Athletics in U.S. College Admissions: What Selective Schools Are Really Evaluating

Join Collegewise experts on Wednesday, February 18 at 5:00 PM PT / 8 PM ET to uncover the truth about what top universities actually care about when it comes to sports.

 

Ideal for parents with teens in grades 7–11.

Do athletics actually matter for U.S. university admissions, or should your teen focus only on academic activities?

Many families assume that sports matter only if their teen is an Olympian or recruited athlete.

In reality, students who play sports at any level can use their passion as an asset on their college journey.

Admissions officers are not counting trophies. They are evaluating long-term commitment, growth, leadership, positioning, and trajectory.

For many successful applicants, athletics become one of the clearest ways colleges understand who a student is and how they will contribute on campus.

Hear directly from Collegewise admissions experts Emily and Andrew as they explain how U.S. universities truly evaluate applicants, and how your family can plan strategically.


You’ll Learn:

  • Why U.S. colleges value athletics even for students who are not being recruited
  • The three common athletic pathways successful applicants follow, and how to identify which one applies to your child
  • How admissions officers interpret sports involvement within holistic review
  • How athletics can strengthen leadership, essays, and overall positioning
  • Practical guidance by grade level (middle school through junior year) to avoid common mistakes and missed opportunities

👉 Reserve your spot today and gain a clearer, more informed perspective on how U.S. college admissions truly work—so you can guide your child with confidence, not assumptions.

 

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Your Speakers

Andrew Disney

Andrew Disney

Former Admissions Counselor, USC Marshall School of Business, Pepperdine University

Andrew Disney has over a decade of experience in higher education, supporting students across admissions, athletics, and academic advising. Before joining Collegewise, he served as an NCAA Compliance Officer at three Division I universities, where he helped recruited student-athletes navigate NCAA eligibility requirements alongside the college admissions process. He later joined the admissions team at the USC Marshall School of Business before moving into an academic staff role at Pepperdine University’s Graduate School of Education and Psychology. Andrew holds degrees from the University of South Carolina and West Virginia University and completed UCLA’s College Counseling Certificate Program.

Emily S Blue

Emily Stevenson

Former Admissions Officer

Emily has spent nearly 20 years of her professional life in college admissions, both as an admissions officer and a college counselor. She’s logged stints evaluating applications at UC San Diego, the University of San Diego, and Rutgers University, as well as worked as a college counselor at the district level for Poway Unified School District and as co-director of college counseling at La Jolla Country Day School. This experience on both sides of the desk—and both sides of the country—has helped her successfully guide students to a wide variety of schools ranging from the most highly selective colleges like Yale, Brown, Penn, Columbia, Cornell, Johns Hopkins, Georgetown, the University of Chicago, Wellesley, and Carnegie Mellon, to larger public universities like the University of Washington and both the UC and Cal State systems, to Catholic schools such as Villanova and the University of San Francisco.

Emily’s students benefit from her deep experience in evaluating their admissions candidacy and helping them stand out to admissions committees with compelling college essays and applications. She is also a respected leader in the college admissions space and serves as the incoming Inter-Association chair of the Western Association for College Admissions Counseling.

About Collegewise

Since 1999, our team of 100+ counselors has dedicated their expertise to creating a worry-free, effortless college application process for students of all levels. 

Collegewise empowers students academically and relieves parents of their project management duties through our personalized counseling and tutoring programs. 

Say goodbye to application stress and welcome a new, streamlined experience with Collegewise. 

26+ years of college admissions experience