Anonymous wrote:Sidwell must be recruiting for the girls basketball team. Year after year their team is close to number one in the country and many, many of the girls are ranked each year in espn's top 10 or 20. I'm sure they're all good students too, but let's get real -- they wouldn't all be at Sidwell without those basketball skills.

I don't mean this as a dig. I couldn't care less. It's just an observation.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a daughter who was on a top varsity team her freshman year and will likely be a D1 college recruit next year. Two local privates told us to apply for financial aid and promised to take care of us, even though I said our income was $700k. She ended up going to a different school but I’ve heard from many on her club team who got similar offers and took them.

It also depends on the sport (and school).

My child was the very best in their sport in the private school admissions pool during 8th grade, and then heavily recruited as a D1 prospect. It is a "medium" priority sport I would say.

We always made first contact. No one reached out to us, including the #1 team in the sport at the time which was a school we weren't considering (therefore, did not make contact). It is a sport and team where the HS coach is a club coach and easily could have said something at an event (not that they should have).

We were never offered any aid, nor told to apply for aid. We were not incentivized to choose any of the schools by the athletics department, other than all the "rah rah, you'll love it here".

I do, however, think it was a significant boost in admissions status.

Anonymous wrote:I have a daughter who was on a top varsity team her freshman year and will likely be a D1 college recruit next year. Two local privates told us to apply for financial aid and promised to take care of us, even though I said our income was $700k. She ended up going to a different school but I’ve heard from many on her club team who got similar offers and took them.

Anonymous wrote:They 100% do.

A few years ago, my son, who was coming from a very good K-8 and was a phenomenal student ( 98/ 100 GPA, 99% SSAT), elected to student government, volunteered, played in orchestra, interviews very well … good ( not great ) athlete was waitlisted at every single Big 5 school.

It was the same 3 or 4 kids in his class that got accepted at every single school they applied to including the Big 5s, and they all had one thing in common: they were all great athletes with D1 college recruitment potential.
Of course they were also good students and good kids overall.

But between a kid with a 98/100 GPA who is a good athlete and one with a 85-90/100 GPA who is a great athlete , selective schools will almost always choose the latter.

Why? Because the great athlete will get recruited at an Ivy or Top 25 school, and then the school can boast that they have X number of kids admitted to those schools and boost their college matriculation statistics.

This is just the reality. None of this is supposed to put elite athletic kids down ( my second child falls is nationally ranked in their sport and falls in that category ). It takes a ridiculously amount of discipline and hard work from athletic kids to reach elite status and high schools recognize and reward that.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They 100% do.

A few years ago, my son, who was coming from a very good K-8 and was a phenomenal student ( 98/ 100 GPA, 99% SSAT), elected to student government, volunteered, played in orchestra, interviews very well … good ( not great ) athlete was waitlisted at every single Big 5 school.

It was the same 3 or 4 kids in his class that got accepted at every single school they applied to including the Big 5s, and they all had one thing in common: they were all great athletes with D1 college recruitment potential.
Of course they were also good students and good kids overall.

But between a kid with a 98/100 GPA who is a good athlete and one with a 85-90/100 GPA who is a great athlete , selective schools will almost always choose the latter.

Why? Because the great athlete will get recruited at an Ivy or Top 25 school, and then the school can boast that they have X number of kids admitted to those schools and boost their college matriculation statistics.

This is just the reality. None of this is supposed to put elite athletic kids down ( my second child falls is nationally ranked in their sport and falls in that category ). It takes a ridiculously amount of discipline and hard work from athletic kids to reach elite status and high schools recognize and reward that.

Wow, sour grapes.

You admit the kids being admitted were good kids and goo students.

What the schools are looking for are smart kids who also contribute to the community - be it athletics, theater, music etc or some combination of all of them. I knew kids from our "big 3" who were 2 sport varsity athletes and also did theater and/or music. I mean, I have no idea how they managed their time, but I can see in hindsight how amazing these kids were.

They were GOOD, NOT PHENOMENAL, students when it came to academic achievement. The point of my post was that good student/ phenomenal athlete will be admitted over a phenomenal student/ decent athlete.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They 100% do.

A few years ago, my son, who was coming from a very good K-8 and was a phenomenal student ( 98/ 100 GPA, 99% SSAT), elected to student government, volunteered, played in orchestra, interviews very well … good ( not great ) athlete was waitlisted at every single Big 5 school.

It was the same 3 or 4 kids in his class that got accepted at every single school they applied to including the Big 5s, and they all had one thing in common: they were all great athletes with D1 college recruitment potential.
Of course they were also good students and good kids overall.

But between a kid with a 98/100 GPA who is a good athlete and one with a 85-90/100 GPA who is a great athlete , selective schools will almost always choose the latter.

Why? Because the great athlete will get recruited at an Ivy or Top 25 school, and then the school can boast that they have X number of kids admitted to those schools and boost their college matriculation statistics.

This is just the reality. None of this is supposed to put elite athletic kids down ( my second child falls is nationally ranked in their sport and falls in that category ). It takes a ridiculously amount of discipline and hard work from athletic kids to reach elite status and high schools recognize and reward that.

Wow, sour grapes.

You admit the kids being admitted were good kids and goo students.

What the schools are looking for are smart kids who also contribute to the community - be it athletics, theater, music etc or some combination of all of them. I knew kids from our "big 3" who were 2 sport varsity athletes and also did theater and/or music. I mean, I have no idea how they managed their time, but I can see in hindsight how amazing these kids were.

They were GOOD, NOT PHENOMENAL, students when it came to academic achievement. The point of my post was that good student/ phenomenal athlete will be admitted over a phenomenal student/ decent athlete.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They 100% do.

A few years ago, my son, who was coming from a very good K-8 and was a phenomenal student ( 98/ 100 GPA, 99% SSAT), elected to student government, volunteered, played in orchestra, interviews very well … good ( not great ) athlete was waitlisted at every single Big 5 school.

It was the same 3 or 4 kids in his class that got accepted at every single school they applied to including the Big 5s, and they all had one thing in common: they were all great athletes with D1 college recruitment potential.
Of course they were also good students and good kids overall.

But between a kid with a 98/100 GPA who is a good athlete and one with a 85-90/100 GPA who is a great athlete , selective schools will almost always choose the latter.

Why? Because the great athlete will get recruited at an Ivy or Top 25 school, and then the school can boast that they have X number of kids admitted to those schools and boost their college matriculation statistics.

This is just the reality. None of this is supposed to put elite athletic kids down ( my second child falls is nationally ranked in their sport and falls in that category ). It takes a ridiculously amount of discipline and hard work from athletic kids to reach elite status and high schools recognize and reward that.

Wow, sour grapes.

You admit the kids being admitted were good kids and goo students.

What the schools are looking for are smart kids who also contribute to the community - be it athletics, theater, music etc or some combination of all of them. I knew kids from our "big 3" who were 2 sport varsity athletes and also did theater and/or music. I mean, I have no idea how they managed their time, but I can see in hindsight how amazing these kids were.