Landon Admissions

[Anonymous]

PP is incorrect. Athletes may have received preferential disciplinary treatment in the past on some occasions (which happens at ALL schools), but this is no longer tolerated. Particularly now. Lax players in particular, have their feet held to the fire in this regard by the coach.

The notion of a different academic standrard for athletes is completely false. As big as Lax is over there, the teachers, coaches and admin all know that it is not a lifetime career sport and that there is no benefit to the student to let him slide through. Landon lax players who play in college end up at Ivies and similar academicaly challenging D3 schools, these boys need to be prepared for the college workload.

[Anonymous]

I wouldn't just single out the athletes at Landon who get a pass when it comes to behavior issues. It appears last year and year prior, the families with lots of money, it was their sons who were allowed to walk on water at Landon. I believe last year, 3 board of trustees members sons, were in hot water at one point for multiple violations, and Landon didn't have the balls to expell the kids. None of the 3kids, I mentioned above, were stellar athletes.

[Anonymous]

PP 10:31 here. I stand corrected, pp. You are right--lots of academic issues and behavioral problems with board members boys. It is difficult for other boys to follow rules and watch so many others do as they like. The school is trying to address this and it is one big job.

[Anonymous]

Aside from the debate about recruiting, assuming a kid is a star athlete who finds his way to Landon, is there room to find him classes and/or grades to keep him at the school or at least give him a credible record for college if he has hard time with the normal homework load?

[Anonymous]

No. There is no dumbed down version of the normal academic workload to accomodate poor students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are explicit rules in the IAC prohibiting recruiting for sports. Most of this centers around the concept of initiating first contact with the student/family, meaning the school cannot first call a 7th grader's parents and ask them if they are interested in coming to the school. There are are obviously ways of gaming the system and trying to get star athletes to come, but the spirit of the policy is that the schools are not supposed to seek out and admit students just for their athletic abilities, particularly if they are not academically qualified. This works well for the most part, although there are always rumors of violation of this policy, usually involving Prep. Although this may just be because Prep's students all enter in 9th grade (making them easier targets for such accusations), whereas the bulk of Landon and STA's students have been there for several years before blossoming into star athletes.

I find it highly doubtful that Landon would focus on its basketball program to recruit and risk violating this standard. There is no big upside.

Often the rumors of recruiting as various schools are unfortunately cloaked in a little racism. Whenever there is a star athlete who is African American or not financially well off, there is an assumption that he is there for sports. Our neighbor's son played basketball at Prep and was constantly called a "recruit" whenever he got the ball during games with other teams. They were a solid middle class family, he was a science nerd, and ended up at Yale where he was academically successful.

Here is how at works for basketball (and how recent BB players came to Landon): IAC coaches coaches have close relationships to AAU coaches, who feed them kids. Kids will initiate contact w/the school and the IAC coach (as I said, not limited to Landon) will go see the kid play or even work them out at the school. If the kid is good, coach will help them interface with Admissions. That's BBall, and there are some variations--some coaches recruit kids out of sports camps they work at or run. I am not singling out Landon, just noting that they too engage in this practice which a laypersons would call recruiting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

You cite no actual proof of "recruiting:

Episcopal: I don't see how having players of African origin means you recruit.
Landon: If the team "looks different", what do you mean exactly?
Bullis: Letting in athletes doesn't mean compromising its standards. It just means a different approach via the admissions office.
Prep: Being the largest school does provide an advantage, but again that doesn't mean they recruit.

Just because a school is successful in a sport doesn't mean it has to be because of recruiting. Coaching, institutional support, trendiness of the sport and school, and just a few good athletes can go a long way.

--Episcopal is open about its soccer feeder program from Africa--it's become somewhat of a joke among area soccer coaches bc it is so blatant;
--At various times STA and Prep have both used their boarding capabilities to advantage in having star athletes, most often in basketball;
--The Landon BB recruiting is par for the course and unremarkable--know several families reached out to via AAU to apply to Landon (it's not just lax players doing a winter sport these days)
--Bullis head has been quoted saying that (1) if a potential athlete has a 3.5 average from any school, Bullis Admissions is to disregard test scores; and (2) that in 2 more years Bullis football won't lose a game.

[Anonymous]

If what the 2 prior posters say is true, that is a change from the past and an unfortunate one.

[Anonymous]

13:37

I see nothing wrong with what any of the IAC schools are doing. They want to win and compete at the highest level in all sports. I see nothing wrong any of the IAC schools recruiting, as long as the kids don't lose sight that academics come first then athletics.

