BRIDGEPORT, Pa. — The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) released the Academic Progress Rate (APR) rate for 2024-25 in women’s water polo.
The multi-year APR is the average of a Division I athletic program’s single year APR scores over the last four years (2021-2022-to-2024-25).
Harvard University, the University of Michigan and Princeton University lead the six CWPA Division I institutions eligible for ranking as the Crimson, Wolverines and Tigers each posted scores of 996 to tie with California Baptist University, California State University-Northridge and Long Beach State University for fifth place.
Brown University (988) comes in 19th, while Mercyhurst University (977) and Bucknell University (959) stand at No. 30 and 35, respectively, with Saint Francis University not recorded as every women’s water polo squad exceeded the 930 threshold required by the NCAA for postseason participation.
Among conferences, the CWPA comes in fourth behind the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (991), Golden Coast Conference (990.335) and Big West Conference (988), while the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) finishes behind the CWPA at 982.75.
Compared among all sports, women’s water polo holds the 16th highest four-year eligibility rate average at 987. Skiing (995), gymnastics (995) and lacrosse (995) lead the way with golf (994), ice hockey (994), beach volleyball (993), swimming & diving (993), tennis (993), fencing (991), rowing (990), cross country (990), volleyball (990), soccer (990), softball (989), field hockey (988), track & field (986), bowling (986) and basketball (984) complete the list of women’s sports.
The NCAA implemented the APR in 2004 to provide a more real-time measurement of academic success than graduation rates offer. The team-based metric accounts for the eligibility and retention of scholarship student-athletes by awarding one point each term for remaining eligible and one point for staying in school or graduating.
Additional information – including APR numbers for each head coach – are available by CLICKING HERE.
| 2024-25 NCAA Academic Progress Rate (Women’s Water Polo) | |||
| 1 (T) | La Salle University | 1000 | MAAC |
| 1 (T) | University of California, Berkeley | 1000 | MPSF |
| 1 (T) | University of California, San Diego | 1000 | Big West |
| 1 (T) | Villanova University | 1000 | MAAC |
| 5 (T) | California Baptist University | 996 | Golden Coast |
| 5 (T) | California State University, Northridge | 996 | Big West |
| 5 (T) | Harvard University | 996 | CWPA |
| 5 (T) | Long Beach State University | 996 | Big West |
| 5 (T) | Princeton University | 996 | CWPA |
| 5 (T) | University of Michigan | 996 | CWPA |
| 11 (T) | University of California, Davis | 995 | Big West |
| 11 (T) | University of Southern California | 995 | MPSF |
| 13 | Loyola Marymount University | 994 | Golden Coast |
| 14 | California State University, Fresno | 993 | Golden Coast |
| 15 (T) | Stanford University | 992 | MPSF |
| 15 (T) | University of California, Los Angeles | 992 | MPSF |
| 17 (T) | San Jose State University | 991 | MPSF |
| 17 (T) | University of the Pacific | 991 | Golden Coast |
| 19 | Brown University | 988 | CWPA |
| 20 (T) | Iona University | 987 | MAAC |
| 20 (T) | Wagner College | 987 | MAAC |
| 22 (T) | Indiana University | 986 | MPSF |
| 22 (T) | Santa Clara University | 986 | Golden Coast |
| 24 (T) | Mount St. Mary’s University | 985 | MAAC |
| 24 (T) | University of Hawaii | 985 | Big West |
| 26 | University of California, Irvine | 984 | Big West |
| 27 | San Diego State University | 982 | Golden Coast |
| 28 | Arizona State University | 981 | MPSF |
| 29 | University of California, Santa Barbara | 978 | Big West |
| 30 | Mercyhurst University | 977 | CWPA |
| 31 | Virginia Military Institute | 972 | MAAC |
| 32 (T) | California State University, Fullerton | 970 | Big West |
| 32 (T) | Marist University | 970 | MAAC |
| 34 | Siena University | 961 | MAAC |
| 35 | Bucknell University | 959 | CWPA |
[embeddoc url=”https://collegiatewaterpolo.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/2026RES_NCAAAcademicProgressTrends.pdf” download=”all” viewer=”google”]
