Face Off: Should universities have different admissions requirements for athletic recruits?
Each week, two readers discuss a hot topic in a parliamentary-style debate that doesn’t necessarily reflect their personal viewpoints.
Should talented student athletes be given different requirements than regular university applicants? Photo: ShutterstockIf you are interested in joining future Face Off debates, fill out this form to submit your application.
For: Cadence Kwok, 18, Marymount Secondary School
Imagine waking at the break of dawn for another arduous training session before making your way to the classroom. It does not end here. You come home to a truckload of tasks, and then this cycle restarts the next day. This is a student athlete’s life.
Considering their circumstances, universities should have different admission requirements for these pupils. These student athletes have more on their plate.
They shoulder the same academic burden and are perpetually anxious about declining stamina.
They face immense pressure from parents and coaches to perform in competitions and tournaments but must balance excelling at their sport with their academic responsibilities.
Exhausted after strenuous training, how can they absorb and understand information properly?
Performing well in both academics and athletics is important to these students. It should be understandable that trying to excel at more than one thing might affect their results.
Their unseen but prevalent mental health struggles are a pressing issue.
According to a study conducted by Northeastern University, 95 per cent of male university athletes are more stressed than other students.
Similarly, according to the National Collegiate Athletics Association, one-third of female athletes experience severe symptoms of anxiety.
Student athletes tend to be thought of as tougher than their counterparts. This assumption keeps them from asking for support out of fear of being deemed incompetent. If they underperform, navigating this alone and suppressing these emotions might lead to devastating repercussions.
If there were a little less academic pressure on them, they could use that extra time to get professional help.
Students proficient in multiple fields, whether music or something in STEM, should also be given different admission requirements.
Strict and rigid university admission requirements do not consider the whole picture; they dismiss each student’s unique hardships and mental health. It is unfair to paint all students with a broad brush; schools should be willing to compromise.
Should Hong Kong schools have a weekly vegetarian day?
Against: Sophie Li, 16, Bishop’s Stortford College (UK)
Universities should maintain consistent, merit-based admission standards for all applicants.
Different requirements for athletic recruits would give those students an unfair advantage and potentially hinder their long-term academic success.
Prioritising sports over studies stops these students from developing their literacy and scholarly analysis skills. It sends the incorrect message that they can still gain admission to prestigious universities based solely on their athletic abilities rather than academic performance.
These university athletes may struggle to keep up with the demands of their coursework and catch up with exam preparation. In contrast, their non-athlete peers may have already established a solid academic foundation. This could lead to some university athletes failing to graduate.
Recruited athletes are less than 1 per cent of the Harvard University applicant pool but make up over 10 per cent of its admitted class.
A report from Harvard University’s Office of Internal Research showed that athletes with a 1 or 2 on an internal admissions scale of 1 to 6 – with 1 being the highest and 6 the lowest – had an acceptance rate of 83 per cent, compared to just 16 per cent for non-athletes.
Recruited athletes with an academic rating of 4 had an acceptance rate of 70.46 per cent, nearly a thousand times greater than non-athletes with the same rating.
Treating athletes differently conveys the wrong message about a university’s priorities and values.
It implies that athletic success is more important than excelling academically, undermining a higher institution’s core educational mission.
Universities should not have different admission requirements for athletic recruits. Giving them an unfair advantage undermines academic integrity and creates barriers to student athlete success.
Universities have a responsibility to treat all students equally and send a clear message about the importance of intellectual growth and achievement.
Adopting different standards for student athletes isn’t fair to them, either. They may fail to develop the academic skills they need for life, falsely believing they will always have advantages.