Playing my way through grad school?

[cobbpa]

Am I eligible?

Question for the eligibility experts..

I'm entering my 4th year of school this fall, same school I've always attended, and will be graduating next May. I want to attend graduate school. Ideally, I picture myself getting a job & practicing up for a couple of years before heading back for and MBA & maybe PhD. As I never played any type of collegiate sport, and assuming a coach wants me on his team and I am accepted into the graduate school, is everything kosher? I'm not exactly sure how it works, but seeing as I've never taken money for golf and never so much as talked to my school's golf coach, it seems like I should still be eligible, but I thought I'd ask before getting too into the idea. I have a spreadsheet of the top 50 business schools & how good their golf teams are...some seem like a possible good fit!

Thanks for any advice / insight

[chad993]

I'm not entirely sure about this but I think that as soon as you enroll as an undergraduate your varsity eleigibility begins and you have five years to play four years in any varsity sport. With this said, in your situation, unless you enroll in graduate school this fall you lose your fifth year of elegibility. I was told this when I was trying out for a varsity program at the Division 1 level by a player. However, I have not verified that it is true.

 

Hope this helps//someone has concrete information.

[DRGJR72]

Here you go.....straight from the website

 

Graduate Student Eligibility

 

A student-athlete who is enrolled in a graduate or professional school of the college or university which he/she previously attended as an undergraduate student may participate in intercollegiate athletics, provided he/she has eligibility remaining and is within five calendar years of initial full-time collegiate enrollment for Division I and within the first ten full-time semesters of collegiate enrollment for Divisions II and III.

 

A student-athlete who has eligibility remaining and is within the specified five-year or ten-semester period also may participate while enrolled in a graduate or professional school at a Division I or II college or university other than the institution at which he/she completed an undergraduate degree, provided he/she meets the criteria of the one-time transfer exception to the general transfer residence requirement. That exception is as follows:

 

o The student-athlete must be seeking to participate in a sport other than Division I football, basketball and men's ice hockey, except that a student-athlete who seeks to participate in Division I-AA football may use this exception only if transferring from a Division I-A program.

o The student-athlete may not have transferred previously from another four-year institution unless he/she transferred previously and received an exception to the transfer residence requirement because his/her institution either discontinued the sport or did not sponsor the sport in which the student-athlete is a participant.

o The student must have been in good academic standing and eligible to compete had he/she decided to remain at the previous institution.

o The student-athlete's previous institution must certify in writing that it has no objection to the student-athlete being granted an exception to the transfer residence requirement.

 

NOTE: This exception does not apply to a student-athlete who attends a Division III institution for graduate school, unless the student-athlete is attending the same institution at which he/she was an undergraduate.

 

NOTE: If the student-athlete transfers to the certifying institution from a Division III member institution and meets the above-mentioned conditions, he or she may be eligible to compete but may not receive athletically related financial aid during that year.

 

Please contact the certifying institution or conference for additional information. You also may contact the NCAA membership services staff at 317/917-6222 if you have further questions.

 

Dan

[cobbpa]

Thanks Dan...I did find that on the NCAA site after posting. Doesn't look so good! Can anyone think of any way I'd get more than a year of eligibility, or is that pretty iron clad? I'm not familiar at all with rulings on some of this.

[Cameron Circle T]

NCAA isn't very flexible, and is only becoming less flexible. Going to be hard to get "extra" eligibility, unfortunately. Good luckk in your quest, and maybe you can be the first guy to get the NCAA to bend.

[DRGJR72]

I know that you can petition the NCAA for re-in statement or what not. I would just give them a call and see what they say.

[bk4]

I actually took a class in NCAA compliance this past fall for my minor, and we had a pretty similar questions to this on our exam. Like it's been stated, you have five years from your high school class graduating to play Division 1 sports, barring injury, or some other serious issue. As far as I know, there is no way around this unless you can prove you were too injured to play those four/five years, and even then, it probably wouldn't work. The NCAA isn't a very accomodating institution, sadly.

[scgolf]

The best guy to answer your questions are the golf coaches at your school. Keep in mind, although Division II & III's bylaws are similiar to DI's, there are differences that may effect your eligibility. I know a kid that played his freshman year @ CSULB, sat 2-3 years, played 2 yrs @ a JC and was given 1 year to play @ a DII school. Some of the JCs flood our local CC looking for senior (I mean old, old, 55-60 yo women) for their women's golf progam.

 

If you're looking strictly @ DI... think that boat has sailed. Coach could advise you as to how to best use your amateur status in a competitive environment (ie local, regional, national tournament). It's always books over golf anyways. Get into the best school you can and let the rest fall where they may...

 

good luck to you