The NCAA has a public service announcement stating that most of their athletes go pro in something other than sports. They actually provide a table with the probability of competing beyond high school and the percentage who actually make it to the professional level. Given this information, any sensible athlete should pay serious attention to the student part of “student-athletes.”
One thing prospective student-athletes should take a look at is the graduation rate for the schools they’re interested in and compare the graduation rate for their sport. It’s not hard to do.
This shouldn’t be a surprising statement to anyone involved in sports and trying to get recruited. After all, every sport starts off with the most basic of numbers, wins and losses, or first, second, and third place. Potential college players and their families have probably spent a significant amount of time and money the last few years trying to improve their personal numbers to increase their odds (more numbers) of getting an athletic scholarship. But you need to pay attention to more than your personal numbers if you’re serious about getting recruited to play in college.
It’s easy to get caught up in the recruiting process. You’ll spend some time chasing a shiny that turns out not to be. Or maybe you’ll become fixated on improving hand strength and start neglecting other parts of your workout routine. And as you go through the process, you’ll have things pop-up that you know something about but could really use more information. But there are all these other things you’re trying to take care of. It’s completely normal.
(Updated for 2020) If you’re serious about playing college athletics, you need to understand how and when college coaches can start contacting you (officially) and when you can contact them. I remember sitting in the bleachers in April and listening to one parent’s angst that the baseball coach from a particular college hadn’t called them yet. The fact was that this was April of the player’s junior year–according to the NCAA recruiting periods and contact rules at the coach couldn’t call him until July.
If you’re interested in playing your sport for one of the Ivy League schools, you need to understand the Academic Index. I’m assuming that you already know that the Ivy League does not provide athletic scholarships and that you’re hoping to use your athletic abilities to help you get admitted. After all, recruited athletes have approximately a 
The NCAA is not the only 
