How do you get recruited as an athlete to an Ivy League?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why do highly academic schools recruit athletes for unprofitable sports? Is it essentially "paying" a student to provide a winning team for the academic students to play in (or just be proud to wear the same colors as?), to indirectly recruit academic students?

I'm sure people get excited to go to Duke or Bama for their champion teams in premier sports, but not one cares who the Ivy League Lax champs are.

Because they've learned that the recruited athletes tend to do pretty well in life and - here's the bottom line - are more likely to contribute to their school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why do highly academic schools recruit athletes for unprofitable sports? Is it essentially "paying" a student to provide a winning team for the academic students to play in (or just be proud to wear the same colors as?), to indirectly recruit academic students?

I'm sure people get excited to go to Duke or Bama for their champion teams in premier sports, but not one cares who the Ivy League Lax champs are.

You actually picked a bad example...usually the Ivy League LAX champ is ranked top 10 nationally and in many years an Ivy team is the national champion. Those games are fairly well-attended in the scheme of things.

Perhaps more accurately, nobody cares who the Ivy League XCountry, fencing, squash, sailing champs may be. Honestly, nobody cares who even are the national champions in fencing, squash, sailing and other multiple niche sports.

Yes, it is a backdoor way to recruit wealthy kids for sports like squash or sailing or fencing. At least for squash, it is also a backdoor way to recruit wealthy international kids since they dominate the sport internationally.

But who really cares if the Ivy League LAX champ is ranked top 10 nationally and in many years an Ivy team is the national champion?

Lacrosse is a pretty popular sport and you seem completely clueless about it. Maybe pick a different example.

Yet somehow I know what college football is and how to find it on my television.

Maybe look up what "popular" means.

This says more about you than lacrosse, especially since lax is on espn.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why do highly academic schools recruit athletes for unprofitable sports? Is it essentially "paying" a student to provide a winning team for the academic students to play in (or just be proud to wear the same colors as?), to indirectly recruit academic students?

I'm sure people get excited to go to Duke or Bama for their champion teams in premier sports, but not one cares who the Ivy League Lax champs are.

You actually picked a bad example...usually the Ivy League LAX champ is ranked top 10 nationally and in many years an Ivy team is the national champion. Those games are fairly well-attended in the scheme of things.

Perhaps more accurately, nobody cares who the Ivy League XCountry, fencing, squash, sailing champs may be. Honestly, nobody cares who even are the national champions in fencing, squash, sailing and other multiple niche sports.

Yes, it is a backdoor way to recruit wealthy kids for sports like squash or sailing or fencing. At least for squash, it is also a backdoor way to recruit wealthy international kids since they dominate the sport internationally.

But who really cares if the Ivy League LAX champ is ranked top 10 nationally and in many years an Ivy team is the national champion?

Lacrosse is a pretty popular sport and you seem completely clueless about it. Maybe pick a different example.

Yet somehow I know what college football is and how to find it on my television.

Maybe look up what "popular" means.

This says more about you than lacrosse, especially since lax is on espn.

Sorry most don’t care about lacrosse.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Many moons ago, I was recruited to play baseball at a couple Ivy League schools. I played in a summer league in between my junior and senior year and met a couple coaches with connections to the Ivy League. I ended up passing because the competition level was not up to snuff. I wanted to challenge myself at the highest levels of D1. I found out that I was never going to be the best player on the team. No regrets.

I have no clue how to get recruited today. However, the first requirement is to have talent in whatever sport you are playing.

This, the post about character being a differentiator is complete bs. For the non obscure sports, you need to be high up in the national rankings for the sport.

