Can I get into an Ivy League as a recruit with my grades?

Athletic Recruits
1

<p>I am a junior in high school and a prospective student-athlete; and had taken the SAT for the first time in October without studying and gotten 1750. I am planning to take them again in March and aiming for 1900 or above. I am also planning to take the ACT for the first time in February. I am planning to major in Journalism or Business. </p>

<p>Can anyone please tell me, being a prospective student-athlete, what minimum test scores and academic achievements would allow me to get into Ivy League schools?</p>

<p>My transcripts are as follows:</p>

<p>Freshman Year-3.68
Honors Biology-C
Honors English-A
Honors French- A
Honors Modern World History -B+
Standard Geometry -B
Ceramics 1- A</p>

<p>Sophomore Year-3.5
Honors Chemistry- B-
Honors English- A-
Honors French- B
Honors US History 1- B
Standard Algebra 2 (with a withdraw from honors)- C+
Photography- A
TV- A</p>

<p>My current schedule is as follows:
AP English
AP US History 2
Standard French 4
Standard Pre-calculus
Organic Chemistry
Sociology
Personal Finance</p>

<p>This year I had withdrawn from AP Chemistry upon realizing science is not my strong suit. I know that my schedule this year is not up to par, but I was not able to acquire any more honors courses. I am looking to be recruited by Penn, Dartmouth, Harvard, Cornell, Princeton, and Brown. </p>

<p>The coaches for these schools have been in contact with me; but the most difficult part for me is getting into these schools academically. I know that the academic requirements for student-athletes are different, and at some schools more lenient.</p>

<p>Can anyone please tell me, being a prospective student-athlete, what minimum test scores and academic achievements would allow me to get into these Schools? I am positive that these schools will recruit me based on my athletic ability. My main concern is that my current transcript/schedule is not good enough. Any advice/personal experience would be greatly appreciated.</p>

<p>(P.S. I was informed that to be recruited by Penn I needed at least a 1900 on SAT and a 600 on 2 SAT Subject Tests, or a 27 on the ACT with writing. Again, my main concern is my GPA and course selection.)</p>

2

<p>For HYP
you will need 700s across the board
and the most rigorous schedule…and great grades…</p>

<p>Thats for non helmet sports.</p>

<p>also 27 ACT is too low…you need to be over 32</p>

<p>Cast a wide net…don’t limit your recruiting to only the ivies.</p>

3

<p>I would read up on the Academic Index… there is a good article and calculator here on this site. It gives you a feel for how far a standout athlete can deviate from the benchmarks for admits. Realize that unless you are a superstar or in football, your athletics are not going to get you in if you are not academically worthy. If you have the grades and test scores, then your sport is hopefully your ace in the hole over other students otherwise just as qualified (and nowadays, their name is legion)</p>

<p>Both the NYU coach and the Colgate assistant coach told my son he needed to bring his SATs up to over 700s like fogfog said. You don’t say what your sport is but there are other great competitive schools out there to shoot for, and some of them even stil have money to offer.</p>

4

<p>To be honest, you can pretty much assume “no”</p>

5

<p>as far as i know, rule of thumb for non-helmet at ivy is as posted above - minimum 700 avg for sat and sat ii (if required) and/or 32 ACT and thats if you’re a top recruit. 3.7 or A- cumulative gap preferably in advanced courses but the schools vary on that score. i know for my kids’ sport, brown is brutal on academic numbers but not as fussy on level of course. that may not still be true. penn and cornell a bt more forgiving than hpy. but above numbers generally the map for all ivies. don’t know about your sport. perhaps your numbers work for your sport, you need to contact coaches!!</p>

6

<p>akinyo,</p>

<p>Honestly, I think you’re going to need to get mostly A’s with no C’s from here on out to have a shot. That can be slightly “trumped” if you are a fantastic athlete. </p>

<p>As others have suggested, cast a wide net with a variety of schools. It is great to target ivys but there are a lot of options out there that may be better suited for youeither acadecmically, athletically or financially. </p>

<p>Keep an open mind, keep up the good work, and familiarize yourself with the Academic Index (it speaks volumes) if you are seriously considering Ivys or the banding or slotting in the NESCAC schools. Good luck.</p>

7

<p>Without knowing your sport, I think it’s a longshot. </p>

<p>I think you should get a really good private SAT tutor and burn the midnight oil to get the standardized test score where they need to be. And don’t get any more Cs in any courses.</p>

8

<p>Depending on your skill level, you sound like a better fit for a Patriot League type school. I am not sure what sport you are talking about which would have a huge impact but I doubt Ivy is in your cards and would look at other schools. There are a lot of great schools out there outside of the Ivys. If you are looking Division-I then, like I said, the Patriot may be an option. Also, the A10 or CAA can be great fits. But don’t rule out the fine schools in the Centenial Conference or the UAA. All of these schools will offer you a great education and, depending on your athletic ability, a great time as a student athlete.</p>

