My daughter is a rising senior. She has been climbing since the age of 5 and competes locally and nationally in indoor rock climbing, which is a passion of hers. Aside from researching collegiate community climbing teams and facilities, are there any opportunities for recruitment or at least coach interest that might help admissions? Anything anecdotal even? [She has 96 weighted GPA, top 10% of class, SAT 1430 (may take again)]
To the best of my knowledge, rock climbing is usually a club sport and therefore not recruitable. However, it’s a great EC that shows hard work, discipline, and commitment. That’s always a good thing to have!
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@superdomestique do you have any insight on this?
This is the most interesting thread all morning. If I was reading her essay, it would peak my interest for sure.
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Obviously rock climbing isn’t a recruitable sport for college admissions, however it is becoming an incredibly popular sport/activity as it is challenging, social, coed in addition to it being relatively inexpensive to build and maintain the facilities (indoor). The best part is participation requires relatively little cost.
As a consequence many colleges are building facilities for recreational purposes, hoping for widespread participation. It is worth noting rock climbing is best performed substance free, so large student population participation is consistent with institutional priorities of offering social alternatives that are alcohol free.
My middle son was a serious rock climber who forwent the recruitable sports path his brothers followed because he really loved to climb. He applied ED to a reach school, where he was statistically well qualified, but as a ORM during the age of Affirmative Action left his parents with little confidence of his chances.
His first choice school just happened to have finished construction of a major rock climbing wall/facility the year he applied. This school historically has an alcohol abuse problem related to a strong fraternity system and the rock climbing facility was the first of several steps to offer students, especially the underage ones, a substance free social alternative.
While rock climbing was not a recruitment path for our son, I am convinced his passion for the sport coincided with an institutional priority where everyone won. It is great when that happens!
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If the school doesn’t have a sport as a varsity sport, you can’t be recruited, so no “hook”.
With that said, Olympic figure skaters and snowboarders almost certainly had an edge in admissions for their dedication and achievement. I always think about that page in the alumni magazine where they introduce the incoming class. A top archer, climber, curler, etc. definitely add color. And one who can share that with classmates, even more so.
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As far as I know, rock climbing is not a recruitable sport but I think demonstrated excellence in an extracurricular would pique an AOs interest.
Some colleges do have competitive club teams so that might be something to explore. Perhaps reach out to the club coach or leverage any personal connections (e.g. students from your high school on the team, mutual friends, etc.).
My child’s friend was an internationally ranked climber (Top 25) and found a wonderful, competitive climbing community at his Ivy League university. Top stats and demonstrated excellence in other ECs likely helped with the holistic admissions process too.
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My S25 is also a national level competitive climber with very similar stats. He’s been climbing since he was 7 
My sense is that some programs do sort of have a boost for climbers, as in kids from the same youth teams wind up on the same collegiate teams. Stanford and Dartmouth both field excellent teams pretty consistently and I have to think that if you’re a top student and a top climber, it definitely helps. I know that the top climber from my son’s team (top 5 in the country for Lead) has talked to someone affiliated with Stanford climbing.
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I’d like to add that I hope there is some kind of an admissions boost for climbers or for anyone who dedicates the time and effort that our climbers do to any sport or activity. We keep track of S25’s climbing hours because he gets a PE credit for it and he averages 16 hours a week at the gym. Whether it’s chess, figure skating, writing a novel, or climbing, dedication and excellence should mean something to admissions.
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I can see the essay now on climbing. Going thorough life experiences starting at the bottom as he climbs to reach new achievements and goals (academic also) and reaches the top to fulfill his destiny. It can be a very cool and different essay. Just saying…
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Honestly, I would stay away from “climbing as metaphor” but definitely use climbing as climbing, taking the reader through actual climbs, successful or not, quiet or exhausting, predictable or suspenseful, thanks to excellent writing.
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Maybe. I know someone that is at MIT and wrote about playing chess and every move was something in her life. It was excellent and of course the last move was Checkmate… Lol.
That’s not chess as metaphor though -it’s a clever organizing principle for personal stories. Good for that kid! 
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Can’t even discribe the essay, it was awesome and clever. But… Back to the post…
If you are competing at the highest level and doing well, it may help a little. College like to highlight different things that the incoming students have accomplished in their press releases. But it it going to make up for deficiencies in the application.
@Nocamx you may find this article interesting.
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We know many rock climbers personally, some of them national-level, the rest with regional accolades. None of them got into schools that were “outside” of their range based on transcript/stats. Most colleges have climbing gyms and climbing or outdoor clubs, and it is a fairly popular EC these days (many major HS in our regions have climbing teams). It is not a significant boost in admissions: it is just an interesting EC that will help the same as any other interesting EC or non-recruitable sport: it will be considered as part of holistic admissions, and may help a little.
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I took the article as these coaches can throw a thumb on the scale for an otherwise competitive applicant. Similar to MIT/CMU recruiting. Coaches submits a wish list and hopes they will get who they want, but no academic corners are cut. (At the right school)
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This is my understanding for the schools where climbing is a club sport that fields a number of competitors and historically does well. Several competitive teams now have paid coaches and consistently are winning collegiate nationals. I find it hard to believe they’re doing that without any effort on looking at incoming applications. It’s not the same as football but all things being equal, who knows?
A college climbing wall and outdoor club isn’t the same as a competitive climbing environment. There are a few that are decent but most are just recreational. S25 thinks they’re “cute.”
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