The Ivy League. Academically, the best league in the country, at any level – Division 1, 2 or 3.

Many students aspire to play sports in the Ivy League because they can get the best education possible and play Division 1 sports. This page covers what students need to know as they pursue that goal.

The Best Path: Prep school, the right prep school, is arguably the best path to playing in the Ivy League. Particularly in the high profile sports (football, basketball and ice hockey), a check of almost any Ivy roster shows prep schools to be the most common way to get there. Coaching relationships are the biggest reason for this. Prep school coaches with a history of sending players to Ivy schools have credibility with the coaches. When they tell an Ivy coach they have a player that should be scouted it carries weight. In addition, college coaches know which schools are most likely to have the talent they are looking for. That’s where they start their searches.

Athletic Scholarships: Athletic scholarships are not offered by Ivy League schools. They are the only Division 1 league in the country that does not. Some people continue to think that this isn’t really true. It is. However, financial aid is such that it can be virtually the same thing as a scholarship.

Financial Aid: Financial aid improved for all Ivy students a handful of years ago. Many believe it has allowed Ivy schools to be more nationally competitive in sports. Before the change, almost all financial aid packages included a combination of things including grants, loans, work-study etc. At the end of four years, the student owed money. Under the current system, financial aid is almost universally grant money. This means no debt at the end. It is essentially scholarship money. This is critical when comparing an Ivy League offer to a “scholarship” offer.

Admission: Ivy league schools as a group are statistically the hardest in the country to get into. If you’re aware of the Ivy League, you know this. Being a recruited athlete can improve a students chances dramatically. Being a recruited athlete coming from the right prep school can help even more. (See the required reading section of this website for the titles of a couple of helpful books on this topic).

Early Admission/Decision: Early admission/decision is often a key part of the recruitment/admissions process for athletes.

Academic Index: The Academic Index (commonly referred to as the AI) is a formula used only by the Ivy League to determine whether an athlete can be admitted to an Ivy League school. (The Patriot League uses a similar formula). There is a minimum score (176, up from 171 a few years ago) for an individual student, and a collective aspect for the recruiting class as a whole. The complete AI formula is not public knowledge, which leads to confusion. What is known is that GPA, SAT and class rank are the three largest factors in the calculation. In it’s simplest form, 176 is required for a student to be considered for admission to any one of the eight schools. Caution: Meeting the minimum does not guarantee admission. Not meeting the minimum does guarantee that a student cannot be admitted. Adding to the confusion, each school calculates its own number, and all eight schools calculate the number slightly differently. In other words, a student may be given two different numbers by two different schools, making the student admissible at one and not the other.

Minimum SAT Number: Technically, there is no minimum SAT cutoff number for an individual part or the three part total For example: It would be inaccurate to say a student must have a minimum of 500 any part of the SAT in order to be admitted. However, a review of SAT statistics shows that there are some pretty clear minimums (500) under which admission is highly unlikely.