It’s so tough I agree. My son is at an IVY and went through a similar situation. He did take less difficult classes - only 3 were APs and he also missed school quite a bit. His GPA was about a 3.5 unweighted but since most of his classes were not honors or AP the weighted wouldn’t be much higher. It was a risk but he is so talented in his sport and had many coaches trying to recruit him. For him it worked out. To have a decent chance at getting into an IVY in the first place good grades are not enough - you need that extra special something, whatever it might be. My son’s ACT score was also a 30 and he was just under that IVY score so the coach had to recruit someone with a higher score to get him which also meant he was recruited rather late in the game. Keep your options open until you get a firm offer and make sure the coach knows your daughter is very interested.
Also if your daughter gets into an IVY tell her to work hard from the start. Many classes are graded on a curve and she will be with some of the best in the world. Without long hours studying and a willingness to work your butt off, you cannot do well at an IVY.
Thanks again everyone. @Amy989, so basically you’re saying that actually getting into an Ivy is only the first set of worries :). Her school now is known for preparing well for college but you never know. She will take the test again to try to improve score and definitely will focus on grades. Honestly never thought of taking a less difficult curriculum as coaches seemed to encourage taking the most difficult that her schedule accommodates - but given the fact that the AI is unweighted does throw a wrench into that thinking. Unfortunately missing school for meets is a worry and could affect grades… Guess it never ends. In the end it may be out of our control. It helps a lot to hear about others experience and realistic expectation setting.
@Flinnt12 I would urge you and your daughter to talk over the academics with the coach(es) recruiting her. While everyone is correct that the AI uses the unweighted GPA, I will say that in my son’s experience the fact that his transcript contained the infamous “most rigorous curriculum available” mark was a positive factor according to his coach. This may be an issue specific to that school (Princeton) or to HYP more generally as compared to other Ivys. In any event, each school and each sport are going to have some differences in what factors are important. Remember that hitting a certain AI target is only part of the picture. Each admissions office is still going to have to pass on your daughter’s complete application. Talk to the coaches. They know this stuff far better than we do.
I agree with Ohiodad51 - the coaches should be the best sources of information on what it will likely take at their schools. While AI provides a framework all eight schools have to live by, each school can have its own approach for what AI and other factors a particular team or recruit needs to have given what priority the sport has at the school, how many slots/Likely Letters the sport has that year, what a team’s current needs are in terms of position/event/etc., how good the recruit is athletically, and so on.
I think there’s a lot of good overall information in the thread as a starting point, but it’s hard to know those sport/school details from the outside, even for folks with direct experience with Ivy recruiting if that experience is with a different sport or set of schools.
Recruiting experience in hockey at Harvard or football at Dartmouth, for example, does not necessarily translate directly to gymnastics at Penn or the other three Ivies that have gymnastics programs. My direct experience is with baseball and tennis, and except for the basic concepts, which have been covered well by some of the other posters, I believe any of my personal experiences would be more about me than helpful to you.
And I would add that I truly believe, naive or not, that admissions will not typically accept a student that they don’t think can handle the academics of any Ivy they are working with/for - it is in no one’s best interest for the student to suffer academically, and not be able to manage the demands of being a student-athlete at whatever Ivy is in question. I really do have faith in the final word of admissions. Just my opinion/experience!!
In order for admissions at an IVY to say yes the student has to be a good student above average. There is a certain minimum ACT or SAT score and the coach will know what it is. There have been incidents of students being admitted but not being able to maintain the GPA and therefore could not participate in the sport. I’ve known of one athlete who had to transfer because he couldn’t do the work. It happens. But in most cases these athletes are hard working and fairly smart - they will do what is necessary to succeed in many aspects of their life, including academics. For your daughter I would say do the best she can. That ACT/SAT score is very important - when my son was recruited it seemed to be the most important thing. Every coach asked him that while no one asked his GPA. It seems like your daughter is a solid student with a good ACT score. If she can get that score even higher it will help her.