How do you get recruited as an athlete to an Ivy League?

[Anonymous]

Mine was recruited for FH at Dartmouth + rowing at HYP. Chose rowing. Some of the people commenting here do not know what they are talking about.

We bought some books about athletic recruiting on Amazon. There was one about the "Ivy Bands" for recruiting which talks about grade/test score bands. Daughter's rowing coach told her SAT score she would need to be recruited. We all screamed when we learned she reached the target. She wrote some coaches to get on their radar screens for rowing and did an " unofficial " visit and was then invited for an " official" visit. That was rowing.

For FH, she had a great club coach who was great at "marketing" the girls to college coaches. Each girl had to have their resume ready for each showcase event with their pic, GPA, SAT scores, etc.

Good luck! AMA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just curious. Haven't heard of any recruits from sophomore DD's very sports and academically focused high school. Are they looking for smart athletes? How competitive are their field hockey, track, and tennis teams (for my DD specifically)

Ivy league is Division 1. With the exception of football where they know they will never compete on a national scale (and won't agree to playoffs), they care quite a bit about how strong an athlete is your kid. For basketball and football, and to some extent baseball and increasingly lacrosse...their academic criteria has more leeway (i.e., they will take kids with 1200 SAT scores, but you do need to be straight A with a decent transcript). Not sure about the other sports.

Again...the transfer portal is changing many college sports, even at the Ivy level. Any "commitments" that happen prior to Fall of senior year are nothing more than words. A coach will drop you in a heartbeat if they find a more talented, smart player...or they had a better year in the transfer portal than what they expected.

Ivy schools are attractive transfer portal schools for smart kids that were good enough to say play basketball at Duke, but realize while they were recruited...they may ride the bench all 4 years. All of a sudden, Princeton looks really good especially if they qualify for need-based aid since that aid can't be taken away.

NIL is also starting to ramp up at Ivy schools. There was a controversy over Harvard selecting their new football coach and there is now a Harvard football boosters group that will pay football players NIL $$$s to play at Harvard. You won't get $5MM a year in NIL money like Alabama quarterback...but there are a ton of rich Harvard alums that are happy for you to film a commercial for their hedge fund and pay you $100k+.

This isn’t correct, current minimum academic standards for lacrosse/swimming/football for H/Y/P is a 3.5 U.S. and 1300 SAT. But your kid need to be very very good at the sport.

For field hockey, most top schools recruit internationally.

They don't take many below 1300...but they absolutely take some under 1300. Not sure how swimming slipped in between football and LAX...assume the academic standards are higher for swimmers. Where are you even quoting your statistics...there is no set rule...and usually the team as a whole needs to average out to certain grades/scores.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just curious. Haven't heard of any recruits from sophomore DD's very sports and academically focused high school. Are they looking for smart athletes? How competitive are their field hockey, track, and tennis teams (for my DD specifically)

Ivy league is Division 1. With the exception of football where they know they will never compete on a national scale (and won't agree to playoffs), they care quite a bit about how strong an athlete is your kid. For basketball and football, and to some extent baseball and increasingly lacrosse...their academic criteria has more leeway (i.e., they will take kids with 1200 SAT scores, but you do need to be straight A with a decent transcript). Not sure about the other sports.

Again...the transfer portal is changing many college sports, even at the Ivy level. Any "commitments" that happen prior to Fall of senior year are nothing more than words. A coach will drop you in a heartbeat if they find a more talented, smart player...or they had a better year in the transfer portal than what they expected.

Ivy schools are attractive transfer portal schools for smart kids that were good enough to say play basketball at Duke, but realize while they were recruited...they may ride the bench all 4 years. All of a sudden, Princeton looks really good especially if they qualify for need-based aid since that aid can't be taken away.

NIL is also starting to ramp up at Ivy schools. There was a controversy over Harvard selecting their new football coach and there is now a Harvard football boosters group that will pay football players NIL $$$s to play at Harvard. You won't get $5MM a year in NIL money like Alabama quarterback...but there are a ton of rich Harvard alums that are happy for you to film a commercial for their hedge fund and pay you $100k+.

This isn’t correct, current minimum academic standards for lacrosse/swimming/football for H/Y/P is a 3.5 U.S. and 1300 SAT. But your kid need to be very very good at the sport.

For field hockey, most top schools recruit internationally.

They don't take many below 1300...but they absolutely take some under 1300. Not sure how swimming slipped in between football and LAX...assume the academic standards are higher for swimmers. Where are you even quoting your statistics...there is no set rule...and usually the team as a whole needs to average out to certain grades/scores.

