“Work hard; play hard” seems to define the experience for student-athletes at Washington University, which offers the seventh-best combination of athletics and academics in the nation, according to the National Collegiate Scouting Association.

Wash. U. is ranked third among Division III schools in the 11th Annual NCSA Athletic Recruiting Collegiate Rankings behind Williams and Amherst Colleges, which are tied for No. 1. Duke University took the top spot overall on the NCSA’s list. The scores are compiled based on an average of the schools’ rankings in the U.S. News & World Report, the Learfield Sports Directors’ Cup and student-athlete graduation rate.

Associate Athletic Director Joe Worlund cited the ranking as a reflection of Wash. U.’s philosophy.

“The athletes are just like the rest of the students, and the priorities of academics come first, and athletics come second,” Worlund said.

The Directors’ Cup standings reflect the composite success of a school’s athletic program based on a points system for each team’s national ranking. Wash. U. placed fifth in the 2012-13’s Directors’ Cup race, with Williams earning the No. 1 spot.

The Directors’ Cup scoring system can favor quantity in an athletic department because the top nine sports in each gender count toward the statistics. Wash. U. has eight men’s and nine women’s teams while Williams has a plethora of squads from which to select—15 each for men and women.

“There are some inequities that you’re going to have a hard time clarifying with some of the schools in the [New England Small College Athletic Conference] that have 25 or 30 varsity programs,” Worlund said. “The system allows them to pick and choose which sports they’re getting higher scores in.”

Wash. U. is No. 14 in the U.S. News rankings and has the 44th-best graduation rate among student-athletes. However, the graduation data used by the NCSA for Wash. U. is from 2005-06, the most recent year the school has a report listed on the NCAA website. The four-class average graduation rate for student-athletes was 94 percent.

In May of this year, Washington University’s Registrar office reported a student-athlete graduation rate of 97.9 percent to the University Athletic Association.

A second-place Director’s Cup finish in 2011-12 put Wash. U. at No. 6 overall in last year’s NCSA rankings. The school’s highest ranking was No. 5 in 2009, when it owned the No. 12 spot in the U.S. News rankings, No. 4 in the Director’s Cup and No. 14 in graduation rate.

Worlund believes that ranking schools from all three of NCAA athletic divisions together is at least entertaining if not totally logical.

“You’re not comparing apples to apples, but it does make for interesting conversation,” he said.