<p>My S does not play any sports, but he undoubtedly has potential, and it shows in his work. As an 8th grader, he received a 730 in math, 660 in writing, and 680 in CR. Is it impossible for him to be accepted into an Ivy League or any of the top notch schools without being involved in sports? Any suggestions?</p>
<p>Of course, it is possible for your son to get into a top school without sports. He must have some outside interests, pursued in depth, but they need not be sports.</p>
<p>of course, our HS had honors awards last night, and the non-athletic drum major is off to Stanford, another non-sport student is off to Yale.</p>
<p>I got into Princeton without sports. Just advise your son to find an activity or a cause that really moves him, and to throw himself head first into it! Adcoms want to see passion and achievement, which can certainly be accomplished outside of sports.</p>
<p>No, my daughter was accepted to several Ivies without a hint of sports, unless you count figure skating, which she hadn't done in 3 years. Passion is the buzz word often used. Find a passion and excel at it. Community sevice, debate, Model UN, music, etc.</p>
<p>My S got into Brown and he doesn't play sports. But, he has been involved in a couple of ECs since middle school. Everyone else who has posted has told you the truth-find something that you enjoy-music, band, student government, boy scouts....whatever it is, they want to see some passion and consistency. They also like to see leadership-if you are an officer or are involved in something at a greater level than just a member who participates occasionally.</p>
<p>I think the percentage of athletes at the Ivies is around 15%; at highest maybe 20%. </p>
<p>A better question might be whether you can get into an Ivy without being a URM. Far more slots are offered to that group than to athletes. Princeton's new admissions director has upped the ante to over 40% of acceptances going to URM's. </p>
<p>And a better question yet might be to ask (if you are dead set on an Ivy education for your student) what your child is passionate about besides academic excellence. While that alone may have been sufficient to open Ivy doors a generation ago, perfect SAT's and straight A+'s abound, and understandably, admissions departments have to rely on yet other criteria to discover their most outstanding candidates.</p>
<p>But you can also relax a bit if your child is graduating after 2009 -- I hear the numbers of high school graduates (baby boomlet kids) will drop significantly after that graduating class heads off to college.</p>
<p>Dizzy mom, what is your source for this:
"over 40% of acceptances going to URM's. "</p>
<p>That number seems impossibly high. Care to back up your statement?</p>
<p>The 40 percent figure should be correct for "students of color" at most highly selective colleges, but of course Asian students are hardly "underrepresented" at any such college these days. There seems to be some confusion of two distinct ethnic categories in the first post in this thread about ethnic groups at selective colleges. </p>
<p>P.S. I have children who were born into high school classes of 2010 or later, and I do not at all expect them to have easier admission chances than students today. The "flight to quality" continues, and students from all over the world are applying to the most selective colleges in the United States, so that national demographic trends in the United States are not the sole influence on how competitive application is year by year.</p>
<p>bandit_tx :</p>
<p>"No, my daughter was accepted to several Ivies without a hint of sports, unless you count figure skating, which she hadn't done in 3 years. Passion is the buzz word often used. Find a passion and excel at it. Community sevice, debate, Model UN, music, etc."</p>
<ol>
<li><p>So if you receive awards in each of these categories that are at least school, regional or maybe some national level does it help you in admissions. And on top of it if you play sports will it help.</p></li>
<li><p>Is your daughter asian or white or URM?</p></li>
</ol>
<p>My friend was accepted to Harvard, Princeton, and Yale without a single sport.</p>
<p>Here is some info:
<a href="http://www.princeton.edu/pr/pwb/06/0417/1c.shtml%5B/url%5D">http://www.princeton.edu/pr/pwb/06/0417/1c.shtml</a></p>
<p>There is a need to be different than the crowd, to be an individual. Sports is one way.
Letting the kid do what he likes is probably an underappreciated way.</p>
<p>Holy Batman, Robin: 44% of Princeton Admission were to those with minority background. Isn't that taking affirmative action a bit too far?</p>
<p>Well said, beprepn.</p>
<p>"44% minority background":
that counts ANYONE who's indicated a non-white ethnicity, bi-racial, & multi-racial.
It's NOT 44% for URM.</p>
<p>Most Asian students do not fall into URM, but are counted as "minority ethnicity" in terms of overall stats.</p>
<p>mrwang, I must say that I am shocked that you are even considering this kind of question for an 8th grader. At this time, you should be encouraging your son to follow whatever activity makes him happy and in which he has a passion. Heck, as a 13 year old, it would be NORMAL for him not to have a passion yet, and he should be exploring all kinds of activities to test his wants and desires and see what he likes to do. If this is a sport, so be it. If this is porcelain painting, terrific. But it should be what he adores, NOT what you think will or will not get him into some mythical Ivy League school. </p>
<p>Let your son grow to his own potential and develop his own interests based on his loves. Please. Trust me, as a mom of a kid who did get into her dream school, THIS is what colleges want. Not some cookie cutter kid who fulfills someone else's idea of what an "Ivy League" applicant is. The college admissions committees see through this like nobody's business. They want kids who are individuals who are self-motivated, not parent-motivated, and who identify their OWN potential and pursue their OWN passions.</p>
<p>OK, off my soapbox.</p>
<p>My S got into Penn SEAS, no sports, no leadership, not an URM. But a history of passion for years in Comp Sci/math - EC's and summer activities. It should be noted that Penn SEAS had an acceptance rate of 26.5% this year.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Holy Batman, Robin: 44% of Princeton Admission were to those with minority background. Isn't that taking affirmative action a bit too far?
[/quote]
</p>
<p>So the assumption is that white people are admitted on "merit", and those with browner skin must be affirmative action?</p>
<p>Taxguy -- I feel as though I was asleep for several years and missed one of the biggest changes in admissions, the right to brag over the number of admitted students whose parents did not attend college. If my daughter calls me asking to drop out of college, perhaps I will encourage her to do so. After all, it will give her unborn children a better chance of getting into the college of their dreams.</p>