Admissions Officer Advice: Leveraging Sports in Your College Application

Webinar Transcription

2025-8-20-Leveraging Sports In your College Application

Anesha: [00:00:00] Hi everybody, and welcome to tonight’s webinar. My name is Anesha Grant. I’m a senior advisor here at CollegeAdvisor, and I will be your moderator for tonight’s session, which is “Admissions Officer Advice on Leveraging Sports in your College Applications.” Uh, to get started, just to orient everyone with the webinar timing, we’ll start with a presentation from our expert admissions officer, and then we will open up the floor to respond to your questions in a live q and a.

Anesha: You can start submitting your questions outta the q and a tab, um, and you can also download the slides under the handouts tab. But first, let’s meet our presenter, Brandon. Hey, Brandon. How you doing? 

Brandon: Doing well. How’s everyone doing tonight? I’m good, 

Anesha: I’m good. I don’t know if everyone else, I hope everyone else is well as well.

Brandon: Yeah, feel free to put how you’re feeling in the chat,

Anesha: but let us know a little bit about you, your background. Uh, before we get, we jump into the presentation. 

Brandon: So my name is [00:01:00] Brandon. I’ve been in the field of college admissions now for 16 years, most of it at my alma mater Rice University. I started as an admission officer and I worked my way up to being an associate director admission.

Brandon: So I actually got to chair undergraduate admission committees for all of the undergraduate schools at Rice. I was also the director of Transfer Admission, the director of International Admission and Recruitment, and the liaison to the School of Architecture. So I share all that just to give you all a sense that I do understand admission from a variety of different perspectives within a top 20, uh, university.

Brandon: And I’ve been working with students and families with CollegeAdvisor now for the last three years. So very happy to be here to talk about, uh, sports and how they relate to the admission process and answer your questions. 

Anesha: Awesome. Before we let you get started, we’re gonna do a quick little poll. So folks, let us know, uh, what grade level you are in.

Anesha: You’re starting in the fall for the folks who have, um, started school already. If you’re a parent or a teacher, we welcome. You can go [00:02:00] ahead and select other as we’re waiting. Brandon, I did not know you worked at every school in, um, in Rice. Do you have a school that you felt like you, it was easier, you enjoyed kind of reading the types of applications that came through?

Anesha: Did you have a preference? I guess 

Brandon: so. Did not have a specific preference, but I will tell you, architecture was fun. 

Anesha: Mm. 

Brandon: The creativity that students come up with for their portfolios was always fun to see every single year. So architecture was definitely, uh, very different. But yeah, I was wondering if 

Anesha: a portfolio based Yeah.

Anesha: Would be, that would be my, I would love to see that. Review support. Oh yeah. They, 

Brandon: they came up with some beautiful artwork. 

Anesha: Amazing. Awesome. All right, well, we’ll learn more, um, around some of that and around some other topics. I know you’re talking about helping folks think outside of athletics and, and in addition to promoting their athletics, but we’ll go ahead and close our poll.

Anesha: We have 104 folks, I think maybe more in the room with us right now. The majority of them, 40% are in [00:03:00] 12th grade. The next group, 30, 38% are in 11th grade, and then we have two ninth graders and two sophomores, and then about 20 or so parents and teachers. So we’re excited for everybody. It makes sense that the majority of folks are 11th and 12th graders.

Anesha: Mm-hmm. Um, I’ll stop talking. Hand it over to you and be back a little bit later. 

Brandon: All right. Thank you so much. And just, uh, for the person who’s already asked, yes, this is being recorded and will be available, so, uh, do keep that in mind. Um, but what I hope that, what I hope is that everyone is gonna get something out of this.

Brandon: So the first, uh, part of our presentation for this evening is how can participation in sports strengthen a college application? So here’s a pro tip from an NCAA division one, a, uh, athlete recruit. You have to have that drive in you, in your sport and in the classroom. In fact, it’s more important to ball out academically.

Brandon: Anyone could be a phenomenal athlete, but you can separate yourself from the rest [00:04:00] by being a phenomenal athlete that shines as a student as well. I wanted to start this presentation off with this particular quote to show that the best way to really leverage yourself in the college admission process as a student athlete and in general that’s gonna be true of all students who are applying to this process, is to not only leverage one aspect.

Brandon: It is truly a holistic admission process, which means that we’re going to be looking and considering every single element of your application when we make these admission decisions. So as such, what your job is as a student is to make sure that you’re maximizing in each and every one of those particular areas.

Brandon: So that would be academically, that would be extracurricularly, that would be athletically, that would also be personally, and making sure that you’re putting that [00:05:00] time and attention into as many different elements of your application. But of course, you can definitely leverage your athletic ability and ability to play your sport at any of the NCAA division levels or at any level in this process.

Brandon: But the best way for you to do this is to make sure that you have. Multiple things that you are bringing to the table and not just athletics. So I wanted to start that off with a pro tip directly from someone who has gone through this process in that the best way to leverage yourself is once again, to make sure that not only do you demonstrate that you’re a great athlete, but that you’re a great student and many more other grades, because all those grades are gonna be the reason why a college or university is gonna want you to be a part of their community and their team.

Brandon: So what are the qualities that colleges and universities value in student athletes, both on [00:06:00] and off the field? Well, in terms of on the field, we want excellence. We wanna know that you and the excellent gifts that you have related to that sport are gonna contribute to the success of the sports program and thus the success of the university overall.

