<p>I am a 'recruit' for one of the Swarthmore athletic teams, and am applying ED2. The coach made it clear that athletes don't get support from coaches, unlike other schools in the the ECAC and NESCAC, but that my name will be on a 'list' so that admissions "are aware of my athletic ability and accomplishment". My GPA and testscores are by no means low, but only average or maybe below average for a Swat student. Can any current Swarthmore athletes give their stats, whether they were 'recruited', and maybe what sport they play so that I can see where I stand?</p>
<p>This may be an issue of semantics, but Swarthmore definitely has a set number of athletic tips, just like NESCAC schools. The tip system was put in place by the former admissions dean, Robin Mamlet, before she left to head Stanford’s admissions department. One of the big issues when Swarthmore dropped its football program was the high number of tips being consumed by the football program and how the other teams would benefit from spreading those tips around.</p>
<p>The tips are used to select “x” number impact athletes in each freshman class who would probably not get accepted without the athletic boost. I do think that the admissions office is more heavily involved in assessing “admissibility” of the tips than is the case at some of the NESCAC schools where the athletic recruiting system operates with a great deal of autonomy.</p>
<p>As a general rule, the coaches at all schools don’t use tips for students with average academic qualifications who already have a decent shot of getting accepted, unless we are talking about a major impact player.</p>
<p>@interesteddad</p>
<p>I understand completely what you are saying. For example, I have talked to coaches at other schools, including Trinity, Conn, and Skidmore - all of which I am applying without support from coaches because the admissions office implied I would be accepted without support. The coach I talked to informed me that the admissions office doesn’t look at (or rather give feedback about) an athlete’s transcripts before admissions - pretty much I couldn’t commit like I could at Colby, Franklin&Marshall, and URochester to guarantee ED admission. I didn’t come to a decision as to which route I wanted to take until late December when I decided to take my chances ED2 at Swarthmore, since it is my top choice.</p>
<p>I would still appreciate stats from accepted “recruited” athletes, just for comparison!</p>
<p>My D is also in your shoes it sounds like. She had an official visit and the coach really likes her, but Swat’s coach is the only of the sport schools she applied to that didn’t say she would be “supporting” her application with the admissions office. I didn’t go with her on her visit and I have not talked to the coach myself, but I think this means she will be having to get in on her own academic merit.</p>
<p>Interestinly, Uroc is also one of the schools D has major support from the coach - Wellesley is the other.</p>