<p>I was wondering how big a factor sports play in the admissions process if you are being recruited to play for that school. How much can it make up for weaknesses in other areas? ex. low sats, low gpa or class rank. </p>
<p>I ask this becuase I'm in the process of being recruited to a bunch of schools for swimming. Im looking at Case Western, RPI, Carnegie Mellon, UConn and NYU. Ive talked to all the coaches but most of the school are D3. </p>
<p>It depends on the school, the sport, the NCAA division, how badly they need what you have to offer, how much weight the coach carries with admissions. It can range from not being much help, if any at all, at certain top tier, very selective schools, to being an almost automatic ticket in. Just really depends.</p>
<p>There have been a number of threads over the past few years about athletic recruiting that talk about D3 as well as D1. Do a search on "Likely Letter". There are a couple of swim parents on the parents forum who might be able to help you.
It really does vary from school to school, but there were some D3 coaches (not swimming) who had some good influence with admissions the year my son was applying.</p>
<p>Qwerty, for some reason CC won't let me follow your link. I am a swim parent, though, and my kid went through this process last year. He's at a D3 school, now. I'd be happy to answer any questions I can of a general nature. I don't know a lot about the admissions criteria (gpa, test scores, rank) at the schools you listed, and I don't know what your stats are, plus different schools have different policies regarding the weight of a coach's input on admissions. But, very generally and hazily, I guess I'd venture to say that a coach on your side might tip the scales in your favor if you're at least in range of other accepted students. Football, basketball, hockey seem to require a little more leniancy on the part of admissions in term of academics, because it's just impossible for many schools to field a competitive team without that. Swimming, tennis, track & cross country, and similar sports often get somewhat less indulgence on the part of admissions because for some reason it's not so difficult to find athletes in those sports that are academically qualified to begin with.</p>
<p>But, all that said... these are just gross generalities I have read and heard over several years and may not apply at all to your situation. If a coach is coming after you and is enthusiastic, it surely is not going to hurt, at least. ;) You might want to just flat-out ask the coach this question. Sometimes they will be very honest.</p>
<p>Kind of depends. And depends on the NCAA level. But schools will balance out within teams and across teams. So a 2400 SAT recruit can help someone just under the schools level get in. However, there tends to be a higherarchy by sports, with some having hire sets than others. You would have to check specifically with the coach at the school.</p>