If your kid wants to go to a selective university, do not let them play sports in high school

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:NP. How many threads are you going to start about this, OP?

DCUMs anti-athletics posters are such a bizarrely obsessed group. It’s weird.

+2 Who are these people? Athletes are often the most charismatic and driven people. The social skills, confidence and EQ learned in sports usually translates to success in the business world and legal world.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP. How many threads are you going to start about this, OP?

DCUMs anti-athletics posters are such a bizarrely obsessed group. It’s weird.

+2 Who are these people? Athletes are often the most charismatic and driven people. The social skills, confidence and EQ learned in sports usually translates to success in the business world and legal world.

They are antisocial computer programmers whose CS offspring were rejected from Purdue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Unless your kid is recruited, admissions officers do not really care about sports. I know a kid who has perfect grades and a 35 ACT who was a captain of the varsity football and lacrosse teams (and was class treasurer, NHS president, volunteered, and did part time work), and he got rejected from every remotely selective college. The Ivy Leagues, Notre Dame, Michigan, Duke, Stanford, Vanderbilt, Northwestern, UNC, and UVA all rejected him. Many other kids who are two or three sports athletes have similarly bad results.

At most top schools, the students will tell you most people there did not play sports outside of the recruited athletes. Most of their extracurriculars were centered around the major they want to study. Sports are time consuming and take away time from these more impactful extracurriculars. For sports like basketball, baseball, or lacrosse, you are easily spending 20+ hours per week on an activity that ultimately won’t help you in admissions.

And it doesn’t help that in the DMV area, you have to be super talented or spend years playing a sport just to make into the JV team. You have to spend a ridiculous amount of money on sports. Sports are just a waste of time for most kids

lol
😂
Mine played division 1 lax and soccer

You are incredibly stupid

Neither of mine played travel
Neither of mine spent years playing their sport they both started in 8th grade.
Both are great students top academically

The OP is a clueless idiot but you are lying.

Agreed on both points.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Unless your kid is recruited, admissions officers do not really care about sports. I know a kid who has perfect grades and a 35 ACT who was a captain of the varsity football and lacrosse teams (and was class treasurer, NHS president, volunteered, and did part time work), and he got rejected from every remotely selective college. The Ivy Leagues, Notre Dame, Michigan, Duke, Stanford, Vanderbilt, Northwestern, UNC, and UVA all rejected him. Many other kids who are two or three sports athletes have similarly bad results.

At most top schools, the students will tell you most people there did not play sports outside of the recruited athletes. Most of their extracurriculars were centered around the major they want to study. Sports are time consuming and take away time from these more impactful extracurriculars. For sports like basketball, baseball, or lacrosse, you are easily spending 20+ hours per week on an activity that ultimately won’t help you in admissions.

And it doesn’t help that in the DMV area, you have to be super talented or spend years playing a sport just to make into the JV team. You have to spend a ridiculous amount of money on sports. Sports are just a waste of time for most kids

I agree that varsity sports is not an impactful EC if I was to do it all over ago. Unless you are recruited athlete, it would help to focus more on grades.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP. How many threads are you going to start about this, OP?

DCUMs anti-athletics posters are such a bizarrely obsessed group. It’s weird.

+2 Who are these people? Athletes are often the most charismatic and driven people. The social skills, confidence and EQ learned in sports usually translates to success in the business world and legal world.

LOL - they are not the most charismatic people with most EQ. I know a lot of athlete bullies as well as uncharming jocks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP. How many threads are you going to start about this, OP?

DCUMs anti-athletics posters are such a bizarrely obsessed group. It’s weird.

+2 Who are these people? Athletes are often the most charismatic and driven people. The social skills, confidence and EQ learned in sports usually translates to success in the business world and legal world.

They are antisocial computer programmers whose CS offspring were rejected from Purdue.

Programmers don't care about college because they know they are the only mainstream high wage career that uses a mostly objective skills test for hiring.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP. How many threads are you going to start about this, OP?

DCUMs anti-athletics posters are such a bizarrely obsessed group. It’s weird.

+2 Who are these people? Athletes are often the most charismatic and driven people. The social skills, confidence and EQ learned in sports usually translates to success in the business world and legal world.

LOL - they are not the most charismatic people with most EQ. I know a lot of athlete bullies as well as uncharming jocks.

Like it or not, bullying is high EQ.

[Anonymous]

The idea that popular college jocks won't amount to much in life and that the nerdy outcasts will go on to become rich CEOs may just be a myth. At least, that's according to a new study by the National Bureau of Economic Research.

According to a study by the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), Ivy League athletes earn more over their careers than non-athletes. The study found that Ivy League athletes earn 3.4% more in wages and $220,000 more over their careers than their non-athletic peers.

Whole Food's former CEO Walter Robb led Stanford University's soccer team for four years. Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan played both football and rugby during his time at Brown University. And, former Hewlett-Packard CEO Meg Whitman competed on the squash and lacrosse teams at Princeton University.

