<p>Through the years I have seen and known many N.M.F.s from my kids high school and it seems to me the males are of a uniform physical characteristic. Walk slower or shuffle, a little overweight or out of tone, or sometimes underweight and frail, I’ve seen this many times now and with this observation I come to more of an understanding of the University’s desire to recruite the athlete. In the past on C.C. I’ve found parents upset and annoyed with the admission advantage at Ivy and other colleges given the athlete. It seems to me while N.M.F. serve the academic needs of the University, so must athletes serve the physical needs. Wellness of body still makes an impact. Muscles , trimness and tone are physically attractive attributes that still matter. Add to that the ability to work in or with a team or lead a team to victory, are reasons the athlete should not be overlooked by the university in their recruitiment. Over again I see the same thing happening, N.M.F.s lamenting admission statistics at colleges while the student athlete, with lower but good scores, can easily find a place of acceptance. Anyone care to comment?</p>
<p>***I’m of limited time now so cannot respond to quotations tearing apart my post. I LEAVE IT TO YOU TO VOICE YOUR OWN OPINIONS or carry on your own discussion.</p>
<p>in our experience the athletes are some of the best students in the school.
Committment to a sport teaches interdependence- perseverance- goal setting-self reliance-confidence- strategic thinking- all qualities which contribute to making a solid student.( not to mention better neurological development)</p>
<p>Research shows that those who are active are better thinkers than those who are not. Apparently NMF is just one thing that is considered when building the freshman class :)</p>
<p>I can’t comment on your theory except to say it doesn’t meet with my experience. There were 2 male NMFs in my son’s class - our son and another boy - and several more in our city. At least 75% also played sports. In our son’s class, the other NMF played tennis. He is tall, lanky and muscular and currently plays tennis on his college team. Our son was captain of the varsity basketball team, a 4-year letterman, and was well over 6’ tall even in high school. While he’s no Shaq, he’s definitely not frail.</p>
<p>S1 is/was a NMF. He plays lots of sports (now just for fun–not a college athlete), works out, walks normally and is tall and just the right weight (or maybe a bit less) for his height. The other guys from his school who were NMF the same year are about the same height and build (except one who is rather skinny) and have always participated in sports (though none of them in college, either). They all did very well with respect to college admissions!! So I guess that group doesn’t fit the theory</p>
<p>lol. Sorry, but S was an NMF; played team sports until high school; did kung fu from age seven until college and was a kung fu instructor; at college lifts weights and plays squash for fun, and competes on an intramural dodgeball team. The dodgeball is pretty funny… and he is on the thin side…but I’d say his walk is closer to a lope than a shuffle. If his college admitted him in hopes he wouldn’t make use of their over-booked gymn facilities, they lost their bet.</p>
<p>I don’t think it’s true that high academic achievement and participation in athletics are mutually exclusive. I haven’t paid attention to NM finalists, but for the past several years I’ve looked at bios of Intel finalists and Davidson scholars. Most of them are athletes, and from what I remember, cross-country and tennis are the most common sports.</p>
<p>There were 35 NMFs in my older S’s class of 124 last year. Some were artists, some were athletes, some were robotics whizzes, some were musicians, some were chess champions, some had notable community service… and all were accepted at fine universities. At most a couple were overweight and another couple were notably thin. The stereotype doesn’t hold in my experience either.</p>
<p>(Edit: the 35 was mixed gender, but it was about 50/50 male/female so I don’t feel as if I need to change the above comments.)</p>
<p>my son was a NMF, is 6’ tall, regularly runs 6 miles and bicycles. He’s thin but very fit, active and coordinated. I’d hesitate to draw conclusions from a limited group of students.</p>
<p>Our S is another 6’ (or is it 6’ 1" now?–haven’t checked lately) NMF. Homeschooled, --he did play community soccer, is an excellent swimmer, did some surfing and ice skating. Loping walk, bad posture from hunching over the computer. Slim, but not scrawny. No glasses. Not pale. Shy. Killer pianist. Talented graphic artist. . .Right handed, Cancer.</p>
<p>H, also NMF in his day, also 6’, was the legally blind, pale, uncoordinated sports-phobic geek, the kid always picked last in gym class, always getting beaten up and having his glasses smashed by the jocks. (He hates all sports and won’t even watch his own kids play). Quite popular, outgoing, class officer, lots of theater, tuba player, singer. . .Right handed, Gemini.</p>
<p>Wow, crazy OP! You must be trying to get some inflamed moms going!! LOL</p>
<p>My NMF son is a surfer, surfing on the UF team. He is so far from your description it is laughable - muscular, coordinated, or, as some gals say, “buff, blonde and b**chen” I think the only reason he was a NMF is because he is a great test taker. I sure hope that UF is not hoping that he will serve their academic needs! They only wanted him so they could count him in their stats in college guide books. He feels so used! Thank heavens for us that he has to maintain a GPA to keep his scholarship!!! Oh and right handed, Sagitarius</p>
<p>Oh, and for my junior S, who is a football/lacrosse player type, I hope schools are looking for “athlete types” because even though he is a much better student than my older S, he is not a very good test taker. Oh well, we all have strenghts…</p>
Thank heavens for us that he has to maintain a GPA to keep his scholarship!!! Oh and right handed, Sagitarius</p>