Chico Escuela posted:..................................................................................
Jr. is my youngest, so I have seen the college application meat grinder up close before, but not with a potential athlete. From what I saw, if you have the requisite grades and test scores at the Ivies and other top academic schools, then you go into a pool with about a 5-10% chance of admission. Once in that 5% pool, then if you have won a Nobel Prize (or at least a Westinghouse), or there is a building on campus named after a grandparent, then you can feel fairly confident. But D1 athletes are almost assured admission so long as they make the standards for the 5-10% pool, and D3 sometimes offers athletes a leg up. Chico Jr. is much more likely to throw a 90 mph fastball than win a Physics Nobel. Might as well aim high, but I know there are lots of great colleges out there outside D1 (I went to one).
Chico - To further clarify, Ivy athletes have a "leg up" and don't have to come through the "front door" with regular admissions where it is most competitive 5-15% admissions rate. As long as an Ivy recruit's academics are within 2 standard deviations of the incoming class there is a potential "admissions side door" with coach support through ED admissions. If the ED recruits academics are on par with the incoming class his or her chances are really, really good. For an Ivy recruit, understanding this balance of where you stand academically and athletically is incredibly important. Those folks that have lived through this process can tell you about all the sleep they've lost thinking about this stuff! ;-)