<p>Re: “Colleges want well rounded students. Even 2 identical students applying to Harvard with the exact same GPA and members of the same clubs and volunteering with the same agencies; if competing against each other; one will have a better chance if they also do athletics. It just makes them more well rounded.”</p>
<p>LOL – this is precisely what happened to my son’s friends. Example: lifelong friend/classmate/teammate who is headed to Harvard next year. Sure he has a 4+ GPA with every AP possible in his college prep private school, plus “decent” (for Harvard) SAT scores around 1400, but he knows he got in ED bc he’s a recruited athlete – it’s Harvard and they had other choices with better numbers and ECs. Compare also his friend who is going to Georgetown next year, with athletic scholarship that coach “guaranteed informally” would be renewed annually – no way he could have gotten in otherwise with his B+ GPA in a non-AP curriculum and SATs around 1100. </p>
<p>But these are the exceptions, folks, and as above posters far more eloquently explain, they have and will continue to “pay” for the opportunity. To them, it’s all worth it so far. But they are the also the exceptions in feeling that way.</p>