Didn’t miss a thing. I did note your comment that you “lean towards” academics but you then proceeded to offer a counter narrative supporting playing the sport, followed by business school and then hopefully an IB job. In your scenario this was possible as evidenced by your BIL having followed this path.
You actually suggested the following the dream of playing a sport can be an equivalent in desirability versus career optionality .
I can understand your predisposition to steer kids to playing given your former role as a “recruiting coordinator”
I will be transparent that my suggestion if the student is committed to IB would be to attend a target school. I base this on my experience of having enjoyed playing 4 years of division 3 sports, completing a top 7 MBA program and having a 30 year plus IB career.
Specifically I would avoid spending the direct tuition cost and losing the opportunity cost of lost wages for an MBA if possible. I also don’t think anyone can be assured of MBA acceptances and or IB jobs post B school. That’s a lot of relative execution risk and upfront costs when a more direct route of applying from an undergraduate target school exists.