<p>No more than a tiny handful do this. Very few will ever get into the pros, and even fewer will do so early. We are talking about a very large number of D1 players, far more than there are in the NBA altogether. They may not graduate, but only a tiny proportion are making their fortunes as NBA players.</p>
<p>As for Berkeley, it is trying to be both a top university in the quality of its graduate programs and have a legitimate Pac 10 athletic program. Few of the scholars who make UCB’s academic reptutation are playing on the football team. It is close to impossible to have a national level football team and a high graduation rate. In the past, some places would try by filling their athletes’ schedule with joke courses that would not distract them from working out. The faculty rebelled, and now there is no pretense that all the players are there for an education. Some may be, but many are there to play a sport.</p>
<p>I get more upset when places that claim different priorities, like the Ivies, over emphasize sports.</p>
<p>afan,
I think your point about football is borne out by most statistics, but some schools have been able to successfully pull it off (good football and good graduation rate), eg, Wake Forest, UC Berkeley, Northwestern, and probably surprising to a lot of folks, Penn State and U Florida. </p>
<p>I looked at the D-I schools in the USNWR Top 40. Here is how the best of them did with NCAA graduation rate data for the major sports of football, basketball, and baseball. </p>
<p>FOOTBALL</p>
<p>FOOTBALL 90-100% Club
Brown
Bucknell
Columbia
Cornell
Dartmouth
Duke
Harvard
Holy Cross
Navy
Princeton
Rice
Stanford
U Penn
Yale</p>
<p>FOOTBALL 80-90% Club
Army
Georgetown
Lafayette
Northwestern
Notre Dame
Penn State
U Florida
UC Berkeley
Vanderbilt
Wake Forest</p>
<p>BASKETBALL</p>
<p>BASKETBALL 90-100% Club
Army
Brown
Bucknell
Columbia
Duke
Harvard
Holy Cross
Lehigh
Navy
Notre Dame
Princeton
U Illinois
U North Carolina
U Penn
U Texas
Yale</p>
<p>BASKETBALL 80-90% Club
American
Colgate
Cornell
Dartmouth
Lafayette
Northwestern
Penn State
Stanford
UCLA
Vanderbilt</p>
<p>BASEBALL</p>
<p>BASEBALL 90-100% Club
Brown
Bucknell
Columbia
Cornell
Dartmouth
Duke
Harvard
Holy Cross
Lafayette
Lehigh
Navy
Notre Dame
Princeton
U Penn
Vanderbilt
Yale</p>
<p>BASEBALL 80-90% Club
Army
Georgetown
Northwestern
Stanford
U Florida
USC
Wake Forest</p>
<p>You’re right; I probably overstated the basketball v. football disparity. I wonder, though, what truly accounts for that difference.</p>
<p>Regarding sports at Ivies: I really do think Ivies, for the most part, do a good job of finding the right balance between athletic and academic skills for athletes. I mean, sure; any team in the Ivies with national-champion capability probably has a few…academic misfits. And yeah, the bigger athletic programs, too. But even then, it’s not like the guys being recruited are dunces; plus, what they bring to school pride and spirit is often understated in its value. After all, what makes the Ivy League a League? It’s an athletic conference composed of some of most tradition-bound schools in the nation.</p>
<p>Besides, you’d be surprised how little the Ivies compromise, even for top athletes. Ross Ohlendorf, a former baseball pitcher at Princeton, is now a burgeoning MLB player; he had a 1580 (out of 1600) on his SATs and was talented enough to play at every college program in the nation. In a nation of 300 million people, there are enough people similar to Ross Ohlendorf (though probably not quite as remarkable) who can fill most athletic slots at Ivy League schools.</p>
<p>hawkette,
Kudos for including baseball as a major sport! :D</p>