My Ivy chances

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hi guys,
I am a baseball player and I am being recruited primarily by Wesleyan and Oberlin, but also (somewhat) by Wash U and Bowdoin. However, I’m scared that these schools may not be the best fit for me. I’m just wondering if I should take the guaranteed acceptance or apply to more rigorous schools. Here are my stats:
ACT: 32 (34M, 33E, 32 R, 30S, 11W)
I AM taking the act again and have been scoring 34-35 on practice tests.
GPA 4.0/4.0 UW, 5.1/5.1 W

AP’s: AP USH (5), AP US Gov (5), AP Lang (5), AP Seminar (5)

Senior course load:
AP Comp Sci
AP Macro
AP Calc AB
AP Research
Honors Spanish IV
Honors World Lit
Honors Jounalism (Editor)

EC’s:
4-year Varsity baseball and Captain, Spanish Honors Society committee head, Political debate club president (very active club), NHS, Key Club (over 100 volunteer hours), Investment Club VP, Debate team award winner (hated it and quit after a year)

Work/Summer/Out of school:
Junior Economic Club of (my city here) Ambassador, Paid internship at world renowned University for a summer, Nationally ranked club baseball team, work as a Busboy at local cafe.

I am a strong writer and am confident that my essays will be solid. My ACT should go up to hopefully a 34. I can use baseball as a potential hook at a lot of schools.

I’m a white Male, both parents went to college, but <$30,000 bracket.

I go to one of the top public schools in the state and ranked in the top 100 nationally.

I know this is a lot, and I have some time, but I am just looking for some guidance here.
Thank you!

2

Have you reached out to any ivy coaches?

3

When you say, "more rigorous ", do you mean more difficult to get into, like Yale or Stanford? You don’t mention whether they are recruiting you. Assuming, they’re not, they remain a crap shoot for you as well as for just about every other h.s. newspaper editor with decent ACTs. Do you plan on majoring in Econ? That’s going to be plenty rigorous at all the places you mentioned.

4

I will tell you what my daughter did, with the caveat that I know little about baseball and the recruiting process could be very different.
My daughter’s ACT scores were similar to yours and her GPA was lower (4.11). During the summer between her junior and senior year, she reached out to an ivy coach. She filled out the recruiting questionnaire but also sent an email discussing her interest in the program. At the time she didn’t have her ACT scores, but once she received them, she emailed the coach again, gave her the scores, reiterated her interest in the program and sent video footage.
I’m not sure how baseball works, but there were still open “slots” the summer before ans the fall of her senior year in high school.
If you are truly interested in an ivy, I would reach out to whichever ivy team interests you, sending a statement of interest, stats and maybe video. And also fill out the recruiting form (but don’t JUST fill out the recruiting form).
Also, I’ve found from experience with my daughter and nephew that emailing both the head coach and the assistant coach is the way to go.

5

The four colleges that are recruiting you are extremely rigorous, both in terms of getting in (selectivity), and in terms of staying in (academics).

6

Like almost everyone else, your Ivy chances are not great. Unless you are hooked or have an incredible resume of awards and ECs, it is tough to be accepted to any Ivy. I say reach out to Ivy coaches and see if they have any interest in you.

7

Thank you for the responses and yeah I know that they’re rigorous, but not necessarily the best fit for me. I’m talking about schools like Duke, Dartmouth, Vanderbilt, USC, and Penn mostly

8

I agree with @Alexandre, the four schools that are recruiting you are academically excellent and very challenging. Any of them is going to be a LOT more academically challenging compared to high school, and a degree from any of them will be highly respected by graduate schools and employers. While the Ivy League schools might be slightly more famous, it is not clear that they are academically any better than the four superb schools that you are already talking to. If you want to consider an Ivy League school, then I agree with @doorrealthe that you need to reach out to the coaches at other schools. Given how strong your choices are, and given your parents income, I would be inclined to very seriously consider going to the school that gives you the best deal.

By the way, Congratulations! It looks like you are probably going to have superb schools to choose between.

