I’m seeking advice on applying to a large public university known to be selective, especially for out-of-state students. I recently discovered that a significantly less … qualified … athlete from my high school has committed to this university. Given the university’s selectivity and the limited spots for out-of-state students, I’m wondering if I should still bother applying.
I’m concerned that the athlete’s commitment might reduce my chances of admission, even though I have significantly stronger academic credentials. For those who are wondering why I know this, it is because the recruited individual has openly told their GPA and SAT, and boasted their recruitment on social media. I am obviously upset because my school counselor told me upfront that I am a match academically (school is a reach for all OOS though) and should apply; however, she also told me she is unsure I should bother applying because of the emphasis on recruits. The athlete recruited does not have any specific extracurriculars other than the sport but has even told me that they’ll quit the sport after their entry is secured…which is really annoying.
Has anyone been in a similar situation or have any insights on whether this should deter me from applying? I’m extremely burnt out because it feels like all the effort I have put in these last couple of years seems useless. We’ll be in the same pool of applicants since the university does not offer ED for OOS but something similar to EA [I’m intentionally being not too specific]. Any advice on how to approach this situation would be greatly appreciated.
There are always kids who get into a school (a student not in my son’s top 25 (all they showed) goes to Princeton.
You should only worry about yourself - not others that you know.
Should you apply depends on two things:
Do you want to attend
Can you afford to attend or if not, do you have the possibility to afford (via merit or need aid)
If the answer to both is yes, then you should apply.
Now there should also be a sense of reality - if you have a 2.5 and are in the 50th percentile, applying to Harvard is a waste.
But you have 20 apps on common and no matter if you apply to 2 or 6 or 20, you’re only going to one school.
So of course you should apply - and you’re making judgements about admissions (how many they’ll take from your school) without any iota of knowledge about what the school will do related to you!!!
So stop that.
Apply where you want - and if you get turned down - oh well.
Kids get turned down every day. From super selective schools, most get turned down.
Keep in mind that no one is taking “your spot”. Just because someone with different qualifications than you (in your mind lower, but not in the school’s mind), does not mean that you would have been the person to fill that spot had they not gotten in. I’ve seen many sour grapes based on that false assumption. Both in college admissions and in life.
On the one hand, you should not be concerned about any specific other student who is applying to the same university. Any “large public university” has a large number of spots for incoming freshmen. You are competing with thousands (or maybe tens of thousands) of other students for admissions. One more student plus or minus from your high school will not have any significant impact on your chances.
Also, if I read this correctly, you are not competing for a spot on the athletic team. Athletic recruits will be considered separately. There are a limited number of spots for athletes on any one specific team. This is not what you are applying for.
Finally, since this is an out of state public university, you should pay attention to your budget, and it sounds like it is not a safety. You need to also be applying to universities where both admissions and affordability are extremely likely.
As one example, I attended a high school that as far as I know had only sent one single student to MIT in the entire history of the high school. The year I graduated two of us went to MIT. MIT did not have any “at most one student and probably not that” limit for our high school. They just had not had two strong applicants from our high school at the same time in the past. Each school looks at a long list of applicants, and makes their choices. Similarly, it is entirely possible that this out of state public school might, just this year, accept two students from your high school. You will not know unless you apply.
However, definitely also apply to safeties, and keep your budget in mind. Of course these same guidelines apply to every student.
Your counselor is misinformed. In the future, please feel free to use this online community as a sounding board with your upcoming college application season. Lots of great(and seemingly more accurate) information here!
A big public university reserves a relatively small percentage of spaces for recruited athletes, unlike some small colleges where a similar number of sports and athletes makes up a large percentage of the students.
Go ahead and apply. The recruited athlete has no bearing on your application. You still might get in. Good luck! And BTW, try very hard to ignore your classmates’ results. You have no control over this process, which may look unfair to you, and you will just waste your time and energy grousing over something you cannot change in time to affect your applications. Focus on yourself and your apps, do not bother looking at others.
Apply! Your counselor is wrong. You may not be admitted but it won’t be because an athlete was recruited at your school.
My daughter really struggled with the whole athletic recruitment part of the college admissions game. She was not athletic at all (spent her time in theater, music and journalism), but really resented the conversations she overheard in her classes—“oh, Princeton’s coach says he really wants me on the team but I’m committed to Stanford already. Maybe I’ll change my mind” (not even joking, this was an actual conversation she overheard from a kid she knew to be less academically qualified than she was, at least in her mind).
Luckily, none of this matters once you have your plans and you get out into the world. She hasn’t thought twice about where her high school classmates ended up and high school itself is quickly fading in the rear view mirror, as it should.