I have a kid like this, too. Did very well in admissions first and foremost because of strong academic profile, but I think the sports accomplishments were a great way of showing commitment, leadership, and talent. So in that way no more or less valuable than any other EC that shows extremely high achievement. Kid also had other ECs that were not sports-related, showing diverse interests/skills.

I have one of these too, OP. National podium placements in something most people probably doesn’t know has national level competitions.

I think the value will be in weaving the life lessons from the activity into how it helps meet their goals and support their academic plans. I don’t think being ranked in whatever obscure activity (dog obedience, jump rope, Rubik’s cube solving, competitive stick horse riding) on its own means much.

Yes, it counts and holds value, even if not being recruited. Probably similar to an arts activity that a child pursues and excels at if they aren’t necessarily planning to audition for a BFA conservatory. It shows skill, commitment, talent, and hard work.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It helps as much as being a nationally-ranked banjo player or chess player.

If for some bizarre reason your kid's application came down to you and some last-minute football recruit...just know the football recruit will end up getting the slot even though he is the 5000th ranked football player in the country and maybe your kid is the #20 figure skater in the country.

Reason #12 why athletics recruiting for certain sports over other makes not sense

It makes all the sense in the world. The school has a varsity football team (for which it recruits), while at most it has a club ice skating team (for which it does not recruit).

No school really cares nor recruits for club sports, while every school recruits for all its varsity sports.

Anonymous wrote:It helps as much as being a nationally-ranked banjo player or chess player.

If for some bizarre reason your kid's application came down to you and some last-minute football recruit...just know the football recruit will end up getting the slot even though he is the 5000th ranked football player in the country and maybe your kid is the #20 figure skater in the country.

Reason #12 why athletics recruiting for certain sports over other makes not sense

Yes - it looks good. Just make sure there's also an academic EC of some type at least loosely related to narrative of what DC will study.

Stanford Cornell and Dartmouth love figure skaters.

It helps as much as being a nationally-ranked banjo player or chess player.

If for some bizarre reason your kid's application came down to you and some last-minute football recruit...just know the football recruit will end up getting the slot even though he is the 5000th ranked football player in the country and maybe your kid is the #20 figure skater in the country.

My kids also had national awards from a non- NCAA sport. They did very well with admissions, though hard to know whether it really helped, as they were also strong academically & their college lists were mostly likely/target schools.

I think if nothing else, it can catch the eye of the AOs after seeing record after record of soccer, baseball, football etc. IIRC, the dropdown in common app for sports had like 35+ different ones listed, and theirs wasn't even in there. I figure that's pretty unique (competitive jump rope).

Pickleball

Yes.

Saw at our private. The kid had natl awards in a non-recruited sport and had multiple T20 admits. Also, a strong student, but nothing stands out (and not in the top 10%).

Make sure to list in your 5 honors/awards and if possible, tie it, in some small way, into your academic narrative too.

It could be an excellent EC or it could be basically worthless What is the sport?

national medals after years of hard work. But not NCAA sports. Will AOs value it?