Anonymous wrote:Bunch of Haters

No matter the topic.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Will soccer help you get into law school

All joking aside, if soccer helps a kid get into an Ivy for college, then it will also have indirectly helped a kid get into a grad school, assuming the kid is an above average student in undergrad. Not to be captain obvious, but it's much easier to get into a top 20 grad school if you had a 3.7 at an Ivy, than a 3.7 at Penn State, for example.

Anonymous wrote:Will soccer help you get into law school

Anonymous wrote:Will soccer help you get into law school

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The McLean players absolutely used soccer to help them get in. They may be within the cohort of admitted students with respect to grades, test scores, etc., but the acceptance rates at these schools mean that without soccer, their chances of being admitted even as qualified applicants are slim. Harvard’s acceptance rate was under 5% this year, and every Ivy League school except one was under 10%. Soccer is how these smart and athletic girls distinguish themselves from all the thousands of other qualified applicants.

This is making the point. Soccer helped them get in. And MOST of the elite of the elite SOCCER players are not in the top 5 or 10% academically. They simply are not. Most of those top academics dedicate the time to academics and playing elite soccer takes a lot of time away from academics.

The original point was that McLean and Bethesda lists are impressive with respect to the level of ACADEMIC institutions the players are committing to. FSU has a better soccer team than Harvard. However, most of FSU's players would not get admitted to Harvard to play soccer. The reverse is also true. Most of Harvards soccer players would not get a spot on FSU soccer team.

So the player pool in McLean and Bethesda is full of kids that go to private schools and have a network that helps with college admission - soccer or no soccer. Private school provides pathways not available to public school kids.

Soccer helps for sure and no one is saying that you can make Harvards Soccer team just because you have a 4.5 and 1600 SAT - you have to be able to play. There are a handful of players around the country that are BOTH the elite of the elite Academically AND in soccer. Those players can choose to play for Harvard, Stanford, FSU or anywhere else because they quality both athletically and academically.

I am judging whether any of this is right or wrong in terms of how things should be.

Get it now?

This discussion is now wasting my time. Let's separate the Ivies from Stanford/Duke. In the Ivies, academics drive the process. If you happen to have 4.0 with challenging classes and a 1450 and you also happen to be a strong goalie on an ECNL/DA/State Cup team, you are getting into any Ivy League school that needs a goalie. You don't need legacy or strong recommendations or to attend Sidwell. If the Varsity Blues scandal taught us anything it taught us that coaches of the most irrelevant sports can get borderline applicants admitted. Stanford/Duke have not only more flexibility on the academic end but demand higher end soccer players. For Duke/Stanford, you need to be an elite ECNL/DA player, i.e.e Best XI at the ECNL/DA nationals.

To summarize the point, the kids at McLean who attend elite private schools likely prioritize Ivy League schools and if the play for McLean, they are more likely to get in than their classmates because they play for McLean.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The McLean players absolutely used soccer to help them get in. They may be within the cohort of admitted students with respect to grades, test scores, etc., but the acceptance rates at these schools mean that without soccer, their chances of being admitted even as qualified applicants are slim. Harvard’s acceptance rate was under 5% this year, and every Ivy League school except one was under 10%. Soccer is how these smart and athletic girls distinguish themselves from all the thousands of other qualified applicants.

This is making the point. Soccer helped them get in. And MOST of the elite of the elite SOCCER players are not in the top 5 or 10% academically. They simply are not. Most of those top academics dedicate the time to academics and playing elite soccer takes a lot of time away from academics.

The original point was that McLean and Bethesda lists are impressive with respect to the level of ACADEMIC institutions the players are committing to. FSU has a better soccer team than Harvard. However, most of FSU's players would not get admitted to Harvard to play soccer. The reverse is also true. Most of Harvards soccer players would not get a spot on FSU soccer team.

So the player pool in McLean and Bethesda is full of kids that go to private schools and have a network that helps with college admission - soccer or no soccer. Private school provides pathways not available to public school kids.

