Varsity Sports

Answered

@Marius_G applying to a top college with a strong track record in Varsity sports is akin to applying with a high SAT/ACT test score. It's optional, but when you think about it more, colleges prefer applicants with great ECs and test scores. Why? Top colleges all have a lot vested in athletic teams and sports and it's just part of the college tradition. And Top colleges want to remove the risk of their cohorts not succeeding, so high test scores serve as a proxy for doing well once they arrive on campus.

In order to become a good varsity athlete or have high test scores requires time, energy, focus, diligence, and persistence. It's not a 10-hour process but one that takes up hundreds of hours. So while both are optional, I feel that colleges are fully aware that you had to pay a price to apply with both and if you have both, you are somehow rewarded more than those that choose not to pursue any sports or apply with test scores. Being able to do sports and get high test scores means you have some idea of managing your time better than others. There is never enough time, but if you can still succeed in spite of a lack of sleep, lack of completing everything, and deliberate negligence, then you ae better suited to be on an Ivy Campus than those that are focused only on academics.

If athletics were not important then Harvard would not have to give athletic scores to all its applicants on a 1-5 or 1-6 scale. But it is important. You can't graduate from an Ivy unless you pass a swim test at most schools which is a 1 credit course.

So let's say the AO is reading 3 files and all the GPAs/course rigor/essays/interview/recommendation scores are similar but 1 person rowed crew on a scull that won a National title, 1 person played Varsity and Club water polo, and the 1 person did zero sports. Crew applicant gets the admit, Tennis applicant gets wait-listed, and zero sports gets rejected. That's just my opinion.

I knew someone who did Varsity Waterpolo as a team captain and had high test scores and got into an Ivy but had decided not to play sports. It really doesn't matter if you actually play or opt for a club team or stop doing sports in college. The point of the rigorous scoring system to evaluate candidates is to see how much you actually accomplished with your time and energy during the same period as your peers and other people applying to the same colleges. They want super high achievers who are doing lots of hard things all the time. They don't want someone with perfect grades who is the valedictorian because they figured out how to maximize their GPA versus challenging themselves in all areas of life and getting knocked down from time to time and learning from their mistakes.