<p>It's OK to set different admissions standards for athletes -- since they are exceptional people after all. But student athletes should be students first and athletes second, and there should be some sense of intellectual passion, never mind a <1750 SAT or whatever. When these people graduate and go on to professional sports careers or whatever, they, like everyone else, should be able to go, "I learnt so much intense **** in that school" and be able to talk about at least one inspiring professor whose merits aren't judged by how hard/easy he or she is.</p>
<p>…yes? I think you’re probably trying to imply that many student-athletes don’t pull their own weight academically, but all you’ve done is reinforce their standards.</p>
<p>That being said, I know what you mean. Sometimes it’s a pain, but other times, I feel like it’s just the way life is - I have a friend who was recruited for Harvard and is literally the biggest slacker I know. C’est la vie, as annoying as it gets.</p>
<p>I don’t see a difference. Athletes are training for their career beyond school in what ever sport they’re in. Just like you’re taking that certain class that’s going to help you in your career beyond school.</p>
<p>In my opinion, student athletes (usually non-football/basketball) have it the toughest on campus. They have to balance practice and traveling to games while doing the same amount of academics than everybody else. It’s tough work to graduate while being a student athlete.</p>
<p>you can always just rest easy knowing that if they don’t go pro and didn’t do jack **** academically then they’ll have a promising future as Assistant Store Manager at a Mickey D’s</p>
<p>um I’m not annoyed at the fact they can make it in the real world with sports. to each man his own. (same for women…) </p>
<p>what I mean is that while they’re members of my school, I’d like for them to be part of the same intellectual community, voice decent, educated opinions in class, so and so forth…</p>
<p>My opinion is that if a school is very good at something, it makes sense to admit people who can take advantage of that pool of talent.</p>
<p>So if a selective school happens to be really good at athletics, then I see no problem with a somewhat mediocre student being admitted for athletics. </p>
<p>I think, though, that selective schools can admit people who’re neither athletes nor particularly motivated students, which is a little more than sad.</p>
<p>I guess there isn’t really anything wrong with different standards if they’re going to be recruited to the team. That being said, they definitely should have academic passion (like most of the other applicants) and the standard they’re held to should only be slightly scaled down. So if the average SAT score for a regular applicant was 2200 and 4.0 UW gpa, then for the top athletes they should have an average SAT score of 2000 and a 3.7 gpa.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t say that doing sports is any different than doing very time intensive research, so I wouldn’t hold them to any less of an academic standard (keeping a 2.5 or 3.0+ gpa) at the university though.</p>
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<p>A world champion Halo player or juggler is also an exceptional person. Should we lower standards for them as well?</p>
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<p>Most student athletes at selective universities are relatively unimpressive athletic specimen and have 0% chance of making it pro. An Ivy League athlete who is drafted in the late rounds will probably be upheld as the biggest success story of the program.</p>
<p>The only problem is that the school doesn’t have stand a chance to make money off of Halo leagues or juggling competitions :)</p>
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<p>So this should be taken into consideration. I think if a student athlete is just decent, nothing else, then it’s a little silly to admit them without other factors which say that they’re really going to use the resources of the university. I’m assuming that if a university is really good at athletics, then it does make sense to look for athletes who can actually handle that level of rigor, even if that means compromising on their academic commitments, though certainly they should be held to getting basic requirements out of the way and getting a degree.</p>
<p>I view this as analogous to how someone specializing in a certain discipline is held to certain minimum requirements like Ramblinman said, but ultimately what’s most important to them may be whatever special stuff they train themselves in, which may involve extensive independent projects.</p>
<p>I think the rule should be that the student is passionate about (and shows promise in) something which really takes advantage of what the university has to offer. If the athletic track of the university basically is just an extracurricular and not a stepping stone to the individual’s career, obviously (s)he is wasting the admissions spot if not taking advantage of other things at the university.</p>
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<p>Unless one takes into account the supply of such athletes…</p>
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<p>C average isn’t good enough? What schools kick people out for passing all their classes?</p>
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<p>do you have to miss class every week for your research?</p>
<p>doubtful.</p>
<p>No, but you know how you end up doing the work for your lab while you have class, and then do the homework for one class in another class?</p>
<p>(btw, I miss class to attend regional debate tournaments.)</p>
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<p>Athletes at highly selective schools make as much if not more than the average student. The skills and attitudes learned on a team sport are very, very useful in the business world.</p>
<p>They are, but you’re gonna have a tough time getting a good job if your GPA was a solid 2.01</p>
<p>There is a huge and extensive hiring network for Harvard athletes via the Varsity Club, where athletes are highly recruited for their work ethic, team skills and ability to bounce back from defeat. An athlete who spends 20 hours a week on practices and games can have a 2.0 but still be highly intelligent and capable.</p>
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<p>That’s really not your business…</p>
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<p>Only if he channels that same drive he had for the team to the workforce.</p>
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<p>Yeah, they’re not that good at sports are they? :D</p>