Saw something earlier today (might have been in Quick Bits) that Worley got a 20 on his ACT. Not questioning his athleticism by any means but I got a 23 and got really bad grades. I just wonder what makes athletes so special that they can get such a low score on these tests and still be admitted to universities. So does anyone know if there are different requirements for Student-Athletes at OSU than there are for normal students?
PHONE'S RINGING -- IT'S URBAN ON THE LINE
•Football Schedule•Basketball Schedule•Forum•About•Contact
11W Poll
Buckshots
Buckshots Block
-
Ohio State Men's Tennis Season Ends in Heartbreaker
Fifth-ranked Buckeyes lose 4-3 to No. 1 UCLA in national semifinals.
-
One Year In and Ohio State Fans are Already Making Busts of Urban Meyer
That's one handsome bust.
-
Rivals Releases a New Rivals100
Heavy Ohio State lean Raekwon McMillan picks up a fifth star.
-
Kirk Ferentz's High School Nickname was "Fetus Head"
Explains a lot, really.
-
STROKE! STROKE! STROKE!
Ohio State Women's Rowing: 2013 B1G Champions
-
Hey Ladies, Here's Everything You Need to Know for Ohio State's Annual Women's Football Clinic
June 8th. Be there.
Recent Blog Posts
- 2013: The WR Rotation
- The Dontre Wilson Impact
- Better know a ... Mountaineer?
- Joey Bosa = perfect OOS recruit!
- Wrestling: Stieber defeats #1 Ranked wrestler in the world at Rumble on the Rails
- Response to Johnny's "There's so much money going around, well, mostly"
- My Worst Ohio State Football Experience Ever
- Summer Reading: The Most Hated On
- Big Ten State Beer Consumption Rankings
- Coop was better than Earle
Active in the Forum
- Kiper Has Bradley Roby as His Top Corner Prospect
- 11W Community Interview: Detroit Cass Tech CB Damon Webb
- Best Buckeye Team in Our Lifetime?
- 2014 JUCO OT Jermaine Eluemunor
- 2014 CB Quincy Wilson
- Man claims to be an All American Tight End from Ohio State is a fraud
- 2015 ohio players
- Not a form tackle
- 2015 Offers/Commits *Updated 5/20*
- 2014 RB/ATH Jonathan Haden
- 2014 DT Andrew Brown
- Hang 100?
- Quick Bits 5/20 (one new offer in both sports)
- Worst single play in OSU football history?
- 2015 Offers/Commits *Updated 5/20*
Want to say hello?
We love hearing from you! Whether you want to work with us, discuss advertising opportunities, or pass us a hot tip, you're more than welcome to drop us a line.
To be honest, some of the smartest people I've known have gotten 19/20 on the ACT.. yet got straight A's.
Personally, I scored a 28 and had 5 years of being a scholar athlete under my belt.. but who's counting right?
How firm thy friendship..
They have insane athletic talents. That's what makes them so special. That is what allows them to get into an excellent university. My white ass never ran anything faster than a 5 minute mile in high school, but I got a 30 on the ACT. It's pretty simple stuff really.
I'm not sure about various academic requirements, but depending on your major you either have to maintain a 2.0 or 3.0 to not be placed on probation.
You ran a 5 minute mile? That should have made the track team I would guess. I played football in college and never came close to a 5 minute mile.
same, fasted mile I ever did was 6:36, and that was a few months ago when I was training for a duathlon
Unfortunately a 5 minute mile wouldn't even help you get into a DIII school.
really? damn, shows how much I know about track times and how good they are. I will just stick with football and wrestling. heh
I played soccer, swam and played rugby. I had a couple of DII offers for swimming, but nothing great, mainly because I didn't swim year-round. I think at least half the guys on my soccer team could run around a 5 minute mile. I mean we had one guy at my school run something in the 4:30s or so and his best offer was Army.
If you put three 5 minute miles together and made a 15 minute 5k, now we're talking college track team fast.
That wouldn't even qualify for DIII nationals though so unless you were doing that in high school it wouldn't be worth much at the college level.
