Your Complete List of Women’s D3 Track and Field Colleges

Don’t overlook NCAA Division 3 track and field colleges. With a balanced college experience, focus on academics, and highly competitive atmosphere, more than 8,000 student-athletes find a home at D3 schools.

• Balanced collegiate experience. D3 track and field programs require time, energy and commitment to practices, meets and traveling, but unlike D1 institutions where your sport is your life, student-athletes who compete at the D3 level have more free time to pursue challenging courses, internships/jobs and extracurriculars outside of track and field.
• Close-knit campus. D3 colleges are mostly made up of smaller, private institutions, with the median enrollment rate at about 2,750.
• Academically competitive courses. D3 track and field colleges are some of the most academically selective schools in the NCAA. Student-athletes with strong test scores, grades and a desire to excel academically should consider adding a few D3 schools to their target lists.
• Well-rounded financial aid packages. Many student-athletes shy away from Division 3 track and field colleges because they don’t offer athletic scholarships. However, these coaches work closely with the admissions department to offer student-athletes competitive scholarship packages made up of grants, academic scholarships, need-based aid and merit-based scholarships.   

What is the number of women’s NCAA Division 3 track and field teams?

There are 324 NCAA Division 3 track and field colleges across the country, made up of both indoor-only, outdoor-only, indoor and outdoor, and cross-country programs. It’s relatively common for women’s track and field athletes to take part in both indoor and outdoor programs, when available. Altogether, about 1.9 percent of all high-school women’s track and field student-athletes end up competing at the Division 3 level.

Division 3 women’s track and field rankings

The Track & Field Results Reporting System (TFRRS) and the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) both offer a good overview of NCAA women’s track and field rankings for D3 track and field colleges. Here are the best D3 track and field colleges for women’s track recruits according to the NCSA Power Rankings:

1. Williams College
2. Amherst College
3. Johns Hopkins
4. Massachusetts Institute of Technology
5. Emory University
6. University of Chicago
7. Swarthmore College
8. University of California – Santa Cruz
9. California Institute of Technology
10. New York University

View a comprehensive list of the best D3 women’s track and field colleges. 

Then, take a look at the NCAA women’s track and field rankings for all division 3 track and field colleges.