Fence your way past low admission rates?

Data10
Tue, 25 Oct 2022 16:10:27 +0000

twoinanddone:

What people want is to be a recruited athlete (fencer or otherwise), to get admission, and for those schools that allow it, scholarships.

Like most longer threads on this website, the thread split in to several directions, some of which do not align with the original post. The linked article focuses on playing a sport to improve chance of admission to a highly selective college. While some student athletes want to get admission to a highly selective Ivy+ type college, that is not the only reason people play sports. I doubt that is even among the more common reasons students play sports.

In one survey of high school athletes, the most common reasons they gave for choosing to compete in high sports were having fun (81%), exercise (79%), learning and improving skills (66%), playing with and making new friends (66%), and competing (64%). Among the listed options in the survey, college scholarships was the least common reason given for playing sports. They didn’t ask about admission to Ivy+ type highly selective colleges. Similarly many students would also like to play sports in college, even if doing so does not increase chance of admission to grad school / job.

For example, the Place of Athletics Amherst (DIII school) report at https://www.amherst.edu/system/files/media/PlaceOfAthleticsAtAmherst_Secure_1.pdf divides athletes in to 3 groups as summarized below. It suggests ~1/3 of students are varsity athletes, yet Amherst says 80% of students complete club or intermural sports on their website. For the percentages to work out to 80%, this implies that >70% of non-athletes at Amherst choose to compete in sports while at the college.

Athletic Factor (~14% of students) – Outstanding athletes who are expected to have a significant impact on success of athletic team, Usually has lower admission reader rankings than typical admits suggesting strong admissions advantage, Maximum number of Athletic Factor admits is limited by NESCAC conference rules.

Coded Athlete (12-18% of students) – Excellent athletes who are flagged by coaches, Admission reader ratings for coded athlete admits are similar to non-athlete admits but admit rate is higher than non-athletes with similar reader ratings, NESCAC conference rules do not limit number of coded athletes.

Walk-On (~4% of students) – Athletes who are not identified or flagged by coaches, No admission preference, Often sees little playing time.

Non-Athlete (~2/3 of students) – Does not participate on in intercollege varsity competition; Vast majority do participate in sports while at Amherst, such as club sports or intermural sports.

Also relevant to the thread, the report also lists a variety of differences between athletes and non-athletes, which have been discussed in the thread. Demographic differences include the following. The difference in income between Amherst athletes and non-athletes appears to be especially notable at time of report analysis.

Low Income – 4% of Athletes, 31% of Non-athletes
First Gen – 3% of Athletes, 18% of Non-athletes
White – 74% of Athletes, 41% of Non-athletes