Are you a student-athlete hoping to play for an Ivy League school? Then you’re probably curious about the recruiting process. How do Ivy League schools recruit student-athletes? And how can you increase your odds of getting into an Ivy League school as a student-athlete?
Read on to learn what the general college recruiting process looks like and how it differs from Ivy League recruiting. After, we'll go over the basic academic requisites you must have to get into the Ivy League, and show you what the typical Ivy League recruiting timeline looks like.
First off, what exactly is college recruiting and how does it work? College recruiting refers to the recruiting of student-athletes. Basically, it’s the process of colleges reaching out to current high school athletes (mainly those who have a lot of potential to do well in college-level sports) with the hopes of getting them to apply to and attend their school.
Many college sports teams are part of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), a nonprofit organization that oversees more than 1,000 colleges and half a million student-athletes.
"Recruiting happens when a college employee or representative invites a high school student-athlete to play sports for their college. Recruiting can occur in many ways, such as face-to-face contact, phone calls or text messaging, through mailed or emailed material or through social media."
While colleges that are members of the NCAA may reach out to student-athletes directly, you, too, may initiate contact with colleges and/or coaches you’re interested in playing for.
You can r ead our other guide to learn more about how college athletics recruiting works , but for now, here’s a brief overview of the general recruiting process:
Next up, we’ll look at how Ivy League schools specifically recruit high school students for their college sports teams.
We’ve gone over the general college recruiting process, but what about the Ivy League?
For the most part, the Ivy League recruiting process is very similar to the process described above. Like other schools, Ivy League schools take time to reach out to skilled high school athletes and evaluate their abilities in their respective sports. After, students offer a verbal commitment to attend the school before submitting their actual application for review.
In spite of these similarities, there are four key ways in which Ivy League recruiting differs from general college athletics recruiting. We’ll go over these here.
As you likely know, the Ivy League is famous for its academic achievements, low acceptance rates, and top rankings on college lists. On the US News Best National Universities list, all Ivies are ranked among the top 15 colleges. In addition, acceptance rates for the Ivies range from just 15% (for Cornell ) to as low as 6% (for Harvard ). These high stakes are evidently part of the reason that academic expectations are so high for prospective student-athletes.
While you might assume that strong athletic skills are all you need to play for an Ivy League school, in reality you’ll need to also have top SAT/ACT scores, evidence of a challenging course load, strong transcripts, and an all-around impressive college application. (We’ll go into more detail later about what you need to have in order to get accepted to the Ivies as a student-athlete.)
But it’s vital not to forget the importance of athletics in the Ivy League, too. After all, the Ivy League was originally founded as a group of higher institutions that stressed both academics and athletics.
Here’s how the official Ivy League website describes the significance of athletics and student-athletes (all bold emphasis mine):
"Ivy League schools share a tradition of academic excellence and broad-based, successful NCAA Division I athletics. The Ivy League annually finishes among the top Division I athletics conferences in national competitive rankings, and Ivy League student-athletes earn the country’s best records in the NCAA Academic Performance Ratings, operating under the Ivy League model of athletics as a significant educational component of the student's undergraduate experience."
As this quotation emphasizes, the Ivy League isn’t just known for its academia but also for its NCAA Division I sports teams. (There are three divisions in the NCAA—Division I is the highest.) Therefore, what’s ultimately at stake for Ivy League schools when recruiting student-athletes are both their academic and athletic reputations.
Women's basketball, Yale vs Columbia (kkimphotography/Flickr)
Unlike other NCAA colleges, the Ivy League schools do not give out any athletic scholarships to prospective student-athletes. Rather, they offer only need-based financial aid, and this goes for all applicants—not just student-athletes.
"Ivy League schools provide financial aid to students, including athletes, only on the basis of financial need as determined by each institution’s Financial Aid Office. There are no academic or athletic scholarships in the Ivy League. A coach may assist a prospective student-athlete to obtain an estimated financial aid award, however only the Financial Aid Office has the authority to determine financial aid awards and to notify students officially of their actual or estimated awards."
Ivy League schools often give estimates for need-based aid to prospective students and student-athletes. You may compare these offers with any other offers you receive from different schools (including other Ivies).
