Sports for college application
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Anonymous
| My DS who is in middle school likes Basketball, Golf, squash and fencing. Since the work load is too much in high school, he wants to continue only one or two out of these sports and play competitive which can also boost his college application. Which two sports should he continue in high school out of basketball, golf, squash and fencing? |
Anonymous
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He should continue whichever sport he wants to continue.
Sports do not boost a college application any more than any other activity unless the student is a recruited athlete. |
Anonymous
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Your DC should play the sports they enjoy. College admits for ANY of the four sports you posted are near impossible.
Out of all the kids I know who picked sports in the squash/fencing/similar realm, only ONE got into college to compete in that sport. If the parents had their druthers, it would have been a T-10 school, but at some point they realized that it was just not going to come through and the DC opted for the offer at a T30+ school. |
Anonymous
| Is he good enough that you think he's going to be a recruited athlete? Otherwise is makes no difference AT ALL which sport he decides to stick with. So he should pick the sport he enjoys the most! |
Anonymous
He is good in both fencing and squash, but due to academic commitments and our budget, we can only let him focus on one. Does fencing have an edge over squash when it come to college recruiting? |
Anonymous
i think you're a troll |
Anonymous
Will he make the US Olympic team? If he has that chance, then stick with fencing. Anything short of that, then probably not. |
Anonymous
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There is a common misconception that these niche sports somehow confer an advantage when applying to the selective schools that offer these sports.
However, you have to understand that while these are niche sports in the US, they are popular sports internationally and the schools do not care from what part of the world they recruit. As an example, the best international squash and fencing players come from Europe and Asia and they are highly recruited as well. The point being that in certain sports that do not have realistic professional leagues, you are competing worldwide against those kids, not just domestically. Hence, while I agree with others here that they play the sports that interest them. |
Anonymous
| fencing has the best odds to get $$$$ |
Anonymous
Fencing for tiger moms |
Anonymous
| Fencing is for the least athletic geeky kids |
Anonymous
Clearly written by a fool who has never even seen fencing, much less tried it for real. Nope, I'm not OP nor do I have a kid who fences. Ive taken fencing classes. The PP should try it. Would be thrashed in five seconds by those unathletic geeks. |
Anonymous
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This reminded me of this article. The second is about the resulting kerfluffle when some of it appeared to be, at best, not well sourced. It’s still pretty amusing. It feels true.
https://cdn.theatlantic.com/assets/media/files/20201101_nichesports.pdf https://www.insidehighered.com/admissions/views/2020/11/16/flawed-article-points-some-truths-about-admissions-opinion |
Anonymous
Agreed. But the end game isn’t athletics, it’s interest. No one is getting paid to fence, play lax, flute, or do drama when 25. Save the money spent on chasing the scholarship on the actual tuition. True story: I know one family that kept their kid back to repeat 8th grade at a private to get bigger for their sport in high school. An extra year of tuition for what??? DCUM parents are delusional…really… |
Anonymous
| #1 US Women's fencer in country and current senior at Potomac, committed/admitted to Princeton. If he is great, it’s a great way in. |