxious task. But it is one you MUST undertake. Just like adults have to be truthful with themselves about their credit history when wanting to qualify for financial loans, you the student-athlete have to be honest with yourself about your academic standing.
Afterall, you are applying for a loan of sorts. If you qualify the NCAA will "loan" you several years of athletic eligibility.
Thankfully, the NCAA Clearinghouse (www.ncaaclearinghouse.net) has done a good job of helping athletes negotiate this path. The NCAA Clearinghouse basically verifies you meet the requirements in the three variables mentioned above: core courses, GPA and test scores.
The process matches your GPA from the core courses with your total best scores from the SAT (just math and critical reading) or ACT tests. It's called gaining "initial eligibility" by the NCAA.
For Division I there is a sliding scale which matches your test score and GPA. With a core GPA of 2.85 you are qualified if you make a minimum total score of 56 on the ACT. If your GPA is lower, you have to make a better score on the test. If your GPA is high then the test score can be lower.
Considering many people just are not good test-takers, you want to concentrate on getting your GPA as high as possible.
For Division II you have to make a minimum score of 820 on the SAT or 68 on the ACT.
This is an important process for several reasons.
Above all, you want to know if you qualify. But you also want to know where to start working to improve your standing if you have not yet qualified. All too often some of the best high school athletes in the state fall short of these standards not because they are necessarily bad students now, but they did not take care of their business earlier in their high school career.
Also, you have to go through the NCAA Clearinghouse to be able to make official visits in the fall.
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