<p>I have been reading a lot about talent on the boards. Of course, there’s quite a few varieties of what someone would consider college admissions worthy talent. But, I have to ask, how important can specific talents be in admissions?</p>
<p>Let’s say, hypothetically, someone is applying to one of the most selective schools (HYPS, etc). Let’s say their grades and SAT are below par for that school. Let’s also say that they’ve won medals in the Olympics. Does this help make them a candidate for a top ACADEMIC institution?</p>
<p>Now onto connections? The best recent example I can think of is former PM Tony Blair’s son. Average grades, public run-ins with the law, etc… admitted to Yale.</p>
<p>Umm, yeah, Olympic medals would probably go a long way in getting you into any college haha. Think about how in-demand a student like that would be; even with a B average and mediocre test scores, I bet they’d get into HYPS just so the schools could say they have an Olympian enrolled there. Same goes for Blair’s son…that’s an awesome connection for other students at Yale to make, and connections are a huge part of the college’s draw.</p>
<p>Sarah Hughes attends Yale (2002 Olympic Gold Medalist in Figure Skating) and her younger sister Emily Hughes attends Harvard ( No Olympic medals, but national medals and competed @ Olympics) I’m willing to bet the whole Olympic thing helped quite a bit.</p>