I know kids either currently being recruited at these schools or successfully recruited and now freshman in allthese sports for the schools I listed. This is coming from private schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just curious. Haven't heard of any recruits from sophomore DD's very sports and academically focused high school. Are they looking for smart athletes? How competitive are their field hockey, track, and tennis teams (for my DD specifically)

Ivy league is Division 1. With the exception of football where they know they will never compete on a national scale (and won't agree to playoffs), they care quite a bit about how strong an athlete is your kid. For basketball and football, and to some extent baseball and increasingly lacrosse...their academic criteria has more leeway (i.e., they will take kids with 1200 SAT scores, but you do need to be straight A with a decent transcript). Not sure about the other sports.

Again...the transfer portal is changing many college sports, even at the Ivy level. Any "commitments" that happen prior to Fall of senior year are nothing more than words. A coach will drop you in a heartbeat if they find a more talented, smart player...or they had a better year in the transfer portal than what they expected.

Ivy schools are attractive transfer portal schools for smart kids that were good enough to say play basketball at Duke, but realize while they were recruited...they may ride the bench all 4 years. All of a sudden, Princeton looks really good especially if they qualify for need-based aid since that aid can't be taken away.

NIL is also starting to ramp up at Ivy schools. There was a controversy over Harvard selecting their new football coach and there is now a Harvard football boosters group that will pay football players NIL $$$s to play at Harvard. You won't get $5MM a year in NIL money like Alabama quarterback...but there are a ton of rich Harvard alums that are happy for you to film a commercial for their hedge fund and pay you $100k+.

This isn’t correct, current minimum academic standards for lacrosse/swimming/football for H/Y/P is a 3.5 U.S. and 1300 SAT. But your kid need to be very very good at the sport.

For field hockey, most top schools recruit internationally.

They don't take many below 1300...but they absolutely take some under 1300. Not sure how swimming slipped in between football and LAX...assume the academic standards are higher for swimmers. Where are you even quoting your statistics...there is no set rule...and usually the team as a whole needs to average out to certain grades/scores.

I know kids either currently being recruited at these schools or successfully recruited and now freshman in allthese sports for the schools I listed. This is coming from private schools.

That may be the stats for kids from your school, but those aren’t absolute minimums for all recruited athletes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Depends on the sport. DD is an athletic recruit to an Ivy next year. She said one of her future teammates is dumb as dirt. She's only taken 1 AP her entire HS career and highest math was pre-calc. Sooo, if they are talented athletes the Ivy will exceptions with grades.

What a lovely child you’ve raised. 😒

^this- Sounds like she will fit in at an IVY well LOL! My kid was athlete recruited at Ivys and ended up at a NESAC school. The were a bright student, 4.8 WGPA, 1520 SAT (one sitting during Covid), 8 or 9 APs. Coaches asked for unofficial transcripts before taking calls with them. They are decent at their sport, but not spectacular. They had good grades, are a URM and were full-pay. This made them appealing to schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Depends on the sport. DD is an athletic recruit to an Ivy next year. She said one of her future teammates is dumb as dirt. She's only taken 1 AP her entire HS career and highest math was pre-calc. Sooo, if they are talented athletes the Ivy will exceptions with grades.

What a lovely child you’ve raised. 😒

+100. I'd seriously question my parenting if my child ever made such a comment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Depends on the sport. DD is an athletic recruit to an Ivy next year. She said one of her future teammates is dumb as dirt. She's only taken 1 AP her entire HS career and highest math was pre-calc. Sooo, if they are talented athletes the Ivy will exceptions with grades.

That means her future teammate is a higher performing athlete than your DD.

That makes sense. Her daughter is jealous of this girl so is trying to run her down.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Depends on the sport. DD is an athletic recruit to an Ivy next year. She said one of her future teammates is dumb as dirt. She's only taken 1 AP her entire HS career and highest math was pre-calc. Sooo, if they are talented athletes the Ivy will exceptions with grades.

Dumb as dirt? I doubt it. Also they always said that the dumbest ones are the hickey players.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Depends on the sport. DD is an athletic recruit to an Ivy next year. She said one of her future teammates is dumb as dirt. She's only taken 1 AP her entire HS career and highest math was pre-calc. Sooo, if they are talented athletes the Ivy will exceptions with grades.

Your DD sounds like a jerk, TBH.

