The WASPy sport emerges as a must-have on the college apps of the competitive and privileged.

Turns out squash, that sport you pretend to play, is some kind of golden ticket in the top schools, reports the NYT. Well, not everyone who picks up a racket is instantly admitted, but because more and more universities are getting … squads or whatever you call teams of squash players together, more spots are opening up in an area where the talent is thin. Oh yeah, it also happens that the schools that “field” squash (that’s the term the NYT uses) are the good schools — Stanford fielded a women’s varsity team last year, and Exeter recruits for squash. Yale, Princeton and Harvard have long been squash bastions.

Enter the opportunists.

One parent cited by the Times explained it this way: “not everybody can play it, not everyone can afford it — it’s almost like it’s a more upscale product.”

So beyond that, what’s the appeal? Well, it’s good exercise for one. And it’s easier playing squash in the city than tennis in many cases. Says one financier we consulted, “It’s okay … it’s WASPy.”

Have you benefited in some way from squash? Done some deals while hugging the T?