<p>Does being a walk-on help in college admissions?</p>
<p>class rank: 2/800
SAT: 2100</p>
<p>track and soccer</p>
<p>I don’t have an answer, but I don’t understand. Are you saying you have been offered a spot on the team as a walk-on? Were you recruited but not offered a scholarship? If you read the threads here, it looks like coaches “pull” varies a lot.</p>
<p>My feeling in general is that being recruited as a walk-on athlete can help for admission to a university that you might feel you would otherwise have a difficult time getting in to. Is that what you’re asking about? However, my experience in limited to a very small number of colleges so if you want to name a specific college, you might get more help with an answer.</p>
<p>There are only two classes of athletes in the admissions process–recruited and nonrecruited. If you are a recruited walk-on, with coach’s support, it will help. But if you are just saying that you want to walk on, then I doubt the admissions office will care at all.</p>
<p>^^Agreed. My daughter was a recruited walk-on at a big ten university. We were told on the official visit that all recruit applications (scholarship or not) were “coded” and were admitted as long as the “baseline” academic criteria was met. In fact, one of the girls on the official visit was informed of her accepted status on the official visit. If you are just planning on walking on, however, and are not recruited, I don’t think it would make much difference.</p>
<p>Is a recruited walk-on defined as a recruited athlete who has not been offered scholarship money? Is s/he necessarily of lesser caliber or priority than the athlete who is being offered money? This has confused me, maybe because in D’s sport the top D1 schools we’ve dealt with have told us they only offer scholarships after the first year or two based on the athlete’s performance. In other words, the money is given as a reward to those who produce for the team. It seems that no one (except maybe a kid who has already gone to the Olympic Trials), gets money at first. D seems to be a top recruit, got the special envelope for admissions and was indeed admitted that way, but received no money offer. It should be noted that she could have gotten a full ride from lesser schools/programs however. One contributing factor seems to be also that she would be eligible for a lot of financial aid, so it would work out better for her and the team for her to get FA instead of athletic scholarship. So I guess what I’m saying is that if my D is a recruited walk-on, then most definitely that gave her significant help in admissions. </p>
<p>OP, are you being recruited or would you just plan to show up for try-outs and want to let admissions know you will be doing that?</p>
<p>It depends on the sport. In sports like football and basketball, where many/most first year recruits get money, a recruited walk on is one who is a) asked to come by the coach b) supported in the admissions process but c) doesn’t get money in the first year. I have no knowledge of the likelihood that such people receive money in the following years, but it probably depends on the school.</p>
<p>CC, I am confused about the term used here.</p>
<p>I thought an athlete either recruited or non-recruited. A walk on athlete who is non-recruited and no commitment for the team during admission process. So what is definition of “Recruited-Walk on”?</p>
<p>My take on this is that being a recruited walk-on at your typical state university means very little. The coach would love to have you if he can get you for free - so why not try to lure you in with a few emails and phone calls? At a super-selective school with very generous aid, however, recruited walk-on status is more meaningful. There is a definite value in getting some assistance with admissions at this school. The need-based financial aid package for many families will probably be more generous than the sports scholarships offered at other schools.</p>
<p>At schools with no athletic scholarships (Ivys, D3), everyone is a recruited walk-on. To get an athletic scholarship you must be eligible to sign a letter of intent (LOI). That only applies to D1 and D2 schools. So there is actually recruited and non-recruited as well as recruited subcategories of scholarship and walk-on. Non-recruited are always walk-ons.</p>
<p>My friend (not me) is looking to play soccer at Swarthmore as a walk-on. The coach said he would send in an email of support. How much would this help him? I mean he could probably get in either way because his stats are pretty high, and he has many other awards, competitions, etc.</p>
<p>Oh and his SAT score is actually 2200, not 2100 sorry.</p>
<p>“My take on this is that being a recruited walk-on at your typical state university means very little.”</p>
<p>My understanding is that at football powerhouses, you can’t even try out unless you are a recruited walk on.</p>
<p>An email of support is not much - it does not fall in the category of athletic support and it is not recruited walk-on status. A 2200 at Swarthmore is just OK. Both are no guarantee at all of admission. He would need a true tip at Swarthmore for admission.</p>
<p>this might be if you get in you can play? And then your on the list with the recruits for updates, etc…</p>
<p>So is a “recruited walk on” guaranteed a spot an the team, or do they have to “try out”? How likely is a “recruited” player to benefit (scholarship or admissions boost) at a D- II school? My (sons) interest is in men’s soccer, especially CSU’s (California).</p>
<p>Just curious if there are any D3 college lacrosse recruits out there who have received EA acceptance and has made a decision and or committment to attend and play for a specific college and or program ???</p>
<p>My friend was #4 in the state for track. He is also the #2 player on our school’s soccer team.</p>
<p>He takes all the hardest classes available, is involved in several after-school activities, as well as many out-of-school activities.</p>
<p>class rank: 2/800
GPA: 4.92
SAT: 2200</p>
<p>The coach at Swarthmore only recruited 3 people for soccer, so the rest are probably going to be walk-ons. How much would the coach’s support help to get him into Swarthmore?</p>
<p>If the coach used 3 tips on the 3 recruited athletes, then anyone else is a walk-on in the true sense of the word. If they get in (without coach support) then they are welcome to try out for the team. There is no guarantee of making the team or playing time if they do make it. In some sports, there is a limit to the number of players a coach can carry on the team. If all of those spots are filled with recruited athletes (scholarship and walkon) then chances are that true walkons won’t find a spot on the team.</p>
<p>Shrinkrap, a recruited walkon at a D3 or Ivy (the only type of recruited athlete at these schools) is guaranteed a spot on the team. I believe, the same goes for D1 and D2. RECRUITED anything has coach support and the coach is counting on that athlete for the team. </p>
<p>MyBlsflHrt, your friend’s stats are typical if not lower than the rest of the potential admissions at Swarthmore. Regardless of his rank, ECs or class schedule, on paper he looks no different than everyone else. At Swarthmore, where the acceptance rate is so low, he will have a hard time gaining admission. A 20% acceptance rate means that 80% are denied. Please don’t believe that just because you are the best at your school, that you will gain admittance to the most elite schools. Most do not. That isn’t to say don’t try. Just don’t count on it and don’t be surprised/upset with the denial. Swarthmore is a high reach for every single person who applies.</p>
<p>
I heard a news story a few years ago during the period when my daughter was being recruited. It spoke of “recruited walk-ons” as the new wave in DI recruitment. Many/most schools cannot fund 100% of the athletes on every team, yet they need more athletes than they can fund in order to be competitive. Recruitment of non-scholarship athletes early in the game (my daughter was offered to verbal at a big ten and an sec school as a recruited walk-on her junior year) is seen as a way to get the best athletes early in a very competitive environment.</p>
<p>I imagine it can vary by sport, but I do know that in soccer and gymnastics, teams require more participants than the alotted number of scholarships. For instance, mens soccer allows 9.9 scholarships. If you spread that over 25 players, that is approximately a third scholarship per player, yet many teams opt to recruit freshman walk-ons and award the money in increasing increments to reward performance. In my daughter’s sport, gymnastics, a team can only give money to 12 girls, yet a team generally has 15 or 16 girls and need that number to maintain depth and be competitive. It doesn’t matter how wealthy a school is; NCAA rules prohibit any school from alotting more than the max dollar amount allowed by the NCAA.</p>