<p>This is probably a dumb question, but are entrance standards different for DI athletes? It seems obvious that at least a few football players going to the University of Texas weren't in the top 10% of their high school classes! I'm wondering, because my son may be able to run for UT's track team, but we are out-of-state, and it's usually very hard for OOS students to get accepted. My son does well in school, but I'm not sure he does THAT well. Thanks!</p>
<p>I think you have a good question! Know there are minimum NCAA standards that must be met but good question on specific school standards. Would also love to hear from those in the know!</p>
<p>To be honest, if he is being recruited (seriously recruited: official visit, written scholarship, etc) than he should have no problem at all getting in as long as he meets the NCAA requirements which are a bit of a joke. Big D1 programs like Texas, Ohio State, UCLA all of them are public schools and they recruit all over the nation. It defentiely isnt the same as Ivy League, UAA, NESCAC, where you must be in the ball park of the other students in order to be accepted.</p>
<p>My daughter competes DI and one of the big universities that recruited her told us straight out that all she had to do was meet the DI standard (which is embarassingly low). Actually they use a sliding scale....if your GPA is 3.55 or higher, are required to achieve a COMBINED SAT score of 400!!! (That is based on the 1600 scale). The lower your GPA, the higher the required SAT, all they way up to a lofty 1010 for a GPA of 2.0. My daughter applied in October and was notified, by telephone call of her admission, a couple of weeks later. We were told that all recruited athlete apps were "coded" and read early. The school she ended up attending was not as lenient, and does require some sort of standard from their athletes (I guess because their income-producing sports.... men's football and basketball, in particular....are not as high-end as in school #1, which was a Big Ten school). All schools are required to meet some sort of NCAA standard for student retention, GPA, etc. </p>
<p>Basically, if you are amazing, and they really want you and you have at least average grades...and meet the NCAA 16 core course requirement (again, a no brainer for even the average student), you will be in. </p>
<p>Be sure to check out the NCAA Eligibility Center as your son must be registered through them in order to go to one of the DI or DII schools. Download the "College-Bound Student-Athlete Guide".</p>
<p>keylyme, thanks for the reply! He's already registered through the NCAA Clearinghouse and has an ID number. Wow, it must be hard to score only a 400! That is kind of sad.</p>
<p>It depends on the school.</p>
<p>Big Powerhouse programs ( UF,FSU,OSU, USC, Texas etc) will accept you as long as you meet the minimum NCAA standards (and are being heavily recruited).</p>
<p>Programs like Stanford are much stricter with minimums of 1200 SAT/ 3.5 GPA.</p>
<p>The Ivies work on a banding system...which I am not entirely clear on..but I can say that S has a 4.0 , 29 ACT, top 10% of class and was told he was an A/B band guy.</p>
<p>Ivies also work around the entire "Academic Index" thing. My son had a close friend who scored 900 combined on his SAT and still played hoops for Brown. English was his second language, so that might have been part of it....but if they want you enough, the numbers can be "lowered" a bit. You can't really have GPA minimums, because that really depends on the rigor of the school's program.</p>
<p>I would bet that your friends boy was in the "C" band..the way I understand it they may only have a few "C" kids and it has to be equalled out by recruiting kids who on their academic merit alone would stand a solid chance of acceptance.</p>
<p>Clearly, the rules are not bent too much, otherwise the athletes are just set-up to fail if not
prepared for the rigors associated w/ an Ivy League education.</p>
<p>I have never heard of "bands", just "Academic Index". Maybe they use the index to set up the bands?</p>
<p>I thought the bands were only for football. There was no banding for my two Ds with the Ivies and for their sports academic standards were basically the same as for regular students.</p>
<p>Not all D1's use the same formula. Patriot League has to balance each incoming class for each sport to meet a minimum hurdle. It was explained to me once, so sorry if I botch this up, but what I understood was that if one recruit had numbers (combination of scores, grades and rank) below the mean, then another had to have numbers above so the mean was met for the incoming recruit class.
I agree that if your son is not being recruited at a powerhouse D 1, then there will not be support. I assume your son has checked his times/stats in his event with the current college team? Looking at the years of others in his event already at the school, will he be needed in that/those event/events when he enters? If they are losing a bunch of throwers the year before your son starts, and your son is a sprinter, they may not be recruiting sprinters that year. Worse, they might need one sprinter and they already are in negotations with one they want.
