The Ivy vs other Div I college experience is wildly different. Make sure your kid will fit in. Many/most athletes transfer for various reasons.
Ivy League vs Division I Recruiting
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- Jun 8, 2016
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150 years ago, the Dartmouth baseball coach tried to recruit me after my freshmen year at Tufts..now I have to wonder about his motives
......... 
One small clarification so as not to scare off potential IVY recruits. It is my understanding the average for recruited student athletes does not have to match the average of the school at large but rather some agreed upon number that is lower than the average. Because they keep the process purposely opaque nobody seems to know exactly what this discount is. I have seen different guesses of 3%, 5%, and 1 standard deviation below the mean posited by different people.
I point this out because if an enterprising DFP parent were to research average ACT/SAT scores for the IVY league schools they would generally fall between 34-35/1500-1550 depending on the school. I can assure you this is not the average for recruited athletes.
It isn't opaque - Academic Index (AI as it is known) for athletes and teams is published. Here is a simple explanation. Unsurprisingly it is based on standard deviations - the combined team AI must be within ONE SD of the school (so above or below which is why people may think there is a discount for athletics and why it looks so varied from school to school). Individuals must meet a minimum requirement. The whole athletic dept also has a standard that must be met.
It is easier to show it as average ACT v SD math and frankly, that is how the coaches do it for the most part because it is a simpler calculation than figuring out ACT/SAT/Other items and figuring it all out. Also if they do it this way, they know they will be within the AI requirements.
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Ivy aid in limbo ahead of antitrust exemption expiration in 2022
The Ivy League — the only Division I conference to not offer merit-based scholarships to student-athletes — may face a lawsuit upon the expiration of […]
yaledailynews.com
Interesting, pretty in depth, article about potential changes to need-based aid only at Ivy's...
Most Ivy coaches have a very good sense of what the admissions department of their school will accept in an athlete, and won't offer a kid on the borderline until deeper into the class so they know where the math lines up. The "likely letter" is a commitment on the school's part that a student athlete will get in as long as they don't screw up, AND they apply Early Decision. I have several friends who still do Alumni interviewing for Ivies, and they all say they are given special instructions on those who have already received the likely letters. If an Ivy coach has a pattern of offered kids getting rejected (more than one), you can be sure that will be used against them by other schools, both in league and out, so they are very conservative with offers.
On the aid front, the top Ivies (HYP and maybe more) have made a push recently that they make every effort to have all students graduate without loans, so while the parent contribution is likely similar to most other schools and the students will have a work study job for their portion, the long term effect of having grants instead of loans is a huge post graduate benefit. These schools also have a little more flexibility to increase the grant money to any student not just athletes, in order to secure their matriculation. The Ivies are trying to make the cost of attending comparable to or better than an in state school. If a kid is offered a full scholarship somewhere then the math might not work for them to go Ivy, but a with partial scholarship the Ivies might be in play financially.
One other thing to think about is that with the Ivy aid as it is, should a student athlete no longer wish to play the game for whatever reason, the aid will remain consistent. There is no loss of scholarship because the school commits to the kid as a student not an athlete in this scenario (this is where the antitrust tag can be validated).
On the aid front, the top Ivies (HYP and maybe more) have made a push recently that they make every effort to have all students graduate without loans, so while the parent contribution is likely similar to most other schools and the students will have a work study job for their portion, the long term effect of having grants instead of loans is a huge post graduate benefit. These schools also have a little more flexibility to increase the grant money to any student not just athletes, in order to secure their matriculation. The Ivies are trying to make the cost of attending comparable to or better than an in state school. If a kid is offered a full scholarship somewhere then the math might not work for them to go Ivy, but a with partial scholarship the Ivies might be in play financially.
One other thing to think about is that with the Ivy aid as it is, should a student athlete no longer wish to play the game for whatever reason, the aid will remain consistent. There is no loss of scholarship because the school commits to the kid as a student not an athlete in this scenario (this is where the antitrust tag can be validated).
Had the exact opposite experience. Know 2 existing players on Dartmouth team who were barely vetted by the coaching staff. And I mean, like, saw them play once and made an offer. Before closely looking at their academic profile and before test scores were available. Straight up - they are not D1 players. Such a head scratcher in both cases that it makes me wonder about the HC's abilities.
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Oh, I understand about the 'not being D1' caliber. That's not really what I meant by it's a true accomplishment athletically.
It was just so mentally draining because you thought you were in, then out, then you'd say something and things would change instantly like 'what did I say'? It was like a code we didn't understand. DD was interested in the thought of it. She is definitely higher than their average talent athletically, but in the end, I guess she just wasn't as excited to go there as they wanted her to be. I surely wasn't interested in paying that tuition bill either.
You really had to want to go there. If you were thinking you'd feel each other out and see where it went, that wasn't good enough. To just stay in the process long enough was a huge monumental and expensive task.
Thanks.
Both players I know wanted to go to an Ivy, badly, or at least their parents did
. One is definitely an Ivy-caliber student, the other maybe.So maybe the coaches keyed in on desire to attend Dartmouth more than on softball talent. That makes sense.
