A reality check on "strong extracurriculars"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is elite level athlete? You are either recruitable, or not recruitable.

You can be recruitable but choosing not to play. If a girl was a starter on a nationally ranked team but chose not to play they still have a fantastic EC. If they were a captain on the team even better. They were elite at their main EC which is the bar.

Definitely not true and I say this as a parent of varsity atheletes. If your kid is not an athletic recruit, sports are among the useless ecs. May get some leadership points if kid is a varsity captain, but others pretty useless as far as admission as impact.

What if kid is not an athletic recruit, but is captain of varsity team and has consistent volunteer history with younger teams (ie, volunteering with little league)?

There’s no one thing that gets a kid into a college. Your kid being captain and volunteer is just one part of his story. So they can be accepted or rejected and you wouldn’t be able to say for sure if it was this or that got him in or rejected.

yes, the whole package.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is elite level athlete? You are either recruitable, or not recruitable.

You can be recruitable but choosing not to play. If a girl was a starter on a nationally ranked team but chose not to play they still have a fantastic EC. If they were a captain on the team even better. They were elite at their main EC which is the bar.

Definitely not true and I say this as a parent of varsity athletes. If your kid is not an athletic recruit, sports are among the useless ecs. May get some leadership points if kid is a varsity captain, but others pretty useless as far as admission as impact.

I can absolutely say that you are incorrect. Mine was a solid D1 recruit (not P4 level) with very academics as well. They played at a similar level to the situation mentioned above. As expected had their sport as their primary EC but they also had some others. They didn't go on to play because of a nagging injury but they did have multiple T20 offers including Ivies in the end.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is elite level athlete? You are either recruitable, or not recruitable.

You can be recruitable but choosing not to play. If a girl was a starter on a nationally ranked team but chose not to play they still have a fantastic EC. If they were a captain on the team even better. They were elite at their main EC which is the bar.

Definitely not true and I say this as a parent of varsity atheletes. If your kid is not an athletic recruit, sports are among the useless ecs. May get some leadership points if kid is a varsity captain, but others pretty useless as far as admission as impact.

What if kid is not an athletic recruit, but is captain of varsity team and has consistent volunteer history with younger teams (ie, volunteering with little league)?

Your kid will do fine. Just don’t get your hopes up that these activities will get them in to top schools. They won’t.

If they are sophomore or even junior, try to develop something related to their intended major. If they are rising seniors, focus on the essays and get a good test score.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is elite level athlete? You are either recruitable, or not recruitable.

Sometimes sailing, water polo, and equestrian is not a Div 1 recruit but bc of club teams they are quite valuable to a school if individual natl champs

Water polo and equestrian are NCAA sports.

Not at every school.

At most top private schools (other than Stanford, Cornell, Brown and Dartmouth) equestrian is a (competitive) club sport. Some schools are hoping to convert it to NCAA eventually.
Yet some private schools in T25 are actively looking for nationally ranked equestrians.

The nationally ranked part is what I have seen missing in the back and forth about sports and team captains. People are correct when they say that being the captain on a random HS team isn't a real strong EC. But they are incorrect in believing that being the captain and a player on a nationally ranked team isn't a strong EC, it's an outstanding EC. It's the level of excellence that matters. Virtually every kid on a nationally ranked top 20 basketball team is recruitable. Choosing not to play doesn't diminish the accomplishment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is elite level athlete? You are either recruitable, or not recruitable.

Sometimes sailing, water polo, and equestrian is not a Div 1 recruit but bc of club teams they are quite valuable to a school if individual natl champs

Water polo and equestrian are NCAA sports.

Not at every school.

At most top private schools (other than Stanford, Cornell, Brown and Dartmouth) equestrian is a (competitive) club sport. Some schools are hoping to convert it to NCAA eventually.
Yet some private schools in T25 are actively looking for nationally ranked equestrians.

