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

[Anonymous]

Went to an Ivy camp and coach indicated you needed a 1400 SAT (I think lots of athletes have the grades or at least seemed to in my kids sport, a popular team sport). The coaches are looking for the very best athletes that can pass a pre-read. Some of the high academic D3 schools are more interested in really high stat kids than the Ivies as they have less pull with admissions or maybe pull for only 2 players (Swarthmore, Williams, Amherst, MIT, John Hopkins, Carnegie Mellon, etc.). At some of these schools my sense was that a really high stats kid becomes very attractive…. The Ivies are all D1 so coaches have pull and want the top athletes that are good students, versus some of the high academic D3s that to pass admissions the coaches might be ok with good (mind you college level recruitable) athlete that has great academics.

[Anonymous]

This was 25 years ago, but I was recruited by talking to coaches directly. In my case, these convos were facilitated by my coach who was well-respected in the sport and reached out to the coaches at my schools of choice on my behalf. Ended up not getting an official recruit “slot” at my first choice ivy (I wasn’t quite good enough compared to the other athletes in the recruit pool) but the coach recognized my potential and wanted me on the team and I was admitted (I did have the grades and scores to meet the qualification bar for general admissions). I’d suggest reaching out to coaches directly at your kid’s dream schools.

[Anonymous]

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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 agree with this. That’s next-level gross behavior, far beyond normal sports trash talk.

[Anonymous]

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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.

Maybe in your circles that sort of nastiness was encouraged and routine. But that is not representative. I went to HYPS too and it was not at all common. I remember a few kids who started talking that way and they were widely disliked.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My son was recruited to an Ivy to play football. He’s no dope but never would have been a candidate for admission without a he athletics hook.

You need to educate yourself on two things. First the nature of Ivy need-based financial aid. As referenced earlier, the formulas may be generous, but not so much for upper middle class types living in high cost of living areas such as the DMV. Also the richest schools - HYP - give more, but you may be able to leverage an offer from them to get more $$ from a place like Dartmouth. I’ve always wondered if one can do the same with an offer from smaller rich schools like Amherst.

Second, the Academic Index. Pretty simple to look this up so I won’t get into details. They take grades, class rank and board scores and feed it into some sort of flux capacitor to generate a score 1-4 that shows how close the recruit is to the median student. Football is separate from the other sports and non-football recruits need to understand that each school will have a different approach to how they allocate slots among various sports.

PP, what steps did your son take to be recruited? Camps? Film submission? Are you in the DMV?

[Anonymous]

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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”.

DCUM is full of posters who seem to think that anybody who is less intelligent is somehow worthless and not just a target for comments like PP and the horrible child she raised, but also that they are not worthy of opportunities to succeed or a decent life. The complete lack of any depth of thinking, much less human understanding, continues to horrify me. I don't believe in karma, but if I did, I would say that most likely PP's kid will show up at her Ivy and spend four years--if she lasts that long--riding the bench.

[Anonymous]

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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.

Can you all not understand that people are born with a varying level of strengths and attributes?? Some have incredibly high intellect, while many more, of course, have average intellect. Fortunately, our society allows people of all levels and types of intellect, who are also blessed with hard word ethic in addition to other characteristics, including the ability to learn, to have the same opportunities as those who were fortunate enough to be born highly intelligent. I see nothing wrong with that.

[Anonymous]

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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.

Can you all not understand that people are born with a varying level of strengths and attributes?? Some have incredibly high intellect, while many more, of course, have average intellect. Fortunately, our society allows people of all levels and types of intellect, who are also blessed with hard word ethic in addition to other characteristics, including the ability to learn, to have the same opportunities as those who were fortunate enough to be born highly intelligent. I see nothing wrong with that.

+1. Intellectual ability can be a form of privilege that some believe makes you "better than" others.

