<p>I have already applied Dartmouth, but I was wondering how strong is a sport's influence in admissions. I race sailboats competitively, on the national and international level. Sailing is a varsity sport at Dartmouth, and I have just sent in a recruitment form to the school. Will this give me an in?</p>
<p>Athletic admissions statistics are not released by the admissions office. Some speculate that athletes -- particularly those for big sports -- are given the highest preference of all. This does not appear to be the case at Dartmouth, although athletes do benefit from having a lobbyist in their coach. Coaches submit ranked lists of their recruited athletes to the admissions office. The admissions office then reviews the applications, taking into account the applicant's athletic talent and coach's recommendation.</p>
<p>"Athletic talent works in the same way other kinds of talent do. The only difference is it's a much more organized and structured recruiting process and that's a function of the NCAA and the Ivy League rules," Furstenberg said. "They tell us who they want, but there are no guaranteed number of slots."</p>
<p>But even with the ability to submit a list, some coaches expressed frustration with how little say they really have.</p>
<p>"How much clout do I have? Minimal," men's swimming coach Jim Wilson said. "If you look at my SAT scores and compare to the average SAT scores, my kids may be getting in with a 1450 instead of a 1460."</p>
<p>Wilson did, however, speculate that some of the "higher-profile sports like football may be getting a little more help."</p>
<p>Coaches are given little feedback from the admissions office before submitting their lists, according to Wilson. "I'm shooting blind," he said, adding that other schools, even in the Ivy League, are actually more lenient with athletic admissions.</p>
<p>"Some schools will say 'if he has this GPA and this SAT score were going to let him in.' Our admissions doesn't do that," Wilson said.</p>
<p>Michele Hernandez '89, who worked in the Dartmouth admissions office in the mid-1990s and is currently a private college counselor, concurred.</p>
<p>"Dartmouth actually has higher standards for athletes than most schools," she said. "Many athletes that are walking straight into Harvard couldn't get into Dartmouth."</p>
<p>While athletic talent can bolster an application, it does not replace other criteria for admission, according to Furstenberg. If coaches do not find well qualified applicants to put on their list, they risk not getting enough players that year.</p>
<p>"If the coaches say we need nine soccer players this year, but we only think six of them are qualified, that's what they get," he said. "All of the decisions are made here; the only person at the institution who can admit someone is me."</p>
<p>Ya sybbie said it pretty well. </p>
<p>Although, now, at dartmouth, athletics has had a little bit of a boost in terms of who will be admitted and who won't. This has happened as a result of the Furstenburg scandal. coaches are now saying that if he doesn't give us who we want they can cause a fuss and point to this past scandal. </p>
<p>the sailing team here is actually top quality, this year I'm pretty sure we finished in the top 5, I'm inclined to say first but can't say for sure. (at least the freshman did)</p>
<p>anyway if you're being recruited you stand a good chance of admission.</p>
<p>Because Dartmouth is a Div 3 school and cannot offer athletic scholarships, it is the student athlete who makes the first contact with coaches regarding a team sport. If you requested information form a coach interest to a coach they would most likely comply. Many recruited athletes have probably been given a likely letter and asked to apply during the ED round so that coaches could fill out their teams. While you may have a hook, take it with a grain of salt. Take the position that almost everyone else who is applying is taking, you have tossed your hat in the ring, an acceptance is a pleasant suprise a rejection won't be the end of the world because there are plenty of great schools that will want you.</p>
<p>Just wanted to add that Dartmouth is Div 1 in several sports. :-)</p>
<p>All Ivy League schools are Division 1 schools. They merely decided as a league that they would not give athletic scholarships because they offer such good financial aid based on need. What being recruited adds to your chance at admission is that it separates your application from the rest of the bunch. You are evaluated not on a different scale, but your application and the other athletes applications are processed separately from the mass 10,000 application pile. The way you become singled out for the admissions readers gives them more of a reason to accept you, and a specific concrete idea of what you would bring to the school other than just your academics.</p>
