Interesting article on academic vs. athletic recruiting

OldbatesieDoc
Sun, 22 Nov 2009 20:34:15 +0000

Well. we’ve lived the academic vs athletic life at our house, and I find it VERY annoying.
I have 2 sons, both fine students 1 year apart in HS. Both have taken the same courses, with a few variations. Son A is a genius, and a gifted writer. He turned our school paper around, won all kinds of awards from NY State including best editorial, best editorial page, and best school paper when he was editor-in-chief.He got a perfect on his verbal SAT, all others including SAT2s above 760, 4.0 in IB, ran track and X-C varsity, and was student gvt president… His essays were INCREDIBLE.
He was wait-listed at Harvard, Midd, Dartmouth, Amherst, and Tufts, and rejected by Princeton and Williams. The Princeton and Harvard interviewers told him he’d likely have his choice of top schools. The Harvard interviewer sent me a note congratulating me on the great child I’d raised…
Son 2 has the same GPA as his brother, but works twice as hard. He blew his SATs, so we switched to the ACT, where he got a respectible 31 on his second try. He has been recruited for his athletic ability by all the D3 schools that rejected his brother, and is applying ED to Midd.
So basically, colleges feel they need athletes more than geniuses…
I do tell myself that if son A had spent the extra time on his academics that son B spent on his sport, he would have had a 100 average in HS, but I still find it very ironic.