Public college football and male basketball players SAT scores far below classmates'

Applying to College
21

<p>Why are people so quick to wag their fingers at the incoming students. I don't think it has ever been a secret that most athletes have lower SAT/GPA than the overall student body. What concerns me more is whether they are graduating at the same rate as the rest of the student body. Are the schools making sure they are academically qualified to graduate and qualified to do something else beside sports post-grad? Many of these athletes come from low-income families. Getting them through college is an achievement in itself, not just winning bowls or tournaments.</p>

22

<p>Breaking news! College athletes score lower in academics! What a shocker!</p>

<p>Come on, the stereotypic football player with a strong back and weak mind has been a stock character on US college campuses at least since the early 20th century. And it looks like they are still with us. Big deal.</p>

23

<p>first of all no one gets paid to play sports, only through scholarships so its not HUGE, second, its................nevermind that...346 points lower than the avg at U of Florida...<em>*...thats a 300 max!! *</em> has america become. at least every athlete can point to barack obama (im not saying that football players are black....but....................)</p>

24

<p>o and i didnt read posts above me pointing out the common sense in this fact.......</p>

<p>uhh look at the numbers, i don't think sports and academics had this kind of gap in the pass</p>

<p>but hey, maybe they had really really really good essays, and we didnt look at their ECs rofl lol lol</p>

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<p>Why would they do that? Obama did not play intercollegiate sports.</p>

26

<p>black leaders should be outraged how black athletes are exploited by these football and basketball coaches. The type of degrees these players get from an Auburn or Florida is not even as good as a HS degree from a decent public suburban HS. They won't be able to get jobs. This is a tragedy</p>

27

<p>I also think these collges should be told they need to fund a scholarship for any of these basketball or football players if they want to come back to school and get a degree in business, education, etc.... where they can then find a decent job</p>

28

<p>This is why I prefer DivIII - no athletic scholarships, but athletic programs for students who play for the love of it.</p>

29

<p>Football and basketball players work just as hard as we do, simply with a different interest. We study hard, they practice hard. If we are rewarded with scholarships, why should they not receive them as well?</p>

30

<p>thats completely untrue, many DIII programs give academic money that their athletes don't qualify for to the athletes in order to entice them to go there. i know plenty of DIII athletes who were borderline acceptances but manage to have 10k in scholarships.</p>

31

<p>dontno, you are out of your mind if you don't think colleges benefit economically from football and basketball teams. With ticket sales, merchandise sales, and billion dollar TV contracts, many college teams are as profitable as pro teams without having to pay millions in salaries. The top college coaches wouldn't be making 3-5 million a year if the schools weren't raking in serious cash. Your points about Davidson and BC are true, but you're pointing to situations where schools have new revenue coming in. The schools like Florida and Oklahoma have a constant flow of $20-30 mil (or more) in profits every year off their teams. </p>

<p>I can't post links here, so google "The Business of College Football" on PBS. It details how college football is a $6 billion a year industry and it has a great example. Texas Tech's endowment was $50 million the year before it entered the Big 12 conference. It now has an endowment of $700 million.</p>

32

<p>^ I was about to say the same thing. Colleges make MILLIONS a year from TV and advertising contracts. This wouldn't be possible if they didn't have good players.</p>

33

<p>Without these athletes, college wouldn't be nearly as fun to go to for the non-athletes...college athletics--especially D1, bigtime conferences--are an integral part of the college experience for a huge portion of the college-going population...and this is enhanced by the talents of these--perhaps not so academically qualified--top athletes.</p>

34

<p>
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Football and basketball players work just as hard as we do, simply with a different interest. We study hard, they practice hard. If we are rewarded with scholarships, why should they not receive them as well?

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<p>I wish that colleges weren't used as "farm teams" for professional sports, though. I wish colleges focused on academics, with some people playing a sport for the love of it, while those who want a professional career in sports take time away from their education to seriously pursue that path. That seems more "pure" to me.</p>

35

<p>For the most part, the wealthiest people have the highest test scores. Football players with low test scores may come from a lower socioeconomic background and worse high schools. A state school's mission is to provide quality education to as many in state students as possible and to attract the best out of state students to the state. The systems are large for a reason, and I don't see any justification to not allow a student who can contribute positively to the university at least a chance at academic success and a degree.</p>

36

<p>I'm fine with this. UF is a sick school, academically and athletically.</p>

37

<p>People forget that it takes more than just insane work ethic, you have to be somewhat blessed with natural talent, to be a D1 athlete or a brilliant student, to be a D1 Athlete and score 1400+(out of 1600) on the SAT or 30+ on the ACT is just amazing, if you are a person who fits this case as in both intelligent and a D1 football/basketball player, then you have truly been blessed with talent. (along with great work ethic I'm sure creates quite a combination)</p>

38

<p>This happens everywhere. I knew a kid who went to Princeton on a "special skills" (soccer) scholarship. He was ranked 30th in his class. Val of his class was rejected. Fair or unfair its certainly nothing new. I would like to see legacies SAT scores too. Im sure GWBush took someones seat at Yale. Blue blood affirmative action.</p>

39

<p>D3 isnt allowed to give scholarships for athletics </p>

<p>someone said that before...and i think that should be clarified</p>

40

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<p>Didn't help Hawaii, apparently. Notre Dame, with one of the top graduation rates, crushed them. :)</p>

<p>I wonder how other "special talent" students might fare in this kind of comparison, e.g., music prodigies given admissions preference because of their performance skills.</p>