The nationally ranked part is what I have seen missing in the back and forth about sports and team captains. People are correct when they say that being the captain on a random HS team isn't a real strong EC. But they are incorrect in believing that being the captain and a player on a nationally ranked team isn't a strong EC, it's an outstanding EC. It's the level of excellence that matters. Virtually every kid on a nationally ranked top 20 basketball team is recruitable. Choosing not to play doesn't diminish the accomplishment.

Not true. There are many kids in the DC and Baltimore area who are on nationally ranked soccer and lacrosse teams.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is elite level athlete? You are either recruitable, or not recruitable.

You can be recruitable but choosing not to play. If a girl was a starter on a nationally ranked team but chose not to play they still have a fantastic EC. If they were a captain on the team even better. They were elite at their main EC which is the bar.

Definitely not true and I say this as a parent of varsity atheletes. If your kid is not an athletic recruit, sports are among the useless ecs. May get some leadership points if kid is a varsity captain, but others pretty useless as far as admission as impact.

+1 This is the correct answer
Unless the applicant is being recruited to play their sport at the college, sports as an EC is literally the most common type of EC across the board.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is elite level athlete? You are either recruitable, or not recruitable.

Sometimes sailing, water polo, and equestrian is not a Div 1 recruit but bc of club teams they are quite valuable to a school if individual natl champs

Water polo and equestrian are NCAA sports.

Not at every school.

At most top private schools (other than Stanford, Cornell, Brown and Dartmouth) equestrian is a (competitive) club sport. Some schools are hoping to convert it to NCAA eventually.
Yet some private schools in T25 are actively looking for nationally ranked equestrians.

The nationally ranked part is what I have seen missing in the back and forth about sports and team captains. People are correct when they say that being the captain on a random HS team isn't a real strong EC. But they are incorrect in believing that being the captain and a player on a nationally ranked team isn't a strong EC, it's an outstanding EC. It's the level of excellence that matters. Virtually every kid on a nationally ranked top 20 basketball team is recruitable. Choosing not to play doesn't diminish the accomplishment.

Looks like yesterday’s troll has returned. You know, the one making outlandish claims about 5th grade algebra and refusing to respond for requests for details from multiple posters.

Please stop wasting our time with your nonsense.

[Anonymous]

How do AOs look at coaching or refereeing? Strong for the resume or not really?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Agree that sports captain doesn't seem to do anything even if it's a main sport at a name brand school (say a place like sidwell) that only has 2 captains per team.

I think it depends. Captain as a senior, maybe not that remarkable. But say someone was on Varsity team all 4 yrs and Captain of the team 3 of those year- that does speak highly of their character and how they are perceived by others. Maybe it isn’t winning Regeneron talent search, but colleges don’t want to fill every spot with an academic robot (just some of them).

I think this shows that sports isn't very competitive at your school. At ours, captains are usually always seniors. Also, I don't think colleges necessary parse out captain one year vs three years. On the activity list, you state the highest role your had in the activity. So you would mark 9, 10, 11, 12 for a sport you did for four years and write "captain" even if it's only in 12th grade. These little things don't matter. You can use up your word count to explicitly state you were captain for three years. But why would you do that... you need to use that space wisely to state the impact you made in the activity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How do AOs look at coaching or refereeing? Strong for the resume or not really?

Not really, about the same as any other part time job

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How do AOs look at coaching or refereeing? Strong for the resume or not really?

Your kid should do things they want to do. If they love coaching/refereeing, then continue. If it really is meaningful to them then they'll have something to write about.

Colleges can tell when kids do things just for the resume.

I thought dcurbanmom would be smarter...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is elite level athlete? You are either recruitable, or not recruitable.

Sometimes sailing, water polo, and equestrian is not a Div 1 recruit but bc of club teams they are quite valuable to a school if individual natl champs

Water polo and equestrian are NCAA sports.

Not at every school.

At most top private schools (other than Stanford, Cornell, Brown and Dartmouth) equestrian is a (competitive) club sport. Some schools are hoping to convert it to NCAA eventually.
Yet some private schools in T25 are actively looking for nationally ranked equestrians.

