These sorts of articles, and there are many floating around emphasizing various aspects of the athletic programs and admissions at LACs, give me pause before sending a non-athlete to a (esp. rural) LAC. If 1/3 of the student body is athletes who chose the school more on that aspect of the school than others, and then tend to hang around their teammates first and foremost, that will have a dramatic effect on the life of a non-athletic kid. (I am not criticizing athletes for hanging out with other athletes—people tend to socialize with people they know best, and athletes spend a great deal of time together.) The whole scene just sound like a larger, suburban high school—1,500-2,000 kids divided into artsy types, study hounds, partiers, and jocks. Nothing wrong with that per se, but as someone who went to a school like that, back when I left high school, the last thing I wanted to do was spend four more years in a similar environment.