<p>The Ivy League has a policy that every recruited athlete must meet a minimum Academic Index (AI) number, and the average AI of all recruited athletes must meet a different minimum number, which varies by school and is a function of the AI of the general student population. Harvard, Yale, and Princeton students have the highest overall AIs, so the standards for athletes are higher there than for the other Ivy League schools. Some recruited athletes have AIs higher than the average for their school, some about the same, and others lower. Generally speaking, football players have the lowest AIs of all athletes, but of course there are exceptions.</p>
<p>The real benefit of being a strong athlete comes when your AI is at or above the schools average. That was the case with my son. His AI was higher than the average at any school, and he was highly ranked in his sport. Students like him have the luxury of choosing where they’d like to study.</p>
<p>The Harvard coaches throw an expression around: “Other schools recruit. Harvard chooses.” But it’s hardly true. Harvard recruited DS, but HE chose Princeton.</p>
<p>Edited to add: The elements that go into the AI calculation are GPA (or class rank), SAT( or ACT), and Subject Test scores. In my son’s case they were 1/330, 35, 800/790. If he hadn’t have been a recruited athlete, he would have had decent chances, but athletics can be a game changer.</p>