@BrooklynRye I actually whole heartedly agree with you! I love the way you have clearly outlined this! - “endeaor that will translate directly into college” It is from a college admission perspective “what are you going to do for this college when you get here?” It is “creating a vision”…I think my son is starting to do that with his passion for everything sports…playing 2 sports, holding leadership in a sports club (I don’t want to go into specifics but it is a neat thing) and is hoping possibly to go into sports business (whether it be in an organization or marketing or sports venue maangement, etc). He has taken an outside summer class in Sports Business and really enjoyed it. So he has a vision and a possible path…but he has to translate into presenting himself unique for his top choices. He has a few things he is thinking about for this upcoming junior year and next summer. It is up to him to decide if HE wants to do these things for himself. He understands “stand out” or “unique” and communicating that thru his essays is KEY!
Luvmykids2 the topics have wandered because you were not precisely clear about you and your son’s primary goal. You school list was a wide range of schools. Michigan and certainly SMU are nearly sure things with his stats. On the other hand the very top schools HPYS,MIT etc are reaches for every non-hooked student regardless of the stats. The sports angle however is not to be dismissed so lightly. I know many friends of my kids who used sports to get admitted to highly selective LACs and then stopped playing after the first year. In fact the school know this and plan on it. In this case we are only talking about D3 and you don’t remotely have to be great to be recruited. It’s a long subject that has been discussed in great detail in previous threads but the NESCAC Schools use banding to rank athletes similar to the AI index used by the Ivys. If you are an A band recruit the coach can add you to the list at virtually no cost to his recruiting dollar. If you are an A band player you just need to be very good but not the stud. B band and C players are the studs. The D1 player who goes D3. At any rate you and your son need to decide what you want. If he will be happy at any of the schools then forget sports but it remains his best chance for admission to an elite school. He would need to play his first year but then he can quit and focus on school. I’m not advocating lying but tons of kids do it every year. Besides D3 sports is similar to HS sports as far as time commitment. On the other hand using sports as his main EC doesn’t count for much. It’s certainly better to have played but the elite schools are not looking for well rounded students but rather a well rounded class made up of students who are exceptional in some unique way. It’s a crazy system buts that’s how it is.
@SAY everything you say I already know. I was precisely clear about his goal. High stats, plays sports but does NOT want to play beyond high school. Wants to go to a highly selective school. He is NOT going to a LAC…never did I mention this or list it in his schools. he is academic in math and sciences and has no interest in LACs or playing for one. Yes, I know about the elite schools and the well rounded class of not well rounded kids, but lots of kids that were amazing in what they did. I have a daughter who got into all selective schools non hooked but was amazing at what she did - not sports. Now it is the brother’s turn…it is a hard thing to discuss with him after he sees the success she had. Applied to 13 schools, denied 1. I appreciate all of the responses, it creates for interesting discussion. He says he will be happy if he gets into one of the ones he has reached for. But obviously, he will be applying to safety and target too! Thank you
With that background then I guess I don’t understand what was the purpose of your post? You claim he only wants a highly selective school and seem to understand that your daughter achieved such an admission because she had a hook. My post was about organizing a successful strategy not about his desire to play sports. You do know they can’t make you play and your offer of admission once received will not be affected if he doesn’t play or gets “injured”. It doesn’t really sound like you have a strategy but good luck and I hope it works out. He will definitely get into some of the schools on his list.
Sounds like his chances will be based on being a full pay student, applying ED and having a compelling essay to round out what the tippy tops are looking for in the incoming frosh class as a whole. Good luck!
^ This hits the nail on the head.