17 Apr STUDY & PLAY IN THE IVY LEAGUES
You’ve heard of the Ivy League Universities, right?
As a refresher, The Ivy League is a group of eight historic, distinguished colleges and universities in the East of the USA, known for their ivy-covered brick buildings. The members of the Ivy League are Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Harvard, Princeton, and Yale Universities; Dartmouth College; and the University of Pennsylvania.
Who Goes to Ivy Leagues?
Each year, we have the pleasure of facilitating successful Ivy League applications for our student-athletes, but it isn’t for everybody. Like most things elite, only a small percentage of applicants to these esteemed institutions are successfully admitted. Even if admitted, there needs to be strong considerations for many families regarding budget and realistic opportunity to compete in the starting line – up for their respective sports. Most students go to Ivy’s for the academics; the reputability, prestige and the lifelong elite connections that awaits upon graduation. Some students are also athletes or student-athletes as they are commonly referred to. Again, to fit the Ivy mould, a student- athlete typically needs to be in the elite category both academically and athletically. So it pays to know what else is out there, and the news is excellent!
If not Ivy League, where to?
Where do we start? There are over 4000 tertiary institutions in the USA. For student – athletes, a healthy percentage of these offer the phenomenal opportunity to represent the University in sport, gain a reputable degree and importantly, make it happen with very attainable scholarship.
The Takeaways
Ivy Leagues are awesome, and worth pursuing for a better than average student and athlete. However, a word of advice- it’s best to start early, gather customised information and be open to options outside of Ivy Leagues.
The great news- unlike in Australia, students are spoilt for choice with literally hundreds of highly reputable Universities in the USA. For an international student, with sport as his or her vehicle, this is a phenomenal pathway which is life changing for those that choose to pursue it. Ivy League or otherwise, we are lucky enough to see the fruits of these opportunities in our US College graduates day after day.