Sports and admissions

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can’t change your race or major donor status, but sports team recruiting seems to be a major hook. Knowing what you know now, would you encourage your child to intensely pursue a sport. You don’t necessarily have to be a superstar for a lot of D3 teams, just a varsity athlete at a big school who plays outside of school at an advanced level. I have a younger kid and I’m definitely not Ivy or bust, I wonder if this is something I should encourage. Even flagship schools have <25% acceptance rates. Wonder what older parents who have gone thru the process think?

Do not do this. You are talking about years and years of practices and tournaments and thousand and thousands of dollars in fees and travel expenses. This is for kids that really like the sport, have some drive and talent and the family has the time and money.

Spend all that on something where the student has an interest and talent. It sports...fine. but maybe it is dance or music or science or something else.

Read: we don’t want your non athlete competing in our sports, spend $$$$ and hours of practice and competition and performances in dance, music, or science fair.

But unfortunately, the winner of the school science fair is meaningless to admissions, only a national prize is worth anything. But captain of a sports team at a 3000 person high school. That’s something.

Wrong. You are so wrong on that. It is great that a kid is the captain of their hs sports team but it will not differentiate them on their college applications. No more than being the president of some hs club they created. Or any other dime-a-dozen EC. It is just background noise. Do not let your kid think that being made captain is some great EC for college apps because it will not in any any sway the needle. Ask us how we know.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can’t change your race or major donor status, but sports team recruiting seems to be a major hook. Knowing what you know now, would you encourage your child to intensely pursue a sport. You don’t necessarily have to be a superstar for a lot of D3 teams, just a varsity athlete at a big school who plays outside of school at an advanced level. I have a younger kid and I’m definitely not Ivy or bust, I wonder if this is something I should encourage. Even flagship schools have <25% acceptance rates. Wonder what older parents who have gone thru the process think?

Do not do this. You are talking about years and years of practices and tournaments and thousand and thousands of dollars in fees and travel expenses. This is for kids that really like the sport, have some drive and talent and the family has the time and money.

Spend all that on something where the student has an interest and talent. It sports...fine. but maybe it is dance or music or science or something else.

Read: we don’t want your non athlete competing in our sports, spend $$$$ and hours of practice and competition and performances in dance, music, or science fair.

But unfortunately, the winner of the school science fair is meaningless to admissions, only a national prize is worth anything. But captain of a sports team at a 3000 person high school. That’s something.

Wrong. You are so wrong on that. It is great that a kid is the captain of their hs sports team but it will not differentiate them on their college applications. No more than being the president of some hs club they created. Or any other dime-a-dozen EC. It is just background noise. Do not let your kid think that being made captain is some great EC for college apps because it will not in any any sway the needle. Ask us how we know.

+1

If he's not a recruited athlete, it's just another EC in the Common App. The size of the school means nothing - 3000 or 300.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do you know anything about D3 sports? Some D3 schools are as good as D1…

Who, what, where, and how?

D3 college sports are competitive, but overall the top athletic talent in each sport is recruited and gravitates toward D1 programs.

In 99% of sports fields, the D1 national champion would absolutely crush the D3 champion. Let's be real!

All that may be true, but it doesn't translate into the D3 athlete spending less time practicing and training. Yes, the D1 women's national soccer champions - the 'noles - may crush the D3 women's Christopher Newport team, but that Newport coach is still expecting the players to practice, train, and/or participate in a team bonding event every day, week on week.

Also, there are plenty of outstanding players who simply do not have the size for a D1 team. They may want to play D1 but have to be realistic about where they will play.

I'm the PP who posted about my DS and grades not being good enough for some high academic schools. DS is currently playing his sport at a D3. It is a spring sport and this semester he's extremely busy. Two mornings a week, he has lifting in the morning (7:00am.) He has class every day from 9:00am to 12:30pm. He gets a couple of hours to do homework, relax then he goes to practice from 3:30-6:30pm every day. He has a game one day a week, so that day he has to be on the field, or catching the bus, around 1:00pm. On game days, he doesn't finish until about 7:30pm. He has games almost the entire day on Saturday and Sunday. Report time to the field is usually around 9:00am. Last weekend on Saturday, he had to be on the field at 9:00am and didn't finish until 7:30pm. He had to be back on the field at 10:00am Sunday morning. If he doesn't have a game on a Saturday or Sunday (which is very rare) they do an all day scrimmage. Monday night is "free" - but he has mandatory study hall. I can't imagine what a schedule looks like at a D1.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can’t change your race or major donor status, but sports team recruiting seems to be a major hook. Knowing what you know now, would you encourage your child to intensely pursue a sport. You don’t necessarily have to be a superstar for a lot of D3 teams, just a varsity athlete at a big school who plays outside of school at an advanced level. I have a younger kid and I’m definitely not Ivy or bust, I wonder if this is something I should encourage. Even flagship schools have <25% acceptance rates. Wonder what older parents who have gone thru the process think?

