Friday, January 15, 2010

Universities Favor Athletes In Admissions

Read Admissions exemptions aide athletes By ALAN SCHER ZAGIER. I saw the article in the 12-31-09 San Antonio Express-News, page 2E.
"The review identified at least 27 schools where athletes were at least 10 times more likely to benefit from special admission programs than students in the general population."

"At Alabama, 19 football players got in as part of a special admissions program from 2004 to 2006, the most recent years available in the NCAA report. The school tightened its standards for "special admits" in both 2004 and 2007, but from 2004 through 2006, Crimson Tide athletes were still more than 43 times more likely to benefit from such exemptions."

"The NCAA defines special admissions programs as those designed for students who don't meet "standard or normal entrance requirements.""

"Texas was one of seven schools that reported no use of special admissions, instead describing "holistic" standards that consider each applicant individually rather than relying on minimum test scores and grade-point averages.

But the school also acknowledged in its NCAA report that athletic recruits overall are less prepared. At Texas, the average SAT score for a freshman football player from 2003 to 2005 was 945 — or 320 points lower than the typical first-year student's score on the entrance exam."

1 comment:

veronica said...

I guess there are both positives and negatives to this story. First of all, kids have been conditioned that sports can be so important in their lives and can literally change their lives if they are good. Therefore, parents really push their kids to be good at whatever sport so the possibility of getting into college and getting drafted into a professional sport is more possible. But, with so much time put into practice, many kids forgo a good study ethic and complete understanding of school related subjects and just do what is needed to get by. Unfortunately, not many think that there is a possibility of getting permanently injured, either. So, if someone is in college, is hurt and unable to continue playing, it can become detrimental to them actually finishing school because they are not fully prepared and somewhat behind.
I do believe it is awesome for those that may not be able to afford school or ever think they can go to school and end up there playing sports. But, I think that parents should really work at helping kids balance their priorities in life at a young age. Study habits and the desire to succeed through an education seem to stem off from childhood. There is nothing compared to a good education and with an education, any obstacle is just a small roadblock. Without the education, it could be back to square one and the journey could be so much longer. But if one is lucky enough and talented enough to accomplish both; the ability to play college/professional sports and get an education, then more power to them!