Okay. I'm the one who wrote that post. Someone said it's a bit rose-colored, and that is true. I didn't say it'll always work, I said this is the process. This is also where I believe there is a difference between Ivys and non-Ivy D1s. In the end, the pool of kids who can and WANT to play at Ivys is fairly small, but it's homogenous - so differentiators are needed. Often, the highest ranked kids typically do not play at Ivys. They're at the powerhouse sports schools on scholarship. My kid could not do their sport at, say Michigan. They can at an Ivy, because the Ivys aren't as good as Michigan. And there are kids choosing Michigan - or Florida, or Duke or Stanford, say - because they can give them money. Ivys aren't the right fit for all top student athletes.

[Anonymous]

My kid was recruited to an Ivy -- technically for a sport but more for their academic record. There is something called an academic index, that requires sports recruits -- by team -- to have stats reasonably close to the kids admitted under the regular proces. My kid, an able but not internationally ranked athlete with top grades and scores, helped bring up that index for the team.

[Anonymous]

I should add that my kid's offer came after securing a 35 on the ACT.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid was recruited to an Ivy -- technically for a sport but more for their academic record. There is something called an academic index, that requires sports recruits -- by team -- to have stats reasonably close to the kids admitted under the regular proces. My kid, an able but not internationally ranked athlete with top grades and scores, helped bring up that index for the team.

No one is recruited by an Ivy for their academic record.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid was recruited to an Ivy -- technically for a sport but more for their academic record. There is something called an academic index, that requires sports recruits -- by team -- to have stats reasonably close to the kids admitted under the regular proces. My kid, an able but not internationally ranked athlete with top grades and scores, helped bring up that index for the team.

No one is recruited by an Ivy for their academic record.

This is false.

Read about the Academic Index and how the team average is critical, so very high stat kids are valuable even if they are bench sitters. Not saying they have no skills, but coaches use lesser bands/tips etc on them knowing they are unlikely to play.

3. Team AI
The Team AI in a particular sport (the average of every Individual AI of each admitted athlete) must, in general, be within one
standard deviation of the Campus AI. Every athlete admitted with a low Individual AI must be offset with another with a higher
Individual AI. Ivy admissions offices establish guidelines for coaches trying to build a team that meets their athletic needs, the
college’s academic profile, and the Ivy Group’s academic index. To accomplish this complex balance, every team has an annual
‘quota’ and every athlete within that group is assigned to one of four bands based on his or her Individual AI

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid was recruited to an Ivy -- technically for a sport but more for their academic record. There is something called an academic index, that requires sports recruits -- by team -- to have stats reasonably close to the kids admitted under the regular proces. My kid, an able but not internationally ranked athlete with top grades and scores, helped bring up that index for the team.

No one is recruited by an Ivy for their academic record.

This is false.

Read about the Academic Index and how the team average is critical, so very high stat kids are valuable even if they are bench sitters. Not saying they have no skills, but coaches use lesser bands/tips etc on them knowing they are unlikely to play.

3. Team AI
The Team AI in a particular sport (the average of every Individual AI of each admitted athlete) must, in general, be within one
standard deviation of the Campus AI. Every athlete admitted with a low Individual AI must be offset with another with a higher
Individual AI. Ivy admissions offices establish guidelines for coaches trying to build a team that meets their athletic needs, the
college’s academic profile, and the Ivy Group’s academic index. To accomplish this complex balance, every team has an annual
‘quota’ and every athlete within that group is assigned to one of four bands based on his or her Individual AI

This can be accomplished with walk ons.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Depends on the sport. DD is an athletic recruit to an Ivy next year. She said one of her future teammates is dumb as dirt. She's only taken 1 AP her entire HS career and highest math was pre-calc. Sooo, if they are talented athletes the Ivy will exceptions with grades.

What a lovely child you’ve raised. 😒

Yeah, I’d rather my child be “dumb as dirt” then an a$$hole like yours!

Spare us the sanctimony. If we're talking about athletes they've all said far worse about each other in competitions. They aren't nearly as thin skinned as some of the pearl clutchers on here crying about this weak insult.

My DS was a college athlete. He would never had referred to a teammate that way. Plus, the child took an AP class, they are hardly “dumb as dirt”.

