<p>Athletics prove well-roundedness and different interests. Math is just an extension of your academics.</p>
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<p>You sound like a dick. Not to mention your comments on the American populace. </p>
<p>Anyhow. It’s all about economics and prestige. Sports are a great source of national/international attention for the college, and many colleges are known for their athletics if not for their academics. Also, for schools like USC, their sport teams are also a good source of income for the school and the “brand name” establishment necessary for a first rate college. </p>
<p>Recruitment for math is ridiculous. How many competitions are mathematicians going to go out on? As much as those in sports teams? And as for the main reason at the core of all this, and you’ve said it yourself. No one cares about math olympiads.</p>
<p>I think it all depends on context. Granted it’s very difficult to be a recruited athlete and they do generate glory and money but how much that means depends on the college (To a Division I college like Duke, it would be a big deal. To a Division III college, say MIT, it probably means less). I agree that the average Football player is more interesting that the average Mathelete (although I honestly dislike the average stereotype football player). If you’re a Mathelete who also has community service, some non-academic ECs, a leadership position etc. it’ll probably mean just as much, but if you really only have Math Olympiad then you just end up coming across as nerdy and pedantic (a population that is both overrepresented and undesirable in the application pool of top colleges) I for one wish I knew about the AMC sooner than my junior year (I’ll be taking it next year, but probably not in time for my college applications), but you need other things too.</p>
<p>I wonder how many people go to a typical college football game…
and…
I wonder how many people go to a typical college math contest…</p>
<p>tell me if i’m wrong, but they don’t make 60,000+ seater stadiums for math contests.</p>
<p>but beyond that, i myself don’t do any sports, but I’m on my high school drumline(which practices almost as much as our football team), and I’m on the the high school newspaper(which often works from 3 pm to 3 am for a week a each month on Production days).
EVERY school activity, be it sports, journalism, music, speech and debate, clubs, math tournaments, you name it–they ALL take countless hours of preparation, practice, and work.
If you’re complaining about the fact that colleges don’t care about the time you spent doing it, you’re obviously doing it for the wrong reasons.</p>
<p>1) Sports take more time.
2) Sports are something entirely separate from academics.</p>
<p>Well obviously sports generate alot more publicity than math. And with sports, spots on teams are so competitive that even if you have an off week or month, you might not be playing on varsity for the rest of the year. I’m on my school’s golf team, and we have 60-70 boys trying out for 16 spots on the team: eight varsity and eight jv. If you have one or two off rounds and you shoot in the high forties in nine, you can kiss your spot on the team goodbye.</p>
<p>Basically to sum up what other people have said:</p>
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<li>Sport bring more money and fame to a school than math does.</li>
<li>Sports create an interely different type of personality which is more well-rounded, and instead of just building on the schoolwork, it is doing something else.</li>
<li>Sports are something you need to work on during your entire life, not just in junior/senior year(or whatever, you know what i mean). Sports lead to injuries and coming home so tired that you can barely think straight. When I was active (in tennis and soccer) I ran 10 miles/day, had about 10-15 hours of Tennis each week, like 20 hours of soccer each week, and obviously schoolwork. </li>
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<p>I think balancing sports and academics is more impressive than balancing mathletes and academics, because its the same thing. I for one kept an A average in high school, won several tennis tournaments(some that were very prestigious) and without exaggerating, got more than 30 tournament wins/awards in soccer(this is in Sweden where sports are private and not a part of school). It took everything I had to make it all work, especially since I wanted to spend time with friends and everything too… It takes a lot more work to balance that kind of schedule, going to practice, eating right, sleeping right, studying right, managing every second of your time.</p>
<p>HOWEVER, i do agree, that things like math competitions should get bigger, but I think they are, at their respective schools! In the end, its all about what you learnt from your experiences and how you can show it… If you can show hard work, dedication, teamwork, leadership etc. from USAMO, then awesome, write about it in your essays or something, itll be a lot better :)</p>
<p>Oh and also, I kinda feel like, if you have academic talent, then you have academic talent, no one can take that from you, youll have an easier time with everything… But if you have a sports talent, then sure, itll help you, but it doesnt mean u dont have to train till u sweat blood…
Personally, i have a really easy time learning stuff, and my teachers/parents always expected a lot of me, but i did A LOT less schoolwork than my friends, but managed to get better grades(nothing spectacular) just because i didnt need to use all the time i had… (priorities etc…)
but for soccer, i was talented, but it took every freaking day of practice and even when i hung out with friends ,9/10 we were out playing soccer… and i was actually one of the best in my country (sweden) which is A LOT to be said, considering sweden > usa in soccer 
but i injured my knee, and now ALL that time is basically wasted… i dont see how that can happen for a mathlete, unless you are in like a carcrash or soemthing and injure your brain…</p>
<p>You guys are totally missing the point! I don’t think that even half of you know what USAMO is (you’re throwing around math olympiad as if it’s really easy to qualify for). USAMO is the United States of America Mathematical Olympiad that only the top 500 out of 500,000 initial competitors qualify for (these initial competitors are chosen from a pool of all high school students). That puts the acceptance rate for USAMO at 1/1000 or 0.1% of the BEST math students in the country. </p>
<p>Now if you are comparing such prestigious math competitors to average high school football players you are insane. There are well over 20,000 high schools in the country and several hundreds of thousands (maybe even millions) of high school athletes. How can you compare the two?!? Most USAMO qualifiers end up at HYPSM, do most high school athletes end up at HYPSM? </p>
<p>Furthermore, these students do contribute to colleges, most engage in highly profitable research and win impressive academic accolades for the universities they attend.</p>
<p>Now before someone says something ludicrous and ignorant like “no one cares about math olympians” please read through my post thoroughly.</p>
<p>Hear, hear Data Box. I made USAMO twice, and can say that it DOES take a lot of hard work. (Try and solve an Olympiad problem, and you will see the kind of time it takes to build up to that). And, it is not an extension of academics whatsoever. The only link between USAMO and math class is the word math. Making USAMO requires a level of creativity, mastery, and imagination that is unfathomable to the average high school student. As DataBox said, throwing around qualifying for USAMO as easy is outrageous.
