College admission and athletics

Applying to College
1

Can high school varsity students take advantage of their varsity skills? For example, I am in the girls soccer and swimming team. My personal best for 50m swimming is less than 30 seconds and the record in Columbia and NYU are around 23-24 seconds. So if I say that I will attend the school and participate in the swim team, will there be any advatange? My GPA is at least 3.6 (should be higher) and I am currently a junior. I won’t ask for financial aids etc. I have many leadership roles and ECs. Will Columbia and NYU consider accepting swimmers?

So what I am mainly unsure about is to what extent ‘verbally commiting’ to a school’s sports team or obviously being good enough for their sports team help the admission process.

thanks ;D

2

Speak with your coaches about how other superior performing swimmers or soccer players have gotten noticed by college coaches. Various sports have their individual showcase events (summer camps, submitting video links, etc.)

My thinking is that 7 second off doesn’t make you very valuable. Your biggest hurdle with the very competitive schools is your GPA. For them to want you at your academic level, you’d have to be one of the best swim recruits of your graduating year in the country.

But spend some time trawling through this forum: http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/athletic-recruits/

Lots of good advisors and advice there. Good luck