Brandon: The reason for why we want athletes and we want great athletes is because we’re selfish. We wanna do well. We wanna be able to brag to the other colleges and universities that we have the best, best athletes, and that we have performed the best. So therefore, the first thing that we want is for you to be an excellent athlete on that field.

Brandon: But in addition to that, we also wanna know that you’re gonna be a leader and gonna be someone that’s gonna contribute to those victories. So are you gonna have those innovative ways of approaching that particular sport that are gonna lead to new and great ways that lead to victories? Are you gonna be that person who is inspiring other members of your [00:07:00] team to greatness and contributing to that excellence on the field?

Brandon: And that will thus contribute to the victories overall for the university. So demonstrating that leadership is also a very important thing to demon to have on the field as well. And then collaboration and teamwork. Are you gonna be that person who may be, while not necessarily in that central lead leaning role, you’re still contributing to the excellence and to the efforts on the field?

Brandon: Are you demonstrating that you’re gonna be a supportive person in the lives of the other members of your team? Gonna be supportive of your coach and supportive of the university’s efforts to achieve those victories. Those are some of the main qualities that we are really looking for in our athletes and want them to demonstrate it on the field.

Brandon: But you will also see those are also very important qualities that we want you to bring to the university overall as well, in terms of what we’re looking for for student athletes in terms of off the field. We want you to increase the [00:08:00] popularity of the institution because once again, your victories, your, um, excellence on that field attracts people to the university and thus increases our popularity, which therefore increases those applications.

Brandon: So that’s definitely something that we look for for our student athletes to contribute is that through their contributions, it therefore carries into off the field where now you become public figures, you become representatives of the university, and therefore you’re increasing our popularity, which many people wanna access, which therefore has benefits to the university, especially when it comes to increased applications.

Brandon: I can tell you that for many universities such as the University of Connecticut, Villanova University, after they have won national championships, they’ve all seen increases in their application because of the increased visibility of the institution. But also you bring a different [00:09:00] perspective into the classroom.

Brandon: So you bring in that athletic perspective, you bring in those experiences that you’ve had on the field. You bring in those experiences of being able to juggle the responsibilities of being dedicated to your sport, while also dedicated into to your academics. And that is a different perspective that you can have on that particular subject.

Brandon: So it’s also very valuable in that you’re bringing in that unique perspective into the classroom as well. But similarly, you’re also bringing in your excellence, your leadership, and your collaboration to the overall university. We’re hoping that you will also be an excellent person in the classroom.

Brandon: We’re also hoping that you’re going to be a leader within other organizations, and that you’ll also be a collaborative and team and a team player with your other fellow students. So all these amazing qualities are what we’re hoping for [00:10:00] and looking for in our athletes to contribute to a college or university.

Brandon: Now in terms of the differences between being a recruited athlete, a walk-on athlete and a club level athlete. So a recruited athlete is one that is being directly recruited by the institution and the coach. So this is the person who is having direct conversations with the institution. They have been, uh, visited by the coach, they have participated maybe in camps and are having that direct one-on-one conversation.

Brandon: With the team, with the coach, or with the athletic director, and they’re being offered an athletic scholarship to expressly play on behalf of the institution. These are your recruited athletes. Even at the division two and division three level, you can still be a recruited athlete even though there isn’t an athletic scholarship that is attached [00:11:00] because you fall into the first category of being directly recruited by the institution or the coach.

Brandon: Then you have your walk-on athletes. These are individuals who have gone through the traditional admission process but weren’t offered an initial spot on the team or an athletic scholarship. So you may, for example, have gone through talking to the coach, but those, uh, but you were asked instead of going through the recruited athlete pathway, you were asked instead to go through the, uh, traditional admission pathway to gain entry into the university.

Brandon: Often this happens because you are someone who is considered to be a very strong, uh, academic student as well as as a strong athletic student, and therefore would have a good chance of gaining entry into the university. And then you go through that particular process of the traditional admission process and [00:12:00] then admit it to the university.

Brandon: Then the second part, you try out and make the team, or you’re invited to play for the team after you’ve once again been admitted. So just notice the big difference there. The recruited athlete is primarily working directly with the athletic team and the athletic department for their admission, whereas the walk-on athlete is going through the traditional admission process and then either has to try out to make the team or they’re invited to play, but they’ve gone through the traditional admission process like the rest of the majority of other students.

Brandon: And then you have your club level athletes. These will be athletes who go through the traditional admission process. They try out and they make the team, but they are not offered at a a scholarship expressly to play that sport. And they’re playing at the club level, which is usually a level below the varsity level, which is [00:13:00] our NCAA division one, division two, and division three athletes.

Brandon: There’s also a lower level underneath club level that is intramural level. Intramural level is open to any student interested in playing that particular sport. You could be a varsity athlete who’s also playing against someone who is just trying out the sport. So in intramurals, the variance of the athletic ability is going to be much larger.

Brandon: And you’ll notice that variance kind of going down in terms of you’re gonna have your top athletes usually on the varsity level, the more, uh, intermediate athletes typically at the club level, and then your top versus your, uh, starter athletes in the intramural level. But the biggest difference is also how you go through the admission process.

Brandon: And we’ll talk a lot more about that later on in this presentation. So how do AOS can [00:14:00] collaborate with the athletic departments during recruitment? So the ways in which we collaborate with our athletic departments and our coaches is this primary way. When it comes to the beginning of the admission cycle, the athletic director and the coaches will communicate with the admission office directly on how many spots they’re gonna need in order to fulfill their needs.

