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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]You can’t change your race or major donor status, but sports team recruiting seems to be a major hook. Knowing what you know now, would you encourage your child to intensely pursue a sport. You don’t necessarily have to be a superstar for a lot of D3 teams, just a varsity athlete at a big school who plays outside of school at an advanced level. I have a younger kid and I’m definitely not Ivy or bust, I wonder if this is something I should encourage. Even flagship schools have &lt;25% acceptance rates. Wonder what older parents who have gone thru the process think?[/quote]

No, def not. First, do not mistake a small college with low expectations for athletes. Williams etc is just as exacting in what they want to see in an athlete as they are at any of the T10 schools. Second, intensely pursuing a sport takes away study time - unless your DC is a natural at academics and athletics, your DC may be sacrificing one for the other. Third, your DC may simply end up not being the size a school seeks in an athlete. Yes, if your DC is willing to play anywhere, then that may not matter. But most kids have some sense of the school they seek. Fourth, every kid I know who was pushed by a parent to move from one club to a better club than a better club ended up quitting unless the kid was all in for the sport. I know a number of kids who played ODP soccer for years - only one made it to a D1 school and definitely not the mom's Ivy alma mater. A few others landed at LACs, but only one really wanted to be at one.

Yes, one of my DCs could have probably played college soccer but the skill set didn't match up with the academic ambitions. Finally, let the kid lead. If they think that this may be a way into college, be supportive and realistic. But don't end up the parent who alienated their kid at a formative stage in the parent/child relationship with mistaken ideas about college admissions.

GL![/quote]

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