I believe the magic number has always been 18. While 20 isn't great, it's not horrible.
I believe 17 is Avg, thats what the sheet said when I got a 17 on the Math part, but I'm not a moron I did get a 35 on the science part lol
"Because I couldn't go for 3"
I'm 15 and I got a 32 on it.
I got a scholarship for getting a 32 and I have to stay above a 3.2 to keep that financial aid. I would assume the standards for athletes are much lower
For athletes its a combination of ACT scores and GPA in core classes. The higher the ACT the lower your GPA is allowed to be. Its been a while since my son who had a partial scholarship in Baseball went through this but his 28 score I believe allowed his GPA to be a 2.0 (his was a 4.0). I believe an 18 would require a GPA to be 3.0. The formula is complicated and it all comes down to the NCAA clearinghouse.
In reality the standard is higher for an athlete than a non athlete.
How so? My college required a 3.7 and a 30 or above. Normal admissions have no exact number cutoffs but around 90% of admitted students are in the top quartile of their class and the median range on the ACT is a 26-30. That seems a lot tougher than athletic requirements, especially when I compare the schools that offered me an athletic scholarship and those that didnt.
But this would mean the guy would have to have somewhere around a 3.5 GPA, right?
Buckeye Nuthouse Member 2011-13 season
Block "O" 2012 season
I believe OSU admissions require a 28 on the ACT......well, unless you run a 4.3/40 and can catch a football :o)
tOSU has a MEDIAN of 27 for admitted students. The 25th and 75th percentiles are like 25-29.
Personally, a 20 for a top athlete is fine. You have to understand one of the main problems is that these kids don't even feel the need to try. I was a D1 recruited athlete who literally thought nothing mattered but my sport (soccer). I expected to go to a top school and not have to worry about grades. I expected to play professionally. And I didn't think school mattered. Just like a lot of these kids. And I come from a family of pretty smart people.
Luckily (or maybe not), I had parents who forced me to try and do better at school after a freshman year in HS where I routinely just didn't turn things in and remember getting a 0 on a spanish final. But I still was resisitent until I tore my ACL junior year of HS. My recruitment slowed down (I had been receiving D1 letters as sophmore) and I realized that my future wasn't completely certain. I was able to turn it around from a sub 3.0 gpa and graduate with almost a 3.5. And I ended up studying hard and getting a 33 on my ACT. This turned out to be a lifesaver because I ended up not healing 100% and only a Mid-Major took a chance on me. Where I then proceeded to have another ACL tear and then a career ending leg break in two places. But because of my story, test scores, and later on good grades, I was able to transfer to one of the top universities in the country and would definitely not be where I am now without that school name on my diploma.
The moral is, athletes are often raised in situations where they just don't understand the importance of school. And it's not necessarily their fault, it's their surroundigs. But you also have to understand that they've (usually) worked hard at their sport and do deserve the recgonition for that. Universities aren't just looking for the smartest, they are looking for diversity. Far more learning happens when you are exposed to a breadth of experiences, backgrounds, and knowledge then if everyone comes from the same cloth.
I am sure many students attend OSU can weigh in but I am sure OSU has a much lower score than 28 for its standard. Matter of fact tOSU recruited my son for baseball and he qualified for an academic scholarship with his 28 plus he would have received a .25 athletic scholarship. Im pretty sure you're confusing admittance and a cademic scholarship. Also for the person saying his college requires a 30 I am guessing you attend either a Private college which almost always has higher standards One reason why ND suffered for a while but I think they may have lowered the standard some for athletes recently.
I would say a 28 is pretty accurate. It might be a little lower but it depends on what else you bring to the table. IF you get a 24 but you were involved in alot of clubs, athletics, maybe student body president, and have a 4.0 yeah there is a good chance you get in. But if your a student with a 3.0 in high school you better get around a 28 to get in as a true freshmen. I went to another university and then transferred in my junior because i didn't have the GPA or the ACT score to get in as a Freshman. I got a 22 and had a 3.3 GPA in high school and was not accepted out of high school.
