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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]It sounds like many of you haven’t even walked onto a live-in college campus. It is not all about high achieving academics. There is a mind body soul aspect to it as well. There are sports, clubs, singing groups, a newspaper, a radio station, theatrical performances, gyms, climbing walls, chapels, gardens, farms, you name it. It’s about educating the well rounded kid and introducing them to life beyond high school and the world and different perspectives. [b]No one wants a whole school of singleminded academically focused students who do nothing but study.[/b] That’s not what it’s about. If that’s the only qualification the school wanted they would get rid of all of their amazing facilities and save a lot of money.  [/quote]
I agree with you completely, but threads like these show that there are plenty of DCUM posters who would be thrilled if elite schools were populated only by the students described in your bolded sentence, aka known the students who most resemble those posters’ kids.  It has always struck me as shortsighted. You don’t care about sports in general and certainly not the sports predominantly played by rich, mostly white kids? Well lots of rich power brokers out in the real world do. I am very happy for my kids to be making friends with kids with all kinds of interests and backgrounds in college, including the many nice kids who had a more privileged upbringing, and have many more connections, than mine.
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It’s not black and white. No one is arguing for all students to be the same. We are saying that athletes shouldn’t have offers for admittance without applying (initially). Athletes shouldn’t have an easier time getting a spot because a coach makes a call and puts their application under a different priority and consideration lens as other kids.

Athletics should be judged like all other EC activities. You played a club sport well for more than a decade? Put that with Eagle Scout kids. You are highly state ranked in track? Put that with someone who has won state or National contests or similar recognition, like robotics, research, etc. An athlete has a below average test score, put their application down a notch - as would  happen to router students like that who apply. So the sports is a plus, but not largely determinative. [/quote]
A couple points in response to this. First, are you aware that academic standouts also have offers for admission before they apply to top schools? They receive likely letters that are the same ones the most sought-after athletes receive, with the same massage that the kid will be in after they apply if they don’t F up. I first learned about this on College Confidential years ago. The process is described here and elsewhere: https://www.crimsoneducation.org/us/blog/campus-life-more/likely-letters/?slv_rt=v1%7E1fn2pgogc%7E9d58b74f-a7a5-49fa-9643-71bcdf87d66e%7E6424cf03-2955-4168-8126-883d4f975e53%7E-b8hqds

Second, I understand that you are describing the way it would work in your perfect world if you designed your perfect university, and you are doing a more thoughtful job of it than many.  But that isn’t the way it works at any elite university in the US, nor has it ever. If, as it seems, you recognize that an elite athlete can add value to a school, why exactly do you care if they [b]enter through a streamlined process[/b]? Is it just because you think it’s unfair if some kids have [b]less stress in the applications process[/b]? Seems kind of petty. Do you feel that way about the kids who get matched through Questbridge or who receive the academic likely letters? Schools fill their designated University priority slots first (and for athletics at D1 Universities it’s never entire teams worth of athletes who get slotted in, only the coaches “must haves”) then they move on to filling up the remainder. It makes perfect sense from the school’s perspective, and theirs is the only one that matters for applicants. [/quote]

+1, except that the process is definitely not more streamlined or less stressful (although it may seem that way to the non-athletes). All the work and stress is just moved earlier, starting Freshman year (or earlier) with 100s-1000s of emails, making and sending out recruiting videos, studying for and taking the SAT starting Sophomore year, attending many many showcases and college camps, having to perform when it matters and hope a coach is there and watching, and dealing with rejection after rejection - or just being ignored by coaches. It's definitely not a streamlined or easier process until senior year, if you are lucky enough to find a good fit and be recruited. And the process is certainly not less stressful.[/quote]

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