The negative stereotype that college athletes aren't academically cut out for higher education and are considered differently than other students isn't supported by University of Oregon admissions data.
The UO registrar's office, in responding to a recent inquiry from a national media outlet, found that numbers at the UO just don't fit the perceived pattern.
The average high school GPA of the 129 new student-athletes who enrolled for the first time at the UO last summer or fall term, for instance, was 3.48 (42 of the new student-athletes on rosters for this academic year began their studies during the summer). That GPA compares to the record 3.60 average for last fall's entering freshman class as a whole.
The SAT test scores told a similar story: The 129 new student-athletes had average scores of 497 on the verbal (critical reading) portion of the college aptitude test and 536 on the math portion; the average for all students in the entering freshman class was 549 for verbal and 559 for math – the highest ever at the UO.
"Student-athletes at the University of Oregon, for the most part, are performing in the classroom at or near the level of their peers in the general student population," said Roger Thompson, the UO's vice president for enrollment management. "I can't say that's a surprise, because students recruited for their athletic talents go through the same holistic admissions process at the UO as those who are recruited for their academic abilities."
Thompson said grade point averages and aptitude test scores are only part of the university's admissions equation. Other factors include strength of academic course work, motivation (as demonstrated in a required application essay), extracurricular activities, grade trends, hardships, academic potential and the ability to offer a diverse perspective.
The UO's comprehensive review process is used to consider all students – including student-athletes – for admission, and the perception that athletes are commonly granted exceptions is inaccurate. Fewer than a quarter of all "special admits" at the UO – situations in which students are admitted despite being below standards in GPA, SAT scores or core classes – are student-athletes.
The recent data from the registrar's office shows that just 10 of 64 total "special admits" at the UO last fall or summer were for student-athletes. That's 16 percent. The remaining "special admits" are spread throughout all schools and colleges at the UO.
"We try to look at students' potential, what they have to offer and special circumstances they may have had to overcome," Thompson said. "We focus on their ability to earn a degree, even more than what numbers they may have as they come through our doors. We're more interested in what they're going to accomplish than what they already have accomplished."
According to new data from the registrar's office, the likelihood of a student-athlete remaining in school is nearly on par with that of the UO's general student population.
Of the student-athletes who were admitted as freshmen for the summer and fall terms of 2012, 84 percent remained registered for fall term of 2013. The freshman-to-sophomore retention rate of the full cohort of fall 2012 freshmen was 87 percent – which is another UO record.
- by Joe Mosley, UO Office of Strategic Communications