What sports look good on college applications?
Athletic Participation
Playing team sports, such as football or basketball, also lets colleges know that you've been able to function as part of a team. Athletic participation generally takes up quite a bit of time and requires significant effort to develop skills.
Grade Point Average (GPA)
Your GPA is the single most influential factor that any college will consider. It reflects your performance as a student over almost four years of your life and offers insight into what sort of college student you will be.
- Choose Your High School Classes With Intention. ...
- Strive for Good Grades. ...
- Tell the Story of Who You Are. ...
- Participate in Extracurricular Activities. ...
- Volunteer. ...
- Keep Accurate Records. ...
- Manage Your Social Media Presence.
What are the best sports for Ivy League admissions? Specialized sports that are not offered at many high schools like crew, fencing, and pole vaulting are typically the strongest at Ivy League schools.
- Football. This is the most popular sport in the country, and the most difficult to get recruited for. ...
- Baseball/Softball. America's pastime shares much the same fate as football, but both genders can participate in this one. ...
- Men's Wrestling. ...
- Track and Field. ...
- Fencing. ...
- Women's Crew.
Good grades, a challenging high school curriculum, standardized test scores, extracurriculars, and a strong essay are a few key factors admissions officers assess. Each university may emphasize different elements of the application process.
'" Even when a student quits a sport, it is viewed as stopping any other activity, in most cases. “As far as a student quitting a sport in high school, it doesn't really affect our decision at my college," says Kristina Martin, undergraduate admissions counselor at Nazareth College in Rochester, N.Y.
- Have a diverse list of extracurricular activities.
- Challenge yourself.
- Go beyond the norm in a college essay.
- Show grades trending up.
- Demonstrate interest in the college.
- Schedule an interview if possible.
- Inappropriate Topics.
- A Rehash of Your Activities List and Transcripts.
- Relationships, Romance, and Breakups.
- Writing About Your Hero.
- The Sports Story.
- Tragedies.
- Highly Personal Topics.
- Controversial Topics: Politics, Religion, and More.
- Be a recognisable name. ...
- Make your application easy to read. ...
- STAR technique. ...
- Take time to tailor it. ...
- Develop an online presence. ...
- Make good use of your hobbies and interests. ...
- Make sure you have perfect spelling and grammar.
What makes you a stand out applicant?
These can be professional skills, areas of expertise, personal qualities, or any relevant experience. Also, consider any impressive accomplishments from your past or career goals that speak to your commitment to the field. Think of ways to out-do the other candidates.
Well, most of the sports for which Harvard recruits — crew, squash, sailing, water polo, fencing, lacrosse, rugby, skiing and golf (to name a few) — are not what public high schools typically offer, and the travel, equipment and instruction these sports require make the cost of participation prohibitive for many ...

For men's sports, lacrosse, ice hockey, and baseball have the highest percentages of high school athletes receiving collegiate scholarships, and the same goes for ice hockey, lacrosse, and soccer in women's programs.
It may be helpful for students to know that admission committees at highly selective colleges generally don't value athletic involvement over participation in other extracurricular activities unless an applicant is a recruit.
Track and field scholarships are considered to be one of the most accessible and easy to obtain. That is largely due to limited competition. Many athletes are involved in track and field disciplines.
At the other end of the spectrum, of the official NCAA sports for which data was provided, the three least-common sports are gymnastics (99 combined men's and women's teams), bowling (68 women's teams), and sand volleyball (56 women's teams).
Football is the most likely sport with over 100,000 high school athletes. With 2.7 percent or 1 in every 36 athletes receiving a scholarship. This means that at, on average, least 1 person on every high school team will receive a scholarship (statistically speaking).
Good grades and test scores, a rigorous academic program, and a full compliment of academic classes during all four years are all necessary to be accepted into a good school.
Courses and Grades
A student's grades in college-preparatory classes remain the most significant factor in college admission decisions. Highly selective colleges look for students who: Complete core academic requirements.
- Grades in college prep courses. ...
- Strength of curriculum. ...
- Admission test scores. ...
- Grades in all courses. ...
- Extracurricular commitment. ...
- Letters of recommendation. ...
- Essay or writing sample. ...
- Demonstrated interest.
Do colleges care about JV sports?
Colleges do like to see leadership, so JV captain may look slightly better (you'd be one person among the JV team with those extra responsibilities vs. one person with the same responsibilities as the rest of the varsity team). But please don't let this sway your decision if you think you'd be happier on varsity.
Research has shown that recruited athletes receive the largest admissions advantages independent of academic merit. The advantage varies by sport and athletic division but is almost universal within higher education.
Although athletics can make you a unique medical school applicant with heightened competition, demands, and experiences, it will also take time away from your other interests and pursuits. Ultimately, the decision should come down to your passion for your sport.
- Reflect on your natural talents and interests. ...
- Consider your future major and career. ...
- Let go of any low-potential, time-intensive activities. ...
- Look into self-driven activities. ...
- Consider tying together two interests.
- Not Providing Any New Information. Every component of your application should add new information to the picture. ...
- Stifling Your Voice and Personality. Students often ask if a particular talent or activity will make them stand out. ...
- Not Tailoring Essays.
Rejection: As a High school student one of my biggest fears about the college application process is rejection. Coming from a very competitive college prep school, going to college has never even been a question. And on top of that, getting accepted to a prestigious college is expected.
Controversial topics, such as current political hot buttons, should be avoided at all costs. These topics might provide you with a subject you feel strongly about, but your college essay isn't the time to focus on something that's highly sensitive or polarizing.
The "hooks" that are fairly well known are categories like a legacy student, a student-athlete, an underrepresented minority student, a student with a connection to a current or potential university donor, or a very talented student in a specific area (such as superb clarinet player or a chess champion, for example).
Basically, there are six main factors that college admissions officers consider: AP classes and challenging course loads, high school GPAs, SAT and ACT scores (unless they are test-optional), meaningful extracurricular activities, letters of recommendation, and your personal statement.
- Proven Excellence. This is the most straight forward of the wow factor categories. ...
- Original Projects. ...
- Adulting. ...
- Being a Headline-Maker. ...
- Do Something Quirky, Original, or Random. ...
- Clear Leadership. ...
- Incredible Grit.
What should you not do on an application?
- Use fancy verbose language that doesn't make sense. ...
- Bad mouth the company. ...
- Not bothering to spell check. ...
- Writing too little. ...
- Writing too much that doesn't make sense. ...
- Not answering the questions. ...
- Over selling yourself. ...
- Underselling yourself.
When possible, it's always a good idea to give colleges specific facts and figures that demonstrate your high level of performance in a particular field, be it academics, standardized tests, or extracurriculars. Gaming is no different.
In essence, having the support of the coach or being offered a scholarship to play a sport can be one of the biggest advantages to any applicant in gaining admission to even the most selective colleges. In all cases, the stronger your transcript, the easier it will be for coaches to support you as an athletic admit.
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Why do Extracurricular Activities Matter?
- Drive.
- Leadership.
- Passion.
- Commitment.
- Time management.