I agree. There are (all types of) elite sports schools. Roll Tide.
The OP’s question is, what is appeal of Elite schools?
Well, the elite schools tend to be strong in both academics and sports. Great spirit! And a good listing of those schools are typically found in the Leerfield Director’s Cup standings:
D1
- Stanford
- Michigan
- Florida
- Texas
- USC
- UCLA
- Florida State
- UVa
- Duke
- UNC
D3
- Williams
- Johns Hopkins
- WashU
- Middlebury
- Emory
- MIT
- Tufts
- Amherst
- Chicago
- Wisconsin Eau Claire
Definitely opens doors, but particularly for those graduating in humanities.
@sushiritto How did Michigan make it to #2? ND and TOSU must be really pissed ?
@privatebanker Jack of all trades, master of none. ?
https://www.capitalonecup.com Wahoowa!
Elite academic school, no doubt, but women represent about 52% of the student population and UVa needs to step up their women’s sports to an elite level.
Only a small subsection of kids are interested in playing sports at these schools. Elite schools aren’t basing their “eliteness” on their sports program. They attract the best athletes for the level of education they provide. Yes, some athletes will attend mainly so they can play Div I, but many other stellar athletes will attend DII or DIII so they can get the education they want first and foremost and still be able to play. And there are some schools on that list that would not be considered by many to be elite, FSU for example.
It’s not about a “small subsection of kids” playing sports at these schools. There are many non-student athletes that are attracted to schools with winning sports programs, say like a Clemson, Michigan, UVa, UT, USC, etc. Winning sports programs do draw elite students. No, not all of them, but definitely some of them.
And of course, these athletic standings are NOT a perfect predictor of elite academic schools, but there’s definitely a strong correlation. The overwhelming majority of those schools are considered academically elite IMO.
Give me a break!
The athletic stuff can be important in admissions at the smaller “elite” schools, since the recruited athletes consume a much larger percentage of each admissions class at a small school than at a large school (and athletic achievements as ECs for others may be seen as relatively important in bringing in students with more potential to walk on).
Say WHAT? What correlation? The majority of best college sports are at large public universities. All excellent schools, and all provide an amazing education. However, few, if any, would be given a first glance, much less a second look, by the prestige-ridden obsessive followers of College Rankings. The schools with the top sports include Florida, Florida State, OSU, Oregon, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Arkansas, etc. In fact, the only colleges which the Ranking Obsessed would consider “top” universities which have top sports are Stanford, Duke, Notre Dame, and USC, though some of the more “generous” of the Ranking Believers would be willing to acknowledge that PUBLIC colleges could be “elite” have UCLA, UCB, and Michigan (or even UVA and UNC for those who are willing to slum it).
I have to laugh since at least @sushiritto put Michigan at number 2. This way is not to show a bias ?.
Also forgot that Stanford actually had sport teams… ?.
@Knowsstuff Who? Me? Biased? I didn’t put UMich at #2. It’s not my ranking. I have no affiliation with the Leerfield or Capital One. ?
The schools ON BOTH LISTS (D1 and D3) look for the most part pretty elite to me. Hey, at least I’m considered “generous” now. ?♂️?
@sushiritto… Once I saw Michigan #2 and you posted it… Just had to laugh… but it’s good stuff to use on the Michigan threads… Lol… ?.
@MWolf Exactly. Most on CC would not put those schools in the “elite” category. Though I have seen many schools labelled as “elite” which I would not even consider competitive. Eyes of the beholder.
Curious now. In the opinion of the folks posting here,
**What makes a school elite? **
Hard to get into?
Expensive?
Students from lots of rich and powerful families?
Rich and powerful grads?
Very high admissions test scores/top 10% gpas?
A high USNWR rank?
Mentioned in our culture as elite - in movies, magazines, etc.?
“The schools ON BOTH LISTS (D1 and D3) look for the most part pretty elite to me. Hey, at least I’m considered “generous” now.”
You looked at a pretty small subset, the top-10 from this year, when you go 11-25 or prior years you find very little correlation between athletic and academic rankings. last year top 10 had - Stanford, UCLA, Florida, USC, Texas, UM, OSU, Georgia, FSU, A&M.
11-25 this year:
LSU Ohio State, Penn State, Kentucky, A&M, Wisconsin, Notre Dame California Arizona State, Minnesota, Georgia, South Carolina, Arkansas, Washington, Tennessee
The OP wrote:
We can debate what’s elite or not, but the OP defined the parameter for us.
So based on a ranking, then. USNWR?
Unis? LACs? Top 25 of each?
In any case I was asking more what we commenting think, not what OP thinks.