Does being captain of a sports team help in admission

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Service academies care.

They care about baseball, football and basketball. I think they award the most points for those.

[Anonymous]

Short answer: no.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Yes, write about something fresh & unique, like raising money for the homeless, volunteering to help stamp out illiteracy, or starting a recycling effort to combat climate change. Nobody’s ever done those before.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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.

This is a sports essay that works because it is less about playing the sport and more about the writer's service to others.

[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

[vomit]

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My son is not writing about this (he has another topic) but perhaps the most resilient thing he's done in his 17 years is to ride the bench (zero playing time) for 15 straight varsity baseball games (despite playing years of high level travel baseball) but then creating a role for himself as the designated pinch runner (with great enthusiasm) and then moving into a position role when another player got injured and ending the season as a starter and the lead-off hitter (on a really high level team that played in our state championship--none DMV).

Sports can have great material for essays, no matter how overdone the subject matter.

The above is a terrible idea for an essay. Nobody in admissions cares to read about the benchrider that got to play late in the season due to his teammate's injury.

[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

How entitled!
lacrosse!

[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?

I mean it looks a bit better than played on a team that one time but unless you are recruitable in your sport, it probably is a bit more significant than being president of a student club

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Service academies care.

They care about baseball, football and basketball. I think they award the most points for those.

73% of 2024 class were captains of a team

[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?

It is less than 5% of the overall app assessment. 60% or more is rigor and grades compared to classmates. The rest is scores, LOR, evidence of true intellectual curiosity (intellectual activities, essays). ECs and leadership factors count but each one carries only a small weight unless it was hugely impactful : individual EC such as captain hardly moves the needle.

[Anonymous]

Isn't it true college evaluates each Applicant in four categories, one of which is the athletic factor?

Particularly in a school like TJ (I don't have one attending), varsity captain makes an otherwise already strong applicant stand out.

I can't imagine this is not significant.

[Anonymous]

When my DS was a senior in high school, his sports team had 3 or 4 seniors. The coach told them they were ALL captains.

[Anonymous]

Checks the leadership box, but beyond that would do an essay if you kid acted as a buffer and keep the team together and winning as a result of having to deal with a maniacal coach or something along those lines.

[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?

Yes, and try not to stress. You have a wonderful kid. Try to enjoy the application year and make sure your kid enjoys this year and sees it as a year of validation and celebration, not terror.

Your kid is a test of the colleges’ ability to appreciate your kid. Most colleges need a great student and person like your kid than your kid needs any specific college.

If your kid has trouble getting into the T10s and ends up as a top student at some other fine school outside of the T10, that’s a good outcome, too. Too bad for the schools that were too dumb to take your kid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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

How entitled!
lacrosse!

But it's true, only dressage and competitive money burning convey more strength of character and leadership.