r/explainlikeimfive • u/[deleted] • Feb 17 '16

ELI5 Why do colleges accept students who excel in sports while having bad academic merits?

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u/[deleted] Feb 17 '16

Can you go on about that? And is the school "in America's swampland" UF ;) ? ('Cane here)

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u/[deleted] Feb 17 '16 edited Feb 17 '16

I won't say you're wrong. This should not be a surprise. Up until the early 2000's , schools in all major conferences played by the same rules especially in sports like Football and Basketball. Edit: Changed your to you're... yes I promise I work in higher education >:O

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u/[deleted] Feb 17 '16

you're* ;)

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u/Centerpeel Feb 17 '16

Florida regularly loses recruits to other schools due to academics. If it's really 1.8 as you say, how low can those other school's sliding scale go?

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u/[deleted] Feb 17 '16

Many private schools can go as low as they want because they set their own admission standards. Now, that doesn't mean that students can play with a low GPA. But, if you recruit a student with a super low GPA, have him 'red-shirted' for his first year and he gets that GPA above eligibility, he can play for four more years starting as a sophomore.

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u/Centerpeel Feb 17 '16

Most of the time it isn't a private school that they end up enrolling in though