Brandon: So during the summer, primarily are when athletic directors and coaches are assessing what are gonna be the needs of their, of their particular teams, they then notified the admission office directly to say, this is how many spots we’re gonna need in the class to fulfill our needs. They then will get the free range spots to determine who are gonna be those students that fulfill those particular needs.

Brandon: And they do that in conjunction with the admission office. So then we of course, reserve that number in the class. Knowing this many [00:15:00] are gonna go to our recruited athletes. While the remainder are gonna be the determined by the admission office. The athletic directors and the coaches then communicate with the student, with the students who have been offered scholarships and the admission office, uh, processes those applications and coordinates compliance.

Brandon: So the way this works then is the athletic directors and the coaches, they communicate directly with their, uh, recruited athletes. They offer them scholarship offers, and then often it is you as a recruited athlete who is deciding amongst your different offers. Who am I gonna commit to? Once you have made that commitment, they then share that information with us in the admission office and we often will process your particular application.

Brandon: ’cause often you will go through that admission process with the athletic department on, uh, through them, or they will tell you the specific things that you need to submit to the admission office. So that way we [00:16:00] know you are a recruited athlete and we process that information. We also then work in conjunction with the athletic department to make sure that you are meeting the compliance standards of the NCAA and the institution itself.

Brandon: Now for students who are the walk-on athletes or those who are potential athletes in the future to be offered a a, a, an athletic scholarship, the athletic department and the coaches will communicate to us that you are a student that they are interested in, not necessarily one that they wanna use those main dedicated spots for, but as someone that they feel, um, should be protected in the admission process, should be looked after, should be highly considered because the coaches and the, and the, uh, sports teams have a high interest in you and your athletic ability.

Brandon: So they’ll communicate that [00:17:00] directly to us so that we’ll be on the lookout for your application in the traditional admission process. They also tend to believe that students who usually go through this are going to be academically capable and therefore are gonna be already favorable in the admission process.

Brandon: The added bonus is that they are interested, so then we see you in the traditional process. We see that you have been coded or tagged as that particular student who is, uh, one that is highly favorable or highly favored by the, uh, coaches and the athletic department. And then that helps us to know that and consider that in our admission decisions, which often leads to a favorable outcome.

Brandon: Now, once again, be very clear, it often leads to a favorable outcome. It doesn’t always lead to a favorable outcome. So it’s not a guarantee that even though you have been recruited by the coach [00:18:00] to talk to the coach or, um. The coach has notified the admission office about you that it is a guarantee that you’re gonna be admitted.

Brandon: You’re still going through the traditional admission process. So therefore, it’s not a 100% guarantee, but often it’s gonna lead to a favorable or more than favorable outcome, but you still could be waitlisted or denied even as someone who the athletic department has shown interest in. So how do admission officers view high school sports involvement for non recruited athletes?

Brandon: Or non recruited students. So one thing that I wanted to make sure that we understood is exactly how, um, rare receiving a athletic scholarship is. Only 2% of all student athletes receive an athletic scholarship. So the majority of you are going to be students [00:19:00] who go through the traditional admission process and are either going to be walk-on athletes or non recruited athletes.

Brandon: So for you, you need to still demonstrate those same qualities that we are looking for in our recruited athletes and demonstrate that you’re gonna do that for the overall university. So you still wanna demonstrate. Consistency that you’re going to demonstrate that because you have been committed to your sports involvement, that you have been consistent in that, and therefore will bring that consistency and commitment to the college and university that you want to go to.

Brandon: The leadership and teamwork that you have demonstrated in your sport. You’re gonna bring that to the leadership and commitment to your residential community, to your college community, to your intramural sport, or potentially to that varsity sport if you were to [00:20:00] walk on. But you’re still gonna bring that leadership and teamwork into the college or university space, but also that you have a good ability to balance academics, sports.

Brandon: And other commitments. So that’s the way to leverage yourself when it comes to your sports involvement, is that you’re demonstrating that you were gonna be able to do this not only for the sports team if given an athletic scholarship, that you could still bring all those amazing qualities even to the space, even as a non recruited athlete.

Brandon: Also, it could be that because of your involvement in those sports, you’re also meeting other institutional priorities. Keep in mind that institutional priorities are not or, or something you’re never gonna see. Institutional priorities are what we, as admission officers have to keep in mind in order to meet our targets.

Brandon: And meet our, uh, [00:21:00] the goals for our university as set forth by our board of trustees and other major university constituencies. So therefore, um, you just might meet those particular, uh, institutional priorities such as, um, being able to play a particular intramural sport that they wanna see more representation from.

Brandon: It may be that you are going to demonstrate, um, that we want additional leaders who are affiliated with those particular sports, and you could also be someone who’s gonna add to our intramural sports programs as well as our club level sports. So that’s another way for you to be able to kind of leverage your sports involvement, even as a non recruited athlete.

Brandon: But also, if you’re an excellent athlete, we can still give you a merit scholar. So remember, when you apply to the majority of colleges and universities, you’re [00:22:00] automatically considered for all of the merit scholarships offered by that school, and we can award a scholarship for anything that we deem to be meritorious.

Brandon: One of those things that we can deem to be meritorious is the fact that you are a top athlete. So you can still receive a scholarship for your athleticism, even though it is not affiliated with having to play that sport for the university. So once again, there is a benefit in being a top athlete because it demonstrates you have a top talent or skill that the university wants to support and wants to honor, and therefore they could offer you a merit scholarship without you having to be a recruited athlete.