The nationally ranked part is what I have seen missing in the back and forth about sports and team captains. People are correct when they say that being the captain on a random HS team isn't a real strong EC. But they are incorrect in believing that being the captain and a player on a nationally ranked team isn't a strong EC, it's an outstanding EC. It's the level of excellence that matters. Virtually every kid on a nationally ranked top 20 basketball team is recruitable. Choosing not to play doesn't diminish the accomplishment.

Nationally ranked sailors/equestrians at our nonDMV private have shockingly good results

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is elite level athlete? You are either recruitable, or not recruitable.

Sometimes sailing, water polo, and equestrian is not a Div 1 recruit but bc of club teams they are quite valuable to a school if individual natl champs

Water polo and equestrian are NCAA sports.

Not at every school.

At most top private schools (other than Stanford, Cornell, Brown and Dartmouth) equestrian is a (competitive) club sport. Some schools are hoping to convert it to NCAA eventually.
Yet some private schools in T25 are actively looking for nationally ranked equestrians.

The nationally ranked part is what I have seen missing in the back and forth about sports and team captains. People are correct when they say that being the captain on a random HS team isn't a real strong EC. But they are incorrect in believing that being the captain and a player on a nationally ranked team isn't a strong EC, it's an outstanding EC. It's the level of excellence that matters. Virtually every kid on a nationally ranked top 20 basketball team is recruitable. Choosing not to play doesn't diminish the accomplishment.

Nationally ranked sailors/equestrians at our nonDMV private have shockingly good results

Yes, because they are nationally ranked. No one is arguing that... we're talking about being captain of your private school football team that has never won a game all season.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is elite level athlete? You are either recruitable, or not recruitable.

Sometimes sailing, water polo, and equestrian is not a Div 1 recruit but bc of club teams they are quite valuable to a school if individual natl champs

Water polo and equestrian are NCAA sports.

Not at every school.

At most top private schools (other than Stanford, Cornell, Brown and Dartmouth) equestrian is a (competitive) club sport. Some schools are hoping to convert it to NCAA eventually.
Yet some private schools in T25 are actively looking for nationally ranked equestrians.

The nationally ranked part is what I have seen missing in the back and forth about sports and team captains. People are correct when they say that being the captain on a random HS team isn't a real strong EC. But they are incorrect in believing that being the captain and a player on a nationally ranked team isn't a strong EC, it's an outstanding EC. It's the level of excellence that matters. Virtually every kid on a nationally ranked top 20 basketball team is recruitable. Choosing not to play doesn't diminish the accomplishment.

Nationally ranked sailors/equestrians at our nonDMV private have shockingly good results

Two ultra expensive sports, do the math.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is elite level athlete? You are either recruitable, or not recruitable.

Sometimes sailing, water polo, and equestrian is not a Div 1 recruit but bc of club teams they are quite valuable to a school if individual natl champs

Water polo and equestrian are NCAA sports.

Not at every school.

At most top private schools (other than Stanford, Cornell, Brown and Dartmouth) equestrian is a (competitive) club sport. Some schools are hoping to convert it to NCAA eventually.
Yet some private schools in T25 are actively looking for nationally ranked equestrians.

The nationally ranked part is what I have seen missing in the back and forth about sports and team captains. People are correct when they say that being the captain on a random HS team isn't a real strong EC. But they are incorrect in believing that being the captain and a player on a nationally ranked team isn't a strong EC, it's an outstanding EC. It's the level of excellence that matters. Virtually every kid on a nationally ranked top 20 basketball team is recruitable. Choosing not to play doesn't diminish the accomplishment.

Nationally ranked sailors/equestrians at our nonDMV private have shockingly good results

Yes, because they are nationally ranked. No one is arguing that... we're talking about being captain of your private school football team that has never won a game all season.

Right. That’s almost irrelevant. Nice filler EC. Maybe #9 in list?