You really think your DS never said anything close to that? Ever? To an opponent or about an opponent? Give me a break.

I can’t guarantee this of course. But I would be very disappointed if I ever heard of my DS saying something like this. It’s just such ugly behavior. I have heard him trash talk the other team - that goalie doesn’t know how to catch a ball; did you see that left back - bro needs to learn how to run. But this is just a different league from calling a kid (on your own team, natch) “dumb as dirt”.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid was recruited to an Ivy -- technically for a sport but more for their academic record. There is something called an academic index, that requires sports recruits -- by team -- to have stats reasonably close to the kids admitted under the regular proces. My kid, an able but not internationally ranked athlete with top grades and scores, helped bring up that index for the team.

No one is recruited by an Ivy for their academic record.

This is false.

Read about the Academic Index and how the team average is critical, so very high stat kids are valuable even if they are bench sitters. Not saying they have no skills, but coaches use lesser bands/tips etc on them knowing they are unlikely to play.

3. Team AI
The Team AI in a particular sport (the average of every Individual AI of each admitted athlete) must, in general, be within one
standard deviation of the Campus AI. Every athlete admitted with a low Individual AI must be offset with another with a higher
Individual AI. Ivy admissions offices establish guidelines for coaches trying to build a team that meets their athletic needs, the
college’s academic profile, and the Ivy Group’s academic index. To accomplish this complex balance, every team has an annual
‘quota’ and every athlete within that group is assigned to one of four bands based on his or her Individual AI

This is correct. Think of it like comparing the average GPA of the admitted athletes to the average GPA of the non athletes to the school. A school can't admit a bunch of kids with low GPAs to play on their sports teams. If it accepts a kid with a mediocre GPA, they will be looking for one with a very high GPA to offset it. Also, many TO schools highly encourage their athlete applicants to take the SAT/ACT to try and raise that average score, too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Send emails to coaches with video and attend their camps. Still need top academics. Went to a recent ivy camp. The head coach said the first question the admissions office asks is what is the course rigor. He said this it is incredibly important that the student is taking the most rigorous courseload to show he can play a sport and enroll in ivy classes. He said SAT/ACTs are also very important. (He seemed to imply that they are even more important than GPAs given the inability to compare among schools). A student not submitting a score is considered a negative as he has to submit an average score for the collective team.

Listen to the Yale lacrosse coach on Youtube (go search for it). He is taped giving a talk to LAX recruits and mentions that half the team has sub-1500 SAT scores, with a bunch in the 1200s, more in the 1300s and more in the 1400s...and then 50% above 1500. I believe this is Summer 2022. Said transcript is most important in terms of grades and rigor.

The specific school above is relevant. Obviously, now Dartmouth requires scores from everyone and Yale seems to be leaning that way as well.

To reiterate, the specific sport matters a ton. Also, not sure what sport you are referring, but all college camps are for the most part a way for the assistant coaches to make extra money since they are poorly paid. They need lots of kids with no hope of getting recruited to attend.

There is no point in attending any camps unless you have been specifically invited and/or will hit certain athletic marks that will get a coach's attention (and it's usually both).

1 was in the 1200s, not a bunch. 2 in the 1300s. 3 in the 1400s and the remaining 5 above a 1500.

That is 6 spots that didn't go to academic superstars, as if sports are important to Yale's reputation. So weird.

Amazing isn’t it? And that’s 6 spots out of less than 2000 for just one sport.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid was recruited to an Ivy -- technically for a sport but more for their academic record. There is something called an academic index, that requires sports recruits -- by team -- to have stats reasonably close to the kids admitted under the regular proces. My kid, an able but not internationally ranked athlete with top grades and scores, helped bring up that index for the team.

No one is recruited by an Ivy for their academic record.

This is false.

Read about the Academic Index and how the team average is critical, so very high stat kids are valuable even if they are bench sitters. Not saying they have no skills, but coaches use lesser bands/tips etc on them knowing they are unlikely to play.

