<aside> 💡 ..if you’re really good. Athletes at Princeton have a 33% acceptance rate, almost 6 times higher than the rate for regular applicants. (Sports in the US is called 'Athletics' - what Brits know as 'Athletics' is 'Track & Field' in the US.)

</aside>

If sports isn't your thing, head to the next section.

The US offers facilities, coaching, and athletic standards that are second to none. Many students have aspirations of gaining a sports scholarship in the US but places are extremely competitive. Take a look at this 'Day in the Life' video of a Student-Athlete at Stanford, he’s a Mechanical Engineer. Stanford is one of the best Atheltic Schools in the country.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWA615LZP-c

If you think that was cool and you’re interested in what US college sports have to offer, you'll need to create something like this:

SPORTS CV - Tito.docx

(though I ended up not applying using sport). Just use this template.

How to get noticed:

• [ ] Make your CV - just copy my format, adapt it for yourself. Keep under a page.

• [ ] Prepare a list of colleges you want to reach out to, accompanied by a list of things you like about the sports program at the college.

  • [ ] Do deep research on each college, of course. You’ll be spending your next 4 years there.

• [ ] Gather video footage of your talent, whatever it is. They want to see. I had to film myself jumping, some get parents to film them during a football game. This is second priority to the next step, but keep it in mind. Send it if you have it. Prepare if you don’t.

• [ ] Draft a short email addressed to a college sports coach. You'll find the contact details on the Athletics site of the college. For example, just Google 'Amherst Athletics'. The contacts will be under something like 'Staff Directory' like the image here on the right.

  No more than 4 lines. Something like this:

  Dear Coach coach's surname I'm your name, from city, country and I go to school where I run/play sport. College's sports program really piqued my interest. Here are my stats: stats. I particularly like something special about the intended sport/program at college. My sports CV is attached - please let me know if you’re interested in talking further.

  • If they don't reply, shoot an email to a colleague, these people are very busy

They'll then let you know how interested they are, and work with you to get the bits of your application together.

To note:

• You can be a bi-sport athlete (offer yourself to both run Track and play Basketball). But this is a huge time/energy commitment.
• You can get officially recruited for Rugby at Dartmouth and Brown. Expressing interest and skill in a Rugby to Ivy League colleges would probably help your application. This in profound because it is rare for colleges to recruit for non-varsity sports, like Rugby.

USA College Sport