<p>I read in one of the threads that athletes get likely letters as early as october and that even the most selective universities compete hard to get them.
Although I understand that being an athlete is clearly a talent, I do not understand why this should be important for a university whose motto is “Lux et Veritas” or “Veritas” ? What does athletic performance have to do with academics anyway ?
If the answer is that athletes bring prestige to the universities, then doesn’t it show that even the temples of knowledge which should value intellectual ability have been corrupted and gone down to the showbiz arena ?</p>
<p>^publicity, more applicants, more money</p>
<p>All of the elite American universities – and their British counterparts – have traditionally cleaved to the ideal of mens sana in corpore sano – a healthy mind in a healthy body. Sports participation was required, or at least seen as a very good thing, and successful sports competition against other universities was seen as a reflection of overall quality, as well as a way to build character and life skills. Remember, too, the idea that “The Battle of Waterloo was won on the playing fields of Eton.” This was not a universal idea; it was Anglo-American. And we liked it because we thought it made us better than others.</p>
<p>Whatever the scientific merits – physical health and teamwork are certainly good things, playing football and practicing 30 hours a week for it maybe not so clear – that has been the tradition at great American universities for at least 150 years, and it’s not about to change anytime soon. It matters to alumni, and to students deciding where to apply and where to enroll. (You see that on CC all the time, people looking for “a traditional college atmosphere” complete with sports.) As for athletes getting likely letters early, that’s purely dictated by the need to compete against other D-1 schools that offer scholarships but ask for early commitments, and against other Ivies that ask athletic recruits to apply ED.</p>
<p>I don’t mean to be flip when I say this - watch Chariots of Fire and you’ll understand.</p>
<p>Or you could look at the bios of CEO’s of Fortune 500 companies as see how many (men and women) played college sports. There is a correlation between athletic performance and future success. It’s not a sine qua non, but it’s undeniably there.</p>
<p>papex: you pose athletics as in competition to the academic focus of a university. Can’t then the same argument be made of a person who has shown incredible political activism, community service or performing arts or visual arts? If you wish to lessen the importance of athletics, can’t someone else say that music, orchestra and theatre should be diminished as well? They aren’t purely academics either.</p>
<p>The reality is a university is a collection of many things. Social, spiritual, intellectual, artistic and physical. You state that a university should value ONLY academic pursuit. Others feel that it can value more things simultaneously.</p>
<p>I would agree with you on this point however: one should constantly reflect to see if one is given more weightiness than others.</p>
<p>Athletics bring the universities TONS of money. But I do think that athletics are overrated in society as a whole, and in universities.</p>
<p>T26E4–isn’t it pretty clear that athletics trump ALL other extracurricular talents (excluding maybe 40 “celebrity” applicants each year)? Say I’m the 100th-ranked basketball player in the country. Say my best friend has 20,000 community service hours. My other friend is the 100th-ranked violinist in the country. Who do you think is getting a likely letter? If all else is equal and only one of the three of us is getting accepted, do you have any doubt that it would be the athlete?</p>
<p>haven’t posted for a long time since last kid happily attending little school in New Haven. But few random comments about Yale and athletics. My D got a likely letter last October (I believe someone on another thread actually posted a Yale LL) The letter was beautifully written with a line I will always treasure saying, (I paraphrase) We do not admit athletics anymore than we admit singers, community organizers, or scientists…we admit individuals of great promise. That line summed up Yale for me.</p>
<p>During the fall, while playing her sport, my d went to see her college’s dean to discuss one of her courses. While very helpful with advice, he went out of his way to congratulate her on playing for Yale and then to also remind her that if sport was too much, that many kids decide enough is enough. AND he strongly reminded her that you are at Yale because we believe in you as a person and not to let ANYONE tell her she is JUST an athlete. </p>
<p>I was so impressed that her was Dean was pro athletics while at the same time making sure she new she was more than an athlete. (by the way,she cant wait to play next year !!)</p>
<p>Finally, the other morning, D called early and I asked what was up. Said she decided to get up early and get a ticket to go see Tony Blair speak on campus</p>
<p>Now THAT is my idea of what a D I athlete should be doing in the off season</p>
<p>Ivy League schools and other top schools don’t just want to dominate the academic field; they want to be the best at everything. That includes sports.</p>
<p>As others have said … one reason is …</p>
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<p>“papex: you pose athletics as in competition to the academic focus of a university. Can’t then the same argument be made of a person who has shown incredible political activism, community service or performing arts or visual arts? If you wish to lessen the importance of athletics, can’t someone else say that music, orchestra and theatre should be diminished as well? They aren’t purely academics either.”</p>
