Tufts Daily

Issue date: 4/14/08 Section: Features

Media Credit: Timothy Straub/Tufts Daily After gaining admission to Tufts, student-athletes must balance academics with sports in order to fully contribute to a team, coaches say.

When freshman swimmer Joe Lessard received a letter of rejection from Dartmouth College after applying early decision, he expected to join a hugely competitive pool of students applying regular decision to some of the nation's best colleges, including Tufts.

But following his rejection, Lessard received a phone call from Adam Hoyt, the men's swimming and diving coach at Tufts, that would change the trajectory of his college search.

"[Hoyt] literally called me, I think the day after I got rejected [from Dartmouth] … and [he said], 'So you know, I'm really sorry to hear that you got rejected, and I know you're interested in Tufts. What would you think about changing to ED II [Early Decision II to Tufts]?'" Lessard said.

Lessard followed Hoyt's suggestion and opted to submit his Tufts application into the ED II pool, placing him in a group of students whose athletic skills would play a part in their final admissions decisions.

Despite its position as a Div. III school that typically emphasizes its academics over its athletics, Tufts still uses athletic recruiting as a strong piece of its admissions process and encourages its athletes to apply early in order to do so.

Hoyt said that although coaches do not make any official admissions decisions, a coach's recommendation can add a great deal to a prospective student's application.

"My role in the admissions process is alerting admissions of prospective students who applied to Tufts who are swimmers that I feel would have an impact on our swimming team," Hoyt said. "I feel like that basically gives them an added benefit to their application because now our admissions office knows that they will be an active participant on the swimming team and a contributor."

Lessard said that while Hoyt could not guarantee him a spot in the Class of 2011, the coach worked to inform the Office of Admissions of his swimming ability.

"He certainly said he'd maybe push it along - just kind of make sure the admissions office knows that 'This guy's a swimmer, and we like him; he can certainly get in on his own, but it's kind of like a heads-up,'" Lessard said.

Continued...

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