3. Team AI
The Team AI in a particular sport (the average of every Individual AI of each admitted athlete) must, in general, be within one
standard deviation of the Campus AI. Every athlete admitted with a low Individual AI must be offset with another with a higher
Individual AI. Ivy admissions offices establish guidelines for coaches trying to build a team that meets their athletic needs, the
college’s academic profile, and the Ivy Group’s academic index. To accomplish this complex balance, every team has an annual
‘quota’ and every athlete within that group is assigned to one of four bands based on his or her Individual AI

This is correct. Think of it like comparing the average GPA of the admitted athletes to the average GPA of the non athletes to the school. A school can't admit a bunch of kids with low GPAs to play on their sports teams. If it accepts a kid with a mediocre GPA, they will be looking for one with a very high GPA to offset it. Also, many TO schools highly encourage their athlete applicants to take the SAT/ACT to try and raise that average score, too.

However, even the high AI athlete benchwarmer at Yale is most likely a better athlete than any high academic D3 school and still needs to be able to come off the bench and contribute if it comes to that (knew a kid recruited for MIT basketball that couldn't even get looked at by Yale, Harvard, etc. even though had a 1590 SAT and all sorts of other attributes to increase their AI). Just making it clear that any D1 school requires a minimum level of athletic ability to even be considered.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid was recruited to an Ivy -- technically for a sport but more for their academic record. There is something called an academic index, that requires sports recruits -- by team -- to have stats reasonably close to the kids admitted under the regular proces. My kid, an able but not internationally ranked athlete with top grades and scores, helped bring up that index for the team.

No one is recruited by an Ivy for their academic record.

This is false.

Read about the Academic Index and how the team average is critical, so very high stat kids are valuable even if they are bench sitters. Not saying they have no skills, but coaches use lesser bands/tips etc on them knowing they are unlikely to play.

3. Team AI
The Team AI in a particular sport (the average of every Individual AI of each admitted athlete) must, in general, be within one
standard deviation of the Campus AI. Every athlete admitted with a low Individual AI must be offset with another with a higher
Individual AI. Ivy admissions offices establish guidelines for coaches trying to build a team that meets their athletic needs, the
college’s academic profile, and the Ivy Group’s academic index. To accomplish this complex balance, every team has an annual
‘quota’ and every athlete within that group is assigned to one of four bands based on his or her Individual AI

Sure but have to be decent at the sport to start.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Depends on the sport. DD is an athletic recruit to an Ivy next year. She said one of her future teammates is dumb as dirt. She's only taken 1 AP her entire HS career and highest math was pre-calc. Sooo, if they are talented athletes the Ivy will exceptions with grades.

What a lovely child you’ve raised. 😒

Yeah, I’d rather my child be “dumb as dirt” then an a$$hole like yours!

Spare us the sanctimony. If we're talking about athletes they've all said far worse about each other in competitions. They aren't nearly as thin skinned as some of the pearl clutchers on here crying about this weak insult.

My DS was a college athlete. He would never had referred to a teammate that way. Plus, the child took an AP class, they are hardly “dumb as dirt”.

You really think your DS never said anything close to that? Ever? To an opponent or about an opponent? Give me a break.

I can’t guarantee this of course. But I would be very disappointed if I ever heard of my DS saying something like this. It’s just such ugly behavior. I have heard him trash talk the other team - that goalie doesn’t know how to catch a ball; did you see that left back - bro needs to learn how to run. But this is just a different league from calling a kid (on your own team, natch) “dumb as dirt”.

I don't see what the big deal is. At my HYP, it was clear who the kids who got in because they were athletes and/or their parents were legacies and/or their parents were billionaires. It was obvious they weren't there for their academic prowess. No one said it to their face (that I heard) but it was widely acknowledged that they were not at the same intellectual level as other kids.