<p>You could consider my alma mater, Emory…sports are more of a participatory thing (lots of intramural teams. Intermural sports performances are excellent, but not well attended so have like no effect on social/academic life) like at Chicago, and we’re more about academics and multiculturalism(which often reinforce). At many D-3 schools, “student-athlete” literally means just that with many athletes doing varsity sports doing extremely well academically. This is an example of the nature of many D-3 schools and their athletes: <a href=“Tennis player Zahra Dawson invited to White House”>http://news.emory.edu/stories/2012/06/athletics_dawson_visits_white_house/campus.html</a>
@intparent I think the OP just probably recognizes that at some schools, whether they be state schools or places like USC, Vanderbilt, Duke, maybe ND where sure it’s athlete centered, but the sports scene has a huge influence on the social scene (especially when combined or supplemented with a large Greeklife Scene). </p>