<p>I think there is little doubt that there is a strong correlation between music and academic aptitude. Look at the practice of playing Motzart during pregnancy and whole line of toys surrounding this premise and even the instrumental use of music to help Gabby Gifford regain her language skills. The music center of the brain is highly related to academic aptitude. There is no such correlation between sports and academics. Some might argue that here is a negative or inverse correlation. Either way it is not expected so it makes an applicant somewhat unique. By the fact that there are only 200 out of those admitted shows how unique it is.</p>
<p>I am willing to buy the proposition that there are fewer Harvard-qualified students among the top 150 basketball players in the class of 2012 than among the top 150 orchestra members in the class of 2012. </p>
<p>But then I think a question arises: how far down do you have to go among the basketball players, to find the same number of Harvard-qualified students as you do among the top 150 orchestra members? And at what point is “talent” courted in basketball, when the corresponding level of talent in music would go essentially unrecognized? The basketball player mentioned by sherpa in post #370 is not on the Rivals 150 list at Yahoo! Sports.</p>
<p>Then, another guess and question: I would guess that fencers as a group are just about equally likely to be Harvard-qualified as cellists. So the “rarity” argument is much weaker in this case. If you add up the numbers of HYP fencing recruits, do you think that the same number of cellists are recruited by HYP?</p>
<p>Cellists are not recruited by Harvard. Cellists make it to Harvard based on only being a cellist if they are considered to have talent of a future yo-yo ma.</p>
<p>HYP recruit top fencers with strong academics. I doubt they actively recruit cellists. I’m sure that the cellists have worked as hard as the fencers, and would add as much or more to the campus experience. It doesn’t seem right, or fair.</p>
<p>The only justification I can see for favoring fencers is that the Ivy League is an athletic league, and HY and P each choose to compete in fencing.</p>
<p>
Yes but how many students among the top 150 orchestra members are academically qualified and among the top 150 basketball players? When I run Harvard admissions I will only be looking for students with a trifecta of skills! </p>
<p>;)</p>
<p>It will, of course, be a plus if they can play ball with their instrument strapped to their back, or run a few pass plays to liven up a concert!</p>
<p>D1 was in fact the proverbial bassoonist who got into Harvard. She really did play the bassoon. (Still does). In high school she was a talented musician who won state and regional awards for her bassoon playing. Not pro material, but a perfectly respectable college-level, non-music major, bassoonist. And I can assure you she was not “recruited” in any sense of the word to apply to Harvard or any of the other Ivies in which she was interested.</p>
<p>She listed her bassoon achievements prominently in her ECs of course. But like every other Harvard kid I know, she also had sparkling grades, SAT scores, and rec letters to go with it. The bassoon was just one piece of the holistic package.</p>
<p>However, once she did get accepted and showed up on campus, it became apparent that the orchestra leaders already knew that she played the bassoon. She began getting e-mails from the conductors of the various on-campus orchestras and ensembles inviting her to come try out. Which she did.</p>
<p>But as I said, there was not any sort of recruitment to apply or attend similar to what the athletes get. There were no bassoon coaches calling her up. She was not invited to visit campus at school expense to get sweet-talked and to hang out with the current orchestra. There was no Likely Letter. There no sort of Bassoon Letter of Intent. </p>
<p>It was clear their view of her was as a student who might be a valuable bassoonist IF she qualified academically, and IF the adcoms chose her among the thousands of other qualified applicants, and IF she chose to enroll.</p>
<p>For D2 the process was exactly the same except substitute French horn for bassoon and substitute Dartmouth for Harvard.</p>
<p>^ Coureur’s D’s music experience (non-recruited but on the radar) is similar to the state of affairs for fencers at one Ivy, where the coach is famous for his unwillingness to use his limited slots. His standard message is “apply if you’d like, if you get in come on by, we’d love to have you.”</p>
<p>They don’t win a lot of Ivy titles, though.</p>
<p>Is it because he is reading too much CC and feels fencers should not be given an unfair advantage for admissions? :p</p>