Independent Schools - Recruit Athletes?

[Anonymous]

There is no way they don’t. These schools that cost $30-$60k full pay are not ending up with elite sports teams by accident.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They 100% do.

A few years ago, my son, who was coming from a very good K-8 and was a phenomenal student ( 98/ 100 GPA, 99% SSAT), elected to student government, volunteered, played in orchestra, interviews very well … good ( not great ) athlete was waitlisted at every single Big 5 school.

It was the same 3 or 4 kids in his class that got accepted at every single school they applied to including the Big 5s, and they all had one thing in common: they were all great athletes with D1 college recruitment potential.
Of course they were also good students and good kids overall.

But between a kid with a 98/100 GPA who is a good athlete and one with a 85-90/100 GPA who is a great athlete , selective schools will almost always choose the latter.

Why? Because the great athlete will get recruited at an Ivy or Top 25 school, and then the school can boast that they have X number of kids admitted to those schools and boost their college matriculation statistics.

This is just the reality. None of this is supposed to put elite athletic kids down ( my second child falls is nationally ranked in their sport and falls in that category ). It takes a ridiculously amount of discipline and hard work from athletic kids to reach elite status and high schools recognize and reward that.

Wow, sour grapes.

You admit the kids being admitted were good kids and goo students.

What the schools are looking for are smart kids who also contribute to the community - be it athletics, theater, music etc or some combination of all of them. I knew kids from our "big 3" who were 2 sport varsity athletes and also did theater and/or music. I mean, I have no idea how they managed their time, but I can see in hindsight how amazing these kids were.

They were GOOD, NOT PHENOMENAL, students when it came to academic achievement. The point of my post was that good student/ phenomenal athlete will be admitted over a phenomenal student/ decent athlete.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They 100% do.

A few years ago, my son, who was coming from a very good K-8 and was a phenomenal student ( 98/ 100 GPA, 99% SSAT), elected to student government, volunteered, played in orchestra, interviews very well … good ( not great ) athlete was waitlisted at every single Big 5 school.

It was the same 3 or 4 kids in his class that got accepted at every single school they applied to including the Big 5s, and they all had one thing in common: they were all great athletes with D1 college recruitment potential.
Of course they were also good students and good kids overall.

But between a kid with a 98/100 GPA who is a good athlete and one with a 85-90/100 GPA who is a great athlete , selective schools will almost always choose the latter.

Why? Because the great athlete will get recruited at an Ivy or Top 25 school, and then the school can boast that they have X number of kids admitted to those schools and boost their college matriculation statistics.

This is just the reality. None of this is supposed to put elite athletic kids down ( my second child falls is nationally ranked in their sport and falls in that category ). It takes a ridiculously amount of discipline and hard work from athletic kids to reach elite status and high schools recognize and reward that.

Wow, sour grapes.

You admit the kids being admitted were good kids and goo students.

What the schools are looking for are smart kids who also contribute to the community - be it athletics, theater, music etc or some combination of all of them. I knew kids from our "big 3" who were 2 sport varsity athletes and also did theater and/or music. I mean, I have no idea how they managed their time, but I can see in hindsight how amazing these kids were.

They were GOOD, NOT PHENOMENAL, students when it came to academic achievement. The point of my post was that good student/ phenomenal athlete will be admitted over a phenomenal student/ decent athlete.

That may because there’s a lot more phenomenal students/good athletes than there are phenomenal athletes/good students?

And the impact on the school of a truly phenomenal athlete is far greater than that of another very bright kid.

Just ask the Ivy League schools who do this routinely using the Ivy Academic Index to try and control the process to a degree.

[Anonymous]

At my son’s top tier school, I am aware of one recruited athlete in 9th grade admissions. So, while it does happen, most of you should not be putting your eggs in that basket. Most top tier athletes don’t show that promise by 8th. I get that basketball is a potential exception and there are always some exceptions which I’m sure will be thrown in my face. But most HS coaches are very aware that a really good lax 8th grader does not equate to a college level recruit many years down the line. Rather, our son was highly academically qualified and very good at a sport. I’m sure they’re hoping he’ll develop into a recruit — as are we given the benefits to admission — but it’s a long long road.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They 100% do.

A few years ago, my son, who was coming from a very good K-8 and was a phenomenal student ( 98/ 100 GPA, 99% SSAT), elected to student government, volunteered, played in orchestra, interviews very well … good ( not great ) athlete was waitlisted at every single Big 5 school.

It was the same 3 or 4 kids in his class that got accepted at every single school they applied to including the Big 5s, and they all had one thing in common: they were all great athletes with D1 college recruitment potential.
Of course they were also good students and good kids overall.

But between a kid with a 98/100 GPA who is a good athlete and one with a 85-90/100 GPA who is a great athlete , selective schools will almost always choose the latter.

Why? Because the great athlete will get recruited at an Ivy or Top 25 school, and then the school can boast that they have X number of kids admitted to those schools and boost their college matriculation statistics.

This is just the reality. None of this is supposed to put elite athletic kids down ( my second child falls is nationally ranked in their sport and falls in that category ). It takes a ridiculously amount of discipline and hard work from athletic kids to reach elite status and high schools recognize and reward that.

Wow, sour grapes.

You admit the kids being admitted were good kids and goo students.

What the schools are looking for are smart kids who also contribute to the community - be it athletics, theater, music etc or some combination of all of them. I knew kids from our "big 3" who were 2 sport varsity athletes and also did theater and/or music. I mean, I have no idea how they managed their time, but I can see in hindsight how amazing these kids were.

