<p>The most interesting quote: " But Harvard’s seven-year-old policy of granting an extremely generous financial-aid package to any admitted student that needs it now allows the school to offer packages that can compete with any university’s athletic scholarships."</p>
<p>Great article. Great for Harvard. Great for the Ivy League. I am totally biased, as I know varska is, by having an athlete at the school, but IMO the athletes add to the wonderful mix of students at the college. Thanks for posting it. And I can’t wait to watch ESPN College GameDay tomorrow.</p>
<p>What a great game today for the Ivy Championship. Just a few observations -
The Yale QB, Morgan Roberts, was a transfer from Clemson. The subject comes up from time to time about transferring into an Ivy school and generally, it’s as rare as hen’s teeth. Roberts was apparently able to resume conversation with the Yale coach that recruited him as a HS student and make it happen.</p>
<p>Yale had a solid football team this year, losing only 1 game. They also are the reigning champs in D1 hockey. Couple that with the fact that Yale cut way back on athletic support under President Levin’s tenure make me think the emphasis is focused on hockey and football - wondering if Yale LLs are very scarce outside those two sports.</p>
<p>The final play of the game was an interception by Harvard’s Scott Peters. The question comes up occasionally about walking on to an Ivy team. Peters, according to reports, was a walk-on with no admissions support. So yes, it can happen.</p>
<p>varska, good observations. Some nit picky things to note. Yale lost 2 games – Dartmouth and Harvard. Also, they are not the reigning champs in hockey, Union College is.(Yale was two years ago.) My daughter’s team at Yale had five LLs her year (every recruit) so they certainly weren’t scarce on her team. </p>
<p>Each Ivy has a maximum of 230 slots per year. Each school decides how many, up to 230, to use. I think I have read that Yale is in the 180 range. No matter how good the football team is, there is only room for 20-25 recruits for football per year, at most. So there are plenty of slots/likely letters available for other sports regardless of the success of football or any other particular team.</p>
<p>EDIT: <a href=“Future of athletic recruitment remains uncertain - Yale Daily News”>http://yaledailynews.com/blog/2013/10/18/future-of-athletic-recruitment-remains-uncertain/</a></p>
<p>Would be interested to hear observations on whether athletes at Yale, Harvard or other Ivies tend to self-segregate themselves socially…or the converse, whether the non-athlete student body tends to steer a little clear.</p>
<p>fenwaypark - Ivy football can support up to 30 recruits in 4 bands. So if Yale is (or was under Levin) supporting about 50 fewer athletes than its peers, and football is getting a full share, my guess is that track and field may be getting the short end of the stick. With about 50 men and 50 women on the roster - it takes up a lot of the LLs at most schools. Not to bash Yale, but the track teams have finished at the bottom of the conference - by a lot - for years. </p>
<p>As for athletes self-segregating socially - I would say they’re probably more integrated (at H, at least) than most D1 schools. No separate jock meal hall, housing, etc that you might find elsewhere. But the fact that they’re spending 4 hours each day together does means they tend to form closer relationships. Can’t speak for all, of course - just my N=1 observation.</p>
<p>It’s not just the number of likely letters but who they can be issued to. If two similar schools issue the same number of likely letters but have different admissions criteria, then the one with the more restrictive admissions policy will be at a disadvantage due to a small number of potential recruits. </p>
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<p>Not sure what this means. 30 recruits in each class? So if I looked at Ivy football rosters I would find about 120?</p>
<p>“So if I looked at Ivy football rosters I would find about 120?” </p>
<p>No, there’s always going to be some attrition. Here’s a good article from the NYT that explains it -
<a href=“Before Athletic Recruiting in the Ivy League, Some Math - The New York Times”>Before Athletic Recruiting in the Ivy League, Some Math - The New York Times;
<p>If you don’t feel like reading the whole thing, here’s an excerpt:</p>
<p>(Ivy League Executive Director Robin)“Harris also explained that certain sports are scrutinized separately: football, basketball and ice hockey, in particular. Football teams, which are allowed to support an average of 30 recruits a year in the admissions process, are also regulated in four A.I. bands spaced from low to high, with each band’s A.I. rising by about 10 points. Al Bagnoli, the Penn football coach, said last year that he was given 2 spots in the lowest band, 8 in the second band, 12 in the third and 8 in the highest.”</p>
<p>I learned something.</p>
<p>Based on the NCAA FBS scholarship limit of 85 for football, I incorrectly assumed the FCS Ivies would have about the same number of slots.</p>
<p>I understand the bands, although it is my understanding they are used differently by each school and for each sport. For example I have anecdotal evidence, can’t prove it, that for Yale baseball every recruit has to meet the applicable standard. In other words a smart kid’s AI can not offset a weaker student’s AI.</p>
<p>Basic rule of thumb is that Ivy athletes need to be within one standard deviation of the entire student body’s AI.</p>
<p>As for how the athletic and non-athletic portions of the student body regard each other, here is a recent article that touches on some of that issue.</p>
<p><a href=“Majority of undergrads oppose reserving spots for athletes - The Brown Daily Herald”>Majority of undergrads oppose reserving spots for athletes - The Brown Daily Herald;