Harvard Admission Rating System

gibby
Wed, 01 Aug 2018 21:04:49 +0000

@lookinforward: FWIW: I’ve known quite a few high school varsity athletes who are NOT good enough to play on a Division 1 team, but who ARE good enough to play competitively at a Division 3 school or on a JV/club sport team at a Division 1 school like Harvard, Yale or Princeton.

As part of their common application package, those students have submitted a link to a 2-4 minute highlight reel of them playing their sport, along with a third letter of recommendation from their HS coach. That kind of student is showing both a demonstrated interest in a sport and providing documentation of their ability. In addition, the coach’s LoR can confirm their sport is their #1 EC.

From observation, when a student provides such evidence in their application, it does seem to give them an edge in admissions to top colleges because Admissions Officers tend to see things this way: http://observer.com/2016/03/how-playing-sports-even-poorly-can-make-you-more-successful-in-business/