Amazon's CEO Andy Jassy has previously said that his passion for competitive tennis as a youth actually helped shape his career in business.


https://www.businessinsider.com/sporty-students-college-jocks-earn-more-than-nerds-study-2023-10#:~:text=College%20jocks%20actually%20become%20more,home%20%24220%2C000%20more%20in%20wages.

[Anonymous]

^ Robb- all the things dcum bashes

History major and an athlete He graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Stanford University in 1976 with a degree in history. He was the soccer team captain at Stanford and was very interested in ecologically healthy eating.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^ Robb- all the things dcum bashes

History major and an athlete He graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Stanford University in 1976 with a degree in history. He was the soccer team captain at Stanford and was very interested in ecologically healthy eating.

Another history major

Moynihan was a history major at Brown.

[Anonymous]

DS got recruited to a T20 school. Not the best athlete in the world but just good enough. Very happy he played his sport... not to mention all the personal growth that came from it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Unless your kid is recruited, admissions officers do not really care about sports. I know a kid who has perfect grades and a 35 ACT who was a captain of the varsity football and lacrosse teams (and was class treasurer, NHS president, volunteered, and did part time work), and he got rejected from every remotely selective college. The Ivy Leagues, Notre Dame, Michigan, Duke, Stanford, Vanderbilt, Northwestern, UNC, and UVA all rejected him. Many other kids who are two or three sports athletes have similarly bad results.

At most top schools, the students will tell you most people there did not play sports outside of the recruited athletes. Most of their extracurriculars were centered around the major they want to study. Sports are time consuming and take away time from these more impactful extracurriculars. For sports like basketball, baseball, or lacrosse, you are easily spending 20+ hours per week on an activity that ultimately won’t help you in admissions.

And it doesn’t help that in the DMV area, you have to be super talented or spend years playing a sport just to make into the JV team. You have to spend a ridiculous amount of money on sports. Sports are just a waste of time for most kids

I agree that varsity sports is not an impactful EC if I was to do it all over ago. Unless you are recruited athlete, it would help to focus more on grades.

If your kid can’t get straight As WHILE playing a varsity sport then they are not elite college material, sorry.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP. How many threads are you going to start about this, OP?

DCUMs anti-athletics posters are such a bizarrely obsessed group. It’s weird.

+2 Who are these people? Athletes are often the most charismatic and driven people. The social skills, confidence and EQ learned in sports usually translates to success in the business world and legal world.

I don’t get it either. It’s as if they have no experience working in the real world.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:🙄

There’s more to life than sacrificing your kid’s authenticity and interests to try to match the ever-changing whims of admissions committees.

Sure, if your kid doesn’t like sports, don’t force them to play one in an attempt to impress admissions. That’s silly and worthless. Same is true if they’re all-in on their instrument, musical theater, dance, or any other super time-consuming passion.

But if your kid loves sports (or the equivalent) and wants to pursue it in HS but not at a recruited level, there’s plenty of upside for them as a human being: authenticity, grit, leadership, social skills, physical health, mental health/wellness, and more.

All that said, if playing three varsity sports is what keeps our 4.0/1500+/12AP student out of the T-20, that’s fine with us. We’re thrilled to see our kid enjoy and excel at the EC’s they have chosen. It’s been wonderful for their growth, resilience, sense of self, and relationships with their peers, coaches, and teachers, alike.

IMHO that’s more important in the long run than dropping their authentic self in an attempt to make themself marginally more attractive to a school with an already tiny rate of admission. But you do you.

It is not a marginal boost. I don’t think that many parents realize here how much sports actively hurt your chances in admissions because of the time factor. Most college admissions advisors actively tell kids to give up on sports if they aren’t being recruited

This +1
or the non-recruited student athlete continues with their sport knowing that it will not be a boost in any way come college application time
it is the parents that seem the most delusional to me as they really think that playing on a travel team will move the needle in any way when it doesn't

There is no evidence for what you are saying though. Colleges look for students who aren’t just pulling in the grades. They want to see persistence and a time commitment. It doesn’t have to be sports, but suggesting sports aren’t a benefit on an application is ridiculous.

I completely agree. But applicants have to keep it in perspective at the same time. Their travel sport commitment that takes 16 hours a week is no better or worse than any other regular EC that may take the same time or just an hour or two.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s probably true that many families over-emphasize sports with their kids in the hopes it yields a recruitment offer. There are all sorts of reasons that can backfire, from injuries to not spending enough time developing other useful skills. In the overwhelming majority of cases, those students don’t get recruited and perhaps an opportunity was lost to explore non-athletic interests. But OP took it too far. A kid can play sports just for fun with no eye on recruiting and still get the physical, emotional, and social boosts needed to be healthy and happy, which can in turn drive academic success, though that’s not as important as their health and happiness.

+100