Student rated as among top 600 tennis players, what are admission chances at a top 30 school?

[Anonymous]

FWIW, I know a recruited athlete (different sport) to Princeton. The requirement was to get at least 32 on ACT and she was in. (i.e., the recruitment offer was contingent on getting a 32).

[Anonymous]

I knew a u Chicago swim recruit who was ranked.

He was also full pay from an affluent family in one of the most affluent areas in the country. For u Chicago, swimming rank was just an excuse to let in a full pay student.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I knew a u Chicago swim recruit who was ranked.

He was also full pay from an affluent family in one of the most affluent areas in the country. For u Chicago, swimming rank was just an excuse to let in a full pay student.

Do you know how silly a statement this is?

Swimmers are recruited exclusively on their times. He had the times necessary and the stats required, so he was admitted.

You think the swim coach who used a tip for him cares about his need for aid?

[Anonymous]

"Top 600"? So 600? That wont help them at all. That's extremely low on the tennis roster for the US.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"Top 600"? So 600? That wont help them at all. That's extremely low on the tennis roster for the US.

Tennis players in the top one thousand are routinely recruited to D3 schools, mostly liberal arts colleges.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For what is worth, I know of a tennis player with SAT score above 1500, top academics with highest rigor, ranked around 100 in the nation with coach's support but was still rejected by MIT. This is recent.

Did the person apply early decision? For D3, it's best to apply ED1/2 if you are being recruited. We were told by D3 tennis coaches that our daughter needed to apply early decision or the coach would not be able to influence the admissions process. They said that if she went regular decision, she would enter the general pool of applicants and her recruitment status would no longer be a pull. They did a "pre-read" (meaning they looked at her stats) and told her she was guaranteed admission if she applied ED. I'm not sure they were supposed to say that out loud. There are NCAA rules around D3 recruiting that are not always followed very precisely. For example, D3 schools aren't allowed to give full athletic scholarships, but then they sometimes offer recruited athletes tons of financial aid.

Basically, my kid was told: ED1 or ED2 and you're in automatically; go regular decision and your tennis status will not factor into the admission process, other than being considered a nice extra-curricular.

She got into her dream school ED1, and it made her senior year so pleasant to get the college application stuff out of the way early and without stress.

MIT doesn't have ED, and I don't think they have pre-reads, slots, or guarantees. She applied EA as an athletic recruit. From what I hear MIT and Caltech does not lower the standards for athletes one bit. She definitely had the qualification to do the work at MIT academically. The only thing I can think of why she got rejected was because MIT was not a perfect fit. Her ECs were mostly in business, but no STEM ECs and MIT is really a stem school. Maybe, her essasy were lacking, I don't know.

My DD went through the D3 recruiting circuit this past year, got interest from mid to lower NESCAC schools, and other excellent academic D3s. Ultimately, she chose to apply to an Ivy league school ED, which accepted her and she plans on playing club tennis next Fall.

For schools that don't have early decision, recruited athletes probably want to apply early action. At most D3 schools, being flagged by a coach has more pull ED or EA than regular decision. MIT does not have a minimum required SAT score but will hesitate to take students it thinks will fail out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I knew a u Chicago swim recruit who was ranked.

He was also full pay from an affluent family in one of the most affluent areas in the country. For u Chicago, swimming rank was just an excuse to let in a full pay student.

Do you know how silly a statement this is?

Swimmers are recruited exclusively on their times. He had the times necessary and the stats required, so he was admitted.

You think the swim coach who used a tip for him cares about his need for aid?

Agree. University of Chicago is need-blind. The school would have found financial aid for him if he'd needed it. I know a tennis player who got into a very good LAC with academic stats that were well below the 25th percentile and whose family could not have afforded to send them to a public university. They got a full ride (yes, of course D3 schools don't offer athletic scholarships, wink, wink).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"Top 600"? So 600? That wont help them at all. That's extremely low on the tennis roster for the US.

And being an Asian male tennis player not in the top 100 doesn’t help at all. Tennis extracurricular isn’t making him stand out, it makes him less interesting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I knew a u Chicago swim recruit who was ranked.

He was also full pay from an affluent family in one of the most affluent areas in the country. For u Chicago, swimming rank was just an excuse to let in a full pay student.

Do you know how silly a statement this is?

Swimmers are recruited exclusively on their times. He had the times necessary and the stats required, so he was admitted.

You think the swim coach who used a tip for him cares about his need for aid?

Agree. University of Chicago is need-blind. The school would have found financial aid for him if he'd needed it. I know a tennis player who got into a very good LAC with academic stats that were well below the 25th percentile and whose family could not have afforded to send them to a public university. They got a full ride (yes, of course D3 schools don't offer athletic scholarships, wink, wink).

Do you have a cite for this? Can you name the school? What is your definition of a full ride? If the family could not have afforded a public university, then there is a strong chance that the kid received robust FA as well as merit (such use of merit @ D3s is not new, not at all). But I seriously doubt, based on working in college business/FA offices years ago (but still appears to be quite relevant based on chatter on this board), that the kid received a full ride.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I knew a u Chicago swim recruit who was ranked.

He was also full pay from an affluent family in one of the most affluent areas in the country. For u Chicago, swimming rank was just an excuse to let in a full pay student.

Do you know how silly a statement this is?

Swimmers are recruited exclusively on their times. He had the times necessary and the stats required, so he was admitted.

You think the swim coach who used a tip for him cares about his need for aid?

What is the median family income and wealth for top swimmers?

Do kids in the inner city projects and rural Appalachia spend hours at the pool every day?

[Anonymous]

College athletes are statistically significantly (but not incredibly) wealthier than non-atheletes, especially in VA and especially lacrosse players. And, to OP, half of tennis players are international students.

https://flathatnews.com/2021/09/19/do-student-athletes-come-from-more-privileged-backgrounds-athletes-have-higher-hometown-median-household-income-many-families-spend-thousands-on-club-sports/

[Anonymous]

It’s highly likely that - without massive improvement- this kid will be ranked more than 1000 in 1.5 years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:College athletes are statistically significantly (but not incredibly) wealthier than non-atheletes, especially in VA and especially lacrosse players. And, to OP, half of tennis players are international students.

https://flathatnews.com/2021/09/19/do-student-athletes-come-from-more-privileged-backgrounds-athletes-have-higher-hometown-median-household-income-many-families-spend-thousands-on-club-sports/

Older DD very accomplished soccer player and younger DS aspired to be one. Practiced a lot, fairly technical, yet more timid on field and just never found the right spot. But so enjoyed it that I wondered if he could play college at what some folks here would refer to as random D3s, very regional D1/2 schools. So about sophomore/junior year I started looking at rosters and realized that even soccer teams at those levels are comprised of LOTS of international students. Fortunately he realized that though riding the bench for most of senior year was still not a lot of fun.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s highly likely that - without massive improvement- this kid will be ranked more than 1000 in 1.5 years.

Or they could be top 250.

[Anonymous]

OP here. Child is 11th grade (Junior) not sophomore. I grew up where we are not used to freshman/sophomore/junior... nomenclature. We just used 10th, 11th, etc. So whatever rating he would get in the next 9-10 months would be what he applies with.

So, it looks like tennis would be an extracurricular to write about but not going to help with recruiting.

What would you suggest the child focus on this summer? Plan had been to intensely prepare for tennis and compete in lot of tournaments to get a higher ranking.

Should he focus on something else in summer to help with admissions? Like research or some other activity?

Child wants to go to a larger university and not interested in SLAC's.