So I’m currently a junior and have been researching more about college admissions. I have heard from many Asian-American family friends who have gone off to college that Asian-Americans applying to top-20 schools have to stand out and be unique, or less Asian in a sense. As an applicant, I have all the usual Asian grades and ECs: 4.0 unweighted, 17 AP classes(by end of senior year), Science Olympiad, Math League, Speech and Debate, FBLA, and Varsity tennis. I also am the principal cellist in my youth orchestra(moderately selective, not as much in recent years compared to past years) where we performed in Kennedy Center and Carnegie Hall. Although I have a few accomplishments in my ECs (national qualifier for FBLA/debate and state qualifier for SciOly) as well as leadership(team captain for SciOly, FBLA, and Tennis), I feel that these achievements are at best, on par with students who may be borderline accepted into top-20 schools. However, one thing that I have that I believe most other Asian-Americans have is football. I have played football ever since elementary school and last year played on the Varsity team. After the season, I was recruited by a couple D3 schools in my state and did not think much of it. Looking back now, even though I do not have plans to play football in college(at least not yet), would playing football and receiving D3 offers be a solid hook that could make me stand out more in college admissions?
Also, most of my EC competitions were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic so I’m not sure if this benefits me or hurts me as I have not won any major national awards yet.
Sorry, I forgot another piece. My research internship at a local(pretty high ranked) university was also canceled. I plan on applying as a cs major.
Playing football and being recruited by a school is a hook for that school.
I believe that putting football as one of your main extracurriculars could help you stand out. Tie that in with how you demonstrated yourself as a leader and as someone who learned to be a part of a team and you have a solid addition to your application.
So if a school that I plan to apply to does not recruit me, there really isn’t anything significant about receiving offers from other schools then?
Great, thank you!
Recruited = hook
Non-recruited = extracurricular
However, some small colleges with full sets of sports teams may like athletic extracurriculars, since they need a pool of potential walk on athletes to fill their teams (not necessarily in the same sport that they played in high school).
Being a D3 caliber player, I do not think I would be able to walk on at Stanford, UCLA, or even most of the Ivies. Would that bump down my recruitment record from a hook to just another EC? Are colleges only interested in recruitment if you can walk on and possibly make their team?
First, let’s make sure you have a correct understanding of what it means to be “recruited” by a D3 football program. That means the coach is willing to give you an admissions spot allocated to him by the school/admissions office, subject to final approval by the admissions office. This most often is conditional upon the recruit applying ED. Further, there is almost always a “pre-read” of your academic qualifications by the admissions office (transcript, senior schedule and test scores). If in fact you are a recruit and pass a pre-read, your admissions to that school is almost guaranteed if you apply ED. A coach saying positive things about you with no commitment to fully support your application is not an athletic recruitment.
The fact that you have been recruited by some D3 programs in of itself will not be a hook for a school that does not recruit you. However, if you are skilled and accomplished enough to be a football recruit, it will be a strong EC that you might be able to use to distinguish yourself in your applications. Have you reached out to football coaches of D3’s in the T20 to see if there is interest there as a true recruit?
Thanks, this clears a lot up. No, I have not reached out to football coaches of T20 schools yet. This is mainly because I am not really interested in continuing as a football player in college. I really enjoyed playing football throughout my youth and then high school but I don’t have any real plans of continuing beyond this point. So I guess in my case, football is still more of an EC than a hook.
Would you be interested in say Caltech or Harvey Mudd, both Div 3 schools which are excellent academically? I’m not sure how much athletics is worth to either school, but maybe worth reaching out to their coaches if you’d be interested in going there?
Cal Tech does not have football.
Yes, that was another thing I was interested in. Schools like Cal Tech and Emory don’t have football teams so I wasn’t sure how much playing football in high school would appeal to these schools. Especially Cal Tech, where the workload is very rigorous and the college is known to be mostly academic-based.
It would be an EC if you’re not recruited. But I would not dismiss being recruited and playing football at the DivIII level so cavalierly. There are a bunch of Ivy-equivalents/near-Ivies at the DivIII level (Many LACs but also some research U’s). Being a recruited athlete is a huge hook to have.
And while the Ivies would be a notch above, they’re still far from Div I-A level.
Plus, these Ivy/equivalent athletes tend to develop a tight bond with each other, which definitely may be very helpful if you care to enter the business world.
Unless you hate football (and no one says you have to play all 4 years), I would at least keep it open as an avenue.
Great, thank you so much!