Does being captain of a sports team help in admission

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No doubt that is resilience. But other kids are coming from foster care, inner city, have special needs and so on.

I think the key is how have you helped others. What did you do with your privilege? (Pretty sure some of the supplemental questions ask things like this.)

OP is asking about Top 10 schools here. The elite of the elite. The essay needs to be very special, and show how special your student is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Don't.

My kid got into several T10s last year. He's at an Ivy this year. He didn't write anything about sports. And the sport and title 'captain' was featured in the common app activities.

He had a lot of injury and obstacle overcome in the sport ---but wrote nothing about it.

+1

Colleges don't want to hear about overcoming adversity and definitely stay away form the "d's" - death, divorce and disease. They get way too many essays on those and none of them are unique.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My child is a captain of a sports team at TJ and want to know how it helps in top 10 college admission. Can one of the essays be written on the work done as a captain?

Being captain isn't really a big deal. Both my kids were 3 sport hs athletes and captains for each season/sport. One sport, all seniors were captains (there were 4), sport 2, they rotated which seniors were captains for each game and the third sport had 3 designated captains. Not something that tips the needle. Add it to the activities section and that's about it

[Anonymous]

My DC was disappointed to be placed on JV junior year, but was elected captain. Wrote about how the initial disappointment of being placed in JV turned out to be the best year of sports in high school. Discussed getting to know the freshman and helping them navigate social issues, being the older teammate they all looked up to and how this perspective was so wonderful since they are the youngest in their family and never had that role. It was a good essay.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It certainly does, even for JV. In fact, there is one line for JV/Varsity sports on the common app so all lumped together. But you have to tell a story about what you did as captain, not just that you were captain. How did you get the team involved in team spirit? How did you help the coach? How was it difficult to work with younger players?

Colleges are more interested in how your students helped others and lead others than the actual athletic pursuit (unless your student is a recruited athlete).

Agree that athletics are not what should be written about in the essay. Too much of that for admissions officers. Find something unique to talk about,

Meh. AOs have seen everything. You will never contrive something they have never seen before. Just do your best to put your own spin on it.

This. Make it personal.

[Anonymous]

Certainly. Varsity captain is favorably looked at by some schools. It shows strong commitment.

Even if you are not at a recruitable level, the leadership demonstrated by the commitment really helps.

[Anonymous]

Didn't help my kid, who was the captain as both a junior and a senior for both his HS and club teams. He has real leadership skills, but either he wasn't able to communicate that through his applications, or the schools didn't find it compelling enough to offer admission (he applied to six top-10 schools and wasn't admitted to any).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Didn't help my kid, who was the captain as both a junior and a senior for both his HS and club teams. He has real leadership skills, but either he wasn't able to communicate that through his applications, or the schools didn't find it compelling enough to offer admission (he applied to six top-10 schools and wasn't admitted to any).

Everyone is a captain or club president at the T10 level. It is not impressive or distinguishing.

Agree with others. My kid was admitted RD to two Ivies and two other T10s and did not write anything in the essays about his sport (which really took up the majority of his time, captain as well).

It's on the list of 'what not to write about' in every college essay guide out there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My child is a captain of a sports team at TJ and want to know how it helps in top 10 college admission. Can one of the essays be written on the work done as a captain?

lol no. Also, many teams have multiple senior captains so they can write that they’re captain – super easy to make up this story.

[Anonymous]

I would say yes to an essay about being a captain of a high school team, if, and only if, something truly dramatic happened (not necessarily athletics related) and the student was able to fix the issue, lead the team to a better place emotionally.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Didn't help my kid, who was the captain as both a junior and a senior for both his HS and club teams. He has real leadership skills, but either he wasn't able to communicate that through his applications, or the schools didn't find it compelling enough to offer admission (he applied to six top-10 schools and wasn't admitted to any).

depends on the sport sometimes - if it’s a soft sport with weak participation like x country probably doesn’t help, where lacrosse captain conveys a real commitment, strength and leadership

[Anonymous]

My DD actually wrote about washing dishes (metaphor for some other stuff). It was beautiful. She goes to a Top 20.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DD actually wrote about washing dishes (metaphor for some other stuff). It was beautiful. She goes to a Top 20.

Also know a kid at a Top 25 who wrote about hot pretzels. Also a metaphor. Sophisticated writers out there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Didn't help my kid, who was the captain as both a junior and a senior for both his HS and club teams. He has real leadership skills, but either he wasn't able to communicate that through his applications, or the schools didn't find it compelling enough to offer admission (he applied to six top-10 schools and wasn't admitted to any).

depends on the sport sometimes - if it’s a soft sport with weak participation like x country probably doesn’t help, where lacrosse captain conveys a real commitment, strength and leadership

In his case, it was ice hockey, and his first year as captain (he was the only captain) coincided with the pandemic, so there was a lot going on and lots for him to do. Regardless, as someone mentioned above, tons of top-10 applicants were captains of different teams, so it doesn't automatically make you stand out. Not getting into to those schools (notwithstanding his athletic and outstanding academic credentials) doesn't reflect badly on him, in my judgment. He loves the school he ended up at, and I think they are pretty lucky to have him.

[Anonymous]

Service academies care.