How much of a bump do you get from legacy or athletic recruit status?

[Anonymous]

Athletic recruit status is great. If you can get your kid in the top 1% (Stanford, Duke, NW, Gtown, Vandy for many sports) or 1-3% (Ivy League) athletically while still maintaining great grades, you should do it! Even top 3-5% or even 6% combined with a stronger minimum academic profile might get help at the best D3 schools (like MIT, Williams, Chicago, Swarthmore, Amherst, Hopkins, and WashU). The top academic D3 schools are also among the very best athletically (except CalTech), so you'd need your kid to be at the high end of the D3 pool as an athlete to get any admissions bump.

[Anonymous]

Legacy wise, it is odd that different schools count different relationships and not others (both familial and graduates of grad schools versus undergrad schools). I am now happy my spouse decoded to get 2 grad degrees from Stanford rather than Harvard since grad legacy counts at Stanford but not Harvard. At the time she decided, I just wanted better weather and thought my job prospects in CA were better!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What type of school? Ivy has something called the Ivy index. You must get those grades to be admitted but you must be a top 1% athlete.

NO .. top 1% athletes go to big sports schools - seriously

Disagree. Look at international rowing recruiting. Home country olympians rowing.

At least one Ivy will guarantee on-campus interview for legacy, but this promises nothing.

[Anonymous]

DD in at Ivy. Sports recruit. We went to Radford. She had 1220 on SAT. 3 year at Ivy and doing great.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Athletic recruit status is great. If you can get your kid in the top 1% (Stanford, Duke, NW, Gtown, Vandy for many sports) or 1-3% (Ivy League) athletically while still maintaining great grades, you should do it! Even top 3-5% or even 6% combined with a stronger minimum academic profile might get help at the best D3 schools (like MIT, Williams, Chicago, Swarthmore, Amherst, Hopkins, and WashU). The top academic D3 schools are also among the very best athletically (except CalTech), so you'd need your kid to be at the high end of the D3 pool as an athlete to get any admissions bump.

**if you can afford it. No athletic scholarships at Ivies.

[Anonymous]

College counseling offices know whether legacy holds any benefit and will direct your child accordingly.
DC was encouraged by school college counselor to apply REA to reach Ivy (based on stats) where they are legacy rather than a T10 school they slightly favor. They likely knew that legacy factor would help in getting the REA acceptance.

[Anonymous]

Ivy League and other D1 is different animal vs D3 SLAC. D1 will readily compromise academic standards for elite athletes. D3 LACS have 35 percent of their class as athletes so they really can’t compromise much, plus it’s only D3. In many sports Ivy athletes could be among best in the country.

[Anonymous]

At most schools:

Run-of-the-mill legacy? Little/no impact.
Famous/big donor? More impact.

Recruited athlete (like can make a difference in a sport they care about rather than just make team): Definite impact.

"Recruited athlete": (like maybe on the coach's radar and might be able to walk-on?): Variable impact, often minimal. Get in then the coach will perk up...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At most schools:

Run-of-the-mill legacy? Little/no impact.
Famous/big donor? More impact.

Recruited athlete (like can make a difference in a sport they care about rather than just make team): Definite impact.

"Recruited athlete": (like maybe on the coach's radar and might be able to walk-on?): Variable impact, often minimal. Get in then the coach will perk up...

DH received a prestigious alumni award ten years before DC applied - less than a handful awarded each year from a T3 LAC. DC got in. We had hoped that it meant that DH was not run-of-the-mill legacy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I know they are different, but wondering how much legacy (one parent, not both) or athletic recruit status helps.

I can only speak to the latter and based on the interactions we've had so far. Not much. There are only so many "slots" available to a coach in a year. And if the athlete doesn't meet the grades they aren't getting a spot. While I acknowledge that that there are maybe a slight allowance for lower grades for the athletes, it's negligible. The coaches at high performing D3s we've talked to stress the grades are important and the higher your grades, the better your chances. I actually know a kid who was being recruited by a high academic D1 until the grades were submitted. They turned that kid down flat, saying there was no chance of being admitted.

[Anonymous]

Depends on what the coach needs. You a quarterback when all the coach really wants is a cornerback? No "bump" at all.

[Anonymous]

Athlete status helps a ton and so many talented athletes never get to that point because they can’t afford the training needed.

[Anonymous]

In short, legacy really varies from school to school.

For athletic recruits (meaning the coach wants to give you a slot), there are academic standards, but they are lower than what it take to get into the lottery for these schools. Cousin was recruited for HYPS, had choice for her sport (and older sibling was recruited athlete at HYPS and at H at the time). Decided not to play sport in fall of senior year. Had to resit for SATs to get a competitive score for an unhooked applicant. Rejected/waitlisted at HYPS but in at one non-ivy top ten.

The options are completely different when you are at that level athletically. That said, not that many kids are that good athletically. Just being an athlete without that level is just another EC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In short, legacy really varies from school to school.

For athletic recruits (meaning the coach wants to give you a slot), there are academic standards, but they are lower than what it take to get into the lottery for these schools. Cousin was recruited for HYPS, had choice for her sport (and older sibling was recruited athlete at HYPS and at H at the time). Decided not to play sport in fall of senior year. Had to resit for SATs to get a competitive score for an unhooked applicant. Rejected/waitlisted at HYPS but in at one non-ivy top ten.

The options are completely different when you are at that level athletically. That said, not that many kids are that good athletically. Just being an athlete without that level is just another EC.

The academic standards are not that much lower. They're low enough just to get enough of a pool for the position(s) recruiting for. If you need a pitcher and you're requirements are 1550 SAT and there are none . . . you're not getting a pitcher. Kids DO get turned down for not having the grades. Even at nonselective schools. A kid at our HS learned that the hard way this year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In short, legacy really varies from school to school.

For athletic recruits (meaning the coach wants to give you a slot), there are academic standards, but they are lower than what it take to get into the lottery for these schools. Cousin was recruited for HYPS, had choice for her sport (and older sibling was recruited athlete at HYPS and at H at the time). Decided not to play sport in fall of senior year. Had to resit for SATs to get a competitive score for an unhooked applicant. Rejected/waitlisted at HYPS but in at one non-ivy top ten.

The options are completely different when you are at that level athletically. That said, not that many kids are that good athletically. Just being an athlete without that level is just another EC.

Just curious: why did they not play senior fall? Injury? Lack of interest? DD dropped travel team, but continued to play sport senior fall. They unexpectedly won regionals, then onto state. Glad she didn't miss it.