9

<p>As others have hinted at, why so fixed on the IVYs? It seems like you realize that at this point, with your grades (which are not bad) and test scores you’re trying to reach for schools you don’t academically qualify for. As a parent of an athlete, that’s never been my dream…there are so so many schools out there outside the IVYs to consider that are just as prestigious and a far better match in nearly every way.</p>

10

<p>^disagree. If you believe that a degree from an Ivy (it itself) has value, leverage your athletic skill into an Ivy if possible.</p>

<p>You will be fine in most courses; these schools are hard to get it, but harder to fail out. Just realize that you will need to work very very hard to succeed.</p>

11

<p>Most ivies don’t offer majors in journalism or business.
it also depends on how academically competitive your high school is.</p>

12

<p>just wanted to comment on the Ivies…dh and I have Ivy degrees…and thought/assumed our kids would want the same.</p>

<p>but they are athletes, and we were not. it’s just a completely different thing if you are an athlete, IMO. I would not recommend the Ivies to any athlete casually. It has to be what you really, really want. It is not going to be like high school. So you need to consider how you will feel if/when you are having trouble staying afloat in your classes and you are working harder than you’ve ever worked in your sport. The answer will be yes/no for different students, different athletes. But if you are not having an easy time earning A grades in high school while doing sports, I would be cautious of those academic “reach” schools because you may find yourself not excelling and feeling bad about it, while most of your classmates have tons of time and do better than you. Just a yuck situation all the way around, and not one I would encourage my kids to pursue.</p>

<p>If you have the passion to make it work, by all means go for it…just be cautious and have a great backup (they are out there).</p>

13

<p>^ I concur.</p>

14

<p>Here’s an article about recruiting in the Ivy League that will give you far better info about Ivy League recruiting than any of the posters here. </p>

<p><a href=“Before Athletic Recruiting in the Ivy League, Some Math - The New York Times”>Before Athletic Recruiting in the Ivy League, Some Math - The New York Times;

<p>Ivy League recruiting is based upon a formula called the Academic Index that uses your GPA and SAT scores to compute a score of up to 240. There are many calculators on the internet that will give you an estimate; the league has never released the actual formula. The minimum the league allows for an athletic recruit is a 176 academic index (AI), which equates to approximately a 1740 SAT and a 3.0 GPA. But that is the bare minimum, and the coach would have to make a really have to go to bat for you to get you in if you’re at that level. Few if any athletes are admitted at that level, and those that are are highly sought at schools with much greater athletic prowess than the Ivy League.</p>

<p>I read somewhere that the average Academic Index at Princeton for all students was 228; the average for athletic recruits was 214. A perfect AI is 240.</p>

<p>The Patriot League has its own Academic Index that uses a similar formula, I believe. Their minimum is 168.</p>

<p>The admissions process for recruited athletes differs a bit from he standard admissions process. If the coach is interested in you, he or she will submit your basic academic info to admissions to see if you are conceivably admittable. Athletes also are usually given likely letters before standard admission letters are mailed, which is an unofficial acceptance letter that basically means that you’re in unless you really screw up.</p>

<p>The best way to find out the answer about whether you’re admittable or not is not through this board, but through the coach who is recruiting you. Be as honest as possible with those coaches, including handing them your transcripts and test scores.</p>

15

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<p>I think referring to online articles is a great idea but I wouldn’t agree with the second part of your statement. I’d say – it depends.</p>

<p>There are posters here who have actually gone through the process of having their children recruited and participating in Ivy League sports. Though there is little chance my D will wind up in the I-L, I find their first-hand experiences to be very informative. </p>

<p>And one poster maintains a blog about the subject and has an online guide book with very good information.</p>

16

<p>My son is in a similar situation, and our take is that he is pursuing both college and semi-pro sports opportunities. His grades are borderline, as you said, if they go to back for him, that will matter a lot.</p>

<p>The major problem I see with you and Penn is that if you are targeting a business major, that would be Wharton and Wharton is notoriously more difficult to get into than the other schools at Penn.</p>

<p>I would suggest as others said to look at Patriot league schools and find your best fit there. You want to apply to one definite, a few reaches, and a few probably not but why not try. I went to meetings about Penn admissions, and talked to them about athelte recruitment as well. In November of junior year, you should already be in continual conversation with the coach at Penn and the other Ivies you are interested in.</p>

<p>That is, now that it is February, you should be seeing ALL of these coaches in person, tell them where you will be playing or go to their camps. They need to have personal buy-in if there is any chance of you getting in with less than stellar grades. You also need to look at what they need - if you do long-distance track, and they are recruiting a huge freshman class for this September, you would not be a good fit. Better to find out now if you are a fit, if you need the coaches to help you out.</p>