for American teenagers. Especially at Ivies.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/27/upshot/getting-into-the-ivies.html?_r=0&abt=0002&abg=0
I feel like people that write these articles are just parents or students who didn’t get into a college they wanted to get into and wanted a scapegoat. The same article has been written about black kids, children of alumni, athletes…
Shoddy journalism, in my opinion. Rather than sticking to their main point, that more foreign students are attending US colleges, they veer off into silliness. For example:
A large fraction of athletes and URMs are from high income families? I don’t think so.
Duh… who do they think is covering the FA and merit aid awards for many US students?
Athletes in sports that are fairly obscure but which many of the Ivies sponsor? Actually, yes.
Think crew, sailing, lacrosse, fencing, and field hockey.
Even tennis and hockey (not obscure, but tilted towards the top of the income spectrum).
Hockey?
@TomSrOfBoston, in some places (like those frozen half the year; think MN or the Dakotas), everyone plays, but in other places, hockey’s much more of a rich kids’ sport.
That’s the case even in CT, even though it’s in New England.
Hockey is super expensive around here (Ohio). Gear, ice time, and at elite levels, club team fees, trainers, coaches, etc. Actually all but gear and ice time are factors in sports that don’t cost much to participate in at first - volleyball, basketball, soccer. If you want to be recruitable you probably need at least the funds to play off-season on a national team, with all the fees and travel costs that come with that, as well as lessons and training and so on.
“crew, sailing, lacrosse, fencing, and field hockey” - add water polo (!), swimming. I don’t think LAX and FH cost much more than volleyball or basketball, gear or team-wise, though they are only available at certain (usually well-off) schools and in certain areas of the country.
Football is about the only one that is so encompassing in the school year that there isn’t a real industry built around off season teams. As far as I know.
URMs - if schools can check more than one box there I think they often do - URM and full pay? Great. URM with high test scores and grades and ECs (often means middle class or higher), perfect.
Basketball’s also a sport that’s inexpensive for poor kids.
Wrestling.
It’s actually a bit difficult to find sports where rich kids don’t have an advantage when it comes to development (in the US).
Track and field? Cross country? Do they qualify as inexpensive? There must be more.
In terms of equipment and costs to, say, play recreationally, a lot of sports - soccer, any kind of running, basketball, football are all pretty affordable. But to get good enough to be recruited by colleges…that often takes significant coaching, competitive league play (and being seen by college coaches) and all that…? That kind of thing can get very expensive even before you have to pay for sailboats, tennis/squash courts, ice time and so on.
Yale admitted 8.8% international 10 years ago, and 10.4% today. I don’t think those extra 25-30 per class are the issue. Also, Yale does not give athletic scholarships. Maybe something else might help explain it?
Yale doesn’t give athletic scholarships but they do recruit athletes.
. . . and the Ivies have steadily increased the sports they sponsor (and thus the number of spots for athletes) over the years.