I know it probably depends on the school, the sport and the athlete, but can anyone share some experience of what the expectations are for the mainstream sports? Is SAT/ACT score an absolute requirement?
Absolutely at the ivies that require test scores now. For the TO Ivies, depends on the coach and sport. A women’s basketball recruit at a TO Ivy did not have to submit a score.
“Coach, I am taking the SAT soon, what scores are you typically looking for?” Thats how you will get your answer.
In Spring of 23’ there were several reports that coaches were requesting scores as part of prereads. This was a change from fall '22.
At schools that require tests, yes, its an absolute requirement to submit a test. And at the others, probably. Specially for '26. The number of schools requiring scores is only going to grow.
As for the scores, I have heard 1470 (top 5 nationally in recruiting class) and 1490 mentioned, but all those factors you already mentioned are going to make a difference. As well as the overall mix of scores of the recruits since coaches have to maintain AI averages.
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This may be kind of specific but I posted a link recently to recruiting info for Harvard lightweight rowing. It’s on their website but it says SAT standard is at least 700 in each section and they super score. For ACT the standard is 32 and they do NOT super score the ACT. Again this is specific to the Harvard lightweight rowing standard but may offer some insight to the general standard other ivies and other sports.
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I don’t that anything is standardized across sports or schools. The academic index is very much back in play so testing should be expected to be the norm once again but after that things become a bit complex:
The AI requirements for Dartmouth are different than HYP.
Football varies quite a bit because of the large roster sizes.
A coach may be able to dip a bit lower for an impact player if they have a recruit in the same class with high stats to offset the drop.
Just in the past year I know of:
A high impact recruit who ended up not getting a LL and instead went Power 5
A track recruit being told that they needed to retake the SAT with a 1420 target because the recruit class average needed to come up
A recruit in a different sport being told that 1360 would be good.
It’s hard to generalize right now.
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Thank you. It confirms:
1- testing is very much back in the mix, and if you want Ivy, you will need very good scores - maybe 70-100 less than average
2- it depends on the sport and kid, but above generally will apply
Long gone are the days when by baseball teammate got into Harvard with an 1100
The Ivy athlete admissions standards are all over the place such that there is no standard. It depends on the school/AO, the sport, the AI of the team, how many kids are in each band, the level of the recruited athlete, and how much the coach really wants the athlete.
Our family member was recruited to HYP pretty much only because of a 4.0 GPA, 36 ACT, and lots of rigor. Never saw any playing time. Not an exceptional athlete, although good. Recruited in the top academic band in order to balance out a team that had otherwise below school minimum standard AI scores (the one standard deviation rule).
We have seen extremely sought after athletes at HYP recruited with a 29 ACT.
So, it truly depends.
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Any ideas on the “lower Ivies”? I assume Harvard, Yale, Princeton will have a very high bar, SAT’s at Cornell, Brown, Penn?
You mean Ivy League universities other than HYP?
After I get in the obligatory eye roll 
for the term “Lower Ivies,” I can answer.
It depends.
It depends on the university. It depends on the sport. It depends on the year. It depends on the student. It depends on the coach’s mood today.
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Does that make Columbia and Dartmouth the mediocre Ivies?
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Sorry. Bad terminology. How about everyone except HPY…
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My kid might call them “mid”. 
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I don’t think the academic bar for an athlete is necessarily lower. Or for a regular applicant for that matter. Every year there are kids rejected at those and accepted at HYP. From a STATs standpoint there is no significant difference.
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The Academic Index will vary for each school because they are (or were) calculated from the average stats of preceding years. The result is that there is a spread in the AIs between the top and bottom of the Ivy League just as there is a banding spread in the NESCAC between Williams and Conn College for example.
What that looks like in the age of grade inflation and TO admissions is an unknown at this time (at least to me).
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I would imagine the spread in the Ivy League is much thinner than any other conference.
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Agreed with everyone who has said it varies by school & sport. DS has a high school classmate in a different sport, and they are both going to the same HYP Ivy. The classmate is in a “helmet sport” (football, lacrosse, hockey). He did not have nearly the same rigor or grades as my son and did not have to submit test scores. My son is in a mainstream, “non helmet” sport and he did have to submit test scores. One of the coach-sponsored recruits in his recruiting class was denied by admissions due to low test score. So in our experience, it clearly varies not only by school, but by sports within the school.
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Did they receive a Likely Letter after applying ED/EA. or accepted without a Likely Letter?
LL before ED/REA/SCEA.
There were probably 20 schools where they would have been happier; being recruited purely for academics (unknown at the time) and then not playing for 4 years was very demoralizing.
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That is a great point. “Bubble kids” should ready consider what role they will play on the team. We had a lot of conversations about this in my house. The choice will be different for each athlete, but they should make it with eyes wide open.
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The more recent process for HYP is LL after applying EA, but before normal early acceptances are sent. There was a time long ago when some athletes received multiple LLs. I don’t think that happens anymore.
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