The great thing about track is that you can see where you fit on the roster based on times and stats. Is he registered on berecruited.com? If he's not being pursued right now, this may be a way to get his names and stats out there.</p>
<p>njcentconf has great info for you above. Look on Dyestat at the college choices section under Texas to see who they have signed for this year. Also look at the current roster and read stats and bios of those on the team to get a feel for academic and athletic info of those from out of state. If child is a junior, fill out the on-line recruiting form and at end of junior year send email with your athletic PRs and academic stats to coaches. Make sure you send it to head coach, but most importantly to the assistant coach who works with athletes in your event. Usually, the assistants do much of the initial recruiting. Phone calls from coaches in track can begin July 1st of Junior year, though some wait until summer is over. Usually at D1, track recruits do not get cut the slack that revenue sport recruits do unless you are a national level recruit. Policies regarding walk-ons vary by university. Tell child to focus on the classroom and work on getting good SAT/ACT results to maximize college options.</p>
<p>Thanks for the great advice! My son is a very good student, but not outstanding - lots of AP classes, Eagle Scout rank, GPA of 93 (his schools hasn't given out class rank yet), PSAT 196, varsity runner every season of high school. He hasn't taken the SAT yet, but got a 1350 on a practice test. I just know it's really hard for OOS kids to make it into UT. We've e-mailed the assistant coach - he says my son's times are very solid, especially considering the fact that we're in Maine. Maine runners are typically underdeveloped in high school since they can't run outdoors as much (our road looks like a snow tunnel at the moment, and we can't even see our outdoor furniture because it's under the surface).</p>
<p>We're just hoping he can get a tiny scholarship, because then he'd only have to pay in-state rather than out-of-state tuition - a difference of $17,000!</p>
<p>What do you mean by your last paragraph...about the scholarship and in-state tuition?</p>
<p>Many state U's offer in-state tuition rates for OSS as an enticement based on merit and/or athletic strengths.</p>
<p>S was offered in-state tuition by Alabama and a near full-ride at LSU, for example.</p>
<p>both strictly merit based.</p>
<p>Agree that often in state tuition is offerred as an incentive. Sometimes at State Universities, out of state recruited athletes are evaluated academically as if they were an in state student which helps also. Sounds like your son is doing all the right things in the classroom with good PSAT and AP courses etc. Would suggest getting as much standardized testing SAT and/or ACT out of the way this spring if your son does cross country in the fall as meets often conflict with Saturday tests. (See if SAT IIs are required at any schools he is interested in or sometimes ACT is accepted in lieu of them which can make things easier.) Rank could really help/hurt as some schools are really into that as GPA methodology varies so much. Since son is taking care of things in the classroom, I'd recommend he stays healthy and tries to have a great outdoor season. His Junior outdoor times in his event will really be the measuring stick that coaches will use to evaluate him as a potential recruit. Also, don't put all your eggs in one basket and contact other schools that may be of interest to you in case this doesn't work out.
Things can change a lot between now and next February!!! Good Luck!</p>
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Would suggest getting as much standardized testing SAT and/or ACT out of the way this spring if your son does cross country in the fall as meets often conflict with Saturday tests.
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<p>As a fellow Maine parent whose kid ran track, also be aware that a) ALL Maine juniors are required to take the SAT in May, effectively making it impossible to take SATIIs then, and b) the state outdoor track meet is ALWAYS scheduled on the same Saturday as the June SAT testing date, making it effectively impossible to take SAT IIs then, too.</p>
<p>BUT....if your student signs up for the SAT IIs in June, he should be able to reschedule to take the tests during the following week through his school. The actual testing may take place at a nearby HS with which your HS cooperates. Make sure that he is aware of this and doesn't miss the deadline for rescheduling, which is well in advance! This is a special arrangement that, to my knowledge, is available only to kids who have this kind of school-related scheduling conflict.</p>
<p>My S was signed up to take an SATII sophomore year, and was invited to go to the state meet after he tried a new event and suddenly became the #2 guy on the relay team at that distance. Because this was after the rescheduling deadline, he ended up taking the test the following December. We had to forfeit the fee, and he had to re-study. Junior year we were up on the situation in advance, and he took the rescheduled tests a few days later. The GC office said that hardly any of the eligible kids took advantage of it, so having a parent stay on top of the situation may be key. :)</p>
<p>^^ I'll keep you posted! We're visiting the Texas coach in a couple of weeks. He said they've had a lot of luck with kids from the northeast because they're typically underdeveloped in high school and then take off in college. The coach knows my son's times.</p>
<p>Actually, once the coach sees your son compete and has the transcripts and test scores, you will know which way he is leaning. Standards are lowered in direct proportion to how athletically talented an applicant is, especially in revenue sports. Even big schools don't let everyone in, especially if they are academically rigorous. It hurts the coach and the team if kids cannot graduate. and/or flunk out or transfer. Good luck to your son. Enjoy this exciting time.</p>
<p>So, its like this. My pet rabbit Annie got a 400 (/1600) on her SAT and she's really good at high jump. If she just gets her GPA up she'll be offered a scholarship?</p>