How will sports impact whether a college will accept you or not?
Judging from your previous posts, it seems like you’re a freshman aspiring to go to top schools.
Unless you’re a recruited athlete (which I know little about), sports are just like any other activity. Of course, it’s good to stay active. But do not join a sport for the sole purpose of “it looks good for Stanford.”
Sports are most beneficial in cases of academically qualified applicants who are also nationally competitive athletes. These applicants often have their pick of top colleges.
Imagine Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and Stanford were each offering you early admission. It’s a wonderful position to be in.
But for most people, sports is just another EC. Do it because you enjoy it and for no other reason. Or find something you enjoy more and do that. There is no template that says ‘college admins like athletes more than debaters or artists’.
Sports are just like any other EC, it depends on the passion you engage yourself in them with.
From a purely objective standpoint, though, if you’re not a recruited athlete, athletics may be less valuable to your application than other extracurriculars, simply because admissions officers want to build well-rounded student bodies. They already have a lot of athletic students in their recruited athlete pool, so they may be more favorably inclined towards other types of activities.
If you can become recruited for that school, your chances increase dramatically. You’ll have to ask your coach and contact coaches of that school to see if you’re good enough.
If you’re a regular athlete that plays on the school team, treat it as any other EC such as debate team, quizbowl etc.
Unless you attain elite status and are recruited, sports are just another EC.
If you have to ask, then NO – it will have no effect besides any other EC.
No to what?
If you are asking this then obviously are aren’t a recruited athlete, that is what he is saying by you having to ask. So it will just be another EC. Join something you are good at, if you a national champ in chess it will look better then playing a sport for 4 years.
Okay, thanks for the advice! I wish I was good enough to be a recruited athlete though, haha.
@OLIVERSAYSHI You know, there is another side to being a student athlete.
College athletes report that it’s a lot of hard work, is constantly difficult to reconcile with their academics and prevents them from taking part in a lot of interesting things that are part of college life for many other students.
^ This. You can’t simply bemoan that you won’t get the recruited-athlete boost as if it were a shiny nickel you find on the street. Your school’s recruited athletes? They’re among the top handful of athletes in your school’s history. You might want to consider the years of training, expense and sacrifice they (and their parents) put into their sports.
The “advantage” for athlete recruits is easily and often assailed by non-athletes – generally strong scholars who feel that athletes shouldn’t be given any consideration. Often, they haven’t a clue.