9

“Thank you for the responses and yeah I know that they’re rigorous, but not necessarily the best fit for me. I’m talking about schools like Duke, Dartmouth, Vanderbilt, USC, and Penn mostly”

In terms of athletics those are all a step up from the original schools you mentioned and would need some coach to advocate for you wrt admissions. Especially Vanderbilt and USC as those two conferences take baseball a little seriously, if you will. If you don’t feel the four colleges are a fit, then you have to figure out a back up plan which may not include an athletic scholarship (which the Ivy’s don’t give anyway). Since you’re low income you could get a lot of FA, maybe even merit at say USC and try and walk on to the baseball team.

10

Yep, big difference in being recruited for Dartmouth and USC for baseball. USC is one of the top D1 baseball programs of all time.

There is also a hug difference in fit at USC vs Penn vs Dartmouth. What appeals to you about each of these schools that the ones recruiting you don’t?

11

“…you have to figure out a back up plan which may not include an athletic scholarship (which the Ivy’s don’t give anyway).”

I have heard that the Ivy’s don’t give athletic scholarships. I have seen at least one great athlete (who was a pretty good student, but not quite Ivy League caliber based on academics alone) go to an Ivy League school on a full scholarship. You should not count on getting an athletic scholarship from an Ivy League school. If you get one understand that it might or might not admit to being based on athletics. Nonetheless it is not completely hopeless to see whether an Ivy League baseball coach might be interested.

12

Lets see, his parents make less than $30K, his EFC will be $0, he will be a full ride via FA for every Ivy league college.

13

There is no such thing as an athletic scholarship for the Ivies. A recruited athlete may well have lower academic achievements than the average non-hooked student and receive a “full scholarship” that is actually need based financial aid. There are plenty of parents who will say their athletic recruit kid has a “full ride” because it sounds better than to admit their aid was on the basis of need, not athletic ability.

While it won’t hurt to contact any of the Ivy coaches if you think the school is a better fit, in our experience (son was “offered” a baseball recruit spot for half a dozen top academic D3 programs and made official visits to 4 of them, and was told he just missed the cut at the 2 Ivies he was most interested in by mid August), the baseball recruit lists are probably already filled other than for some jockeying which may take place for athletes recruited at multiple schools. I am sure a spot could be found for a truly exceptional athlete as official likely letters don’t go out until Oct and the admission pre-reads generally occur in August with “unofficial” indications of acceptance from the coach after the pre-read. That doesn’t sound like you based on your current recruit list.

Your stat’s certainly put you in the running for any school. The Ivies, like for all candidates, will be reaches. But, I would think you may not need an athletic recruit spot to get into at least one of the schools you listed that is recruiting you for baseball. If school fit is your top priority, you should be making your decisions based on that. If you want to continue baseball and are not recruited, you can always try to walk on, understanding USC and Vandy have a couple of the top D1 programs in the country which make those schools unlikely for baseball if that is something that is also important for you to pursue in college.

14

To @CU123’s very good point, the OP will receive max FA for any of the Ivies. For HYP, it would be 100% grant. That package would most likely be way better than that of the 4 schools that are recruiting you. I’d take a shot at one or all of them, especially if you can get your ACT up a couple of points, even if you are not recruited.

15

Looks like you have a great profile. The schools you mentioned are quite small, except for Wash U. Have you looked into Duke? I know they have a great baseball team and a bunch of their players got recruited to the MLB so there might be spots to fill. Duke is similar caliber to the ivies, except maybe HYP, though it would be a reach too.

16

If you are considering schools like Duke, Dartmouth, Vanderbilt, USC, and Penn, then you should also take a look at Rice. It’s a top-tier school academically, and its size splits the difference between LACs and larger universities like USC and Penn.

Historically, baseball has been Rice’s strongest sport, and the team plays in a very nice stadium on the Rice campus. It does compete at the Division 1 level, however, so this may affect your chances of making the squad.

17

Have you looked into the Questbridge college match? Might be a good resource for you!