Best Private School Sports for College Admissions?

[Anonymous]

Reasonable competence in one of these "designer" or "boutique" sporting activities represent a significant boost to admission chances at Division 1 and 3 "Ivies". And you don't even have to be a big time athlete to benefit from this hook or gain an advantage as these schools try to build their annual campus communities.

Recreation and sports are singularly so important to American culture ... at the club and college level.

[Anonymous]

Is the above assertion true for our elite DC area private and independent schools?

...and our elite boarding schools where kids have to play a different sport each term and in many instances would have a difficult time playing one sport year round (in many instances are not permitted to do so) and these elite schools with much smaller student populations need to fill their boy and girl team rosters for all 3 seasons much like the Division 1 and 3 "Ivies". No wonder these schools (with these boutique sporting activities) remain feeder schools to Division 1 and 3 "Ivies" despite the fact that < 10 % of US students attend private (day and boarding) schools but make up > 50 % of Division 1 and 3 "Ivies". Sports are a big admissions' hook to the latter institutions. America's longstanding fascination with sports?

[Anonymous]

At the end of day:

It is so competitive now to gain admission to an "IVY" division 1 of 3 college. In light of this, when the majority of the accepted students (70 to 80 %) to these schools play sports (e.g., Williams College), many view the skills in golf, sailing, swimming, lacrosse, tennis, soccer, lacrosse, rowing honed over the primary and secondary school years an added advantage in the admissions sweepstakes. The IVY colleges must field their teams to satisfy the alumni base and their brand. These latter sports represents low hanging fruit for many students and their families in the admissions' game. Middle school students know this as well as their enterprising parents!

Whatever, troll.

Not sure I understand the meaning of troll here. Is this simply an illogical "Trumpism", reflexly uttered when there is a differing opinion.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:My cousin's daughter got into Princeton on a fencing scholarship. I plan on signing my 5 year old up this fall.

There are no athletic scholarships to Princeton. Maybe you meant to say she got into Princeton and was a a very good fencer. So fencing may have helped her in admissions.

There are, indeed. no scholarships to the Ivies.

But recruiting by Ivies for the marquis sports is very aggressive.

The Ivy League has a whole system set up --- The Academic Index --- to regulate the effort.

And the FA given by Ivies is 100% in the form of grants and not loans or work study arrangements. So for all practical purposes these are scholarships.

Only if your family qualifies for financial aid. If you can afford to pay full tuition to one of the top DC privates for 2 kids, you are not going to qualify for financial aid. Your typical DCUM "middle class" family with HHI of $200k with one kid in college is not going to receive any aid from Princeton. So being an elite athlete might boost admission chances, but won't make attending an Ivy any more affordable. Same goes for division 3 schools (eg NESCAC).

This is not true about endowment scholarships they are not bound by the same rules as "Princeton" scholarships. Athletes (and many other students who don't qualify for FA) are given these types of scholarships, they are not financial aid.

Can you provide proof of this assertion?

google "endowment scholarships to Princeton" then you look at the requirements. Some say you have to be financially needy... some say you have to be left handed Italians that want to study Italian, some say you have to play football.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My cousin's daughter got into Princeton on a fencing scholarship. I plan on signing my 5 year old up this fall.

There are no athletic scholarships to Princeton. Maybe you meant to say she got into Princeton and was a a very good fencer. So fencing may have helped her in admissions.

There are, indeed. no scholarships to the Ivies.

But recruiting by Ivies for the marquis sports is very aggressive.

The Ivy League has a whole system set up --- The Academic Index --- to regulate the effort.

And the FA given by Ivies is 100% in the form of grants and not loans or work study arrangements. So for all practical purposes these are scholarships.

Yes, FA may be the equivalent of scholarship money but you have to be entitled to FA to receive it. I suspect that if you are wealthy enough to have a kid that specializes in fencing, squash, sailing, etc. your kid will not be receiving a FA "scholarship"

[Anonymous]

I went to an Ivy.

Maybe things have changed since I went- but A LOT of athletes were paying A LOT less tuition than non-athletes- regardless of their parents' income.

