How much does it help to be an athlete trying to get into an Ivy League school? Do the test scores and gpa requirements loosen?
Are you a recruited athlete?
Depending on your abilities and the sport, it could range from a slight loosening to a pretty considerable one.
However, just being a top level soccer (or whatever) player isn’t helpful. It is only helpful if you are being recruited by a coach for one of her limited slots. If you aren’t, then you have to go through the same process as everyone else, with the same odds of admission.
There will be some absolute floor that the coach can’t drop below. She also will have an academic index average that she needs to hit as an average for all recruits for the year. That average is primarily based on test scores, with GPA making a smaller contribution. Depending on that sport, it may be a number pretty close to the average for the university as a whole, or it could be quite a bit lower. The athletic department has to keep the total athlete AI within one standard deviation of the AI of the student body as a whole. As far as which teams bring the score up and which are allowed to go lower, that is up to the athletic director. Generally speaking, more blue collar sports and revenue sports get to have lower targets.
Having said that, even for a top recruit for a high priority sport, the academic cut-offs are pretty high. If you share your sport then we can give you much more helpful info. More than likely there are several people on the board with recent Ivy League recruiting experience in your sport.
Yes, it does, IF you are a recruited athlete and being offered a slot and receive a Likely Letter.
How much it helps with grades/test scores or your Academic Index (AI) varies depending on the sport. Some sports only have a few slots/Likely Letters available with football receiving the most slots/LL and typically having the widest range of AI bands.
There are sites online that will calculate or estimate AI which may give you a sense.
Of course, it will also vary within the Ivy League by school as well. An athlete can be a recruit at one Ivy but not getting any interest from another.
Ivy league coaches are able to provide a much better understanding of the recruited athlete student’s chance of admission. If the student is a good enough athlete to be recruited, then going through the recruiting process is the only way to know how much help is available. So, ignore this advice – Truly exceptional athletes aside, the 25th percentile of test scores from several Ivy league universities’ admitted student profiles might be worth considering as a guide.
Does anyone have any insight as to how the athletic index operates in this new test-optional, contextual admissions world? I have a Senior in a niche sport and it feels like her ranking with an Ivy coach has recently dropped because a couple of standout athletes have suddenly come into play…
^^ I don’t. But remember that the coach is trying to put together the best team possible, to create the best record, etc. Meeting academic requirements is merely that - a requirement - and it’s rarely a driver.
I don’t either, and agree with gardenstategal. Just make sure your D stays in touch with coaches, and understands their decision making process and timing.
I also don’t know, sorry. But I agree with the others that it’s usually the athletic part that drives these decisions (assuming the coach can get the athlete admitted) and that the coaches will be the best source of info. It’s never a disadvantage to have good stats, but trying to game out whether it’ll help a recruit in a particular situation is almost impossible from the outside in my opinion.
We’re at a point in the year where it’s completely fine to ask a coach directly what her or his timeline is for making some of these decisions.
If it helps, I’d say that in a normal year it’s not unusual for coaches to be finalizing decisions into October and sometimes later. This depends on sport, school, and program, of course.
My impression is that ivy coaches may be a little forgiving on academics or a little forgiving on sports stats, but not both. But this also depends on the ivy and how competitive the team is I think. So if academics are super high your sports stats could be a little lower than a “top” recruit in terms of stats/times, but if your academics are more average or a little low for the school your sports stats/times have to be at the top of the sport.
Also it seems to me that some coaches may not know exactly how the AI should be calculated for test optional applicants and could be awaiting guidance on that. I understand they are at a minimum at some ivies looking at AP test scores (which seem to also have been a mess this May/June). So it could be that some non-test optional high academic/high stat prospects showed up maybe. I agree you should just ask all of that. How many slots left, how many prospects higher on the list, etc.
This is a very tough year for the 2021 recruiting class. Program cutting and deferment of 2020 class definitely has reduced available slots for certain sports. Some of the team rosters for class 2021 might have been filled or are filling up fast. I think the best thing to do right now is to ask the coach all the straight questions.
Thank you for all the good advice. It seems a perfect storm of program cutting, deferments and fluid interpretations of AI all adds up to a lot less roster spaces for this years seniors. We are definitely thinking of a PG year…not sure the following year’s admissions will be any easier though!
no I am not; I am a sophomore
softball
If you’re not a recruited athlete then there won’t be any allowances made for GPA or test scores.
@austinmshauri - this makes sense; what about for a preferred walk on?
By definition, a walk on does not have coach support in the admissions process, so there would be little to no lowering of academic standards.
^ This was my reaction also, but then again I don’t hear the term used much in the Ivy context.
@daddycaddy what do you mean by PWO in the Ivy context? An athlete not receiving coach support or LL, but told she can be on the team if admitted? I’d be surprised if such an athlete is getting any help with admissions, but as always I’d ask the coach directly.
My son was told by an ivy that the coach would give his name to admissions as a preferred walk on. The implication is that there is some support, although not much.