Chance a Powerlifter who got deferred Harvard REA L

Chance Me / Match Me!
41

Coach Frazier,

my name is ____________, a strength and powerlifting coach, and prospective student for Harvard University. I’m sending this email to express my deep desire and willingness to volunteer in the strength and conditioning department, regardless of position, as I feel my qualifications and experience would be an asset to the department.

To give more information on my strength background, I’m a nationally competitive powerlifter*—currently undefeated in my classification with 4 golds, a win at the Texas State Championships, 2 Texas State Records, and an invite to compete at the National Championship in March—*a strength and powerlifting coach, and amateur personal trainer (will be getting certified as soon as I can afford the course).

As for my academic background, my academic interests are in medicine, biochemistry and physiology, with the end goal of medical research and development in the sports medicine world. I currently have a 3.9 unweighted GPA and a 1540 SAT score, putting me within the range of the Harvard student body, and plan to continue to learn and grow my knowledge of sports science and sports medicine over the coming months, years, and beyond.

Harvard is certainly my top choice, and although I know powerlifting is not a recruited sport, I will be representing whatever institution I attend with excellence*—and some records and medals—* at Collegiate Nationals in the coming years. Although it is my dream to bring these honors to Harvard, I recognize that no matter how many records I break, medals I receive, and athletes I coach, I can’t be recruited on powerlifting alone. However, I do want to bring to your attention the skills I wish to bring to Harvard’s Strength and Conditioning department.

Is there a convenient date and time to speak with someone in the department about my potential as a member of the team?

Thank you for your time, and I hope you give great consideration to my request,

name

Sponsored Athlete, gym that sponsors me

Email or call for coaching/training inquiries

email and phone number

This is currently the most up to date version of the email with a few changes

42

also is it a good idea to mention that I am currently sponsored by my gym? I also plan to approach a few brands about a sponsorship after nationals but for now only my gym sponsors me.

43

by this I mean should I put in my common app anywhere that I am a sponsored athlete, not in the email, sorry for the vagueness

44

I would not mention this unless it relates to certification as a trainer. Also, this could raise questions regarding need based financial aid.

Your email / letter is getting a bit too long.

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45

well by sponsor they sponsor the cost of competitions and equipment, and that’s it, they don’t pay me anything they just lessen the burden on me

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46

Then it seems reasonable to mention this as it gives you additional experience & credibility, but you need to explain what “sponsorship” means as you did in the post above this response.

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47

should I also mention it in my email, or just mention it in the common app and explain what my sponsor pays for?

48

Cost reduction is a form of payment.

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49

I guess? but the net total they pay in order for me to compete each year only gets to around, maybe $500? I still pay transportation, housing, etc if it’s a meet not nearby

50

Honestly, I enjoy reading your thread(s), mainly because my exercise program incorporates powerlifting (among other movements) and I also compete at different things. But I don’t think Harvard will be moved much by a national level powerlifter. A national level academic, researcher, musician, artist, social justice type, etc., sure, but as much as I love being in a gym, I’m not sure that piece of your application will change the paradigm much in the Harvard admissions dept.

However, I wish that I’m wrong though. You didn’t get rejected, which is an achievement all by itself.

Anyway, in the sentence that begins with “However, I do want to bring your attention the skills…”, I might consider adding “skills and knowledge acquired via training, competing and coaching over the past X amount of years…”

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51

The only reason I’m really advocating for my spike as much as I am is because I know a student at Princeton whose spike WAS powerlifting (afaik), and held a few state records on top of his other accomplishments both academic and otherwise, he also competed at collegiate nationals and I believe actually won his weight class

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52

and I do agree, adding the input of my experience over x years helps add to the credibility and experience even more, thank you for the tip

53

It’s a great idea, but Harvard already has its weight trainers for the football team, I’m sure. They’re not looking for a power lifter, or they would have taken you, and reframing it as being able to help train the football team is unlikely to change their minds. Seriously, your time is far, far better spent on your other applications at this time, unless they’re all ready to go, right up to the best that you can do on them.

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54

well, to be fair I told the interviewer and even emailed my admissions officer saying I was going to break records today, so perhaps they wanted to see the records broken first?

55

Trust me when I say that was the furthest thing in their mind.

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56

I’m inclined to agree, I think the best option is to try and make my other top choice applications as strong as I can, which would be Yale, Columbia, Rice, Vanderbilt, and potentially MIT, any idea how to tailor my application to any of these schools?

57

The RD rounds at these top schools are a different animal than EA/ED. You’ll be competing against 300% more applicants for about half of the seats left remaining.

So you need to focus the application on making yourself look INTERESTING, and different from everyone else. You’ve already got the building blocks, just weave things into a cohesive and interesting story.

58

Please don’t tell a college admissions office you are self studying for MCATs. They want to see your intellectual depth and not the ways you are trying to be a proficient test taker. One kid at our local school took test taking to be his extra-curricular, took 20 APs and did well on them and many were just self studied. His success at application time (or specifically lack of success) surprised many but not me. These top tier schools are not trade schools and applicants who convey that they are looking at them as a gateway to get into professional school are missing the point of a liberal arts education and this will be noted by admissions.

3 Likes
59

The football coaches would be happy to have him if he gets in on his own, but they aren’t going to spend an athletic scholarship or slot on a non-player.

I don’t understand the suggestion that contacting a coach for a sport he’s not playing would help with admissions.

I think the schools like Harvard are giving you full credit for your lifting accomplishments and won’t really care if you get the 4th year record or come in second. They are appreciating the effort and dedication. A club coach at a school just doesn’t have the pull with admissions that a varsity coach has.

60

No one on this thread has suggested that OP is somehow eligible for a football scholarship which, in fact, do not even exist at Ivy League or D-III colleges & universities. It may help your understanding of the situation if you realize that prospective students often contact influential faculty members & department heads as a way to enhance admissions odds. Whether or not such an approach works is not easily determined, however.

Not all coaches need to use scholarships or slots to offer their desire / influence regarding admissions. Agree that non-revenue football schools may not have much influence, but some coaches at top D-1 FBS schools have more clout than do other coaches.

Ivy League & D-III football is quite different than that at FBS schools.