[Anonymous]

I went to an Ivy.

Maybe things have changed since I went- but A LOT of athletes were paying A LOT less tuition than non-athletes- regardless of their parents' income.

Some would openly argue it makes sound and wise fiscal/financial sense to groom your child to take a roster spot on one of these schools' boutique sporting teams. And if you start early enough, so a child has up to 7 years of sport-specific experience prior to entering college, athleticism is not an absolute requirement or prerequisite.

[Anonymous]

I was an athletic recruit at Princeton and paid full freight. If there was some way around that no one told me. But everything had gotten crazier so maybe this has changed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was an athletic recruit at Princeton and paid full freight. If there was some way around that no one told me. But everything had gotten crazier so maybe this has changed.

Of course, most pay... parents are just happy their kid got in... aka "admissions bump"... that is what lacrosse is all about... rich parents that don't think their kid will get in on school alone.

[Anonymous]

I know someone who went to Yale on water polo. He was a h#!! of an athlete. It takes tremendous strength to stay afloat in the water and still do the polo part.

[Anonymous]

I really wish my DS would quit HS sports. Much too time consuming. He loves it though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was an athletic recruit at Princeton and paid full freight. If there was some way around that no one told me. But everything had gotten crazier so maybe this has changed.

The Ivy League colleges do not give athletic scholarships. Athletes fall under the general financial aid structure.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was an athletic recruit at Princeton and paid full freight. If there was some way around that no one told me. But everything had gotten crazier so maybe this has changed.

I was also an athletic recruit to Princeton from a middle class family, and received no FA. I was able attend Princeton only because of a full tuition ROTC scholarship which required an 8 year military service committment. I sure wish I had received one of these mysterious athletic scholarships that PP's say are readily available.....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was an athletic recruit at Princeton and paid full freight. If there was some way around that no one told me. But everything had gotten crazier so maybe this has changed.

I was also an athletic recruit to Princeton from a middle class family, and received no FA. I was able attend Princeton only because of a full tuition ROTC scholarship which required an 8 year military service committment. I sure wish I had received one of these mysterious athletic scholarships that PP's say are readily available.....

That is a perfect example of a scholarship that is not FA. Not mysterious... is there a UMD grad who can show this Princeton grad how to google?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My cousin's daughter got into Princeton on a fencing scholarship. I plan on signing my 5 year old up this fall.

There are no athletic scholarships to Princeton. Maybe you meant to say she got into Princeton and was a a very good fencer. So fencing may have helped her in admissions.

There are, indeed. no scholarships to the Ivies.

But recruiting by Ivies for the marquis sports is very aggressive.

The Ivy League has a whole system set up --- The Academic Index --- to regulate the effort.

And the FA given by Ivies is 100% in the form of grants and not loans or work study arrangements. So for all practical purposes these are scholarships.

Only if your family qualifies for financial aid. If you can afford to pay full tuition to one of the top DC privates for 2 kids, you are not going to qualify for financial aid. Your typical DCUM "middle class" family with HHI of $200k with one kid in college is not going to receive any aid from Princeton. So being an elite athlete might boost admission chances, but won't make attending an Ivy any more affordable. Same goes for division 3 schools (eg NESCAC).

This is not true about endowment scholarships they are not bound by the same rules as "Princeton" scholarships. Athletes (and many other students who don't qualify for FA) are given these types of scholarships, they are not financial aid.

Can you provide proof of this assertion?

google "endowment scholarships to Princeton" then you look at the requirements. Some say you have to be financially needy... some say you have to be left handed Italians that want to study Italian, some say you have to play football.

The endowment scholarships allow Princeton et al to provide generous need-based aid to athletes. But you must first qualify as a student with "need." Generous endowments have allowed ivy league schools to raise the cut off for need quite high and to fully cover students' need with grants not loans. But there is still a cap on the HHI that meets the definition of needy. Families with one kid in college and HHI above ~$180k are not going to qualify as needy at an Ivy, no matter how fabulous an athlete their child is.