<p>I am a female soccer player that has played on olympic developement teams from the state level thru to my age group's National Team. I guess you could say I am recognized as one of the top ten players at my position in my age group. </p>
<p>I will be recruited at some of the top soccer schools. However, I'm wondering how far my achievements would get me at the top academic schools in the nation. Is it realistic to think that a soccer coach at Harvard or Yale could get me thru admissions if I was one of their top 2 recruits .... with a weighted GPA of about 3.6 and SAT's (new test) at about 1800? A few of them are inferring that they could do so ... but I have my doubts. I would hate to turn down offers at very good colleges as a junior only to get hung out to dry by Yale or Harvard in my senior year of high school and have to scramble. Can anyone give me some insight?</p>
<p>ivy league recruiting in athletics is somewhat unique in that there are strict (and defined) admissions standards beyond than those defined by the ncaa. do a google search for 'academic index' and go from there. my guesstimate would be that yours is around 190, putting you in the recruitable range if youre a targeted, top athlete.</p>
<p>keep in mind, however, that harvard/yale/princeton generally have higher admissions standards for their athletes than other ivies and that ivy-wide admissions requirements are often higher in non-revenue sports. exactly how great the differences are, i dont know. but if you were a point guard youd be in.</p>
<p>harvard and yale dont offer sports scholarships, correct? im not sure how recruiting works at ivies.
but as im sure you know, some of the top soccer schools have incredible academics, and you would be an absolute shoo-in with your soccer resume (i.e. Duke, UNC, UCLA, Stanford, Notre Dame, UVA, BC, etc)</p>
<p>Yes, I think they can. I'd try to raise the SAT to make it easier though. I always wonder how fair it is to you though. You'll be training all year while competing with top students who don't spend half their time in training.</p>
<p>Suze, I've always wondered the opposite. How fair is that I might get into a university with academic qualifications far below those that almost everyone else would be rejected with? The sad truth is, that for some of us, training at our respective sports will get us further as relates to getting into college than if we had spent a comparable amount of time studying. To me its kind of like affirmative action. If I were a minority, I would know in my heart that getting a preference due to skin color or ethnicity is very unfair.... but I sure as #%!@ would take advantage of it.</p>
<p>Anyway, I could probably walk right into USC, Berkley, Michigan, Northwestern etc. In fact I will probably get an oral offer from at least a few of those schools in October of my junior year. I will then be told I have a month to make a decision or they will offer my spot to their 2nd best prospect at my position. In the Ivies, I would have to wait for my senior year to know definitively. I'd be a real loser if I turned down a school like USC or Northwestern ... only to be rejected by Yale the next fall because the coach could not get me thru admissions.</p>
<p>metoo ... congrats on your soccer career so far ... hopefully college will be as good a run! You haven't told us about your families finances ... but ... the IVY league schools do not give athletic scholarships and you're interested so I'm assuming your family has the means to pay the expected family contribution from the financial adid calculators. If true then ... if you are most interested in the IVY league schools you could wait until your senior year for a "likely" letter from your top choices ... if you get the likely letter you're set. If you do not get in a IVY league school you could recontact the schools that recruited you as a junior and ask if they still have scholarships ... if no you still could attend and play soccer as a walk-on ... this probably would get back on the scholarship track for your sophomore years on and the cost of your freshman year should be similar to the cost would have been at an IVY</p>
<p>3Togo, the fact is that by my senior year the coaches of ... say.. Berkley..<br>
would have filled my position with another recruit and the coach would have gotten his quota of lessor students admitted. I probably could not get into the better "non Ivies" like Berkley, Duke, UCLA without a coache's strong support. I just don't have the academic qualifications.</p>
<p>I could see myself getting turned down by Yale in October '07 .... and have to settle for a mid range school ... when I could have gotten into UCLA or USC with a committment from the coach the previous year. I am fortunate that my decision will not be financially driven. However I could probably get a 75% scholarship at USC, Michigan, etc.</p>
<p>well part of the reasons why these schools have such high standards is because they are REALLY good schools with a very tough curriculum. you have to ask yourself if you would able to keep up w/it and still put a huge commitment into soccer. and you never know if these schools are for you! have you visited? college is all about how you fit in so ask yourself "how would i fit into their soccer program"? plus, there's many other top schools that have great programs, so in your case it's more of a personal decision. </p>
<p>but if you really want 2g2 harvard make sure you go for it 110% and let the coach and the administrators know that they're your top choice and you should be their top choice. no matter what it takes, visit a bunch of times, keep them updated with your accomplishments, try to retake your SAT's and get anything above 2000, and defenitly show a great passion for soccer and get some extra-curriculars in if you haven't done any of the sort yet, something like, say, coaching a youth soccer team lol. colleges don't only want to see how you would fit in their athletics but also into the school in general.</p>
<p>some things to look at in choosing a school both athletically and academically
what do i want to major in? ---you can look at the team roster and see what players are majoring in....does it seem like they are being told to pick an easy major or are they majoring in what they want to?
