What sport gives a kid the edge for admissions?

[Anonymous]

To the parents of recruited athletes - did they participate in travel leagues during high school, or were they recruited simply on the basis of their participation on the high school team?

[Anonymous]

OP again. My son has narrowed down to sports which will obviously not help him out later on, other than in happy childhood memories (soccer, basketball, baseball). I think my degree of influence was marginal anyway!

[Anonymous]

Kids have much better chances at being recruited if they do sports outside of school as well as with the school. Coaches, regardless of the sport, expect the kid do participate at the highest level of any sport available where they grow up. So, in the DC area -- college coahces know kids have a lot of opportunities for outside sports as well as with the hs teams.

[Anonymous]

My 5' 11 1/2" dad went out for crew at Cornell - and the coach laughed at him because he was too short. He was certainly fit - instead he ran the 880 for Cornell. But if my dad was considered too short 50 years ago, at just under 6', this says to me that the height threshold for kids today must be even higher!

[Anonymous]

In fencing, it helps to be taller, although it's not absolutely necessary. It also helps to be left-handed.

[Anonymous]

To 20:05 -- many Ivies have lightweight rowers -- 130 and under for females ... and I think 165 and under for males ...so they can be under 6' for those categories and still be recruited.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To 20:05 -- many Ivies have lightweight rowers -- 130 and under for females ... and I think 165 and under for males ...so they can be under 6' for those categories and still be recruited.

All the lightweight men rowers I've ever known are about 6'2"-6'4" and about 155-160lbs. I think if your son is under 6', he'd have to be pretty incredible to be recruited for lightweight crew.

[Anonymous]

From my (limited) experience in crew, it's more desirable to have that 160 lbs spread out over a tall frame, with long arms and legs, versus a short and compact physique.

[Anonymous]

If your child continues to excel academically, then he will be stand out in many of the non-revenue spors. Coaches in the non-revenue sports have very limited capital with admissions to get marginal academic cases in. If your child is very good at the sport and great in the classroom, this will improve his chances for admission much more than being exceptional at the sport than being ok in the classroom.

[Anonymous]

Would it be correct to say, then, that if your kid is great at crew, that's not quite enough to stand out. In addition, he or she would also need to have great grades and SATs, to stand out.

[Anonymous]

PP -- It depends on what school they are trying to get into. If they want an Ivy -- the 8 individual Ivies will have different grade/SAT parameters for potential recruits...it also depends on how great the recruit is. I can only speak for Harvard, Princeton and Yale...for a girl recruit they wanted minimum SATs of 2100 and near perfect grades. The lower Ivies have a bigger range of scores they will accept. Non-Ivies go much, much lower.

[Anonymous]

Div. I athletes can get scholarships and have to be star athletes, in high school, not just excellent athletes. Their academics must meet min. NCAA standards.

Ivy. Also must be excellent athletes and excellent students. Ivy League athletes must have very, very good grades and SAT scores. The average GPA and board scores for a team must be equal to the school as a whole. That means a scholar athlete with excellent grades and GPA is very attractive to schools who need to bring up the average for the team.

D III athletes can't get scholarship money. They also must be very good students or they will be dinged by the admissions committee. There are so many great student athletes, that it is very, very competitive. The coaches will ``support'' your application, but can't guarantee admission.

I'm open to correction on any of this, but this is basically correct. We are going through the process now.

[Anonymous]

Sorry, DIII kids are eligible for financial aid. They just can't get athletic scholarships because DIII rules prohibit it.

[Anonymous]

I have heard that female students who can score in the 80s in golf are pretty solid competitors for scholarships.

[Anonymous]

It all depends on the school pp re: girl golfers and what scores the schools consider recruitment material.

To an earlier questionner...colleges want your kid to participate and excel in the highest level of competition available in your geographic area. So, since the DC area has so many travel teams and athletic opportunities -- the college coaches will look for your DC's level of involvement/accomplishment. The coaches know what offerings are available in all of the major geographic regions in the country. It is harder for a kid outside a major geographic region to get the proper notice. Those kids need to do a lot of their own marketing.