does athletics dominate SLAC's like Amherst, Bowdoin, etc?
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Anonymous
| I'm trying to help my kid compile a list of colleges to explore. She's a top student at a magnet public school, with some regional and national level awards. She says she doesn't think she wants to go to a small school, but is willing to look at them. I've come across a few indicators that athletics dominates SLAC's like Williams, Amherst, Bowdoin (e.g., this article: https://www.gazettenet.com/Amherst-college-assesses-athletics-in-report-7871942). She's not an athlete. I'm not sure why a small school of about 2,000 people, where 40% of them are athletes who dominate the social scene and she is not part of that, would be a good fit for her. On the other hand, I keep hearing what a great education SLAC's provide. Anybody have any experience to offer about life for non-athletes at these sorts of schools? |
Anonymous
| The short answer is no, not in the least....academics dominate. I graduated from a Nescac and I have a DC at one currently and we were/are both on sports teams and whilst we took athletics seriously, everything was subordinate to academics. Socially the teams tend to be tight because of the amount of time spent with one another but every student has a diverse group of friends and the overall atmosphere is one of inclusivity. |
Anonymous
Really interesting response, thank you. I totally believe that the athletes are scholars and that is most important to them, but I think the rest of your response may actually confirm my concern -- 40% of the student body has a group that they are tight with, and they are inclusive of others, but that could still mean that the non-athletes feel like they are tagging along with the nice athletes who are willing to include them in the group -- rather than having a group they feel 100% a part of and central to. Not because the athletes are doing anything wrong, but just because of the normal dynamics at play regarding who you spend the most time with and therefore get closest to. |
Anonymous
| Look at each school on a case-by-case basis. |
Anonymous
| So in a school of 1500, 600 of them are athletes? Are there that many sports?? |
Anonymous
| We toured Amherst and our guide was more nerdy than jock and she didn't say much about athletics. We also toured on a weekend so didn't see many students to confirm this, but it is supposedly very preppy, so I've wondered how my DC would feel there given DC is definitely not preppy. The nice thing of Amherst is that students can shuttle to 4 other colleges in the consortium them to get out of the Amherst bubble (if it starts to feel like one). |
Anonymous
I'm actually surprised it isn't higher. This doesn't need to be football-- it can be bowling, ultimate Frisbee, quidditch. I think every body should engage in some kind of athletics as much as possible. |
Anonymous
Some of that is just recreational. It's not the same as playing football or field hockey in terms of commitment, culture, jockishness is it? |
Anonymous
|
The biggest thing to consider when applying to a college with a high percentage of students participating in interscholastic sports is that the school needs to fill those teams.
Not all of the athletes are recruited, but many are and they get an admissions bump. Makes it a little harder for non-athletes to get in. |
Anonymous
Amherst is not "very preppy." My DC, who is not at all preppy, is very happy there. There are some of the typical prep school, bro-y types, but I don't think as many as there are at other NE SLACs. Maybe because Amherst has no Greek system? |
Anonymous
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" So in a school of 1500, 600 of them are athletes? Are there that many sports??
I'm actually surprised it isn't higher. This doesn't need to be football-- it can be bowling, ultimate Frisbee, quidditch. I think every body should engage in some kind of athletics as much as possible. Some of that is just recreational. It's not the same as playing football or field hockey in terms of commitment, culture, jockishness is it?" Amherst has 12 mens sports (but football has twice as many athletes) and 13 womens or 600/26 = 23 per sport with 46 for football (low?). I and my two kids went to schools kind of like those listed but they were/are larger. In my opinion, the estimate of 40% is low but the definition of athlete is really hard to pin down. Those quidditch and ultimate players were soccer captains and/or starting HS pitchers in HS. In terms of the OP's question, the 40-50% athletes most likely don't matter to her DC's social life because her DC has a similar activity like theater or band or outdoors club or the school paper or radio station. If DC doesn't have any similar activity and has just studied all through HS, that will actually work better than it has in HS because Amherst also has a group that spends all their time working with professors. The key is that ALL of these groups need to be inclusive with each other over the 4 years or they will drive each other crazy. |
Anonymous
| I always wonder how a student who plays varsity sports in high school and then goes to one of these small schools and does not play sports would feel. At a large school it would be no big deal but at a small school it might feel strange to not be part of that 50%. |
Anonymous
| Amherst grad here. Academics by far dominates over athletics. Not even close. Hell, the a capella group at Amherst is more popular than the athletic teams. |
Anonymous
| Denison is the only SLAC I've encountered where I felt sports had a outsized influence. The rest I've had ties with are dominated by academics and then a wide range of extracurriculars including athletics. |
Anonymous
Hey, what's the workload/academic pressure like there? Is it competitive? Collaborative/supportive? What is the balance between STEM and Humanities students? What was your experience in general? Thx. |