In order to determine which student-athletes are strong contenders for Ivy sports and academics, the Ivy League established a system called the Academic Index (AI). This point-based system is used to rank prospective student-athletes on the basis of academic factors, namely GPA and standardized test scores (SATs or ACTs). (It used to include class rank as well, but since fewer high schools calculate this, it’s no longer part of the AI.)
According to an article in The New York Times, the Ivies created this system in the 1980s as a way to ensure that "no vastly underqualified recruit has been admitted at a rival institution [another Ivy]."
While many are aware of the AI, how this number is ultimately calculated is largely a secret. It’s typically said to have a score range of 170 to 240 , though other sources claim it uses smaller scales of 1-9 or 1-6 , on which either the lowest or highest number is considered best. Due to the confidential nature of the AI, it can be difficult to determine whether you’re likely to qualify for admission as a student-athlete to an Ivy League school.
The New York Times article mentioned above states that student-athletes typically need at least a 3.0 GPA and an 1140 on the SAT (this is for the very old SAT from before 2004, however, so its relevance is debatable).
Additionally, the minimum AI required for Ivy League schools can vary widely depending on the institution. In other words, the AI needed for admission to Princeton is likely higher than the AI needed for admission to Penn, as Princeton is a higher-ranked Ivy with a lower acceptance rate.
You can look for Academic Index calculators online, but know that most are pretty inaccurate and won’t really help you figure out whether you’re on track to getting into the Ivy League as a student-athlete or not.
The final big difference between the Ivy League recruiting process and the general college athletic recruiting process is what’s called the likely letter.
This letter is sometimes issued before an official admission decision is given out and basically just says that a student is very likely to be admitted, provided there are no sudden issues with the student’s college application, academic performance, etc.
"This letter means that as long as the applicant sustains the academic and personal record reflected in the completed application, the institution will send a formal admission offer on the appropriate notification date. Only the Admissions Office can issue a likely letter, and only after receiving a completed application and all required materials. Likely letters may not be issued prior to October 1 of the prospect’s senior year in high school."
Likely letters are often issued by Ivy League schools in place of Letters of Intent. Since Ivies don't offer any athletics-based financial aid, they cannot offer Letters of Intent (which specifically agree to give student-athletes admission and a year of athletics-based funding).
That said, note that likely letters are not always issued to prospective Ivy League student-athletes, and not getting one doesn’t necessarily mean you won’t be admitted.
In addition to Ivy League schools, other tier-one colleges in the NCAA might offer likely letters to student-athletes they want to attend their schools. However, the majority of schools follow the general recruiting process and use Letters of Intent.
Women's swimming, Dartmouth (D Allen/Flickr)
Just being a great athlete doesn’t guarantee that you’ll get accepted to an Ivy League school; you also need to have a strong academic record, complete with a good GPA and high SAT/ACT scores. And you don’t want to flub your application by submitting a subpar college essay or lukewarm letters of recommendation.
Below, we explain exactly what you should have to increase your chances of getting accepted to an Ivy League school as a student-athlete:
All applicants to the Ivies, whether you’re a student-athlete or not, should definitely have a record of succeeding in challenging courses. Here’s what the Ivy League states on its website in regard to admissions criteria for student recruits:
"Ivy League schools base admissions decisions on each candidate’s academic achievements as well as personal strengths and accomplishments, such as athletic achievement, other extracurricular activities and community service.
These are the general recommended courses for prospective student-athletes to the Ivy League. As noted, be sure to consult individual schools directly for more information on what specific classes you should take to further increase your odds of getting accepted.
Besides a rigorous class schedule, you’ll have a stronger chance of getting into the Ivy League if you have a high overall GPA. Ideally, you’ll have at least a 3.0 GPA, or B-average. This is a minimum recommendation, though, so know that it's probably better to aim for something closer to a 3.5 (or even higher). Check out our guide for tips on how to raise your GPA.
Part of your Academic Index number will be based on your SAT/ACT scores.
But what scores specifically should you aim for? Unfortunately, we can’t give you an exact answer as to what good ACT or SAT scores for Ivy League athletes are.
What we can do, though, is show you what kinds of SAT/ACT scores admitted applicants to the Ivy League typically get. The following chart gives each Ivy League school’s 25th and 75th SAT/ACT percentiles:
