The answer is a resounding YES! Today, more and more student-athletes who want to compete in college are finding an advantage over their competition for landing that coveted athletic scholarship. They are using their GPA, test scores, and “weighted courses” to set themselves apart and making it easier for college coaches to decide who to offer first.
Let’s start with your GPA (grade point average). If you already have a 2.8 core gpa, congratulations. You obviously understand the importance of academics and working hard in the classroom. Your 2.8 will get you into a certain number of colleges and allow those college coaches to actively recruit you knowing they can get you admitted into their college. But imagine for a moment if you worked hard on your least favorite subject and were able to increase your core GPA to a 3.0. You have just added an additional layer of colleges that can now admit you academically and in turn add the same number of college coaches that can now recruit you and hopefully offer you.
Next let’s talk a little about test scores. The ACT & SAT tests are another important part of your academic eligibility for college athletics. If you take one of these tests and don’t do as well as you thought you might then take a step back and try something else. Try taking the other test and see if you do any better. Many student-athletes do better in one test over another for no apparent or obvious reason. And you can take each test as many times as you want. Most colleges will even allow you to take the highest math score in one test and combine it with your highest verbal score in another. But you must first check with each college.
Now, go to www.eknowledge.com/dynamitesports and order your free copy of their SAT/ACT Prep dvd thanks to our recently formed partnership with eKnowledge. The retail value of this dvd is $200. All you pay is the shipping and handling. Use the 50 hours of instruction, tutorials and tests to sharpen your skills and increase your test scores.
NOTE: If a college coach notices that you have high test scores but a low GPA, you are in serious trouble. That says to the coach that you are intelligent but aren’t working hard or applying yourself in the classroom and this is a “Red-flag” for the coach. That is NOT the type of athlete they want in their locker room and on their team. Most college coaches won’t look any further let alone consider offering a scholarship!
Now, what about “weighted courses”?
Most schools offer advanced placement, honors, and advanced courses to supplement your course studies. These courses certainly are NOT mandatory for anyone. But, if you want to get noticed by coaches and get scholarship offers, consider this. If a college softball coach needed a third baseman and was looking at three girls who all had close to the same batting average, fielding percentage and skill and was having a hard time choosing between them who to offer first what do you think he/she would do next? They would look closely at their academics. This would include the course studies each have chosen to take. If one of the girls took some weighted courses instead of the normal courses this could be the deciding factor! Think about that really hard for a moment. You can use your academics and weighted courses to show college coaches that you want to challenge yourself everyday not just in the classroom but on the athletic field as well.
That’s the kind of student-athlete I would offer first and I’m sure you would too.
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