Brandon: So once again, that’s the reason for why I encourage students that if you truly love a sport. Continue to be a part of that sport even though you’re not gonna be a recruited athlete, because there’s so many skills, [00:23:00] so many experiences, so many wonderful values that you can learn from that particular sport that you can bring to a college or university that they care about and want see as part of the university community.

Brandon: And you could also be bringing in and satisfying institutional priorities, but also being a student that they wanna support through a merit scholarship. So what are the key differences between applying as a student athlete versus not? So, once again, as a student athlete, you’re primarily gonna go through the admission process with the assistance of your coach or athletic director.

Brandon: They’re primarily going to be recruiting you and going through those conversations. So often student athletes are going to be invited to visit the campus to have a formal visit. During that time, you will often meet with the coach, meet with multiple coaches, meet with the team, really see if you’re going to [00:24:00] fit in to that particular program.

Brandon: They’ll often sometimes see the way that you play, maybe have a workout session. So once again, they’re trying to establish, are you one of the students that they want to use that reserve spot in the class for? Then if you are, they’re gonna be the one who offers you that Barrett Scholarship and say, we want you to commit to the university.

Brandon: So then you will have all those different offers from all those different institutions. Many of us like to see those videos on ESPN and other channels where we see a student deciding or committing between a particular institution and then they decide who they commit to after that student makes that commitment.

Brandon: The, uh, student and the, um, the student lets the coach know. And the coach works with the admission office to process their information and to process to make sure that they’re in [00:25:00] compliance with both the NCAA uh, admission process as well as the process for the university. Sometimes these processes may be amended, meaning that instead of submitting a full application through the common application, you might submit an amended or shorter application that is specifically geared towards the, uh, recruited athletes.

Brandon: So, once again, one of the biggest differences is that if you are a recruited athlete, you’re typically gonna go through and be guided through the athletic process by the coach or the athletic director. If you are a non recruited athlete or a non-student athlete, you’re typically gonna go through the traditional admission process.

Brandon: So early decision, regular decision, early action. Those are gonna be the deadlines that govern your particular process. Submitting your full transcript, submitting the letters of recommendation. [00:26:00] Submitting essays, um, the full application, including your extracurriculars, that’s gonna be what you’re gonna have to submit and go through the traditional admission process, just like all other applicants.

Brandon: And once again, in this instance, you have to be offered admission. So it’s the admission office that would offer you admission, not the athletic department. The athletic department offers that, um, scholarship to which then the student would commit to the university. In this instance, you’re being offered admission and you go through that same process of where you’re considering now, who has offered you admission, and then who do you wanna commit to.

Brandon: But it’s through going through the traditional admission process. And then once again, it’s the full process with all the components of the application and all of the supporting documents, including letters of recommendation, transcript, and applic.[00:27:00] 

Brandon: So what should you write about in terms of your essays and your activities list? When it comes to your personal statement, you should focus on different aspects of the sport than just your performance or the classic. I didn’t make the team and now I’m an all star athlete. The purpose of a personal statement is we are trying to get to know you.

Brandon: We’re trying to get to know who you are and what unique perspective you’re gonna bring to that college and university. So think about it. We’re gonna have your activities list, we’re gonna have your resume. And once again, if you’re already talking to a coach or athletic director, we’re already probably gonna know you’re an athlete who plays that particular sport and that they’re interested in you.

Brandon: We want your personal statement to be something that we don’t know. So once again, we’ll probably see [00:28:00] on your activities list or your resume or from the coach or athletic director, all the amazing achievements that you have had in that particular sport. So telling us that you won this, that you won that, that you did this, that you did that all within that sport is information that we already know.

Brandon: You’ve missed the opportunity to give us something different. So this would be where it would be beneficial for you to maybe talk about some other aspect of the sport, or maybe not even the sport at all, to maybe tell us about your unique interest in gardening or the fact that you crochet or the fact that you have an amazing relationship, um, with your family, or that you’re the best older brother or older sister in the world, and what you have learned as a result of that.

Brandon: Those would be better options for you to write about than to just write another sports achievement essay or the classic, you [00:29:00] didn’t make the team and then you worked hard, became a part of the team and became an all star athlete. We have seen that essay done to death by both athletes and non-athletes.

Brandon: It is a cliche and generally it doesn’t tell us anything new. We want new things. We wanna see different aspects of yourself. So maybe instead of talking about your achievements or talking about the things that didn’t necessarily go well, or those injuries that you had, maybe is to talk about the leadership that you learned, the collaboration that you had, the other skills that you have brought or will bring to the college and university based off of what you learned from that sport.

Brandon: Or once again, am I most, am I personal? Uh, advice, give us something completely and totally different, not related to the sport so that we see a different aspect to you. Then in your [00:30:00] activities list, you once again wanna demonstrate the achievements that you have received and to demonstrate the impact that you have had in that particular sport.

Brandon: So this would be quantifying your impact so we can really see how extensive you would’ve been in that particular sport. So, for example, it’s one thing to just say that you ran track meets. It’s very different when you tell us that you ran, that you did 15 plus track meets. Notice just running track meets means you could have done two being very explicit to tell us that you did 15 plus lets us know what kind of an extensive athlete that you are.

