College matches rank every program in your sport and divisions by how well it fits what you told us you want in a college. Each school gets a match % and a plain-English breakdown of what fits and what doesn't, so you know which programs to look at first instead of starting from a list of a thousand schools.
What the score measures (and what it doesn't)
Your match % measures fit: how closely a school lines up with your college preferences, plus how your GPA and test scores compare to the school's.
It does not judge whether you're good enough to play there. Athletic ability isn't part of the score. Instead, the divisions you pick in your preferences decide which programs get scored at all. If you pick NCAA D1 and D3, you'll see every D1 and D3 program in your sport ranked, and nothing else.
Get your matches
Open Colleges and click Matches. Matches need a little to go on, so you'll see a short checklist until you've filled in:
- Divisions
- Plus at least two of: Majors, Location (states, or home zip + distance), or Budget
Click Update your preferences, fill those in, and save. Your matches are ready the next time you open the page. The more preferences you fill in, the sharper the ranking gets. If you've only answered a few, the page tells you so: scores built on a few factors run high.
Matches cover your primary sport. If you have a second profile, programs in your other sport show "No score."
Reading your Matches page
The top of the page shows your sport, your divisions, how many programs were scored, and how many factors your scores are based on ("based on 6 of 7 factors"). If you've picked priorities, they show as Weighted toward badges underneath.
Below that, every program is listed in order, 25 at a time, with Show more at the bottom. Each row shows:
- The program's rank, logo, name, division, state, and undergrad enrollment
- Its match % and a fit label
- A summary line: the factors that fully fit, followed by up to two that don't ("Large, you picked medium")
Click the summary line to open the full breakdown, one card per factor with the actual numbers behind it.
Use the heart to add a school to your target list, or the ⋯ menu to view the program or email its coaches. To narrow the list, search by school, pick a state, switch between your divisions, or turn on Hide my target list (to find schools you haven't added yet) and Can offer athletic aid. On a phone, those controls fold into a Filters menu.
How the score works
Click the ⓘ next to the Matches heading any time for the short version.
Each school is scored on seven factors:
- Academics: your GPA against the school's average GPA, and your SAT or ACT against its middle 50% range when both are known. Junior colleges count as open admission.
- Major: whether the school offers a major you picked.
- Location: whether the school is in one of your states, or within your distance from home. Schools in a neighboring region get partial credit.
- Cost: the school's average net price against your budget.
- School feel: size, setting, and public or private.
- Athletic aid: whether the program can offer athletic scholarships, if you said you need or want them.
- Religious: religious affiliation, if you have a preference.
Academics counts most, then major, location, and cost. A factor you leave blank isn't counted against anyone, it's just left out of your score. When we don't have data for a school on a factor you did answer, that factor counts as half, so a school with missing data can't outrank one we know is a full match.
Pick what matters most. In your preferences, choose up to two priorities from Academics, Major, Location, Cost, and School feel. They count extra in every score.
Each factor shows one of four marks in the breakdown: a green check (fits what you asked for), an amber dash (close, but not quite), a red x (doesn't match), or a grey question mark (no data for this school).
Fit labels and caps
- Strong fit: 85% and up
- Good fit: 70 to 84%
- Reach: the school is an academic stretch for you, so its score is capped at 60%
- Under 60%: a weak fit. These stay on the list, shown muted, so you can still find them.
One more cap: if you said you need athletic scholarship money, programs that can't offer it (NCAA D3 and the Ivy League, for example) are capped at 50%.
Things the score can't see
- Cost uses the average net price. It doesn't know about athletic or merit aid you might be offered, so a school that looks over budget may not be once an offer is on the table.
- "Can offer athletic aid" goes by division and conference. It knows D3 and Ivy League schools don't offer athletic scholarships, but it can't tell which D1 or D2 programs are unfunded in your sport.
- Preferences are shared across your sports. If you run two sport profiles, both use the same preferences.
Your scores update on their own. Change your preferences, your GPA, or your test scores, and your matches are re-scored the next time you look.
Your match everywhere else
You don't have to be on the Matches page to see how a school fits.
- College Search shows your match % on every result card, and sorts by Best match by default. Switch to School name (A–Z) from the sort menu. See College search & filters.
- Your target list has a Match column, and Best match in its sort menu. See Building your target list.
- Program pages show your match % under the school's name, and a Your match section with the full breakdown.
When a school shows "No score"
A school only gets a match % if it's in one of your divisions and in your primary sport. Anywhere else, you'll see an empty ring and No score. Click it to see why.
If it's a division you haven't picked, click Add [division] to my divisions. It's added to your preferences right away, and every program in that division gets a match % without leaving the page. If several schools on your target list are in divisions you haven't picked, the target list shows a note at the top with the same one-click fix.
For coaches and staff
If you're on staff at a club, high school, or recruiting service, open an athlete from your roster and click their Matches tab to see the same ranked list they see.
Staff don't add schools to an athlete's target list directly. Instead, click the thumbs-up on any school (or Recommend to [name] in the ⋯ menu), add an optional note about why it's a good fit, and click Recommend. The athlete gets a notification and can approve it onto their list from their Recommendations page.
If an athlete hasn't filled in enough preferences yet, their Matches tab says so, with a button to fill in their preferences for them. Save, and their matches fill in.
Match scores are only calculated for athletes, so staff accounts don't have a Matches page of their own.
What's next
- Fill in or fine-tune what you're looking for in College preferences & recommendations.
- Turn your best matches into a working list in Building your target list.
- Learn what each division means in Divisions & conferences explained.