The kids themselves call it “selling out”. They make you an offer you can’t refuse.
Just take a look at these intern salaries. Double that for fresh grad offers.
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So an internship paying $26k per month (that was the top job) is going to offer a brand new grad $50k per month - a $600k per year salary? That seems pretty high to me. I know a few recent grads from Ivies who went into IB - they aren’t making near $600k to start (it was between $150-200k which is still a very nice salary for a new grad) but they are working 90+ hours per week.
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It is pretty well-known that top prop trading firms offer new grads half a mil during first year.
Some of these companies are known for their toxic cultures, and some are pretty chill, with great work-life balance.
They hire very few of those people, and can afford the best. The school’s name may get you an interview, but then it’s up to you. FAANG interviews are considered to be pretty easy compared to what these guys have.
Do not lump athletic recruiting in with LDC as if they are similar when they are not.
Many people believe that if someone weren’t an athletic recruit they wouldn’t otherwise belong and that is far from true. The pool of candidates with an intersection of high athletic skill and high academic ability is very small, significantly smaller than the applicant pools used in the intersection.
Athletics recruit selection and recruitment is based on merit. How well one plays relative to their peers is the main criteria for selection. The biggest difference for recruits is that the selection and winnowing process happens before the application process with only those who have successfully passed through this sorting and selection being given ‘Coach support’ for admission. Their path to a preference is highly rejective up front with success rates that are generally lower than admissions rates. People miss this part of the process because it is unseen by anyone not involved.
The level of skill required to play a major sport at these schools is exceptionally high. Many Ivy League and high academic Dlll athletes have major DI caliber skills but might be a bit undersized for their sport or they may just be exceptionally bright students who know that their ultimate path is best suited to play at an Ivy rather than on a bigger stage. These students have spent thousands of hours over years honing their skills.
The entire premise of Athletes being held to lower standards is a false premise. Academics are only one type of merit and only part of the admissions criteria at these schools. None of the Ivy’s see their mission as solely academic. Their NorthStar is to create leaders who improve society. Rightfully, academics is only part of their criteria. Evaluated against this standard the skills developed on the path to athletic excellence are very pertinent and very worthy of acknowledgement.
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US DOE has opened a civil rights investigation into Harvard’s practice of using legacy in admissions.
The Education Department has opened a civil rights investigation into Harvard University’s preferences for the relatives of alumni and donors when making admissions decisions, according to lawyers for several groups that claim the practices are discriminatory.
“The U.S. Department of Education has notified Lawyers for Civil Rights that it has formally launched the federal civil rights investigation requested,” the legal group said in a statement.
The inquiry comes after a formal complaint that three groups filed after the Supreme Court’s decision last month on the use of affirmative action by colleges and universities that severely limit race-conscious admissions.
Lawyers for the groups — Chica Project, ACEDONE and the Greater Boston Latino Network — argued that Harvard’s practice of extending preferences to so-called legacy admissions illegally discriminated against Black, Hispanic and Asian applicants in favor of wealthy students who were less qualified.
Rest of the article at this gift link
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They are similar in some ways.
“The admissions advantage for recruited athletes appears to be even stronger. Admitted athletes have significantly worse credentials than non-ALDC admits, and in some cases, non-ALDC applicants.”
They are being held to lower academic standards, how’s that?
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These are Math/Physics PHDs, not applicable to most in any way.
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No one is arguing this. The question is: what does it have to do with college?
College athletics is a uniquely American phenomenon. It doesn’t have to be that way. It just is.
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True, but they also have the difference that athletes at least had to earn their hooks (although they may have had ample parent provided opportunity, not unlike other college admission attributes), while LDC hooks are purely inherited.
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No. These are fresh grads with Math/CS BS.
I would add that there’s still nonetheless some aspects of athleticism which are inherited. So, yes, they have to practice, work hard, make other sacrifices, “earn it” (likely with tons of outside support as you mention) BUT tons of people do that and cannot and will not under any circumstances rise to the level of recruited athlete.
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The same could be said for elite academics (though it is somehow viewed as much more controversial).
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But why do you (or anyone) care what the academic stats of the recruited athletes are? They all can do the work, as the vast majority graduate with high GPAs. The athletes were selected based on their athletic merit in a highly competitive vetting process…their skills coupled with their academic stats are relatively uncommon, and highly desired by Harvard and many peer schools.
Having athletic teams is important to Harvard, its community, its alumni, and its fundraising efforts. Harvard admin and other highly rejective school admin say exactly that.
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But why shouldn’t it? Elite private colleges and universities are also pretty uniquely American. We are talking about American institutions with their 150 plus year traditions of athletics. Both basketball and football were invented at US colleges.
These schools do not define their identity and mission solely in terms of academics and they should not have to change to reflect what others believe that they should be.
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IB and quant are both in finance but are very different in terms of expected work and compensation. The big money for IB students can come after the two year analyst contract, whereas the quant hires are starting off very high to begin with.
This is incorrect.
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Because as a group, they are less academically qualified, and if a choice between an elite mathematician, and a good mathematician who is an elite sportsman, is made in favor of the latter often enough (and it is), the institutions are necessarily adjusting the level of their “work” downwards.
This, and not some abstract “fairness”, is my main problem with any and all forms of non-academic preferences, be it legacies, athletes, or AA.
If there are too many people that “can do the work”, then raise the level of your “work”.
America is not competing in a vacuum.
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Agreed, on both counts 
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That’s fine by me. They can do as they please. An I can call them out for it. It’s a free country.
Are you saying that the US isn’t competitive (not sure exactly what you are talking about, let’s take mathematicians since that’s your example) because some schools, which comprise an insignificant proportion of US college students, place importance on athletics and athletic recruiting?
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Maybe they are but academics are only one of many parts of the admissions criteria at these schools. In the same vein, there is no doubt that exceptional academic skills are weighed and used to offset lesser capabilities in other parts of the admissions process for others. These schools neither have nor desire to have admissions which are solely based on academic performance. They are very open about this and there are plenty of places who do admit on academics.
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