Brandon: And discussing your leadership roles on the team and how many people you’ve mentored, uh, or how, or how well you’ve worked with others is another way of demonstrating once again, that expansion of it not only just being your achievements, but also the collaboration and the [00:31:00] leadership that you have demonstrated through those particular roles, as well as with working with your fellow athletes.

Brandon: So are there certain types of athletic competitions or achievements that stand out more to colleges? Yes, there are. So, for example, leadership, leadership in the form of a title. Can’t be a way of making a distinction. The distinction between being a captain versus just being a member. Because once again, as a captain, the idea is, is that you would have probably a bigger role and responsibility amongst your team and also be in charge of the welfare of the entire team versus someone who is just a member who is often a great contributor.

Brandon: But also, and this is a big one, you can demonstrate leadership without a title. So are you still that go-to person on the field because you’re known for being the one people [00:32:00] follows, being the one that person that the person listens to without being the quarterback. Are you the person who is the go-to person on the, the track team that is pumping everybody up, making sure that everyone feels ready to go focused before that particular race.

Brandon: So those are ways of being able to demonstrate that you have impact and leadership even without a title. And that’s also something that we do value and look for and, and you can definitely describe that you do those things. And so hence that shows us you’re still a leader, even if you weren’t necessarily the captain.

Brandon: Teamwork once again. Do you work well with others? Have you received awards related to teamwork? So this is not just demonstrating that you got that top prize or that top uh, MVP award, but also maybe you were known for being the sixth man or the person who is known for being that person That brings everybody together.

Brandon: [00:33:00] That’s a great way of being able to demonstrate the teamwork and once again, your impact on your entire team and maybe even your big impact in other space spaces and places in your school community, dedication, the consistency and how long you have played the sport. So even so, have you been doing it consistently?

Brandon: Have you been moving up the ranks? Going from just starting out and learning that particular sport to someone who has done very, very well, or someone who has stayed the course of being a part of it? And once again, have you receive awards for your dedication. ’cause once again, that’s a demonstration that you’re a dedicated person and therefore will likely be dedicated in our school community and in the space.

Brandon: And then awards. So level does better. So the higher the level, the perception is, the more impactful you are as a student athlete. So in [00:34:00] general, international is the highest level. National is then the next highest level state, region, district area, and so forth. And so you wanna demonstrate that, that if you do have those high level awards in your activities list, in your resume, um.

Brandon: You wanna make it known what was that highest level? So that way we can take that level into consideration when we’re evaluating you in the admission process and also quantify your awards. So maybe you have two trophies in an individual sport that is very different than someone who has 15 different trophies, right?

Brandon: That can be an indication of, once again, how different your particular, uh, level of expertise in that sport is. But also giving us an idea of where you first and how many people were you com uh, competing [00:35:00] with, were you, you know, second is still great depending on how many people you could competing with, because being second out of two is very different than being second outta 200.

Brandon: So once again, any way that you can give us a sense of that distinction that you’re bringing helps us to understand what type of a stellar athlete are you. So how can students balance their, uh, sports narrative with academics and other extracurricular excellence? Inherently, you already do, inherently, you already balance this because you, as a student athlete, student being the operative word there, you’re already having to be an academic student.

Brandon: So you already inherently. Balance your narrative, because you’re gonna have all these different components that are looked at in the admission process, but it’s also about the control that you’re taking in this process that’s going to even more [00:36:00] leverage and demonstrate that balance. So as a student athlete, are you someone who’s deep, still deeply committed to your academics by taking the most challenging classes and still balancing that with your acade, with with your athletics?

Brandon: So are you still taking, generally the most competitive universities in the country as a junior, in a senior, wanna see you in five to seven APs if they are offered in your school. So if you’re still doing that while also still doing excellent in your athletics, inherently you’re showing that balance.

Brandon: But in addition to that rigor, are you performing well in those particular classes? So selfishly, especially for the very selectives, we wanna see excellent rigor and we wanna see excellent grade performance while you’re also performing well in that sport. And that shows you inherently are doing a balance of both, but [00:37:00] also your other supporting documents can help demonstrate that balance.

Brandon: So your resume, is it up to date? Is it demonstrating your GPA and academics? Is it demonstrating the, the other activities and things that you’re involved in along with your athletic performance? That’s another great way of being able to demonstrate that you balance all of these different competing priorities and that you can bring that balance and ability to balance to the institution.

Brandon: Letters of recommendation. Another great way to balance your sport sports narrative with academics and extracurriculars is to ensure that your, uh, letters of recommend, uh, your letters of recommendation also vary. So don’t just give us your coach letter of recommendation. Give us that teacher who’s gonna speak to what it is that, that you wanna study.

Brandon: So if you know that you want to be that next great engineer, do we see that math or science-based teacher who can talk about your engineering acumen? [00:38:00] Talk about your excellent performance on that physics, on that physics test or that physics project while also being a great student athlete. That’s another way of being able to do that is your letter of recommendation coming from your model un uh, instructor or coach who can also talk about your great ability to write that position paper while also competing in a sport.

Brandon: So those are other ways where you can use your supporting documents to also show that balance. And then once again, and I cannot stress it enough, the essays, your personal statement, should not focus on sports alone. This is your way of giving us a completely different side to yourself. And then the supplemental essays should not focus on the sports being your only motivation, uh, to go to the college of University.

