“I largely got in based on athletic merit,” admits Yalie

[Tanbiko]

Paraphrasing their Likely Letter Yale does not admit good chemists or figure skaters - it admits students of great promise

[ucbalumnus]

@katliamom

"the fact of the matter is that student-athletes, particularly in the Ivy League, are very successful once on campus. "

Based on my observations, I’d agree with @TiggerDad . For one, these tend to be disciplined and competitive types. They have the grades and the stats to be considered: you’re NOT going to see C-average high school students on Princeton teams. Plus, in contrast to many universities, the Ivies tend to put school first, sport second, thus giving athletes a very good shot at being able to excel academically.

Not too much of a surprise, since a recruited athlete in the Ivy League must have achieved highly in both a sport and academics*, suggesting a very high level of personal ability and motivation as needed to do both (as opposed to just one). Yes, parental support helps, but athletic achievement still requires the student to earn his/her achievement, rather than merely inherit a birth lottery preference like legacy or development.

*Even if the sports achievement is not at the top end of NCAA D1 level and/or the academic achievement is not at the top end of Ivy League admits, it is still a strong total achievement to reach “lower NCAA D1 level” in a sport and “lower Ivy League admits” in academics, each of which is still very high compared to the universe of college bound high school seniors.

[jym626]

Just watched Nathan Chen win the Skate America in Las Vegas. They mentioned he is a sophomore at Yale, and facetimes his coach. He is very talented.

[Data10]

*"the fact of the matter is that student-athletes, particularly in the Ivy League, are very successful once on campus. "

Based on my observations, I’d agree with @TiggerDad . For one, these tend to be disciplined and competitive types. They have the grades and the stats to be considered: you’re NOT going to see C-average high school students on Princeton teams. Plus, in contrast to many universities, the Ivies tend to put school first, sport second, thus giving athletes a very good shot at being able to excel academically.*

Not too much of a surprise, since a recruited athlete in the Ivy League must have achieved highly in both a sport and academics*, suggesting a very high level of personal ability and motivation as needed to do both (as opposed to just one).

While you won’t see many/any C average HS students, the Harvard lawsuit and related studies found that the kids with the lowest stats in the entire class tended to be recruited athletes. This should come as no surprise given the Ivy League athlete conference recruiting rules, which set limits on minimum Athletic Index stats for athletic recruits. The athletes need to average no more than 1 SD below the class, and key team members may be 2 SDs below the class… a region where almost nobody would be admitted unless a recruited athlete.

Athletic teams in the Ivy League usually have a very high graduation success rate, but graduating (or leaving while in good academic standing) is not equivalent to being “very successful once on campus.”

The Amherst report found that athletic factor admits (coach endorsement “weighs prominently in admission decision”) rarely chose non-environmental science STEM majors and instead favored social sciences. . Similarly athletic factor admits were far less likely to pursue a senior thesis than non-athletes. Athletes on the same teams who did not receive such admissions preferences did not show this pattern and instead had distribution more like non-athletes. The Ivy League athletic conference mostly competes in Div I, so I expect athletic preference in admissions is far stronger than Amherst or Div III schools in general, Similar effects may be quite noteworthy.

Other studies or reviews have found that athletes at highly selective colleges are more likely than other students to binge drink and more likely to cheat on assignments. One study found that average athlete academic performance at highly selective colleges met expectations based on a combination of stats, race, and gender. There was a penalty for being admitted with weaker academic criteria, but was no apparent special benefit for having the discipline/personality to achieve at a high level on athletic teams.

This fits reasonably well with my personal experiences as a walk-on athlete at Stanford. There were plenty of athletes who performed very well academically and appeared to be great people in general. However, it was my experience that athletes as a whole appeared were more likely than non-athletes to be less successful academically, choose a major that has a reputation for being less challenging, regularly party + drink, be involved in disciplinary actions with administration/police, only pursue a BA/BS without graduate/professional school, and pursue careers that do not directly relate to their major, if not able to do sport professionally (for example, career in general sales). These effects were especially noteworthy in sports where there was a possibility to pursue professionally after graduation (football, basketball, baseball, tennis, … ). There was a also a gender difference, in my experience.

I have no idea whether any of this even applies to Nathan Chen. One of the Harvard studies referenced above explicitly mentions that nationally ranked figure skaters may not be marked as athletes by admission readers (not given 1 athletic) and as such may not receive corresponding athletic admission benefits. Harvard does not have a varsity figure skating team, so there is not endorsement by coaches and such. He also may be a great student academically and likely to be highly successful at Yale. I know very little about his background.