Courtesy: Melynda Nash, Academic Advisor, American College Connection (ACC). ACC is a Swimswam Partner. Melynda talked to several admissions representatives from colleges and universities around the country, to see what they’re looking for in prospective students of all kinds.
Juggling sports, academics and community service can lead to quite a hectic schedule for high school students; however, for the college bound student these days, it is a must. It doesn’t matter what a student chooses as his or her volunteer work or extra-curricular activities, rather colleges look for how dedicated a student is to their chosen service or club.
According to Carlos Cano, an Admissions Counselor at William Paterson University in Wayne, NJ (D-III), it’s more important to see that a student is actively engaged in a particular volunteer opportunity than slightly engaged with many organizations. Universities prefer you be consistently involved in one or two issues that you really care about rather than be “somewhat involved” in many issues.
“Admissions officers want well-rounded applicants who take their studies seriously, are engaged in a cause or two they are passionate about and are involved in extracurricular activities,” says James Elbaor, head of special projects at DoSomething.org. Admissions officers would rather see meaningful, sustained participation rather than a laundry list of activities.
On your college application, extracurricular activities provide important insight into who you are as a person. Admissions committees aren’t just interested in who you are as a student. College is a community, and they are interested in learning about what you can contribute. College Admissions Officers review applications holistically, meaning they read every part of every application so they can look at all aspects of a potential student. Some colleges may weigh one part of an application a bit more than another part. When reviewing applications, 93% of universities really pay attention to how passionate a student is about what they do. 35% of universities take into consideration the position of responsibilities a student has within their service or club. The majority of these universities tend to be in the Ivy League. How you communicate is another skill strongly taken into consideration by universities (93%), so when it comes to your application essay, being able to share your passion in writing about what you do is very important.
In surveying several universities, the following sums up what most schools desire in a student:
- Harvard University (D-I Ivy league): Students should be involved in what is important to them. They need to show a passion for what they do. Any type of volunteer work is acceptable, but it should be something they have passion for. Harvard looks for how involved a potential student is in school clubs. Holding an office is preferable. They want to see what kind of leader a student is.
- University of Texas(D-I): Students should be involved in general (community) and school activities. They look for any kind of volunteer work or involvement in the community. You do not need to hold an office in a school club, but you should be involved in one.
- Loyola University(NAIA): Loyola looks for longevity in an activity or volunteer work. They want to see that a student has spent a considerable length of time with the organization or club. Student participation in any kind of club is good; a leadership role within the club is even better.
Students should start exploring volunteer opportunities toward the end of their freshman year, but it is never too late to become involved!
Go to https://www.dosomething.org/us for ideas about the causes out there.
Works Cited:
Cano Carlos, Why Volunteering Matters for College Admissions [Blog post]. Retrieved from https://www.collegeraptor.com/getting-in/articles/college-admissions/why-volunteering-matters-for-college-admissions
Miriam Salpeter, Community Service Work Increasingly Important for College Applicants [Blog post]. Retrieved from https://money.usnews.com/money/blogs/outside-voices-careers/2011/11/30/community-service-work-increasingly-important-for-college-applicants
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It appears that the author has extrapolated Admissions Office comments regarding ‘student’ applicants to include ‘student athletes’. My HS swimmer spoke with 100 coaches thru recruiting from Top 10 D1 thru D2, D3 and NAIA and not one coach ever asked about extracurricular activities. It was strictly times and, in the case of the Ivies and other academically-elite schools, the SAT scores required for SAs. That includes coaches that submitted transcripts and SATs to Admissions for pre-review.
I agree. My son was contacted by about 100 coaches. It’s all about times, standardized test scores and GPA for academically elite schools. Not one coach asked for any kind of Service record. Yes, it did come up in conversations especially at junior days etc when there is more time to connect as many swim coaches are very service-minded themselves. I agree everyone should volunteer. It makes the kids better. Mine does for sure. But I don’t agree that a college swim coach who has an “elite” swimmer before him or her is focused on their volunteer record. What’s interesting is that our sport has a lot of nice kids who teach kids how to swim, work in schools, time… Read more »
Strangly the people involved in selling their expertise as college advisors are staying firm their belief on this issue. It would be nice to see one of them actually admit that sometimes (or even often, but I don’t want to be greedy) being a top recruit at a school is enough to get you admitted.
Please read the article again.The article is not about what the coaches are looking for. It is about what the admission directors are looking for and at a vast majority of schools they are the final say in whether a student-athlete gets admitted or not.
Former D1 college coach here. You’re both right to some degree.. The blanket statement that if a coach wants you your in is kind of true, but its situational. Every school I coached at had a bare minimum required to get an athlete in… Was the minimum requirements lower than an average student? Absolutely. Was it “you can get anyone in you want?” Absolutely not.
Being a top recruit isn’t enough to get into most schools. You still need to be a bare minimum student to get into most places, especially private schools. Or even a pretty good one at some..
Does the admissions dept really care about extra curricular for athletes? No. Its GPA, times and test… Read more »
After coaching at the collegiate level for 18 years, I gained extensive experience working with multiple admissions offices. Although there are a few select colleges that have a streamlined process for elite student-athletes, the majority of schools evaluate the “whole person” when choosing applicants to admit. Colleges are looking for dynamic and well-rounded student-athletes who will contribute to campus life in several areas. Community service, participation in high school clubs and summer experiences are highly valued. Admitting students who have held leadership positions and who’ve also been involved in their community helps create a positive and vibrant college campus. As Melynda pointed out, swimmers have very demanding training schedules so they don’t have time to be involved in lots of… Read more »
Volunteering is great. Everyone should do it. But if you’re *good enough* to swim D1 college, you don’t need to worry about applications. Ivy League is probably different, but for 95% of D1, if a coach wants you, you’re in. Period.
If you’re going for a non-athletic scholarship it might be useful. If you’re trying to walk onto a team, it might be useful.
But the “application” process as an athlete is a joke.
Unfortunately, pretty accurate synopsis.
Not sure where you are getting your information, but it is wrong.
Rick…these comments aren’t “wrong” or at least not completely wrong. Swimmers do get into schools based on their times and not necessarily their grades or other activities. This is a fact. Does it always happen? Of course not. But fast kids can and do get into schools that they couldn’t get into if they weren’t fast swimmers. There is absolutely ZERO chance that ALL of those swimmers who attend Cal and Stanford could get into school without their swimming. Sure, SOME of them would get in but not ALL. Of course these swimmers can’t have ACT scores if 21 and 2.3 GPA…but they can be far lower than the general student body and still get in. Or maybe they get… Read more »
If a coach wants you, you’re accepted. Period. Prestigious schools normally have a cap on the number of kids they can “help” get into the school, but this is almost always in reference to GPA/SAT/ACT. The truth is that if you’re an athlete, you don’t need to worry about the application process.
Sorry Daniel, but that is just not true.
It’s more true than untrue, 90%/10%
That’s a pretty broad statement. If you’re a truly elite athlete applying to a school that really values athletics, and you have at least met all the NCAA minimum requirements, then you may not need to worry much.
Thanks Melynda. I know you worked hard tracking down and talking with the admission directors