Amherst College Paper Article on Athletic Recruiting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The article was anti recruiting athletes. As an experiment Amherst should just forgo recruiting athletes and fill all of their varsity sports with walk-ons. I suspect that they would lose very game, Donations would plummet, and school spirit would die.

There is no school spirit. Other than the Williams game, no one attends football games. The athletic department offers bribes to the first 100 students in attendance and they’ve never reached 100.

[Anonymous]

True. This kid is waiting to see if a slot is offered this summer. If not, it will be disappointing and the kid might end up doing early at a school without the sport.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Recruited athletes who think that they are held to the same academic standards are fooling themselves.

A non-athlete applying to Amherst with a 790 M/690 V will be scrutinized as “unbalanced.” A 4.3 weighted GPA will be devalued because the kid took geometry as a sophomore.

Recruited athletes just have to demonstrate that they are capable of graduating as Econ or psychology majors.

The article just pointed out that they are evaluated on the same rubric as everyone else. Why do you refuse to accept this?

This has been our experience with D3 recruiting at NESCAC schools and the like . . . and the TO schools want test scores for pre-reads. Yes, there are a handful of kids from the B and C buckets who will get offers, but they are the exception.

[Anonymous]

Amherst is not what it once was. Simply put, it is a shell of its former self. Over the last decade, they have gone out of their way to alienate themselves from the alumni and families who significantly contributed academically and financially to the institution over multiple generations. Amherst has chosen politics over a balanced approach to the demands of administering an institution whose relevance is truly in question.

The article is nothing more than a pushback to the current political environment, following the "woke" unwind. I am sure that those who choose to "contextualize their background" receive even easier treatment than any athlete admits. Let us not cast any stones from our glass houses.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The article was anti recruiting athletes. As an experiment Amherst should just forgo recruiting athletes and fill all of their varsity sports with walk-ons. I suspect that they would lose very game, Donations would plummet, and school spirit would die.

My kid is at an Ivy where top athletes could easily fill spots as walk ons. Many of these kids play at a higher caliber than many of the recruits—-international players and academy players. The varsity team actually has a poor record. Some have left and play at a higher ranked team.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Also every so often these slac schools use sports to increase their chances of gettting a top student.

My kids has 1580 SAT, 4.7 GPA, and will have 15 AP courses after senior year. Great leadership in a few different other areas besides the sport. Great service. Definitely a narrative. Ivy legacy.

But the kid wants to play the sport so it is looking like NESCAC or UAA league as not good enough to play at the Ivy.

Great flagship state school profile!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Amherst is not what it once was. Simply put, it is a shell of its former self. Over the last decade, they have gone out of their way to alienate themselves from the alumni and families who significantly contributed academically and financially to the institution over multiple generations. Amherst has chosen politics over a balanced approach to the demands of administering an institution whose relevance is truly in question.

The article is nothing more than a pushback to the current political environment, following the "woke" unwind. I am sure that those who choose to "contextualize their background" receive even easier treatment than any athlete admits. Let us not cast any stones from our glass houses.

Sorry the fist-on-the-scale legacy preference was removed for your family. Boo freaking hoo. Maybe encourage your kids to focus on academics rather than coasting on privilege. My top-stats unhooked kid loves Amherst, doesn't care about athletics one way or the other.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Reasonably balanced article on athletic recruiting at Amherst. The process will be similar at all of the top NESCAC schools, it's harder than people believe.

https://amherststudent.com/article/a-look-into-amhersts-athletic-admissions-process/

I'm glad this was called out. It really is systemic across the high academic D3 schools:

"According to Reyes, “the [college’s] mission is about education, thriving, personal growth, community, doing good in the world. And diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) are crucial to that, but one of the things that is crucial [is to not] amplify privilege. I think there are lots of ways forward, but I don’t think that any equitable future for Amherst involves a massive set aside that benefits rich white men.”"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Amherst is not what it once was. Simply put, it is a shell of its former self. Over the last decade, they have gone out of their way to alienate themselves from the alumni and families who significantly contributed academically and financially to the institution over multiple generations. Amherst has chosen politics over a balanced approach to the demands of administering an institution whose relevance is truly in question.

