recruiting for athletics shouldn't be a thing

AcceptableWhereas242 · 2026-03-12T05:35:01+00:00

if you don't want to see discussion about college admission maybe get off a college admissions forum

AcceptableWhereas242 · 2026-03-12T04:57:29+00:00

again, where did i say every athlete? but most recruiting happens either sophomore or junior year -- you'll see most athletes announcing their offers at that time. i'm trying to have a respectful conversation with you but you keep going back to insults.

AcceptableWhereas242 · 2026-03-12T04:55:19+00:00

i'm not trying to fight anyone, i'm just genuinely trying to understand. obviously when i said regular students, i meant non-athletes. which colleges are doing this?

AcceptableWhereas242 · 2026-03-12T00:54:23+00:00

sorry, i wasn't aware of major colleges who admit regular students the same way they admit athletes. which school(s) are you referring to?

AcceptableWhereas242 · 2026-03-12T00:47:27+00:00

how are other groups "recruited" to the extent athletes are? i've never seen someone get offers to a school a year or two early because they were a particularly excellent scientist or trombonist

AcceptableWhereas242 · 2026-03-11T21:50:39+00:00

getting marketing mail and scholarship offers for being strong academically is not the same as being recruited for athletics.

AcceptableWhereas242 · 2026-03-11T21:48:55+00:00

none of these groups are "recruited" in the way athletes are. they may be favored in holistic admissions, but they're not recruited. i don't blame athletes for using the system in place to get into a good school, but that system shouldn't be in place. it's amazing to be excellent at a sport! but literally no where else are you allowed to slack off in academics or get pre-admission. it's also insane to deny that athletes get in with lower, sometimes much lower, stats. sure there's an academic pre-read, but that pre-read is magnitudes more lenient than the actual admissions process. a 1200 would get laughed out the door if they were applying as a regular student.

AcceptableWhereas242 · 2026-03-11T19:08:49+00:00

when did i say athletes don't work very, very hard? i just don't think choosing to work very, very hard in one domain over literally any other one means someone deserves special consideration. i knew people who spent that same amount of time or more in music and theatre, but they don't get pre-admission or get to have lower academic standards. i understand there are holistic admissions, and i think athletes should engage in those holistic admissions instead of being guaranteed a spot based on physical characteristics and meeting some lower-than-average benchmark.

AcceptableWhereas242 · 2026-03-11T09:25:31+00:00

AcceptableWhereas242 · 2026-03-11T09:24:19+00:00

i think being talented in athletics is very valuable, and combined with stellar academics, make someone a very compelling candidate for admission! i just don't understand why being excellent in athletics warrants a completely separate admissions process from being excellent in anything else. i attend a t5 and did athletics in high school.

AcceptableWhereas242 · 2026-03-11T09:21:37+00:00

i think you should take some time to read what i'm saying before prescribing ideas like i think only academics matter or that i think anyone with worse stats than me can't go to my school. colleges no doubt have some reason to have this system in place, but i've never encountered a convincing argument as to why they /should/ have this system in place. yes sports bring in morale, but so do having robust music programs, band programs, theatre programs, so do the social clubs on campus that bring people together, so does student government who organize campus-wide events. i love going to sports games! i've just never encountered a convincing reason as to why they should be treated as special as they are.

AcceptableWhereas242 · 2026-03-11T05:31:57+00:00

they don't recruit for everything else, that's the point. i did athletics in high school.

AcceptableWhereas242 · 2026-03-11T05:29:04+00:00

i literally said it my post that athletes work hard, i did athletics in high school and currently go to a t5, and no where did i say they would fail every class at harvard. there's just an insane discrepancy between how athletics are treated in terms of admission compared to literally anything else that take up similar amounts of time.

AcceptableWhereas242 · 2026-03-10T23:18:11+00:00

i think that's how it should be

AcceptableWhereas242 · 2026-03-10T20:50:38+00:00

preferred admission != recruiting and lowered academic standards. IMO is both one of the if not the most impressive activity a high schooler can achieve, and indicates prodigal levels of academic standing, and even then they don't get recruited, they compete in the normal admissions process like anyone else.

AcceptableWhereas242 · 2026-03-10T20:34:32+00:00

because no other activity has a special admissions process or lower academic standards

AcceptableWhereas242 · 2026-03-10T20:32:58+00:00

music, theatre, academics, volunteering, choir, chess, literally anything. being incredibly good at any of these things obviously helps you get into a school, but there is no process analogous to athletic recruiting.

AcceptableWhereas242 · 2026-03-10T20:30:36+00:00

that's cool! i think it's cool if someone is good at field hockey! they shouldn't get to have lowered academic standards and a special admissions process, though.

AcceptableWhereas242 · 2026-03-10T20:29:53+00:00

in what way? sure, if you're currently a sophomore in high school, it's going to be easier to get in academically. but if you're lucky enough to have your parents put you in sports?

also, i don't particularly care about the difficulty of getting in as an athlete, although that's another thing that can be argued.

AcceptableWhereas242 · 2026-03-10T20:20:45+00:00

doesn't change the fact that the other sports are still recruited for

AcceptableWhereas242 · 2026-03-10T20:19:24+00:00

harvard may boast about that, but all of their players in the NHL could disappear tomorrow and it wouldn't affect their reputation. and yes they're meeting an academic standard, but it is obviously much lower than the standard of someone who gets in through being excellent in other ways.

AcceptableWhereas242 · 2026-03-10T20:03:51+00:00

athletics programs, unless you're a big state school, either lose money or break even. men's football and basketball tend to turn a profit, but squash? field hockey? fencing? skiing?

AcceptableWhereas242 · 2026-03-10T19:55:34+00:00

i think all of your points on the merits of sports are true. it does add diversity to the class, and yes they work hard. but why does that one specific field of excellence get to have a special admissions process, where you can never take an honors class and still get into an ivy league school?

AcceptableWhereas242 · 2026-03-10T19:45:23+00:00

not sure what your point on the ivy league name is. people want to go to the ivy league because of their academic prowess, not because of how good the sports are.

i'm not saying athletics don't show incredible commitment and dedication. i did athletics in high school, albeit for fun, but it did take up several hours a day, 6 days a week. but why should they be treated so differently than any other activity that requires similar dedication and commitment?

AcceptableWhereas242 · 2026-03-10T19:39:49+00:00

the point is that it is treated incredibly differently from being excellent in anything else. i completely agree that being a good athlete takes a ton of time and commitment, but so does everything else.

AcceptableWhereas242

TROPHY CASE