Brandon: So when you write your supplemental essays, when, especially when we ask you the question, why do you want to come to our institution? It shouldn’t just [00:39:00] be, oh, because you have a great sports team. If you do that, you’re becoming one noted. Instead, it should be because you have looked very expressly into the community of the university, into what the university has to offer.

Brandon: And expressing that, looking into the academic offerings and talking about the academic motivations for why you wanna pursue that particular sport. So if you know you wanna become a doctor, talk about really what is your motivations for becoming that next great doctor. If you wanna go into politics, talk about your love and interest in politics, but once again, it shouldn’t be directly tied to sport because we already know you’re interested in sports.

Brandon: Give us another element of yourself that you’re interested in.

Brandon: So what mistakes do I often see students trying to do when leveraging, uh, athletics on their applications? Number one, you become only an athlete [00:40:00] once again. The admission process is really designed to see all the different aspects of you and as many different aspects as possible is great. So if you are only seen as an athlete, that’s the only way we’ll see you being a part of our community when we know you have multiple things to bring to the institution.

Brandon: So that’s the reason for why you want to take the opportunity to offer as much variance as you can by maybe having different recommender who are speaking to different qualities that you can bring by maybe making that topic of that essay something different than your sport by highlighting the other things that you’ve achieved, the other organizations you’ve been a part of.

Brandon: So not being a strong student, remember the number one thing that all of you are generally gonna have in common is you’re gonna be great students. So you don’t wanna rely solely. On your athletics, you wanna perform well in the [00:41:00] classroom as well. So make sure that you’re performing well. Because remember, only 2% are gonna be recruited athletes.

Brandon: 98% of you are gonna be athletes who are applying through the regular admission process. So in order for you to be really successful in the regular admission process, you need to be a strong student not spending enough time on standardized test scores. So once again, more and more colleges and universities are going back to being test required.

Brandon: So as such, you need to demonstrate that you can perform well on those standardized tests. So a big mistake that I often see by athletes is that because they think they’re just gonna, they’re gonna go through the amended process where you maybe don’t need to have an SAT or a CT score, or not as high of an SAT or an at a CT score.

Brandon: If you’re not a part of that 2%, you still gotta compete with everybody else who’s going through the [00:42:00] admission process. So make sure, especially for those of you who are juniors and under that, you’re taking the time to study for the SAT and the A CT, because still having a high score on that test can be able to leverage you even more in the admission process, even as someone who’s being highly sought after.

Brandon: Not developing other interests and extracurriculars. Once again, you wanna not be OneNote. So once again, for our juniors and under take the time and ability to invest in other interests even outside of your athletics, because once again, those will be even more experiences and even more opportunities that you can bring into a college or university, which will make you even more sought after because you have more things to bring than just someone who only has their athletic ability.

Brandon: And then also not looking into other forms of financial aid. [00:43:00] 2%. Only 2% are gonna get that athletic scholarship. So you need to make sure that you’re looking into those other forms of merit and need-based financial aid, and not solely relying on that athletic scholarship as being your way to finance your education.

Brandon: Once again, you can still get merit-based scholarships, even without being a recruited athlete. So look into all those different financial offers and look into a variety of institutions that are gonna offer you great education as well as great financial aid. So my final piece of advice in terms of how can you use sports to tell a compelling story?

Brandon: One, what did you learn from those sports? The lessons are gonna be valued both in light, and then also translate those valuable life lessons into your application. Because if you’re gonna bring those [00:44:00] qualities. To our institutions. We want those qualities and you wanna demonstrate that you’ve learned those qualities and will bring them to the institution.

Brandon: Great ways to do that is through your essays, through demonstrating that to other people, through your letters of recommendation. Also demonstrating that you learned those even through your activities. List letters of recommendation. Once again, coaches are good letters of recommendation and other people are also gonna be great recommender for you, but they can all speak to, maybe you’ll bring a different element to our institution.

Brandon: But finally, I want you all remember this. You’re an athlete and what’s filling up that? And you’re an intersectional person. An athlete is wonderful. We want you to bring that athleticism, but you also have so many other things to bring. So make sure that you’re also [00:45:00] highlighting all those other wonderful things.

Brandon: ’cause those intersections are gonna be what helps you to get in as well. I hope y’all have found this helpful, and I look forward to your questions and your answers. 

Anesha: All right, thank you so much, Brandon. We’re gonna skip ahead really quickly and do a quick little PSA for a CollegeAdvisor before we jump into questions.

Anesha: So for those in the room who aren’t already working with us, we know how overwhelming admissions process can be. We have a team of over 300 former admissions officers and admissions experts who are ready to help you and your family navigate the college admissions process through one-on-one advising sessions. After analyzing our 2021 through 2024 data, we found that our students are two times more likely to get into colleges like Harvard, Stanford, and Princeton.

Anesha: You can increase your odds and take the next step in your college admissions journey by signing up for a 60-minute strategy session with an admissions officer, um, an admissions specialist on our team by using the QR code that it’s on the screen. By the end of that session, you’ll learn more about CollegeAdvisor’s premium one-on-one packages that pair you with an [00:46:00] expert like Brandon, um, who can support you in building your college list, editing your essays, and so much more.

Anesha: All right, we’ll leave that QR code up and jump into the questions. Uh, for the q and a, just so you know, um, please make sure you have, you have logged in through, um, through the webinar, the custom link you received via your email and not through a webinar page. You may not be able to submit questions. If you logged in through the webinar landing page, you may have to log out, log back in the way that questions will work.

