Admission and athletics....

<p>I'm from Sweden and I plan to apply for college in the US next fall. I consider myself a really smart guy and a great student but I was pretty frustrated with the Swedish educational system when in HS so my grades are not great. They're by no means bad or not even average but their just not straight A's. However, I really see college as my chance to get motivated again and to find out what I want to do with my life etc etc...</p>

<p>I'm playing soccer in Sweden and at a fairly high level and will try to get a soccer scholarship at the different schools that I will later apply to. What I was wondering is how much it will affect the admission's office that you were in fact accepted to the soccer team and that the coach wants you in his team and is willing to give you a scholarship? Since my grades aren't outstanding and my SAT probably won't be either (the average score for international students is a lot lower than for americans) this is kind of my last hope to be accepted to a great school. I know that I'm ready for the workload and stuff like that... it's just that my scores/grades might imply otherwise.</p>

<p>Schools that I consider applying for is schools like these: </p>

<p>Duke
UCs
Uni of Michigan: Ann Arbor
UNC at Chapel Hill
Northwestern
Claremont McKenna</p>

<p>And a bunch of other schools, some just as prestigious as these and some not as prestigous but still great schools. </p>

<p>I'm looking forward to you're answers! </p>

<p>-Quasi</p>

<p>Recruited athletes have it very very good. </p>

<p>Make sure you contact the coaches at each school. Since you're in Sweden they probably can't go scout you, but they could request tapes or want to talk to your current coaches. Soccer is a fairly popular collegiate sport, so being recruited should help you out a ton in admissions. </p>

<p>But it's not like being a recruited football player, where Division I schools can give out 50-some scholarships and football coaches have an incredible ammount of pull with admissions. The soccer team probably has around 8-10 depending on how big the program is at that particular school. Only the elite recruits would get a full ride, so you'd probably be looking at a half or quarter scholarship. </p>

<p>And even if the school doesn't have enough scholarships to offer you one, you can still be considered a recruited athlete, which definately helps in admissions. If your scores are in the 20th percentile or higher, you probably have a good chance, since it's mostly athlete's scores which make up the lower percentiles. </p>

<p>Also, remember you have to register with the NCAA (national collegiate athletic association) to be considered a recruit. You register in your senior year here, but I'm not sure how it works for international athletes. You probably should check out their site. </p>

<p>Good luck.</p>

<p>Thanks for your reply shamrock! </p>

<p>I'm actually planning a trip to the US soon so hopefully I'll be able to try out for some teams and check out their schools. I don't know if I'm going to be able to visit schools outside the NY area or Cali though, because of travel expenses and so on. </p>

<p>College in Sweden is free so I don't have a big "college-fund" or anything but I'm more than happy with a half scholarship if I get in to a really good school. </p>

<p>NCAA and that stuff is not a problem, I have people helping me with that. However, it feels like a lot of questions are better off being asked to US students/athletes. </p>

<p>I've read a lot here at CC and the site has helped me a great deal so feel free to recommend other schools or/and share your opinions about schools that have already been mentioned.</p>

<p>EDIT: Also, sorry for grammar/spelling. It's getting pretty late here now. :)</p>

<p>I know off the top of my head Duke and UNC-Chapel Hill are very big on soccer; you can do some more research to find other schools.</p>

<p>Athletic recruiting helps an ENORMOUS deal, and the better a school's program is, the more it helps you.</p>

<p>Unfortunately, "tryouts" are not allowed by the NCAA, so since coaches can't scout you at games, it's pretty imporant that you get a tape. I would get both a highlight tape and a tape of your best all-around game if you can.</p>

<p>I'm a recruited athlete myself, so if you have any questions either PM me or post back here.</p>

<p>As Shamrock says, having Div. 1 level athletic talent can be a huge boost in college admissions. However, the list you have looks a little top heavy to me. You should think about adding some safety schools as well.</p>

<p>I know that my list is a little top heavy but that was just some schools that I got interested in. Also, I wanted it to be top heavy because that's what this thread is all about; to get more knowledge about how much it will help your admissions process if you're a recruited athlete. I do have safeties and I will certainly add them to my final list (which will be pretty big because it's all about contacting the coach and get him interested, then we can talk about applying). </p>

<p>I know that "tryouts" are not allowed by the NCAA but there's ways around that, for example by training with a local team and have the coach watch. I will, however, also consider getting a tape as I think that will only increase my chances.</p>

<p>Thank you for replying!</p>

<p>Claremont McKenna is a DIII school and can't officially give out athletic scholarships. Athletics can still play a big part in admissions, so don't be too thrown, but know that soccer money won't be a direct option.</p>

<p>Track athletes can sometmes impress college coaches from afar by quoting their fastest times run or greatest distances jumped, etc. in track meets. Is there something similar for soccer that you could use? Some standardized set of performance stats? Goals or saves or assists or something? Or perhaps your sprint times at 40 meters?</p>

<p>This year, the New York Times ran a series over the entire school year which explained the college recruiting process for elite liberal arts colleges (Haverford in particular). You could probably assume many parallels with Ivy League sports recruiting.
At the very least it is an insightful series into the admission process for everyone, especially athletes.</p>

<p>Check it out at:</p>

<p><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/ref/sports/2005_RECRUIT_SERIES.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.nytimes.com/ref/sports/2005_RECRUIT_SERIES.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Student615,
Oh, yeah I see that you're right, CMC is actually DIII. Thank you, I have checked all that in the past but I guess my memory failed me on this one. :)</p>

<p>Scipio,
Sure, there are a lot of stats that you can use but that won't ever be enough for a coach. Merits might work like tracking times though, but stats probably won't. Times/Personal best are far more accurate to give the coach a picture of how good an athlete you are while stats depends on so many other things too. </p>

<p>wondering mum,
Thank you, I'll definitely read that!</p>