<p>How much does being a recruited athlete help when trying to be admitted.</p>
<p>I know that the coach does not have as much "pull" as non-ivy schools, as admissions has the final and really only say on who gets in.</p>
<p>With that being said, How much does it help?</p>
<p>Also, does how good you are at the sport your being recruited for show on the application to the adcomm or is it like a recruit is a recruit and theirs a little check mark from the coach that one's an athlete.</p>
<p>Enormously. Now I’m fairly new to this site, but I have realized that people lie and exaggerate ridiculously on here to impress people on their “insider” info. However, I am a soccer player who is recruited by an Ivy league school, and I have a personal friend who “commited” to penn, and I do understand how this all works.</p>
<p>Coaches at ivy league schools have about 6-8 slots of people who they can VERY heavily support to get into the school. The coaches look at the athletes SAT + GPA and multiply these two values to get a certain “academic index”. When the coach decideds he can “support” an athlete, he give the athlete a likely letter and the athlete “verbally commits” to the school. I have never heard of a coach or school breaking a verybal commitment, meaning that almost every athlete that receives support from a coach gets in. </p>
<p>For example, my friend has a 1750 SAT and like a 3.6 GPA. Those are horrendously low for penn, but he’s a good soccer player. Sorry to all the non-athletes out there, but this is the truth.</p>
<p>agreed with af33, though I am a bit surprised at how low the SATs are. Is your friend a REALLY GOOD soccer player? I would have guessed there are plenty of very good soccer players out there who are also quite strong academically.</p>
<p>weird, not disagreeing with you, just surprised.</p>
<p>indeed re: academic index. HOWEVER, the ‘slots’ idea is not as correct. They have to have a certain average academic index for all recruits. SO they could have a few dumb recruits, but have to balance them with smarter ones, etc. Likely letter comment also correct.</p>
<p>Read this. There’s an index and coaches have to adhere to for a floor and think about the team’s average. Different Ivies will set different thresholds the coaches have to meet for the team average.</p>
<p>A football player from my school was recruited by Harvard and was told that he’s pretty much in if he breaks 1700 on his SATs on the 23rd. He does have like a 3.95 GPA though.</p>
<p>Recruits get an application (if the coach is supporting them) that is stamped “SOCCER RECRUIT” or whatever the sport. The coach will give you a good idea of your admission chances. If you don’t have a prayer, they are generally honest enough to tell you that. A lot depends on the sport. You can have somewhat lower stats for football, basketball, wrestling and hockey.</p>
<p>Just to correct a nuance, the coach’s support does not actually bind the admissions department. Coaches will work/consult with admissions to make certain they are on board, and one of the reasons for the “likely” letter is that it comes from admissions, not the coach, and represents their sign-off long before the normal date for announcing decisions.</p>