The one kid I know who dropped out of an Ivy League college did so because of mental health issues which emerged when he was in college but had nothing to do with his school. He happened to be a recruited football player.
@Ohiodad51,
I didn’t mean to go after you. I just don’t like the assumption I often see here that athletes admitted to elite institutions are box-of-rocks kids who skate into schools without the academic qualifications of their peers. I agree with you that there are differences between the recruiting practices of different types of schools, and your follow-up post about the 20-ACT kid demonstrates that. To say that the practices of a Williams and a Florida State are the same simply because coaches have pull at both is a little silly. Among the differences are…
Williams (and what I say here applies to all the NESCACs) doesn’t offer athletic scholarships, while FSU and schools like it do. If a Williams recruit wants to drop out, or even to never set foot on the field after being given a boost by the coach, he is fully within his rights.
Williams doesn’t hire tutors for their kids. They’re given full access to the school’s tutoring facilities just like every other student, and there is informal support from the coaches and teammates but there’s no “football tutor.” These kids have to make it on their own, like everyone else, with the caveat that they have less time due to the time suck of practices.
Small LACs like Williams have a very high percentage of kids playing on teams. Lots of kids get a boost from athletics, but the school can’t afford to dip too low because there aren’t enough non-athletes to offset a bunch of truly low scorers.
The NESCACs don’t schedule classes for normal practice times. Classes are done by 4 and the few evening seminars pick up at 7.
As has already been pointed out, admissions makes the decision at a D3 school. You don’t see a whole lot of recruits being rejected by NESCACs, but one reason is that a coach won’t put their muscle behind a kid who hasn’t passed the academic screening. NESCAC recruits are sometimes rejected, which is why admission to these schools is such a delicate and fraught dance. No one commits to these schools as a sophomore or junior and there’s no defined academic safe zone.
(Edited to correct formatting error)