I think a lot of parents really seem to forget how hard it is for high school student athletes to manage athletics and academics. A lot of athetes, whether they play in the WCAC or IAC, get home from school way past 6:00, while some of their peers who do nothing, have the luxury of getting home at 4:30. As someone who has helped out with admissions at a local WCAC school, our admissions team would always look more favorable upon a student who applied to our school who played 2 sports and had a B+ grades vs a kid who played absolutely no sports and had an A average.

Remember folks, athletic excellence brings in money to schools. Maybe not at Sidwell or Maret or GDS, but at most of the WCAC schools and IAC schools, when their athletic teams have a sucessful season, alums / friends of the school will be more inclined to open up their check books. This is true at pretty much any independent school or university.

[Anonymous]

Things have always been different in the IAC vs the WCAC. As an IAC grad and current parent, I prefer that the IAC maintain this distinction and feel that it still does.

I disagree that high schools and colleges share the same financial dependence on athletic success. There may be a slight blip at the high school level when a team does well in the IAC, but nothing like that of college. I cannot speak of the WCAC schools, but the financial effect of athletic success at the IAC level is just not that significant.


Few kids, if any, in the IAC are doing nothing and coming home at 430.
Your falsely lumping the WCAC and IAC.

[Anonymous]

``As someone who has helped out with admissions at a local WCAC school, our admissions team would always look more favorable upon a student who applied to our school who played 2 sports and had a B+ grades vs a kid who played absolutely no sports and had an A average. ''

Wow. That sucks. I thought you were supposed to educate kids. How widespread is that attitude at the WCAC? IAC proves that you can do both, athletics and academics.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Things have always been different in the IAC vs the WCAC. As an IAC grad and current parent, I prefer that the IAC maintain this distinction and feel that it still does.

I disagree that high schools and colleges share the same financial dependence on athletic success. There may be a slight blip at the high school level when a team does well in the IAC, but nothing like that of college. I cannot speak of the WCAC schools, but the financial effect of athletic success at the IAC level is just not that significant.


Few kids, if any, in the IAC are doing nothing and coming home at 430.
Your falsely lumping the WCAC and IAC.

I honestly can't speak to the financial issue--I just don't have a basis--but a glance at the 30-page thread on Sidwell football seems to indicate that, illogical as it may be where a school is acknowledged to be great at EDUCATING kids, many in the community (parents, alums) will be unhappy if there is not athletic success. (This is still more of the case with boys' sports, and boys' spectator sports at that, than with girls' sports.) An IAC Head seen as "cool" towards athletics will have many knives out for him/her. Sports can be also be an important college admissions driver--For example, STA the past 5 years has sent kids to Ivies and other top schools in football, x-country, swimming, baseball, lacrosse, crew, and track. All very smart kids, I don't doubt, but the odds for your average "smart DC/Boson/NY kid" to get into the top schools have lengthened over the past generation, and athlete status can put a kid over the top. Matriculation lists are noticed by potential applicant families--just look at DCUM--and those matriculation lists look much better with the scholar-athletes included.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:``As someone who has helped out with admissions at a local WCAC school, our admissions team would always look more favorable upon a student who applied to our school who played 2 sports and had a B+ grades vs a kid who played absolutely no sports and had an A average. ''

Wow. That sucks. I thought you were supposed to educate kids. How widespread is that attitude at the WCAC? IAC proves that you can do both, athletics and academics.

Demonstrated athletic talent absolutely helps in admissions in the IAC too--doesn't mean it is the sole factor, of course.

[Anonymous]

Aside from Prep and Episcopal, IAC schools start admitting in lower school, when athletic talent is not measurable and therefore not able to be taken into account for admissions. The share of students admitted later on is relatively small, and if athletic ability is taken into account at that time, the academic standards are also better defined and more stringent for a 7th grader rather than a 3rd grader. Not all those students entering STA, SSSA, Bullis and Landon are star athletes.

[Anonymous]

Students who are admitted into Landon for freshman year and kids who transfer in sophomore and sometimes even junior year, for the most part, are athletes. I would imagine this is the the same at St. Albans.

I agree with the previous poster, at the LS and MS levels, the role of athletics plays a less important part in determining ones chances of getting into Landon. However, once its time for freshman year, Landon begins to bring in some recruits. I think this is pretty much the same at all the IAC schools.