Are you attracted to a particular college primarily because it needs someone like you to fill a position or event? Are you overlooking some negative aspects of this college at the expense of other schools that may be all-around better choices but that don't need your athletic talents so "desperately"? No matter what coaches tell you, they are not banking entirely on you to fill that spot on the team. What will you do if someone better shows up to play your position or compete in your event? What if you get injured badly enough that you can't compete? These things could happen at any time, including your freshman year. You might be on the sideline or off the team entirely. Not happy things to think about, but they happen to many athletes and could happen to you. The important point is where it leaves you in terms of your college education. You won't want to be at a school that satisfies only your sports needs, especially if that part of your life falls apart.
Athletes don't concern themselves with a college's financial problems. They figure that, somehow, the school will have the money to field their team, especially if the school went to the trouble and expense to recruit them. But in these days of financial problems, many colleges are dropping some intercollegiate sports or downgrading them to club status. This can happen even when coaches project great athletic success for their school's teams. The University of Baltimore in 1979 upgraded its athletic program from Division II to Division I, the top level of NCAA competition. Only four years later, it was announced that the entire intercollegiate athletic program was being dropped. If this happened in your sport, would you still be happy at your college? Would it fit your other needs?
In order to make a good choice of colleges, you have to make a thorough investigation of all the factors that could affect the success and enjoyment of your college life. You must consider other factors in addition to sports when selecting your college. Keep sports high on the list, certainly, but try to imagine how you would feel about spending your college years at each school on your list if you didn't compete on the team.
THE SELECTION PROCESS USED BY COLLEGES
The college selection process is a two-way street, and it's important that students keep this in mind as they weigh what they think will be their options. Before examining the factors you should consider in selecting a college, let's discuss what determines whether a school will want you as a student.
Open vs. Selective Admissions
In terms of what a student has to do to get admitted to a college, schools fall into two broad categories: those with an open admissions policy and those that maintain selective admissions standards. Contrary to what the name implies, open admissions colleges do not accept any and all applicants. Instead, open admissions schools establish a set of minimal standards to ensure that each student admitted is able to do college-level work. A high school diploma or the equivalent is one such minimal standard required for admission to an open admission college. At some such colleges, however, you may be able to substitute for the high school diploma a certain minimum number of units that have been taken at a junior or community college. In California, for example, a student can enroll at a public community college without ever having graduated from high school. If he or she accumulates 56 college-level credits at the community college, the California State University system must then accept this student into a bachelor's degree program without any further admissions screening.
Some selective admissions schools use what is called an eligibility index to decide which students to admit. The eligibility index is often a combination of your high school GPA and your score on one of the two standard college entrance tests, the SAT or the ACT If your index number is above the minimum set for that year, you are admissible. If your high school GPA is high enough (some colleges set the limit at 3.2 or better), your SAT or ACT scores may not be weighed as heavily in the admissions decision. On the other hand, if your high school GPA is below a certain level (usually 2.0 is the minimum acceptable level), even an extremely high score on the SAT or ACT wouldn't be enough to get you admitted. If that were the case, your best bet would be to go to an open admission community college for at least a year and improve your grades, so that these college credits and GPA would become the basis for admission to the four-year college you want instead of your high school record.
Many selective colleges want much more evidence of a prospective student's ability to achieve a bachelor's degree than merely those factors considered in an eligibility index. How selective each college is depends on many considerations, including the number of applications that are received each year. This means that you might be rejected from a particular school one year yet be admitted another year, when the college has received fewer applications and has more space.
Some college applicants don't receive an immediate acceptance but are put on a waiting list, which can be frustrating. Colleges have waiting lists because each year officials have to estimate how many applicants who have been admitted will actually enroll. Underestimating will cause crowding, while overestimating will cost the college money in unused space. If you are on a waiting list, you might not know until late summer whether you've been admitted to a particular college for the following fall term. Athletes whom a coach is particularly keen on recruiting are sometimes given priority on the waiting list and may be admitted at the last moment. But don't count on this happening, or you might wind up out of luck and out of school when the term begins.
Factors Used in Selective Admissions
Following is a list of factors that selective colleges are likely to use in choosing their students. The list is generally in order of importance, although each school has its own system of weighting these factors.