Soccer helps for sure and no one is saying that you can make Harvards Soccer team just because you have a 4.5 and 1600 SAT - you have to be able to play. There are a handful of players around the country that are BOTH the elite of the elite Academically AND in soccer. Those players can choose to play for Harvard, Stanford, FSU or anywhere else because they quality both athletically and academically.

I am judging whether any of this is right or wrong in terms of how things should be.

Get it now?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The McLean players absolutely used soccer to help them get in. They may be within the cohort of admitted students with respect to grades, test scores, etc., but the acceptance rates at these schools mean that without soccer, their chances of being admitted even as qualified applicants are slim. Harvard’s acceptance rate was under 5% this year, and every Ivy League school except one was under 10%. Soccer is how these smart and athletic girls distinguish themselves from all the thousands of other qualified applicants.

This is making the point. Soccer helped them get in. And MOST of the elite of the elite SOCCER players are not in the top 5 or 10% academically. They simply are not. Most of those top academics dedicate the time to academics and playing elite soccer takes a lot of time away from academics.

The original point was that McLean and Bethesda lists are impressive with respect to the level of ACADEMIC institutions the players are committing to. FSU has a better soccer team than Harvard. However, most of FSU's players would not get admitted to Harvard to play soccer. The reverse is also true. Most of Harvards soccer players would not get a spot on FSU soccer team.

So the player pool in McLean and Bethesda is full of kids that go to private schools and have a network that helps with college admission - soccer or no soccer. Private school provides pathways not available to public school kids.

Soccer helps for sure and no one is saying that you can make Harvards Soccer team just because you have a 4.5 and 1600 SAT - you have to be able to play. There are a handful of players around the country that are BOTH the elite of the elite Academically AND in soccer. Those players can choose to play for Harvard, Stanford, FSU or anywhere else because they quality both athletically and academically.

I am judging whether any of this is right or wrong in terms of how things should be.

Get it now?

*NOT judging.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The McLean players absolutely used soccer to help them get in. They may be within the cohort of admitted students with respect to grades, test scores, etc., but the acceptance rates at these schools mean that without soccer, their chances of being admitted even as qualified applicants are slim. Harvard’s acceptance rate was under 5% this year, and every Ivy League school except one was under 10%. Soccer is how these smart and athletic girls distinguish themselves from all the thousands of other qualified applicants.

This is making the point. Soccer helped them get in. And MOST of the elite of the elite SOCCER players are not in the top 5 or 10% academically. They simply are not. Most of those top academics dedicate the time to academics and playing elite soccer takes a lot of time away from academics.

The original point was that McLean and Bethesda lists are impressive with respect to the level of ACADEMIC institutions the players are committing to. FSU has a better soccer team than Harvard. However, most of FSU's players would not get admitted to Harvard to play soccer. The reverse is also true. Most of Harvards soccer players would not get a spot on FSU soccer team.

So the player pool in McLean and Bethesda is full of kids that go to private schools and have a network that helps with college admission - soccer or no soccer. Private school provides pathways not available to public school kids.

Soccer helps for sure and no one is saying that you can make Harvards Soccer team just because you have a 4.5 and 1600 SAT - you have to be able to play. There are a handful of players around the country that are BOTH the elite of the elite Academically AND in soccer. Those players can choose to play for Harvard, Stanford, FSU or anywhere else because they quality both athletically and academically.

I am judging whether any of this is right or wrong in terms of how things should be.

Get it now?

Anonymous wrote:The McLean players absolutely used soccer to help them get in. They may be within the cohort of admitted students with respect to grades, test scores, etc., but the acceptance rates at these schools mean that without soccer, their chances of being admitted even as qualified applicants are slim. Harvard’s acceptance rate was under 5% this year, and every Ivy League school except one was under 10%. Soccer is how these smart and athletic girls distinguish themselves from all the thousands of other qualified applicants.

Anonymous wrote:You all do know that the majority of kids on the McLean ECNL teams are not McLean residence, right?

Anonymous wrote:Millions of girls playing soccer now, ecnl, da, and other good teams and players all teams are all over the place (and growing) from under represented areas. The number of college teams is not growing much, if at all. Every school has a global reach nowadays with globalization, so you're competing with international players potentially for a spot on the soccer team. Best of luck.