Hi everyone, I am a double-athlete at my school. I participate in two sports: diving and cross country. I am a current junior and by the end of senior year, I will have 4 years of both sports under my belt. The swim/dive team at my school is amazing. We won state championships my freshmen and sophomore years and were runner ups for state champs this year. I was captain this year for the swim/dive team (#2 in state championship) and was MVP my freshman year (state champions). I will also most likely be a captain for cross country next year. Anyways, back to my original question: do sports really matter on a college app? So many kids do sports so I kind of feel like it won’t distinguish me from the rest of the applicants. Please reply what you think, I’m interested to hear what you guys have to say about this topic.
It depends on what sorts of schools you’re targeting. Most schools don’t give an advantage to ECs – even nice ones like you have. GPA and Transcript are by far, the biggest factors. How’re those going for you?
Can you compete at a college level and are you recruitable? That’s when it makes a big difference.
Being a captain shows leadership so that is a plus.
Being on sports teams and having a leadership position demonstrates your involvement in your school community and your leadership but it’s not a hook in the way that being a recruited athlete is a hook. My daughter has friends who are being recruited for various sports and they are already (as juniors) on a different track. They have met with coaches, told what their target SAT/ACT scores should be, etc.
Yes sports are extremely important. Heavily recruited athletes have a near 100% chance of acceptance unless they flunk every test, especially in team sports like football, basketball, lacrosse or crew. In individual sports like diving and cross country, I’m afraid you need to get to the National/Olympic level if you want a guaranteed acceptance to an elite school. Otherwise, apply to colleges that have a good reputation in diving/cross country and you will likely have a better chance.
I’m not being recruited unfortunately. The main school I want to go to is UNC (in-state) and they have a very holistic approach to applications. My grades are pretty good. I make mostly A’s with a couple of B’s thrown in here and there. @fallcolors @uesmomof2 @doschicos @T26E4
If you are not a recruited athlete, then sports is considered to be a good EC but nothing more. If you are named captain then it shows a good leadership position.