are freshman redshirting mainly or are they able to see playing time?
how is the coach/team?
do you want to be the star of the team or pick a team that has the best record?
what type of athletic facilities are there?
what type of athletic aid can you get in terms of money and support academically?
what is the retention rate of the players from season to season? how many players have been getting severe injuries (this could be a sign of overtraining due to stress on muscles)? what is the graduate rate?
make sure to research this and not pick the hardest school becuase d1 athletics require a lot of time...also you do not need to tell a school junior year if you want to accept their offer of intent, you may get a better offer that way, but you can wait until senior year, most coaches like seeing players in their senior year (i have heard of cases where a coach makes an offer and then retracts that by senior year)</p>
<p>A few responses. My weighted GPA is probably really about 3.75 and 3.5 unweighted. I get about half A's and B's and fill my schedule with AP classes. I would do better, but I miss so many assignments because I am traveling so much. My teachers really couldn't care less and will not allow me to make up alot of my work. But thats the way it goes in a large public school.</p>
<p>Unlike most athletes at this level, I look at soccer largely as a way to get into a college that I otherwise would not be able to get into. I love the gane and enjoy the travels and competition ... but realize that after college it will be over. Thats why this is so important. I have no idea at 16 what I want to study ... or even the type of environment I want to be in. I am the type that could be happy in a wide variety of environments... as long as it is stimulating with interesting people and a wide variety of courses so that I can find my passion. I do know that the right "name" can go a long way in opening doors in the future ..... so I figure I might as well go for the best.</p>
<p>i'm in your dilemna but i'm a golfer. and yes i don't know what i want to study either. if i were you i'd go out there and visit some colleges that really seem interesting and, in the end, if you choose something like business or medicine undergrad school won't matter that much. what do you think are some things that you're looking for in a college environment?</p>
<p>DO NOT count on coaches to get you into ivy league schools. A coach's promise at a school like Duke or UNC is far more promising. Ivy league has very tangible acceptance in terms of athletics and in many cases the coach does not have the final say (especially when the school's acceptance rate is so fiercely competitive at below 10%).</p>
<p>My experience was from 25 years ago - but I think it is still much the same. My grades and scores were squarely on the median for Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and yet I was told I would get in everywhere I was recruited - which turned out to be the case. I might add that athletically I was in the top 5 in the nation my junior year and was a national champion my senior year in high school. I got the impression that it took this kind athletic achievement to get a guaranteed admission vibe from the Ivies. So be it.</p>
<p>Since money doesn't seem to be an issue, you could work with a consultant that helps athletes get recruited by ivies. There is one guy that lots of ivy bound kids work with. Search the srchieves here, I know he's been written about. That way you'll get a strong indication how likely you are to go ivy. Personally, I'd be surprised if you didn't get into one and think the risk will probably be a good one. Who ever said HYP have stricter standards than the other ivies nis just plan incorrect. Harvard is notorious for taking athletes with very low stats. Also, it's just not a few that get in with below average stats. Almost half the class at any ivy is hoked applicants: urms, legacies, development, athletes, etc.</p>
<p>First of all, if you have an oral offer in the fall of your junior year, the coach is engaging in serious recruiting violations. They are not allowed to contact you directly until after June following your junior year. That is an NCAA rule. They can respond to emails and calls (some won't even do that) but can not contact you directly and certainly can not make you an oral offer of admission.
Depending on how much the Ivy school needs you, it could help you a great deal in admission, especially if you are willing to go Early Decision. You can get a likely letter.
Harvard barely recruits at all in some sports, by the way, contrary to what Suze says. You will need better than 1800 as a soccer player to have much of a chance at any Ivy.</p>
<p>Please google NCAA Clearinghouse to get informed about the rules of athletic recruiting. I agree with MOWC that receiving an offer during your junior year is a clear and definite violation.</p>