An honest jerk.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Depends on the sport. DD is an athletic recruit to an Ivy next year. She said one of her future teammates is dumb as dirt. She's only taken 1 AP her entire HS career and highest math was pre-calc. Sooo, if they are talented athletes the Ivy will exceptions with grades.

This is an absolute lie unless you disclose the school and sport. I’m certain of this because at top schools, coaches are clear that grades and testing matter.

My DC is friends with recruits at her ivy. You’re extremely naive if you think it’s a lie. And stop with your name the school or it’s a lie.

[Anonymous]

Cross country athletes are Ivy valedictorian material but football, basketball, lacrosse, and hockey athletes need tutoring and remedial instruction to survive. Ivy League is mediocre at best athletically. Men’s soccer is pathetically weak with 1970s era NASL tactics and players who simply cannot RUN. Overhyped beyond belief.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Send emails to coaches with video and attend their camps. Still need top academics. Went to a recent ivy camp. The head coach said the first question the admissions office asks is what is the course rigor. He said this it is incredibly important that the student is taking the most rigorous courseload to show he can play a sport and enroll in ivy classes. He said SAT/ACTs are also very important. (He seemed to imply that they are even more important than GPAs given the inability to compare among schools). A student not submitting a score is considered a negative as he has to submit an average score for the collective team.

Listen to the Yale lacrosse coach on Youtube (go search for it). He is taped giving a talk to LAX recruits and mentions that half the team has sub-1500 SAT scores, with a bunch in the 1200s, more in the 1300s and more in the 1400s...and then 50% above 1500. I believe this is Summer 2022. Said transcript is most important in terms of grades and rigor.

The specific school above is relevant. Obviously, now Dartmouth requires scores from everyone and Yale seems to be leaning that way as well.

To reiterate, the specific sport matters a ton. Also, not sure what sport you are referring, but all college camps are for the most part a way for the assistant coaches to make extra money since they are poorly paid. They need lots of kids with no hope of getting recruited to attend.

There is no point in attending any camps unless you have been specifically invited and/or will hit certain athletic marks that will get a coach's attention (and it's usually both).

Link? Can’t find it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWKoG1XTLsI

Thanks!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Depends on the sport. DD is an athletic recruit to an Ivy next year. She said one of her future teammates is dumb as dirt. She's only taken 1 AP her entire HS career and highest math was pre-calc. Sooo, if they are talented athletes the Ivy will exceptions with grades.

This is an absolute lie unless you disclose the school and sport. I’m certain of this because at top schools, coaches are clear that grades and testing matter.

While I do agree that poster was unnecessarily rude, the substance is likely accurate. My daughter is a junior at a well known CT boarding school and many members of her class have committed to Ivies for hockey and lacrosse so far. One who is going to Princeton had a lot of trouble passing Spanish 1 and none of the Ivy commits has ever taken an honors or AP course. I really think recruiting, no matter what level, is pretty subjective based on the school, sport, and player.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Send emails to coaches with video and attend their camps. Still need top academics. Went to a recent ivy camp. The head coach said the first question the admissions office asks is what is the course rigor. He said this it is incredibly important that the student is taking the most rigorous courseload to show he can play a sport and enroll in ivy classes. He said SAT/ACTs are also very important. (He seemed to imply that they are even more important than GPAs given the inability to compare among schools). A student not submitting a score is considered a negative as he has to submit an average score for the collective team.

Listen to the Yale lacrosse coach on Youtube (go search for it). He is taped giving a talk to LAX recruits and mentions that half the team has sub-1500 SAT scores, with a bunch in the 1200s, more in the 1300s and more in the 1400s...and then 50% above 1500. I believe this is Summer 2022. Said transcript is most important in terms of grades and rigor.

The specific school above is relevant. Obviously, now Dartmouth requires scores from everyone and Yale seems to be leaning that way as well.

To reiterate, the specific sport matters a ton. Also, not sure what sport you are referring, but all college camps are for the most part a way for the assistant coaches to make extra money since they are poorly paid. They need lots of kids with no hope of getting recruited to attend.

There is no point in attending any camps unless you have been specifically invited and/or will hit certain athletic marks that will get a coach's attention (and it's usually both).

1 was in the 1200s, not a bunch. 2 in the 1300s. 3 in the 1400s and the remaining 5 above a 1500.

[Anonymous]

Academics have to meet the college’s expectations for the student’s circumstance (e.g., 1st gen college, Pell grant qualified, or other) , then college has to be interested in that student’s sport (e.g., Lacrosse, crew, tennis, or other), and last see a gap in their team which that student can fill.