<p>Dartmouth is an NCAA division 1 institution. The Ivy League is bound to a non-scholarship agreement.</p>
<p>To say athletes first contact the coach is ridiculous. Athletic recruiting is a complex issue. Alot of athletes try to sell themselves to schools either to get into the school or get a scholarship. Coaches, however, are paid to win games and represent the institution (in many sports a division one head coaching job is the top of the ladder and these people are very competitive). They will seek the best athletes who they can get into the school to win games for their team.</p>
<p>Big team sports usually receive more support than others. Football receives the most support and gets over twenty players a year. There is an Ivy Limit to how many people can be recruited for every sport. The academic credentials range from people in the middle of their class with around 1100 on the SAT to kids at the top of the class who would likely be a good candidate for admission anyway. Hockey also receives a good amount of support.</p>
<p>Likely letters are a different issue and handled differently at every school. Dartmouth issues them for Early Decision candidates only with a competing scholarship offer. They will however issue them to regular decision applicants without such an off. Some schools like Penn will issue almost all recruited athletes likely letters.</p>
<p>The decision to not offer scholarships is more deeply rooted than the fact that they offer good financial aid. It is a philisophical decision. Ivy League schools don't just not offer athletic scholarships, they don't offer academic ones either. Money is only given based on a families ability to pay. The biggest change this makes for the school is that only the financial aid department can issue money to a student - a scholarship school has a coach who has discression over who he can offer money. There are strict rules prohibiting athletic department people from talking to financial aid people.</p>
<p>Back to the initial question. Sailing is certainly a nice tag - but anything can happen no matter what.</p>
<p>I have no sources to cite (apathy+too lazy to find them), but I've read that athletic recruitment rates are somewhere around 60%. The only Dartmouth athlete I know is a squash player who was accepted last year(1280 SAT/29 ACT/ED). The swimming coach obviously understated the disparity between SAT scores. Having said that though, applying early will make a big difference as it does with 'normal' applicants. I've read that applying early is approximately equivalent to a 100 mark boost on the SAT. (And therefore is the only reason I have a chance at Dartmouth... lol)</p>
<p>Alright so that explains why I got in. How they could deny someone with over a 1600?</p>
<p>what sport do you play Scimmia?</p>
<p>I think he meant he applied early so it added 100 points to his SAT.</p>
<p>Yes, that's what I was saying (although I am a she for future reference).</p>
<p>Wow that information just makes me love Dartmouth even more :) I'm not an athlete but I live in a family full of them. I love debate and will be professionally competing in it next year, but it's not really considered a sport-atleast here in San Antonio. </p>
<p>I was dissapointed when I heard that Amherst has 5-15% of it's spots reserved just for athletes alone. So in the future, if it was me against a guy who was the quaterback of the football team and if I had won awards in debate and we happened to have the same stats, he is automatically in! This to me is wrong, but it happens in our world so I'll just have to deal with it. Dartmouth is so great by the way! :)</p>
<p>Blah, sports smorts......I never played a team sport throughout high school and I'm fine. I'm sure it gives you a boost but if you are involved in other activities it is not really important.</p>
<p>I've never played a sport in my life (hate 'em)...got a likely letter...so they aren't necessary</p>
<p>i hate how the Ivy League says its DI, but (at least as track is concerned) compete with times considerable close to DIII. I run High Hurdles and I might do so at a DI Ivy or a DIII school because they are very similar. Run at a real DI school, (say Duke) and Ivy Leaguers would get blown away.</p>
<p>Dartmouth has way more than 5-15% of the students as athletes.</p>
<p>Glass - I don't know what you are talking about.</p>
<p>Maybe Dartmouth doesn't have the best sprinters, but their track team is fine. In fact, there is an all-american decathalete on the team, as well as a graduate from the class of '97 I believe, named Adam Nelson, who just won the silver medal for shotput.</p>
<p>I know for a fact that the multis and throwers are good at least at Dartmouth.</p>