Using Your Sport as Your Hook

In seeking admission to an Ivy League college as an athlete, you need to be sure that you’re deriving the maximum value from sports as your hook. As we do for students with exceptional academic or artistic talent, IvySelect guides gifted athletes in leveraging their hook to secure admission to elite colleges.

Athletes who wish to compete in the Ivy League, which does not award scholarships for athletics, must navigate an especially challenging course. With IvySelect as your guide, you’ll benefit from the preferential consideration that can distinguish you from applicants with academic credentials similar to yours.

IvySelect understands the Academic Index (AI) and we know its uses and limitations. The AI is a metric, based on your SAT scores and GPA, which is used to rank your academic record relative to all athletes participating in Ivy League varsity sports. The League’s schools share AI data to assure that no school is admitting underqualified recruits for competitive advantage.

Coaches use the AI to determine if the students they recruit have credentials consistent with their college’s overall academic requirements. Coaches don’t discuss the AI with recruits. In fact, recruits with high AI scores who are highly valued for their athletic skills are often not admitted for reasons such as a poor essay, an ineffective interview, or a transcript lacking in AP courses.

As an athlete, IvySelect improves your chances of admission to an Ivy in two important ways. First, we assure that your overall application package is of superior quality, thereby avoiding rejection for reasons such as those noted above. Second, we guide your communications with coaches who might like to recruit you and who may advocate for your acceptance by the school.

Services that IvySelect provides to athletes who aspire to compete in the Ivy League include the following:

• Athletic Resume – We assist in creating your resume, which is a summary of your accomplishments in your sport that is included in your application package and submitted directly to coaches. Many students also wish to provide links to websites or social media pages with resume information as well as videos and photos highlighting their skills. Your resume should include the following types of information:
  • Personal Information – Name, address, email, and phone,
  • Academic Record – In addition to the basics like test scores and GPA, add information that will not be part of your AI score such as honors, awards, AP courses, internships, and class rank,
  • Sport Involvement – List your teams and their records, describe the leagues in which you competed, positions played, status as starter or reserve, and awards,
  • Performance Statistics – These are best displayed in tabular or chart form with explanatory notes, and,
  • Testimonials from Coaches – These are usually excerpts from the Letters of Recommendations.
• Letters of Recommendation – IvySelect advises you on how to obtain the most effective Letters of Recommendation from coaches, athletic directors, and others who will have a positive affect on your targeted coaches.
• Recruiting Rules – IvySelect understands the recruiting rules of the Ivy League and NCAA.
• Coach Communications – Coaches do not have the bandwidth to communicate at length with most recruits, so IvySelect guides you in using your limited opportunities most effectively.

Outside of the Ivies, IvySelect assists student-athletes seeking admission, scholarships, and other financial aid to any top-tier college. Elite private schools like Duke, Northwestern, Stanford, Vanderbilt and USC and top public universities like North Carolina, Virginia, Michigan, and UCLA recruit athletes who are gifted in athletics and outstanding in academics. Some top-tier liberal arts colleges like Williams and Amherst and universities like Emory, Johns Hopkins, and Chicago offer athletes less intense yet highly competitive sports environments at the Division III level.

Regardless of your specific educational goals, you, the student-athlete, will benefit substantially by retaining IvySelect to provide sound advice and expert college counseling services in support of your quest.