Do not do this. You are talking about years and years of practices and tournaments and thousand and thousands of dollars in fees and travel expenses. This is for kids that really like the sport, have some drive and talent and the family has the time and money.

Spend all that on something where the student has an interest and talent. It sports...fine. but maybe it is dance or music or science or something else.

Read: we don’t want your non athlete competing in our sports, spend $$$$ and hours of practice and competition and performances in dance, music, or science fair.

But unfortunately, the winner of the school science fair is meaningless to admissions, only a national prize is worth anything. But captain of a sports team at a 3000 person high school. That’s something.

Pursuing science research with dedication for several years can be differentiating. The fairs are area wide and regional and some are national. Along with other ECs showing a strong and sustained interest in STEM can be very helpful on an application.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do you know anything about D3 sports? Some D3 schools are as good as D1…

Who, what, where, and how?

D3 college sports are competitive, but overall the top athletic talent in each sport is recruited and gravitates toward D1 programs.

In 99% of sports fields, the D1 national champion would absolutely crush the D3 champion. Let's be real!

All that may be true, but it doesn't translate into the D3 athlete spending less time practicing and training. Yes, the D1 women's national soccer champions - the 'noles - may crush the D3 women's Christopher Newport team, but that Newport coach is still expecting the players to practice, train, and/or participate in a team bonding event every day, week on week.

Also, there are plenty of outstanding players who simply do not have the size for a D1 team. They may want to play D1 but have to be realistic about where they will play.

I'm the PP who posted about my DS and grades not being good enough for some high academic schools. DS is currently playing his sport at a D3. It is a spring sport and this semester he's extremely busy. Two mornings a week, he has lifting in the morning (7:00am.) He has class every day from 9:00am to 12:30pm. He gets a couple of hours to do homework, relax then he goes to practice from 3:30-6:30pm every day. He has a game one day a week, so that day he has to be on the field, or catching the bus, around 1:00pm. On game days, he doesn't finish until about 7:30pm. He has games almost the entire day on Saturday and Sunday. Report time to the field is usually around 9:00am. Last weekend on Saturday, he had to be on the field at 9:00am and didn't finish until 7:30pm. He had to be back on the field at 10:00am Sunday morning. If he doesn't have a game on a Saturday or Sunday (which is very rare) they do an all day scrimmage. Monday night is "free" - but he has mandatory study hall. I can't imagine what a schedule looks like at a D1.

Its pretty clear your kid plays lacrosse. why u hiding it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do you know anything about D3 sports? Some D3 schools are as good as D1…

Who, what, where, and how?

D3 college sports are competitive, but overall the top athletic talent in each sport is recruited and gravitates toward D1 programs.

In 99% of sports fields, the D1 national champion would absolutely crush the D3 champion. Let's be real!

All that may be true, but it doesn't translate into the D3 athlete spending less time practicing and training. Yes, the D1 women's national soccer champions - the 'noles - may crush the D3 women's Christopher Newport team, but that Newport coach is still expecting the players to practice, train, and/or participate in a team bonding event every day, week on week.

Also, there are plenty of outstanding players who simply do not have the size for a D1 team. They may want to play D1 but have to be realistic about where they will play.

I'm the PP who posted about my DS and grades not being good enough for some high academic schools. DS is currently playing his sport at a D3. It is a spring sport and this semester he's extremely busy. Two mornings a week, he has lifting in the morning (7:00am.) He has class every day from 9:00am to 12:30pm. He gets a couple of hours to do homework, relax then he goes to practice from 3:30-6:30pm every day. He has a game one day a week, so that day he has to be on the field, or catching the bus, around 1:00pm. On game days, he doesn't finish until about 7:30pm. He has games almost the entire day on Saturday and Sunday. Report time to the field is usually around 9:00am. Last weekend on Saturday, he had to be on the field at 9:00am and didn't finish until 7:30pm. He had to be back on the field at 10:00am Sunday morning. If he doesn't have a game on a Saturday or Sunday (which is very rare) they do an all day scrimmage. Monday night is "free" - but he has mandatory study hall. I can't imagine what a schedule looks like at a D1.

Its pretty clear your kid plays lacrosse. why u hiding it?

The point is not what sport the student plays

[Anonymous]

I attended Yale back in the 90s. Every year there would be handful of recruited sophomore student-athletes who no longer played varsity sports. In turn, they would dominate intramurals. (I was a student aide in the intramural athletics department.) These students used athletics as a ticket to admission and then let it go because of the demands. Unlike D1 schools, their financial aid package is need-based and not tied to athletics. You won't believe the number of fellow students who would grumble that Yale gave them a useless admit now being wasted because they were no longer playing the sport.