<p>The applicants involved with visual arts, music, and political activism aren’t being vigorously recruited by the college. Along with those three talents, you need to have great stats/academics. Not so much with sports.</p>
<p>“Or you could look at the bios of CEO’s of Fortune 500 companies as see how many (men and women) played college sports. There is a correlation between athletic performance and future success. It’s not a sine qua non, but it’s undeniably there.”</p>
<p>Yeah I suppose this is true. Lol, whenever I see stuff like this though I can’t help but think of Gerald Ford…</p>
<p>DMOC, Mister dollar sign: For some schools, there’s high reason to worry about the business of collegiate sports. I’d say it doesn’t apply w/Yale.</p>
<p>Yale has 33 Div I sports – the vast majority don’t earn a single dime for Yale. Even its most vaunted ones (Men’s football and basketball) don’t bring much money into Yale based on game and memorabilia revenue – if at all.</p>
<p>As for Yale athletics increasing Yale’s prestige through publicity: can any of you name such an occasion? Yale football success has nothing to do with attracting applicants: trust me.</p>
<p>If anything, Yale alums wish Yale would invest a little *more *into their athletics.</p>
<p>Megavortex: even recruited athletes at Yale are great at academics nowadays. Sure we joked about making sure you got into gut classes where the Soccer and Hockey players congregated but that was only in jest. These men and women often are eschewing better programs, better sports conferences, better facilities, better scholarships, better national exposure, better athletic reputations –because they value a Yale education. They deserve our respect. Period.</p>
<p>just pointing it out… but mens is not “mind” in latin… and the saying you just spat out is the saying for the company ASICS which stands for anima sana in corpore sano… “a sound mind in a sound body”</p>
<p>Academics teach you what to do. Athletics teach you how to do it!</p>
<p>it’s called PERFORMANCE.</p>
<p>most schools lose $$$ on their sports programs, including football, but they invest in athletics and recruit top athletes because they are high performing people…that makes for a high performing student body.</p>
<p>read Toby Gerhart’s (Stanford Football) academic bio if you want an example of just how high some athletes perform, academically.</p>
<p>I’ll tell you why athletes get likely letters: There are many better colleges than Yale for a truly talented athlete, but few colleges as good for the academic types. Simply put, the athletes have more attractive options.</p>
<p>For those of you who don’t know who Toby Gerhart is, her recently finished second in Heisman voting and was Valedictorian of his highschool class.</p>
<p>T26E4: I perfectly understand the importance of sports as being part of a global equilibrium of a person, but I do not understand why universities have to chase particularly athletes. As expressed by many others here, it seems that an athlete is regarded in a totally different way than other applicants and colleges seem to have a two weights and two measures policy for recruiting athletes by lowering their standards.</p>
<p>this pretty much explains why colleges want athletes, Yale probably tried to get Toby but Stanford got him:</p>
<p>While carrying Stanford’s football team on his back this season, Gerhart was also carrying a 21-credit course load, featuring courses like Prehistoric Archaeology and Integral Calculus. Your average Stanford student takes 15 credits.</p>
<p>Throw in the fact that he’s also the starting center fielder on Stanford’s baseball team. And that he was the valedictorian at his high school. And that he’s majoring in management sciences and engineering. And that he’s the all-time leading rusher in California high school history. And that he leads the nation in both rushing yards and touchdowns this season. You get the picture of an extraordinary individual.</p>
<p>[Student</a>, athlete, in equal measures](<a href=“http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/12/12/SP9E1B307F.DTL]Student”>http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/12/12/SP9E1B307F.DTL)</p>
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<p>Actually, JHS’ quote is the correct one; it’s from one of Juvenal’s Satires. Mens does indeed mean 'mind, ‘intellect’, or ‘reason’ in Latin, whereas anima literally means ‘wind’ or ‘breath’ (metaphorically it’s often used to mean ‘soul’ or ‘life-force’). ASICS has the translation of its own acronym wrong.</p>
<p>Thank you, Booklady. I just saw this and was a little outraged at the position that “anima” meant “mind” or “intellect”. I suspect ASICS knows that perfectly well, and that they intended the different meaning (or at least the helpful vowel at the beginning of the acronym).</p>
<p>Papex, Yale (and other colleges like it) doesn’t just recruit athletes. It recruits actors, artists, musicians, and all sorts of people with special talents. It does have a more organized structure for athletes, thanks to its teams and its coaches, and it knows what to do with them when they arrive. But no one believes that athletes are the be-all and end-all.</p>
<p>I sort of agree with most people, athletics in college admissions is unfair. Maybe I’m just bitter, being an unrecruited athlete.</p>
<p>But then again, don’t say athletics in life is overrated. No. Not until you are an athlete can you truly know how tough and hard it is to be good at what you do. Not until you are an athlete do you know how hard we work. So don’t say ATHLETES ARE OVERRATED until you’ve had to endure the grueling practices and injuries and stuff. If you ARE an athlete and you think sports is overrated, then that’s fine, that’s your opinion.</p>