Anonymous wrote:SAT is a national standard

Varsity sport is a local standard.

It depends on your school.

The preparation for each is completely different, and there are many different possible sports

This^.

Anonymous wrote:It’s a serious question, especially when many top students did both. So many people complain about how sports teams in the schools here are impossible to join, so what did the few who accomplished a lot in academics and athletics do differently?

Hundreds of thousands make varsity but a limited number makes perfect or near perfect SAT or National Merit so you do the math.

Anonymous wrote:It’s a serious question, especially when many top students did both. So many people complain about how sports teams in the schools here are impossible to join, so what did the few who accomplished a lot in academics and athletics do differently?

1500 on the SAT is many times more difficult. Duh.

Just look at your school's naviance.

Anonymous wrote:Gemini tells me that about 1-2 percent of students get a 1500+ and about 35-40 percent of students play a varsity sport in their senior year.

These numbers aren't perfect and both vary a lot by school, but clearly far more high school students play a sport than get a 1500+.

It’s kind of meaningless to talk about “playing a varsity sport” generically if you want to understand the experience of individual student athletes.

I ran track and swam varsity for my high school. I lifted with the football team and was stronger than many of those kids. All three sports were no cut.

My son played for a nationally ranked varsity basketball program. Three students his senior year were transfers from WCAC schools that heavily recruit for basketball. Two were transfers from IMG academy (sports school in Florida with many future pros). One was a transfer recruited from a public school in New Jersey. Every non-transfer (including my son) had been recruited heavily by the coach since middle school. Almost no kids who didn’t choose the school specifically in order to play basketball ever made the varsity team. Tryouts were held, but varsity team meetings and “optional” practices started the first week of school. Note these weren’t open gyms - only kids the coach knew would be on the varsity team attended. Three kids from that team are playing professionally.

It’s meaningless to talk about “playing a varsity sport” without discussing which sport at which school.

At Langley HS, there are less than 15 spots for the varsity tennis team. There are six spots for the starters. I am sure you can find more than 100 kids with 1500+ on the SAT at Langley HS.

You can draw the conclusion from the above.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What I really don't understand is you walk into the high schools today and the good athletes are prominently displayed in a Hall of Fame on the wall outside the gym or whatever. Why aren't the good students displayed somewhere? Why isn't the picture of 1998's valedictorian up on the wall like the kid who made all-state in track or football?

Making a varsity team is way different than being a prominent Hall of Fame figure. Making a varsity team even in basketball isn't that hard. Now being a starter, that is considerably harder. Then doing well and winning championships. I mean that is like being the best in the state. A 1500 on the ACT is not like being the best at anything. It's an individual event that consists mostly of self-absorbed individuals. Even if you were the valedictorian, oh you're better than the half of dozen other kids in the school that care and you have a parent that teaches so you were able to get that extra A that you weren't supposed to get so you edged them out by .01 of a grade point. Whoop-di-doo. Not the same as being a state champion at a sport. At least in terms of scale.

gong

Anonymous wrote:What I really don't understand is you walk into the high schools today and the good athletes are prominently displayed in a Hall of Fame on the wall outside the gym or whatever. Why aren't the good students displayed somewhere? Why isn't the picture of 1998's valedictorian up on the wall like the kid who made all-state in track or football?

Making a varsity team is way different than being a prominent Hall of Fame figure. Making a varsity team even in basketball isn't that hard. Now being a starter, that is considerably harder. Then doing well and winning championships. I mean that is like being the best in the state. A 1500 on the ACT is not like being the best at anything. It's an individual event that consists mostly of self-absorbed individuals. Even if you were the valedictorian, oh you're better than the half of dozen other kids in the school that care and you have a parent that teaches so you were able to get that extra A that you weren't supposed to get so you edged them out by .01 of a grade point. Whoop-di-doo. Not the same as being a state champion at a sport. At least in terms of scale.

Anonymous wrote:SAT is a national standard

Varsity sport is a local standard.

It depends on your school.

The preparation for each is completely different, and there are many different possible sports

This. But also, you can prep for the SAT in a matter of weeks. If you are trying to make a really competitive varsity sports team, you probably can't improve your skill level too much in a matter of weeks.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What I really don't understand is you walk into the high schools today and the good athletes are prominently displayed in a Hall of Fame on the wall outside the gym or whatever. Why aren't the good students displayed somewhere? Why isn't the picture of 1998's valedictorian up on the wall like the kid who made all-state in track or football?

My high school has a plaque with the names of all the National Merit Finalists from the school each year. My name is still there on that plaque on the wall a few decades later. It’s in the same lobby area where all the sports trophies are. This is a public high school in the north east.

Kewl

Anonymous wrote:What I really don't understand is you walk into the high schools today and the good athletes are prominently displayed in a Hall of Fame on the wall outside the gym or whatever. Why aren't the good students displayed somewhere? Why isn't the picture of 1998's valedictorian up on the wall like the kid who made all-state in track or football?

My high school has a plaque with the names of all the National Merit Finalists from the school each year. My name is still there on that plaque on the wall a few decades later. It’s in the same lobby area where all the sports trophies are. This is a public high school in the north east.

Gemini tells me that about 1-2 percent of students get a 1500+ and about 35-40 percent of students play a varsity sport in their senior year.

These numbers aren't perfect and both vary a lot by school, but clearly far more high school students play a sport than get a 1500+.

The academic and testing standards change over time, but the physical standard of making the varsity team only seems to get difficult when you add more kids.

Anonymous wrote:What I really don't understand is you walk into the high schools today and the good athletes are prominently displayed in a Hall of Fame on the wall outside the gym or whatever. Why aren't the good students displayed somewhere? Why isn't the picture of 1998's valedictorian up on the wall like the kid who made all-state in track or football?

No one really sees the accolades the schools give out as legitimate. It's like the recent issue where the Universities quit using SAT scores, because it wasn't admitting the people they wanted.

I mean it's sad there really are people out there that are that good, but school tends to be a "social marker" not an "intelligence marker", so they don't get recognition.

Anonymous wrote:Harder would be getting a full ride athletic scholarship D1

This. I am not very athletic but was a varsity athlete at my large HS. It was not a popular sport and I rarely played but there weren’t cuts. Back then, soccer was our most popular sport and the hardest to make.

As for my kids, one had no problem making the team but it was a similar situation. The other is more athletic and is hoping to make JV this year because it is a more popular sport.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What I really don't understand is you walk into the high schools today and the good athletes are prominently displayed in a Hall of Fame on the wall outside the gym or whatever. Why aren't the good students displayed somewhere? Why isn't the picture of 1998's valedictorian up on the wall like the kid who made all-state in track or football?

You’re being disingenuous. It’s not that you don’t understand it - it’s simply that you don’t like it.

But the answer is obvious. No one gives a $hit about former (or current) boring, nerdy valedictorians who will almost certainly live boring and uninspiring (possibly well-paid) lives as lawyers or doctors or engineers or accountants.

The athletes are impressive AND they bring joy to other people (they’re fun to watch).

No, I legitimately don't understand why an institution whose primary purpose is education doesn't celebrate it's most successful students the way it does its student athletes. I say this as someone whose name is on the wall at my (non-FCPS) high school for three different sports. Being valedictorian and earning a 1500+ SAT score was years of work and late nights studying. Being good at sports was years of practice too - but not as many hours as the school work. I got a trophy for never getting a 'B' at graduation, but my picture is still up at the school decades later for how many tackles I had, how much weight I could lift, and how fast I could run the hurdles. Seems wrong.

Really? Because way more students in FCPS have straight As now than there are varsity athletes. It’s impossible to make the JV team