28 is the average ACT score of the current freshman class admitted into OSU. When I was a freshman our average was around 25-26 (which was 06-07). So the actual requirements probably haven't changed but overall, those admitted are scoring higher
I got a 25 on my ACT, struggled a bit my freshman and sophomore year with booze and football and averaged a 2.95 or something like that, but my final two years I turned it around and average a 3.65 gpa. For me, I just decided to switch my priorities and work harder on academics. I think these ACT and SAT scores are not true indicators of actual learning ability, more of a 'what do you know now', like any other tests. Some one can easily get better grades if they get a low score, just have to be determined to work at it.
NEWS FLASH: Standardized testing != Accurate way to measure intelligence
"if irony were made of strawberries, we' d all be drinking a lot of smoothies right now."
Define intelligence.
not everyone thrives in a testing environent. I hate standardized testing
I posted this on Alex's Recruiting Mailbag after he gave a general link:
Here's the scale they currently use with GPA/SAT/ACT. For ACT, it's the sum instead of the average as we usually see, so take ACT/4 as what you would think. You can theoretically get in with just less than a 10 on the ACT.
http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/eligibility_center/Quick_Reference_Sheet.pdf
I do not think that this means much and I know this question is strictly related to admissions but I think that as long as he can keep his grades up during his college career.
Personally have never been the greatest at tests in my high school years, got a 21 on my ACT. Enrolled at YSU and recieved an associates degree then transferred to OSU. Was told that I would struggle, finished with a 3.2 gpa and a bachelors degree.
"Without winners, there wouldn't even be civilization."
No offense to anyone here but this is my opinion. To say you're a bad test taker is the same thing as saying you don't know the answers.
i dont know, I mean, I do agree with an underlying point that many people i think use the 'excuse' of saying they are a bad test taker to justify a low score or something, but there are legit bad test takers out there, but that is sometimes followed with a medical condition that distorts focus, or anxiety, etc. you know? but like I said, maybe that 'excuse' is used as a scapegoat a little too often.
on a side note, either way, if the grades are close, and athlete will find a way to get in. Maybe with certain stipulations added to keep a certain gpa, or no probation, etc.
Edit: talking about the longer tests of course, not a 5 minute pop quiz over the 5 page reading assignment from the night prior, heh
I agree with you. I've just seen that excuse used too many times for kids who were just bad students. Some people just can't answer questions under the pressure of a test scenario. Especially timed tests like the sat/act. But I think it's used as a blanket excuse for bad test scores.
I agree that there are bad "standardized test takers". I recently took the GRE and didn't do amazing at all, but I'm a senior at OSU -biology major with a 3.744. Those test don't measure a persons work ethic or determination. I think being successful in life is more of those things then can you pick the best words to fill in the blanks of this paragraph.
Edit- By not amazing at all I mean I did average lol I got 152 in verbal and 145 in math
I absolutely agree with that. A standardized had nothing to do with the real world. Knowing how to find a solution is much more important than memorization.
Yes, but school itself pretty much has nothing to do with the real world. For the most part, the value of college is the growth and experiences that happen. It's the way you shape the way you think about things. The material itself is often very useless and even a high GPA doesn't mean much to future job performance.
My son is a Jr in high school and recently took the ACT for the first time. Here is a list of schools in Ohio and what they require on the ACT & GPA.
