John:

Yes, there are objective standards but you ignore the fact that the objective standards are significantly lower than that of the class mean or median. As a group, the atheletes are less academically qualified and but for their physical talent, most of them would not be at Dartmouth. The proof is in the pudding as they say. Atheletes make up a highly disproportionate % of the bottom two quintiles of each class. This is reality even if you do not like it.

Athletes are good people, but they are simply less smart. Thats why they get lower grades even though they get tutoring and enforced study halls. It is irrelavant that they have a minimum standard because it is so low. The other students who are part of the “subjective” regular process end up being held to a much higher standard. Let’s face it: exercise is good, but spending several hours every day training dectracts from school, and hard hits in football do real brain damage.

That is one of the most arrogant statements I have ever heard. There is a reason why Rhodes Scholars are in majority athletes. There is a reason why corporate recruiters single out the academically successful student athletes first. There is something learned while “hard hitting” in football that cannot be learned in the classroom. The rigors of a student athlete, balancing academics and division one athletics, especially at Ivy League Schools, will never be understood by narps until they get off their high horse.

On a side note, one of the reasons why athletes are offered tutors is because they have less than half the time to do the same amount of work. They do not have time to spend stumbling through their work like most students.

Does anyone know how many athletes are recruited each year? How many decide not to play the sport they were recruited for?

Anon14 – I’m a Dartmouth student athlete and I know how to spell “irrelevant.” Perhaps you should focus more on your own studies and less on unfairly criticizing a large portion of your classmates.

@mhm: Rhodes Scholars are athletes because athletic achievement is a prerequisite.

haha NARPs.

Seriously though, balancing academics and athletics is very difficult. Can you imagine attending college while working a 40 hour per week job? Between competitions, practices, lift, and rehab, being an athlete at any college can be difficult. Excelling in the classroom at an Ivy League college is a challenge for almost everyone, especially someone who commits to spending 40 hours a week getting better at a sport that helps bring in alumni donations for the same school you attend. It’s no wonder employers look for academically successful athletes; they already know how to balance a busy schedule.