Also, saying that math people have no personality is crazy. My friends on my school’s math team are the coolest people I know- you have to get to know them.
Math Olympians should get more recognition than DII and DIII athletes. DI athletes are obviously extremely hardworking and talented people. But comparing USAMO to the average high school football player…</p>
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<p>True dat. I am an active varsity athlete, weightlifter, class president (4 out of the past 5 years), congressional award recipient, model congress + mun + math club president, and a two time USAMO qualifier (as well as perfect amc, 4th place international arml, caml state winner and perfect scorer). Saying that I have no personality just because I enjoy mathematics is a stretch. </p>
<p>(sorry for the seemingly arrogant self promotion, not trying to boast, just trying to prove a point so plz forgive me lol)</p>
<p>^holy crap ur going to Harvard
Yea, it pretty much shows that American culture is more sports-oriented than math-oriented…I mean if this was Europe, the USAMO guy would definitely get into better colleges than the varsity athlete, given that he is academically-qualified. I mean, getting into the USAMO is pretty difficult…
I prepped somewhat this summer and got into AIME, though I failed on that (got like 3 or 4).
But seriously, knowledge > physical strength…
How would those national athletes do so well if there were no smart people to engineer the football stadiums anyways? Or to develop their highly advanced spandex?</p>
<p>as i said, i agree that it should get bigger, but its 2 completely different things… and like you just said, most USAMO qualifiers get into HYPS, then *** are they complaining for?
either way, yes USAMO is extremely qualified, and should be higher ranked than DII or DIII sports. and i honestly think they are ?? only the very top athletes get into the top schools, just like only the top math people get into the top schools 
although i think colleges feel that USAMO and good grades come hand in hand because they are both academic
then you said that academic people also make money for their school, and while that is true, i highly doubt that is even in comparable amounts to what the DI football players do… i mean, a research project probably takes at least 1 semester… but for some teams, football brings in like $20+ x 60,000 EVERY WEEK… do the math</p>
<p>as for whoever said that if this was europe, then the math people would be doing better, yes that is true… not because they value math higher… but because sports are not a school activity…
sports are a private activity that you do on your own time and which isnt linked in any way to school… the us is different from europe in that way… if a guy is awesome at football here, then they get into usc (or something), if a guy is awesome at soccer in europe, they get into manchester uniteds junior team or something :)</p>
<p>One word: Profit. </p>
<p>College sports teams sell a hell of a lot of tickets and merchandise. They’re covered nationally with a huge amount of exposure. People live and die with their games.</p>
<p>No one’s going to pay to watch or sponsor a college math team. It’s just that simple.</p>
<p>^ Agree. Especially for DI and II schools that give athletic scholarships. These kids bring a ton of money into the school and more than pay for their own educations with the funds raised, free publicity and recruitment of students.</p>
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<p>Frankly, I completely agree with you and USAMO qualifiers are held in greater prestige than DII/DIII. I think the reason for the OPs irritation is that he was a USAMO qualifier with a lackluster class rank/GPA. His argument is that a DI athlete with the same GPA would be accepted to any school in the country, while he wasn’t despite his Olympiad qualification.</p>
<p>^ but those DI athletes will be contributing A HELL OF A LOT MORE to the college than the math olympian. So the DI athlete will get an admission spot over the mathlete. </p>
<p>USAMO should NOT be ranked higher than DII sports, especially for football. For DI football, you have to have been born with great genes, DII is for the hard workers who aren’t quite big enough for DI. </p>
<p>Another point that has been repeated that databox and ns89 choose to ignore is that varsity athletics show a more well rounded person rather than USAMO. It shows that the athletes can deal with physically pushing themselves to the limit almost every day and still manage good grades. Physically pushing yourself is WAY different than studying for USAMO. </p>
<p>All in all, athletics are weighed above USAMO for a reason. The OP came off saying things along the line “It’s not fair that mathletes aren’t given the same respect as varsity athletes” and “USAMO takes just as much dedication as athletics” (this second statement is some bull***** IMHO). USAMO ppl get the respect they deserve from colleges. USAMO ppl usually have 4.0’s and 2300+, where as athletes have between a 2.7 and 3.7ish (average).</p>
<p>^Chill out dude, you’re far too agitated by a simple discussion. I’m not disagreeing with anything you said, you might want to read my posts more carefully, I’m only trying to analyze the reason for the OP’s annoyance…(Just FYI most USAMO qualifiers do not have 4.0’s and 2300+)</p>
<p>As a varsity athlete, I am in no way trying to downplay its significance nor the work associated with it.</p>
<p>gogators, i dont think youve read through my posts, only one… i myself am an athlete and have never competed in math(mainly because there are like no possibilities of that where im from) so i was also saying that colleges probably see the people that can balance sports and grades both have a more well rounded personality as well as better time management etc…</p>
<p>please go back to page 2 and read my posts there, and you will see trust me, i spent 50+ hours/week on sports and maintained an ‘A’ average gpa, i know what its like… :)</p>