Akron 21/2.92
Bowling Green 22/3.2
Central State 15.7/2.4
Cincinnati 24.9/3.4
Cleveland State 20.08/3.12
Kent State 22 / 3.19
Miami 26 / na
Ohio State 26-30 / na
Ohio Univ. 21-26 / 3.4
Shawnee State 20.1 / na
Toledo 21.2 / 3.11
Wright State 21.2 / 3.06
Youngstown State 19.9 / 2.82
Ashland 20-25 / 3.36
Capital 21-27 / 3.47
Case Western 28-32 / na
CCAD 18-23 / 3.2
Dayton 23-28 / 3.15
Denison 27-30 / 3.16
Findlay 20-26 / 3.4
John Carroll 21-26 / 3.4
Kenyon 28-32 / 3.82
Marietta 21-27 / 3.4
Muskingum 19-24 / 3.2
Oberlin 28-32 / 3.6
Ohio Dominican 19-23 / 3.1
Ohio Northern 23-28 / 3.64
Ohio Wesleyan 23-29 / 3.43
Otterbein 20-26 / 3.44
Tiffin 18-23 / 3.05
Wittenberg 23-29 / 3.4
Wooster 24-29 / 3.15
Xavier 23-28 / 3.54
A few others outside of Ohio....
Notre Dame 31-34
Vanderbilt 30-34
Georgetown 27/33
George Washington 27/30
Univ. of Chicago 28-32
Cornell 29-33
I like Tosh's standup line about test taking. "Oh, you say you're a poor test taker, huh? So let me get this straight, you struggle with the part where we find out how much you know?"
Depends on the test really. When I took the ACT I was so obsessed with making sure I answered everything correctly and didn't rush through the test and misread questions that I ran out of time. I had to answer a ton of questions in the last 15 minutes or so of the exam that I effed it up pretty bad. Still ended up with a 25, but had I paced myself correctly, I would of scored much higher. I knew I was going to NKU and I was good to get in with that, but that day I was definitely a poor test taker.
I was always better at exams with essays in college than multiple choice exams. So I get where people are coming from when they say they aren't good test takers.
I took many many practice ACT tests before the real deal. I also studied up on basic math skills. So when I took the real test I had my pace down. Part of being a good test taker is being good at prepping for said test. Anyone can pick up a test prep book for 20 bucks and instantly boost their score with just a few hours of effort.
Taking tests is like anything else in life, practice makes perfect. Anyone who claims to be a poor test taker simply hasn't practiced taking them enough.
Let's make this into a sports analogy. If you play basketball and are horrible at shooting free throws, what do you do next? Just say well, that's it, I'm just "not a good free throw shooter." Or do you go outside after dinner every night and shoot a hundred free throws until you get more comfortable at the charity stripe?
I was recruited to play football at D1 schools in 1994. Here's how it worked for Penn (my #1 choice). I"m sure it's different today for football at an OSU type school.
They took your accademic performance and assigned you a total score. If I recall mine was something like 668.
Then they have 5 buckets of which they can offer admissions (no scholarships in the Ivy). They then assigned you a bucket, I was in the 4th bucket. Each bucket was a range of scores I think mine was something like 670-800 (I didn't get in by 2 points and I will always remember that much).
Bucket #1 was basically anyone that could play football at all but had the grades to get into Penn without playing football. Bucket 2 was for people who would have been boarderline to slightly below getting in. Bucket 5 was reserved for guys who could play at an Ohio State type level but had the lowest test scores. Obviously if you could play at an OSU level but could also get in they put you in bucket #1 to leave other buckets open. There was a certain minimum which I assume was relatively high which all athletes had to adhere to.
I beleive they had a pyramid of spots. Bucket #1 was essentially unlimited, bucket #5 was something like 2 or 3 players per class.
I got into every other school I considered based on academics so I didn't really pay attention to how admissions were done elsewhere.
I have some funny stories about getting recruited to WVU and FSU if anyone is interested. (no i was not seriously recruited to play at either, but still funny how some schools did it)
I hope this makes sense.
interesting to see how your process went. very interesting... I was 6 years old in '94, haha
Thanks for reminding me!
Standardized tests don't always mean anything. I got a 24 but I have a M.S. in applied physics and have completed math thru diff eq. Granted I wasn't an "A" calculus student, but I never got lower than a "C" in any college class. No drops, either.
My point is, tests scores don't tel the whole story.
Edit... I did get a few D-III schools offers to swim, but none where my test score would have kept me out.
I'll tell you now, just from having recently gone through OSU admissions, if you're not an athlete , and you have a 19 or a 20 on your ACT, you'd better start applying at other schools.