Anonymous wrote:Can anyone speak about club sports at some of these highly-ranked D1 schools? DC loves their sport and wants to play club in college. How do they find out how competitive the club scene is at a particular school?

This isn't a make-or-break issue when choosing a school, obviously. But as clubs/ECs go, club sports are much more important to DC than the consulting/finance club scenes.

Club Soccer, at least for boys, is very tough. The team is filled with former MlsNext, ECNL and International players- at my kids’ school (of course this will be school dependent) some of their competition from other universities was not very good. This is because:
1) kids were recruited elsewhere- but wanted highest academic school they could get into on their own (which is higher than w/soccer)- my kid and many teammates- some were transfers from a D3 school team; 2) serious about their studies; 3) burned out at the time constraints; 4) dropped down from the Varsity team due to not liking the coach or lack of playing time; 5) it’s a sport played by so many kids; 6) a school where coach won’t entertain any walk-ons. So- often only 1-2 Freshmen make it first year.

There is another level below this though : Intramurals which is open to all.

No idea about other sports- but I’m guessing basketball is very similar, hockey seemed to be too.

Ugh, so hard! Almost every club seems to require “comp-ing” at the Ivy my kid goes to. Kid attended public high school that does not send many to Ivies. There was some stress (in me!) when rejections from club comps came in. It’s all the prep school kids who decide that kids from their school or their friends get in. Luckily it all worked out the next year though and kid has had a real impact on campus including multiple leadership positions.

Finance, EMT, pre-prof, a cappella groups, some club sports all super competitive.

Can anyone speak to clubs at GMU? Hard to get into, or not really?

One kid at BC. It’s insanely hard and they don’t take many kids. One kid at BU. It’s easier there. Kid at BC is finance. The one at BU is engineering

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m not aware of any competitive clubs at my DC’s slac. Definitely not the vibe there.

Doesn’t apply to all slacs though. I know CMC has a very competitive investment club.

yes to CMC--most clubs and opportunities are competitive and if you're not in by junior year you're shut out of really anything.

Agree, this was a surprise to us.

Can anyone speak about club sports at some of these highly-ranked D1 schools? DC loves their sport and wants to play club in college. How do they find out how competitive the club scene is at a particular school?

This isn't a make-or-break issue when choosing a school, obviously. But as clubs/ECs go, club sports are much more important to DC than the consulting/finance club scenes.

Anonymous wrote:The competitive club acceptance culture seems to be prevalent at most schools these days-- from state flagships to t20. Business/preprofessional clubs seem the worst but I hear about difficulty getting into dance clubs, tour guides, publications, and many others. Told my rising college freshman to cast a wide net and to avoid chasing prestige clubs. I grew up in the old days of clipboard sign-up sheets at activity fairs where pretty much everyone was accepted if you attending meetings. Other than rush, i dont remember any applications or interviews. Everything is sadly so cimpetitive these days...

Yup. And when you attend tours, open houses, etc they love to sell all of these wonderful clubs as a great feature of the school.

Anonymous wrote:I’m not aware of any competitive clubs at my DC’s slac. Definitely not the vibe there.

Doesn’t apply to all slacs though. I know CMC has a very competitive investment club.

yes to CMC--most clubs and opportunities are competitive and if you're not in by junior year you're shut out of really anything.

The competitive club acceptance culture seems to be prevalent at most schools these days-- from state flagships to t20. Business/preprofessional clubs seem the worst but I hear about difficulty getting into dance clubs, tour guides, publications, and many others. Told my rising college freshman to cast a wide net and to avoid chasing prestige clubs. I grew up in the old days of clipboard sign-up sheets at activity fairs where pretty much everyone was accepted if you attending meetings. Other than rush, i dont remember any applications or interviews. Everything is sadly so cimpetitive these days...

Ugh. This is exactly the dynamic I do not want for my kids at college. That sounds miserable.

Anonymous wrote:Under 21 requires a somewhat credible fake ID. But overall, not that hard.

Anonymous wrote:Under 21 requires a somewhat credible fake ID. But overall, not that hard.

LOL!

Under 21 requires a somewhat credible fake ID. But overall, not that hard.

DC is at Harvard. Getting into most clubs is brutal. Getting into final clubs is a blood sport.