Top schools where sports *don’t matter*

[Anonymous]

Op, seems like you already know a school exists like this. How about name it for other posters?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP again. I should say that I went to a truly huge HS that had every subgroup from jocks to gunners to goths (it was the 90s!) which is why it felt so good to “find my people” at a slac with no sports or frats.

Times have changed (for the better). The star athlete in a lot of places is also very intellectual. Kids are encouraged to spread their wings more.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just looking to collect info, not rehash the role of athletics in higher Ed.

Which well-known schools give no edge to athletes in admissions? Thank you.

I would say that Chicago, WashU and Emory don’t pay much attention to athletics. Chicago was a big football school until around 1940, when it dropped football.

Chicago still had football as recently as the mid 2000s, I had a familY member who was recruited to play there. As far as I know, the team still exists.

Admissions wise, Chicago, WashU, and Emory care a lot! All field competitive teams across a large number of sports. This is true of other top D3 schools Hopkins, MIT, Swarthmore, Amherst, and Williams too.

CalTech cares a very little bit now (they used to hardly even recruit): https://www.d3hoops.com/teams/Caltech/Men/2022-23/index. I still don't think there is much pull in admissions there (it is much more like being an orchestra member unlike at an MIT or Chicago).
You can go to great schools outside the US where they could care less about sports! Could be a great experience too. I don't get why more great American students don't look abroad. My multinational employer recruits a lot in Europe especially.

[Anonymous]

Even CalTech actively recruits athletes in a way they don't other types of students.
https://caltech.prestosports.com/prospective_athlete/Caltech_Athletics_Brochure.pdf
https://caltech.prestosports.com/prospective_athlete/index

[Anonymous]

Oberlin. They have athletics but forfeited the 2020-2021 athletic season to give them the best chance of in person classes during COVID. Strong fine arts culture. Very intellectual.

[Anonymous]

"OP again. I should say that I went to a truly huge HS that had every subgroup from jocks to gunners to goths (it was the 90s!) which is why it felt so good to “find my people” at a slac with no sports or frats."

I was trying to explain this to my friend who went to Michigan. She is convinced that a very large school like that is great for everyone since they'd have students of all types there and therefore any student could find people to befriend. But to me (I'm also someone drawn to schools with an intellectual vibe) a school like that would be awful. I'd basically be trying to drown out and ignore the vast majority of my classmates because they aren't at all "my people."

Some SLACs basically gather a few limited types of students and offer a niche experience. The kids who want to focus on putting together 15 different outfits to do sorority rush and get invited to the Auburn or Ole Miss game by a boy in Chi Alpha Dogma and paint an ice chest for their football game date will self-select away from those SLACs. https://www.prepinyourstep.com/2017/04/tips-for-painting-fraternity-cooler-in.html#/ And the schools will not be very interested in those students since they won't fit in with the the rest of the their students who want to write for the campus literary magazine and discuss Meno over dinner.

[Anonymous]

The son of one of my college classmates went to Chicago on a baseball scholarship. Smart kid, but he was recruited there. He ended up joining a fraternity because the school's vibe was too nerdy for his taste and was hoping to find kids who were not so intellectual.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thank you for the feedback. I’m not looking at this from an admissions pov, fwiw. I went to a SLAC that had no sports culture (at least as far as I could tell!) and was surprised to hear how many SLACs *do* care about athletics.

I thrived in a purely “academic” environment—it was uniformly rigorous with no easy alternatives to tough courses and everyone was all in on the intellectualism, which helped us push ourselves and support each other. I’m sure it sounds pretentious but I loved it. It’s not that I would cross other schools off the list—I just want to understand the landscape in case DCs turn out to be like me.

I went to Northwestern, a Big 10 school so lots of credit for athletics.

I never went to a game, almost none of my friends went to games. I couldn't have told you if they won or lost any specific games. The only varsity athlete I knew was a fencer who was in one of my classes. I also had some friends in the croquet club.

I don't know what easy alternatives have to do with any of this. Athletes at the top schools have to meet he same academic criteria.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The son of one of my college classmates went to Chicago on a baseball scholarship. Smart kid, but he was recruited there. He ended up joining a fraternity because the school's vibe was too nerdy for his taste and was hoping to find kids who were not so intellectual.

Chicago is D3, there are no basketball scholarships.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just looking to collect info, not rehash the role of athletics in higher Ed.

Which well-known schools give no edge to athletes in admissions? Thank you.

I would say that Chicago, WashU and Emory don’t pay much attention to athletics. Chicago was a big football school until around 1940, when it dropped football.

They all recruit. They all give an edge to recruits.

[Anonymous]

Sorry. Not on scholarship for baseball, but recruited to play there, which made getting in easier. His parents were very clear that the baseball recruitment enabled him to get into schools at least a full level up from what his grades alone would have allowed.

[Anonymous]

OP - where did you go? Sounds like Swarthmore or Carleton type place but even they do have athletes…maybe it just didn’t affect the culture much? Brandeis?

[Anonymous]

NYU does not focus on athletics.

[Anonymous]

St Johns College, Annapolis - unless you count Croquet.

[Anonymous]

Harvey Mudd does not care about sports at all.