Grade-point Average: The more selective the college, the higher your GPA must be, usually excluding physical education courses. To be accepted at such highly competitive colleges as those in the Ivy League, Northwestern, Stanford, Rice, or Case Western, for example, you should have a 3.5-4.0 high school GPA and will have to be very strong in some other areas, such as student government or other extracurricular activities.
SAT or ACT Scores: These standard admission test scores are required at most colleges. They are only estimates of a student's ability, yet these tests help admissions officers to compare students from various high school environments, thus helping to overcome the problem of comparing GPAs earned at different schools.
Letters of Recommendation: Personal recommendations are required for college admissions less often than they used to be, but at schools where they are asked for, treat them as very important. Make a list of people you feel can best recommend you to your preferred colleges. This list might include teachers, coaches, other school officials, alumni of the college you are applying to, and employers. They all should be people who know you and know your capabilities. Admissions people tend to devalue letters from family doctors, clerics, and elected officials. If you don't include letters from teachers or coaches, admissions officers will wonder why. Most important, ask only people who you know will have a good opinion of you. Evaluators expect to read glowing recommendations and will look for any hint of weakness. Lukewarm comments that suggest you are "good but not great" can hurt your chances. Before directly asking the people on your list to write a letter or fill in the recommendation form on your behalf, ask if they would feel comfortable recommending you. If there is any hesitation, thank the individual and move down your list to someone else.
The Essay: On many college applications you are asked to write a brief, informal essay about yourself or else to elaborate on a particular topic (e.g., the meaning of a college education; why you want to come to the college; what you want to be doing in ten years). Essay questions such as these are included as part of the application for two reasons: to provide admissions officers with a sample of your writing ability and to give them an insight into your interests and motivations. The essay should be taken seriously and labored over. It projects an image of you that admissions officers cannot obtain from the rest of the application (which amounts to a listing of biographical information). The effort you put into the essay shows how much you care about attending the college. How much it counts relative to other factors varies from one school to the next, but if an essay is required, the admissions staff intends to read it.
Extracurricular Activities: This is where your sports background can impress admissions officers. Be sure to include non-sports activities, such as school publications or clubs, and especially include positions of leadership you've held. But do not overload the list and certainly don't pad it with false or misleading information. Listing too many activities could suggest that you haven't been serious enough about the academic side of high school.
Legacies, "legs," or who you know: At some schools, especially private colleges, having a close family member who graduated from that college will automatically provide you with preferential consideration. (A parent or older brother or sister who is an alumnus gives you one "leg," two give you two "legs," etc.) The more "legs" you have, the better, since schools benefit by establishing a tradition within families. Especially if a family member was successful at the college, admissions people assume that you also are likely to be successful. They also know that when many family members go to the same college they tend to donate money to it.
The Interview: Not all schools require an interview, especially for applicants who live at a great distance. We strongly suggest, however, that you visit any campus where you might be committing yourself to spend two or more years of your life. While visiting, speak with a number of different people, more than just to say "Howdy." We'll discuss whom you should talk with and what to ask later in this chapter.
SPECIAL ADMISSIONS CONSIDERATIONS FOR ATHLETES
Being a prospective star athlete may weigh more heavily than any selection factors. Athletic ability could get you into a school where you otherwise might not have been admitted. Those who make decisions about who will be admitted to a college may take into account the needs of coaches for particular players, even if some of those players do not have as much potential for academic success as other students being considered. People who make such admissions decisions may be fans of the school's teams, or they may be influenced by pressure from the athletic department, athletic boosters, or other school administrators.
Athletes admitted to college who are unqualified to do college-level schoolwork are often shunted into special tutoring programs, the Economic Opportunity Program (EOP), or other special admissions programs. In spite of the help such programs may offer, being in the situation could put you in over your head if you are unable to keep up with the other students. It is particularly difficult to catch up with other students if you have to practice or compete in your sport nearly every day. Being admitted to a college mainly because you are needed as an athlete not only could hurt your academic progress but could put you at greater risk of losing eligibility for sports. An unqualified student admitted to a school primarily for his or her athletic ability usually pays a heavy price in the end.
We strongly suggest that you only consider colleges to which you would be admitted even if you were not an athlete. Only in this way can you feel secure that the admissions officers have judged you to be capable and likely to succeed at their college. (Whether or not you actually succeed, of course, is up to you. Those responsible for admissions only judge whether you have the ability.)