Of course, athletic ability can be the same, but DCUM places innate athletic ability below innate intelligence ability. Or, DCUM refuses to accept that the two abilities can sometimes go hand in hand.

If the school wants to field a successful team, though, it is within its right to select student athletes to do so. It does not have to accept students solely based on a hierarchy of test scores.

[Anonymous]

Depending on the sport and your financial situation, it can be relatively easy to get an offer but hard to afford.

If your kid has an offer, you've likely been able to afford private training, elite camps, travel teams, etc., so may not qualify for any financial aid and could be expected to be full pay. If you're not wealthy and have other kids going to college, this can be a challenge, especially when other schools are offering athletic scholarships. It's great if you're wealthy enough to afford it, though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

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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.

Can you all not understand that people are born with a varying level of strengths and attributes?? Some have incredibly high intellect, while many more, of course, have average intellect. Fortunately, our society allows people of all levels and types of intellect, who are also blessed with hard word ethic in addition to other characteristics, including the ability to learn, to have the same opportunities as those who were fortunate enough to be born highly intelligent. I see nothing wrong with that.

+1. Intellectual ability can be a form of privilege that some believe makes you "better than" others.

Of course, athletic ability can be the same, but DCUM places innate athletic ability below innate intelligence ability. Or, DCUM refuses to accept that the two abilities can sometimes go hand in hand.

If the school wants to field a successful team, though, it is within its right to select student athletes to do so. It does not have to accept students solely based on a hierarchy of test scores.

Sure. But why athletic ability? If you were a world class cello player, you might be able to go to a music focused elite school like Julliard with less than perfect grades. But you wouldn’t make it past the door at the Ivy. But you could if you play lacrosse. How does that make any sense? It’s not that schools are looking for a variety of talents. I think that is great. But that they lower academic standards for sports talent only. Just seems bizarre. But, my kid is not Ivy bound either on their academic or sports ability so I guess it’s not relevant to me.

[Anonymous]

My kid was an athletic recruit to an Ivy and ended up graduating summa/phi beta kappa. It’s nonsense that recruited athletes are less intelligent. There’s a range of skills and work ethic just like there is in the entire class.

[Anonymous]

Yes, and recruited athletes more often than not have great outcomes professionally and are in a position to give back to the school, hire other grads etc. I have seen this first hand with my own kids. Being on a team and knowing how to be a team player is great preparation for the real world where quite often you have to sublimate your personal desires to the goals of the team. There is a reason the Ivys place such a big emphasis on recruited athletes and it’s not just for the diversity factor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, and recruited athletes more often than not have great outcomes professionally and are in a position to give back to the school, hire other grads etc. I have seen this first hand with my own kids. Being on a team and knowing how to be a team player is great preparation for the real world where quite often you have to sublimate your personal desires to the goals of the team. There is a reason the Ivys place such a big emphasis on recruited athletes and it’s not just for the diversity factor.

I really hate these simplifications of playing a sport and real life. Almost all ECs involve being on a “team”…whether it is a sport, participating in a play, being part of an orchestra, etc. I have never cared nor do any of my colleagues care about an athlete and teamwork when hiring because it actually is not unique at all.

We do care about client-facing roles and how athletes and sports are naturally more common areas of interest working in finance, and we appreciate the competitive drive. However, we love certain theatre kids…especially ones that end up directing student productions because that actually takes an incredible skill set to manage practices (you figure which scenes, who needs to show up from cast and crew that day, etc). Also, some of the most competitive kids come from orchestra and things like the chess team and they make great traders.

[Anonymous]

Theatre kids don’t get yelled at every day in practice

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid was an athletic recruit to an Ivy and ended up graduating summa/phi beta kappa. It’s nonsense that recruited athletes are less intelligent. There’s a range of skills and work ethic just like there is in the entire class.

Sure they could be as or more academically qualified than their peers. Point here is that they don’t need to be. No kid with a 1200 and a talent in the arts is getting in. But a lax player apparently is.