They were GOOD, NOT PHENOMENAL, students when it came to academic achievement. The point of my post was that good student/ phenomenal athlete will be admitted over a phenomenal student/ decent athlete.

There were not 3-4 truly phenomenal athletes in your K-8. I guarantee it. That’s the problem with your post.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They 100% do.

A few years ago, my son, who was coming from a very good K-8 and was a phenomenal student ( 98/ 100 GPA, 99% SSAT), elected to student government, volunteered, played in orchestra, interviews very well … good ( not great ) athlete was waitlisted at every single Big 5 school.

It was the same 3 or 4 kids in his class that got accepted at every single school they applied to including the Big 5s, and they all had one thing in common: they were all great athletes with D1 college recruitment potential.
Of course they were also good students and good kids overall.

But between a kid with a 98/100 GPA who is a good athlete and one with a 85-90/100 GPA who is a great athlete , selective schools will almost always choose the latter.

Why? Because the great athlete will get recruited at an Ivy or Top 25 school, and then the school can boast that they have X number of kids admitted to those schools and boost their college matriculation statistics.

This is just the reality. None of this is supposed to put elite athletic kids down ( my second child falls is nationally ranked in their sport and falls in that category ). It takes a ridiculously amount of discipline and hard work from athletic kids to reach elite status and high schools recognize and reward that.

This surprises me. Students with your kid's stats and very average athletics at our K-8 definitely get into Big 5s. Maybe 1-2 kids are "recruited" for sports each year, but they aren't sports phenoms, just better than the other kids at our schools and they definitely don't take up all the admissions spots.

[Anonymous]

I think it's more common with boarding schools. I went to a NE prep school and we absolutely had athletic recruits, but they tended to be in specific sports (ice hockey was a big one) and they often came in as 10th graders or even repeated 9th grade. I can think of several classmates just off the top of my head who then were recruited at Ivies and the like. In a class of 150-200, recruiting like that can make sense. I don't know that it would make sense for a DC day school half the size.

[Anonymous]

The term "phenom" is way overused in sports IMO. They come around only once or twice a decade, if ever. A run-of-the-mill recruited athlete is nowhere near that level.

[Anonymous]

Yes, they recruit. My DC plays a team sport and the recruiting by independent, ADW and ADB schools started between 6th and 7th grade. DC has been invited to many camps and workouts, coaches have come to see them play, and those coaches have been in regular contact with my family.

[Anonymous]

STA seems to recruit kids who don’t have what it takes academically who leave once the kids and parents realize they can’t make it through. A while ago the middle school basketball program was wrapped around one kid whose dad coincidentally was hired as a coach. They left after two years before the kid even made it to high school. The coaching is so bad. They keep trying to recruit players to fix it rather than putting the mirror on themselves and fix the coaching.

[Anonymous]

I have a daughter who was on a top varsity team her freshman year and will likely be a D1 college recruit next year. Two local privates told us to apply for financial aid and promised to take care of us, even though I said our income was $700k. She ended up going to a different school but I’ve heard from many on her club team who got similar offers and took them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a daughter who was on a top varsity team her freshman year and will likely be a D1 college recruit next year. Two local privates told us to apply for financial aid and promised to take care of us, even though I said our income was $700k. She ended up going to a different school but I’ve heard from many on her club team who got similar offers and took them.

It also depends on the sport (and school).

My child was the very best in their sport in the private school admissions pool during 8th grade, and then heavily recruited as a D1 prospect. It is a "medium" priority sport I would say.

We always made first contact. No one reached out to us, including the #1 team in the sport at the time which was a school we weren't considering (therefore, did not make contact). It is a sport and team where the HS coach is a club coach and easily could have said something at an event (not that they should have).

We were never offered any aid, nor told to apply for aid. We were not incentivized to choose any of the schools by the athletics department, other than all the "rah rah, you'll love it here".

I do, however, think it was a significant boost in admissions status.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a daughter who was on a top varsity team her freshman year and will likely be a D1 college recruit next year. Two local privates told us to apply for financial aid and promised to take care of us, even though I said our income was $700k. She ended up going to a different school but I’ve heard from many on her club team who got similar offers and took them.

It also depends on the sport (and school).

My child was the very best in their sport in the private school admissions pool during 8th grade, and then heavily recruited as a D1 prospect. It is a "medium" priority sport I would say.

We always made first contact. No one reached out to us, including the #1 team in the sport at the time which was a school we weren't considering (therefore, did not make contact). It is a sport and team where the HS coach is a club coach and easily could have said something at an event (not that they should have).

We were never offered any aid, nor told to apply for aid. We were not incentivized to choose any of the schools by the athletics department, other than all the "rah rah, you'll love it here".

I do, however, think it was a significant boost in admissions status.

Of course the sport matters.

[Anonymous]

Sidwell must be recruiting for the girls basketball team. Year after year their team is close to number one in the country and many, many of the girls are ranked each year in espn's top 10 or 20. I'm sure they're all good students too, but let's get real -- they wouldn't all be at Sidwell without those basketball skills.

I don't mean this as a dig. I couldn't care less. It's just an observation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sidwell must be recruiting for the girls basketball team. Year after year their team is close to number one in the country and many, many of the girls are ranked each year in espn's top 10 or 20. I'm sure they're all good students too, but let's get real -- they wouldn't all be at Sidwell without those basketball skills.

I don't mean this as a dig. I couldn't care less. It's just an observation.

Not anymore. The coach left to coach at St James Academy and took the best players with her. It was a good run.