Anesha: I will read them aloud, post ’em in the public chat so others can see them, and then give Brandon the opportunity to answer them. All right. Um, the first question for you, just to clarify, are athletic directors only involved in the process for recruited athletes and not for walk-ons or clubs? Sports? Uh, can you say that one more time please?

Anesha: Sorry, I’ll slow down. Okay. Um, just to clarify, are athletic directors only involved in the process for recruited athletes and not for walk-ons or club sports? 

Brandon: In general, in my experience, your athletic directors are only gonna be involved in [00:47:00] the process for recruited athletes. Now, this may depend on the division, but generally with NCAA division one, two, and three, the athletic directors are only gonna be really heavily involved in the process for those that are being recruited, specifically for those sports because once again, they’re concerned about how many athletes are gonna take up those dedicated spots, um, that have been assigned, uh, in the class for the recruited athletes.

Anesha: Thank you. Um, someone asked for admissions. Do colleges heavily weight, do colleges weigh high school sports participation or outside tournaments? This person speaking specifically about golf more heavily, so in school participation or outside par tournaments, which are weighed, how are they weigh? 

Brandon: So they’re not weighed differently.

Brandon: So when we’re looking at overall athletic participation, it is just that overall athletic [00:48:00] participation. So we’re viewing both high school, uh, participation and outside club involvement equally because once again, it is a question of access and it’s also a question of success. So, um, some students may be extremely successful in their high school, uh, teams, some may not be as successful on the high school side, but are then more successful on the club side.

Brandon: So we’re looking for evidence of the success and it can come from either way, from either side, and they’ll be equally evaluated. 

Anesha: Mm-hmm. Um, so I’m gonna ask which sports are most commonly recruited with or without athletic scholarships? 

Brandon: So typically, um, the teams that, so once again, this is gonna depend.

Brandon: And the reason for why this is gonna depend is because every institution is different in terms of how many NCAA division one, uh, sports teams they have per [00:49:00] NCAA division. One rules the size of the institution governs how many sports they can have. That also is, uh, gender diversity. ’cause you have to have an equal number of male sports and an equal number of, uh, female sports at a particular institution.

Brandon: So in terms of which ones they offer, that’s also gonna differ. And then therefore, because of the sports offerings, the sizes of the teams will also differ, which then also plays a part in terms of how many scholarships are awarded and which teams are, uh, will offer, uh, how many more scholarships. So that’s a, so it’s gonna d it’s gonna differ because, for example, um.

Brandon: Individual sports, right? Some of those teams, you know, feel a certain number of spots versus let’s say a smaller, you know, a much smaller sport like equestrian or something like that. So the reason for why is gonna be a lot of variability in terms of that. Question’s 

Anesha: fair? Um, someone asked, being [00:50:00] recruited doesn’t function like early decision.

Anesha: You don’t have to commit to a single school. Correct. 

Brandon: If you’re committing, you are committing to a single school. So it very much functions like early decision because once again, there’s money attached. So if you are committing, you’re saying yes to that school because also what are you doing? You’re messing with their numbers.

Brandon: In a very similar way when it comes to early decision. ’cause think about it, early decision is about securing a certain number of group of students in your class. So that way you know how much variability you have outside of that. So that’s why you don’t want to double commit because if you end up double committing what could happen, you lose both the same way in early decision if you double commit to two schools for early decision.

Brandon: So hence no, they both operate the same way when it comes to early, similar to early decision and commitment, you’re [00:51:00] committing to one. 

Anesha: Okay. Someone asked a personal question, but I think it’s somewhat relevant. They said, I’m speaking to a D three coach who might offer me a spot on the team. Do you still apply in the same pool as non-athletes?

Anesha: And does the commitment or the verbal, I guess, offer from the coach give you an admissions advantage? And how does that differ perhaps from D one schools? 

Brandon: Sure. So in terms of that, similarly, as I mentioned, um, they may ask you to go through the traditional admission process, but it’s with the knowledge that they’re going to speak to the admission office about you specifically.

Brandon: Then we in the admission office, would be looking out for your application, knowing that you’re heavily, uh, that you’re heavily being, um, recruited by that. It’s not a guarantee of admission, though. If you’re going through the traditional admission process, you still could be given a no because of that. So that’s where it’s a little bit different in terms of you haven’t been offered an [00:52:00] absolute condition of admission because there isn’t a scholarship that’s attached.

Brandon: Instead, what you’ve been given is you’ve been given maybe a preferential or been given a, um, highly likely that you’ll be admitted, but it’s not a guarantee.

Anesha: All right. Um, someone asked, if I don’t write about my sport and my essay, how can I highlight my athletic achievements? What is the best way to showcase leadership, teamwork, dedication, and awards outside of the essay? 

Brandon: So outside of the essay, the activities, uh, your activities list is gonna be probably number one.

Brandon: ’cause remember, you still get the ability to describe up to 150 characters for your particular, uh, your particular sport. But remember, you can also even do multiple sport listings. If you really want to express even more about your sport, you just get up to 10 entries. So keep that in mind. Another place that you [00:53:00] can utilize is the additional information section to provide additional context related to your leadership roles as well as to your athletic achievements.

Brandon: And you can also submit a resume. So you have multiple places to be able to submit that information, but also don’t sleep on your letters of recommendation. If you really are that superstar athlete, someone’s gonna know about it, including your academic teachers. So being sure that they know about your athletic achievements and your leadership could also be a great way of including that information because they would write about it.