The article is nothing more than a pushback to the current political environment, following the "woke" unwind. I am sure that those who choose to "contextualize their background" receive even easier treatment than any athlete admits. Let us not cast any stones from our glass houses.

Sorry the fist-on-the-scale legacy preference was removed for your family. Boo freaking hoo. Maybe encourage your kids to focus on academics rather than coasting on privilege. My top-stats unhooked kid loves Amherst, doesn't care about athletics one way or the other.

I mean, at least athletes work hard.

[Anonymous]

I've heard being an athlete at Bucknell is a free pass to any job you want on Wall Street because of the famous Bucknell pipeline.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The article was anti recruiting athletes. As an experiment Amherst should just forgo recruiting athletes and fill all of their varsity sports with walk-ons. I suspect that they would lose very game, Donations would plummet, and school spirit would die.

There is no school spirit. Other than the Williams game, no one attends football games. The athletic department offers bribes to the first 100 students in attendance and they’ve never reached 100.

The athletic department bribes us to go to games???? Maybe I should start going...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The article was anti recruiting athletes. As an experiment Amherst should just forgo recruiting athletes and fill all of their varsity sports with walk-ons. I suspect that they would lose very game, Donations would plummet, and school spirit would die.

There is no school spirit. Other than the Williams game, no one attends football games. The athletic department offers bribes to the first 100 students in attendance and they’ve never reached 100.

The athletic department bribes us to go to games???? Maybe I should start going...

Yeah, my kid wants to know more.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The article was anti recruiting athletes. As an experiment Amherst should just forgo recruiting athletes and fill all of their varsity sports with walk-ons. I suspect that they would lose very game, Donations would plummet, and school spirit would die.

nobody goes to Amherst games now. school spirit isn't about sports at these schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also every so often these slac schools use sports to increase their chances of gettting a top student.

My kids has 1580 SAT, 4.7 GPA, and will have 15 AP courses after senior year. Great leadership in a few different other areas besides the sport. Great service. Definitely a narrative. Ivy legacy.

But the kid wants to play the sport so it is looking like NESCAC or UAA league as not good enough to play at the Ivy.

This happens, but I doubt that often. More anecdata: a student-athlete classmate was talking about their 32 ACT and 3s on AP exams, in the context of saying how well prepared they felt for Amherst. Shortly after, they dropped the upper-level science class both had signed up for. My kid was a little perplexed about how the classmate was admitted in the first place. I had to explain athletes aren't necessarily held to the same standard they were. This was not a FGLI or URM.

Yea, well, your kid needs to get over their jealousy or insecurity or whatever it is when it comes to athletes. There’s no shame in having to drop an “upper level science class” at any top school no matter what your ACT score is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also every so often these slac schools use sports to increase their chances of gettting a top student.

My kids has 1580 SAT, 4.7 GPA, and will have 15 AP courses after senior year. Great leadership in a few different other areas besides the sport. Great service. Definitely a narrative. Ivy legacy.

But the kid wants to play the sport so it is looking like NESCAC or UAA league as not good enough to play at the Ivy.

This happens, but I doubt that often. More anecdata: a student-athlete classmate was talking about their 32 ACT and 3s on AP exams, in the context of saying how well prepared they felt for Amherst. Shortly after, they dropped the upper-level science class both had signed up for. My kid was a little perplexed about how the classmate was admitted in the first place. I had to explain athletes aren't necessarily held to the same standard they were. This was not a FGLI or URM.

Yea, well, your kid needs to get over their jealousy or insecurity or whatever it is when it comes to athletes. There’s no shame in having to drop an “upper level science class” at any top school no matter what your ACT score is.

You think my kid is jealous or insecure? They felt sorry for the other kid, who seemed over their head academically and off to a rough start. It's tough on the kids who are less well prepared academically, but hopefully it will work out for them.