I have heard all the things about how recruited athletes get preferential treatment, but is it really true? For example, could a kid with a 3.6 UW gpa, who originally stood no chance, at an Ivy League or t20 school have a strong chance at the school with recruitment status?
Say for example a kid was recruited by a lacrosse coach at Amherst College and they had a 3.5 and a 1500 SAT, decent ecs, decent letters, etc. Would they have a strong chance at getting in?
Many coaches will review your academic record prior to you submitting an application during the process. So, yes, if you are a recruited athlete, it is a huge boost at most schools.
Yes, if recruited, there is a much stronger chance than if just trying to get in with those statistics.
Absolutely.
It helps a lot. At my kiddos school, according to Naviance, kids with B averages and ACT’s in the 20’s get into Ivy’s. I can only assume they are athletes. My non-athlete perfect ACT all A student was rejected from the one she REA’d to, 3 in the same sport were accepted.
Nothing is a guarantee but if you are a recruited athlete your chance of admission is boosted - depending on the school. In my experience, most D3 recruited athletes need to meet the admission criteria of the college and even then not 100%, example MIT. D1 coaches and admissions (including Ivies) have leeway so even if your test grades and gpa might not meet average criteria you would still be offered admission. Ivies have to meet an academic index and they can do that by offsetting a lower academic profile athlete on the team with a higher academic athlete. Some schools like Harvard for a sport like soccer usually only recruit national team level players US included but most often outside US - presumably because US national team players probably want to play for Stanford, UCLA, UNC etc…?
Ask the recruiting coach the hard question - where do I rank on your list? Am I top 5? If so you have a good idea of where you stand. Good luck!
Based on your other thread you appear to be a current senior. EDIT: I MISREAD THE OTHER THREAD. APPARENTLY YOU ARE A JUNIOR BUT ARE PREDICTING YOUR S2 JUNIOR YEAR GRADES, WHICH CONFUSED ME.
Are you currently being recruited? I will let others with more experience chime in, but I believe it is late to enter the recruiting process, especially at the prestigious schools you seem to be targeting. EDIT: THIS IS MOST LIKELY INCORRECT IF YOU ARE IN YOUR JUNIOR YEAR.
Best of luck to you. I hope you get the advice you need here. There are definitely schools that would be good fits for you interests… they just might be a step or two down in prestige from your current list. APOLOGIES FOR THE EDITS AND MISUNDERSTANDING ON YOUR CURRENT YEAR. 
Thanks to @cinnamon1212 for bringing to my attention.
With few exceptions, yes. But “recruited” means you actually received an offer from a coach and the coach already had your file okayed by admissions.
Ivys are significantly more lenient with academic requirements than NESCACS. MIT, CMU, JHU even less so.
Aren’t you a junior playing club lacrosse?
Bluntly, if you have coach support (which often involves passing a preread with the Admissions Office) you are almost certain to be admitted. However getting coach support is not easy. You will want to ask you club coach what level he thinks you can play at. Then you will need to reach out to coaches – many, like, 50+ – to see who might be interested in you.
If coaches haven’t been reaching out to you yet (assuming you’ve played in tournaments and showcases) you might want to focus on d3 schools. You will also want to start thinking about attending ID camps at target schools.
Read the old threads in this forum, they are valuable.
YES, being a recruited athlete is a way for a B+ student to get into a tippy-top school. But you have to be recruited by the coach, the coach has to really want you, and you have to pass an academic pre-read by the school.
For a student like you, if you’re that great a lacrosse player, this could be a way into a much more selective college than you’d have a chance at otherwise.
HOWEVER, if your ultimate goal is law school, this route will not serve you well. Honestly, unless something changes drastically for you, you’re likely to be a B/C student at a highly competitive college, which won’t help you with getting into law school. If what you want is law school, go to the school where you’ll be able to achieve a 4.0 easily. That, combined with your expected high LSAT, will yield better results in law school applications.
The short answer is yes, being a recruited athlete can help with admissions at highly selective schools.
But, being a recruited athlete is an long, involved process. If you are a junior and just now realizing this may be your path to a selective school, you have a lot of work to do. Getting film, going to ID camps and showcases, sending lots and lots of emails, building relationships with coaches, getting academic pre-reads, going on visits, etc. Talk to your current coaches and ask them if you realistically have a shot at this.
Also, realize that being a college student athlete is very time consuming. If you are struggling in high school, this may not be for you.
Good luck with your journey. There is a lot of good info on this forum for potential student athletes.
I wouldn’t count on a super high gpa at a “lesser” school though, and frankly a prestigious college will be helpful in more ways if the OP changes his mind about law school.
@parentologist is very correct though – it is hard to be recruited! If it was easy everyone would do it 
Yes agree, the juniors at my DD high school
have already committed to schools like Duke etc for their sports. We receive school broadcast notifications when they have been recruited and committed. Be proactive and talk to your coach, you have to get seen by these coaches. My son’s therapist had a son recruited for soccer and he was gone every weekend to camps or places / traveling diff places to be seen for college recruiting. Good luck.
If you haven’t been contacted and given firm recruiting info from Ivy coaches already (and lacrosse is your sport), you have zero chance of being recruited. Yale and Cornell are ranked in the top 10 going into the season. The Ivies aren’t just recruiting smart players, they are recruited the top players in the country, and many of those also have top grades from top prep schools.
Talk to your coaches about where you can be recruited and where you also have the best chance to play (two different things).
My DD’s friend from her school just got recruited as a senior for two top 25 schools, one was an IVY. got recruited late and offered a spot so it is possible. Student is number 2 in the country (nationally) for sport this school year and so two schools came knocking on the door after RD apps were submitted. I will not mention the sport since the name could easily be found by googling. So if you happen to become a champion in a sport your senior year, it it still possible to be recruited late by top schools. What prob helped was that apps were submitted to the school already since the student is also a top student and when they saw the results of the nationals - they recruited and offered admissions.
Yes to your broad question, but Ivies and certain other highly rejective schools have more leeway on academic stats than Amherst/NESCACs.
Like other posters, if you need advice on your specific recruiting process, let us know. Many posters here to help you.
Thank you so much I play lacrosse and I am a junior I have sent my highlight tape out to almost all the NESCAC schools and Cornell so far. I have received responses back from three coaches including one at Amherst, but I don’t have the “Amherst GPA”. I have about a 3.56 UW and maybe will have a 3.6 if I am very lucky by the end of this year. I only included my weighted gpa which is a 3.8 in my emails and video as it is also the only GPA that my school records.
None of the coaches have indicated a problem with the 3.8 W but I was just basically wondering if a 3.6 UW is too low at Amherst even for a recruited athlete.
Only the coach can answer your question.
I agree you should use your weighted GPA when reaching out to coaches. They will also look at your course rigor (number of core courses, how many honors/APs), and test scores.
I also agree with cinnamon1212 that the coaches will decide if your GPA is high enough. All you can do is stay in touch with them as the process progresses. I would cast a wider net though if you are sure you want to play lacrosse in college.
Big, big difference than just being a good athlete on a team.