Anesha: Uh, I’m gonna simplify this question, but I think this, essentially this family, their student did an additional year in order to, um, play more, play more before transitioning into college. Um, and so they’re asking, many students are in this situation, they repeat a year, so they’re older, bigger, et cetera.

Anesha: How do admissions officers view reclassifying a student? Um, even if the student maintains a four point [00:54:00] GPA is taking AP classes, but they have five years instead of four. 

Brandon: So in that particular situation, you’re applying as a gap year student. So hence, as long as you still meet the qualifications of being a first year student, you’re still an incoming freshman or first year student.

Brandon: Now some students, if they do, let’s say they go to community college, something of that nature, because they’ve attained credits that would change the way in which they would apply. ’cause now they’re applying as a transfer student. But generally, if you took a gap year where you expressly did not, you know, continue on in high school and you were of course playing a particular sport, you have to offer that explanation for what did you do during that entire year?

Brandon: We would just take that into consideration that what you spent that year doing was expanding on your athletic prowess. You still would go through the same, uh, incoming freshman process and still the same traditional admission process. 

Anesha: All right. A couple of, I [00:55:00] guess yes or no questions. Do college admissions officers look at NCSA profiles?

Anesha: Typically, no. Um, when do, do Ivy League colleges conduct early reads for recruited athletes? Are they on a different schedule than other colleges? 

Brandon: Some institutions do a, uh, a read on, uh, athletes internally. Um, some do not. Okay. 

Anesha: Um, in your experience, this is an extended question. In your experience, what level of performance is typically needed to be recruited?

Anesha: Not, for example, national top 100? It varies by sport, but are there specific benchmarks that they should be looking out for? 

Brandon: It’s gonna depend on each individual sport. Typically, you are either a top athlete in your state or a top athlete in the nation. 

Anesha: Okay. Um, are there any specific caveats for transfer students being recruited or to walk on.

Brandon: No specific caveats that I could think of. Similar things apply [00:56:00] in terms of having to be a good student in terms of maintaining and having a good, gr a good grade per, uh, performance. So everything that I kind of outlined still would apply even as a transfer. 

Anesha: Um, I, you spoke to this a little bit, I think you hinted at it, but, uh, someone asked the question, is it possible to write a strong essay about being rejected from a sports team?

Brandon: Possible, highly unlikely, to be perfectly honest. 

Anesha: Yeah. Um, I appreciate the kinder. Um, what strategies would you recommend for attracting the attention of college coaches if a student isn’t currently being recruited? Also, how early should they be? What is the ideal timeline for getting recruited? 

Brandon: Sure.

Brandon: Generally what I recommend is definitely make sure that you have developed a highlight reel for yourself. That you have maintained records about your high performance. Um, so that way you already have those materials ready to go, to be able to be disseminated. A good time to be able to start, uh, [00:57:00] getting on the radar for college, colleges and universities is either the, um, be begin, uh, during your junior year or even maybe if you’re trying to do this very early and have some notable numbers and things of that nature, the end of your sophomore year.

Anesha: Thank you. Um, someone asked, when talking to a coach, should I include leadership roles, talk about my extracurriculars, or should I just focus on the athletic side? When a coach gives you a spot, um, do you usually fill out a short application or do you compete with the other non-student athletes on the regular application?

Brandon: So, as in the presentation, typically when you’re dealing with, um, if you’re dealing, um, with being a recruited. You are going to be going, uh, working directly with the coach on the admission process. So probably you’re gonna be focusing mostly, uh, on things related to that particular sport. Um, you may, depending on institution, [00:58:00] have a shorter application to fill out.

Brandon: Uh, you may have, uh, fewer, uh, supporting documentations, uh, to submit, but once again, the coach is gonna provide you mostly with that particular institution, uh, with that, with that institution’s specific guidelines and what they need, uh, for the, for the process. In my experience, usually if you’re going through the traditional admission process, that’s where, once again, you’re needing to bring in the other additional pieces, just like every other student.

Anesha: Okay. Random admissions question I’ll just throw in there. Someone asked if their high school doesn’t offer AP classes, should they, are they still expected to take the AP exam? No. Okay, thank you. Um, should you apply for schools that you would want to go to if you’re aiming to receive a scholarship? Um, yes.

Anesha: I, yeah, I don’t remember the, I don’t, I don’t understand the rest of this question. [00:59:00] Should you apply to schools that you would want to go to if you’re aiming to receive the scholarship, but you don’t have one? 

Brandon: So remember, the only way you’re ever gonna know if any college or university is gonna offer you a scholarship is you gotta apply.

Anesha: Um, someone said this is an international student. How do I get my SAT or GPA, um, or how our guests are, our SAT and GPA scores translated if they’re not a student in the us is there some other test they should be taking if they’re an international student? 

Brandon: Even if you’re an international student, if a school requires an SAT or an a CT, you still need to take an SAT or an a CT in terms of how your, uh, academics are going to be evaluated.

Brandon: They’re going to be evaluated within the context of the country that you’re coming from and the school that you attend. 

Anesha: Okay. All right. We will leave it there. Um, thank you so much Brandon for your time tonight. Uh, I really appreciate it. Thanks everybody else for coming [01:00:00] out. We hope that you gain some helpful strategies on, uh, discussing your athletic endeavors across your at, uh, college application.

Anesha: Um, until next time, take care and join us for our next webinar in the future. Have a good evening everybody. 

Brandon: Goodnight everyone.