<p>My DD loved this school when we toured. </p>
<p>Does anyone know if there are any tips or anything of that sort for athletics at Vassar? </p>
<p>Thanks.</p>
<p>What is ‘DD’? Daughter, I assume, what’s the extra D for? Dependent? Ditzy? qua? Why not just D?</p>
<p>ALSO on a helpful note, what sports does your D play? Or were you asking as a spectator only, in a general sense?</p>
<p>FYI, the D means Darling or could be dignified. I trust you can see that your post has, shall we say, edge in your suggestions otherwise.</p>
<p>Her sports played should not be relevant to the response.</p>
<p>This went well :)</p>
<p>I don’t know if Vassar has “tips” in exactly the same way as the NESCACs, but I am sure kids who are recruited athletes get a boost the same as similar academically highly rated D3 schools in the the Northeast and Midwest.</p>
<p>Yes, finalchild is right. There is a kind of “tip” system in place if your son/daughter is a good enough athlete to play varsity sports at Vassar and has the support of a coach. It’s important to start the dialogue early with the coaches to determine whether your son/daughter is good enough to receive a tip. It’s important to be grounded about what such a tip might mean. My kid had academic credentials in the school’s 25/75 range for grades and SAT scores and my sense is that this is the norm at Vassar for tipped athletes. So while a tip might help in an admissions process between many equally qualified applicants, in most cases it is not going to pull up a student who is not in the ballpark academically to be admitted to the school without athletics. Simply put, while athletics are important at Vassar, they are not so important that the school is going to make big exceptions for athletic admissions. This is different from some other conferences and schools. Hope this helps.</p>
<p>Thanks for the helpful responses.</p>
<p>Please excuse me if I find this infuriating. I don’t blame any of you. If my daughter were an athlete, I’d encourage her to contact coaches, too. </p>
<p>But why does a division 3 school like Vassar recruit athletes? All things being equal, why should it be easier for an athlete to be admitted than for a student who takes part in some other extra-curricular activity? Lots of applicants to Vassar with SAT scores “within range” are rejected.</p>
<p>What’s so special about athletes compared to thespians, student body presidents, musicians, debaters, journalists, etc?</p>
<p>I know it’s not only Vassar, but I am surprised this system goes on even at this school, given its hipster and artsy reputation.</p>
<p>Actually, I’m not sure it is that different for those other extra curriculars. A prospective student who is a musician, thespian or writer can send in an arts supplement (which I believe gets sent out to the various departments for review). Prospective students with partiuclar interests in a subject can contact faculty, sit in on a class, etc.</p>
<p>And Vassar’s My Space component of the application allows students to really showcase special talents and/or accomplishments.</p>
<p>In order to field sports team, Vassar has to make sure they have enough players for the various sports (just like they have to have enough musicians for the various ensembles.)</p>
<p>Yep, that’s right. Athletes are not “different” in this sense from students who have other skills that fill needs at the school like the ability to play the oboe in an orchestra. There are some schools like CalTech that don’t factor athletics or music or similar talents very much if at all in admissions, but almost all of the Northeast LAC do take such things into account because they help strengthen existing programs at the school. In my limited experience, Vassar actually factors athletic talent less than many of its peers, particularly in the NESCAC, but it can be a factor.</p>