<p>I am a junior at a very good public high school just outside of Boston. I am interested in attending one of the top Ivies (HYP) or Stanford and hope to row heavyweight crew. </p>
<p>I would appreciate perspectives on my chances for admission at these schools.</p>
<p>GPA: 3.9 (unweighted) - taken the most demanding course load in my class. Have taken an independent AP course each year in addition to the normal honors courseload. My school does formally rank students but I surmise that I'm among the top three students. </p>
<p>AP Economics (as a freshman) - 5
AP US Government (as a soph) - 5
AP Spanish (this year)
AP Bio (this year)
AP Physics (next year)
AP Calculus B/C (next year) </p>
<p>SATs 790M; 750CR; 720W</p>
<p>SAT IIs 760 Bio; 780 Math IIC -- will take Spanish and English next month</p>
<p>Extracurriculars:
4 years Varsity Hockey - Captain next year
4 years Student Senate (elected) -- President of the Senate next year
4 years Philosophy Club -- President this year and next
4 years band -- Second seat Trumpet this year and next in a well-regarded orchestra
2 years (4 seasons) Varsity rowing -- My 2k ERG time last month was 6:35; 6'2' and 185 lbs.</p>
<p>Chosen by the faculty three years running as the sole student representative to the ASCD Whole Child initiative in Massachusetts. </p>
<p>Awards include Dartmouth Book Prize and Baush and Lomb George Eastman Young Leaders Award. </p>
<p>I am interested in studying either Biology or Government.</p>
<p>I am clueless about whether your ERG time is competitive for athletic recruits, but your academic profile is fine. If you’re a top athletic recruit, you’ll have your pick of schools.</p>
<p>Admissions for athletes is different. If you have strong coach’s support and the right academic profile, your “chances” are nearly 100% at even the most competitive schools.</p>
<p>Your academics are terrific. However, that is just one piece of the puzzle. What is your erg score? What is your current team like? Have you been getting the attention of various coaches at regattas?
With or without athletics, you are clearly in a great place - congratulations! But it is the support of a coach that will “seal the deal”, and that depends on SO many variables.</p>
<p>Thanks mayhew. My last 2k ERG (6 weeks ago) was 6:35. I row with a well-known club in Boston – CRI. Will row intensively this summer and will compete at Canadian Henley. I am just beginning outreach to coaches and believe I can pull a sub-6:25 erg soon.</p>
<p>^^^You’re in great shape. Being associated with CRI is really solid, and you will get terrific exposure from your Canadian Henley experience. Your erg score is strong, and your sub 6:25 goal is totally appropriate and sounds realistic. You are right on track - bravo!! However, definitely make contacting coaches of schools you are interested in a priority right now. Developing relationships with those coaches is important, and you want to start seriously considering your options once 1st July comes. With your academics and skill level, the Ivies and Stanford are all true possibilities, and you may well find yourself in an excellent position come this autumn This is an exciting & nerve wracking time, but you have a lot going for you - good luck!</p>
<p>Your academics look great, but your erg score will make the difference. Bring it as low as you can, as quickly as you can. You are going to need to get sub-6:30 to be in contention and the real cutoff for highly desirable recruits is 6:20. You should definitely be reaching out to coaches now as they will start offering official visits after July 1.</p>
<p>Are you a rising junior or a rising senior? If a rising senior, you need to start contacting and possibly visiting coaches asap.
As others have said, your academics are great, but your erg time (and height) may be a problem for some of the top rowing teams (check out IRA’s and where schools place). So, the Harvard and, to a lesser extent, Princeton coaches, may not be that interested in you. Stanford and Yale may be. However, keep in mind that some top schools with less stellar rowing programs (e.g. Columbia, Penn, or Dartmouth) may be great matches. When you email the coaches, include any regatta results of note.</p>
<p>Very helpful. I think you are right about the schools. I am actually 6’3" (I mis-typed) and I think will be 6’4" by the time I enter college (I am a rising senior). I’ve begun outreach to coaches and will row intensively this summer at CRI and will compete at the Canadian Henley. I am targeting a sub 6:25 erg this summer.</p>
<p>hockey, you’ll do fine wherever you go! Great stats, great work ethic, great!</p>
<p>sub 35 to sub 25 is no easy feat so you’ll need to get even more serious. As far as HYPS talk to your CRI coach. I suspect he’s been talking to HYPS, Washington and Cal coaches about his rowers, so find out from him where you stand. What coaches are saying is very important in the recruiting process.</p>
<p>And at this level coaches want to know you’re crazy for rowing so consider the Hockey effect on them. And know they are not just looking at kids from Boston, or around the US, but 21 year old men from the Serbian Olympic team. Rowing open weight at HYPS, Wash and Cal is the big leagues!</p>
<p>Harvard, CAL, and Wash are in a class by themselves, so they may not be interested unless your erg score gets a lot better. How about contacting Penn, Cornell, and Brown, too? With respect to hockey, if you do it at a high level, it may be a plus.</p>
<p>I will send out another round of letters. I ERGed today, new time is 6:28.9. I think I can get sub-6:25 by end of summer. </p>
<p>I also have had very positive responses to my letters from coaches at Williams, Yale and Dartmouth Today I got a nice letter from Harvard, different from the original form e-mail cited above. Strange.</p>
<p>A 6:28.9 (i.e. a sub 6:30) is substantially better than 6:35, hence more interest. I forgot to mention Columbia. With respect to Williams, keep in mind that the coaches won’t be able to offer an early likely letter, and, of course, D3 rowing is substantially at a lower level than the other colleges you mentioned. At this point, keep on working on your erg time and on updating the coaches. Coaches will most likely be at Independence Day Regatta and Henley for scouting. You can email them before and tell them which boat and seat you will be in. They’re not really allowed to talk to you at regattas, so you may want to ask them if you can visit them on campus (Brown, Harvard, Yale, etc. are relatively close to you).</p>
<p>How should I represent my race results from Club Nationals in my athletic resume and to coaches? My boats made it into two semi-final races.</p>
<p>Junior As 8+ – 6th place out of 6 with a 6:17:37 time in one of the two semi races; winner of our heat was 6:10:53, the 2nd fastest boat of the two semi heats. The fastest boat overall was 6:10:24 </p>
<p>Junior As 4+ – 5th place out of 6 with a 7:05:39 time in one of the three semi races; winner of our heat was 6:41:10, the fastest boat of all three semi heats</p>
<p>At the College Fair yesterday at Club Nationals, I confirmed next step on-campus visits with coaches at Yale, Dartmouth, Penn, Columbia and Navy (though this is of lesser intererst). All requested an official transcript and standardized test scores for “pre-reads with the admission office”.</p>
<p>My 8+ boat made it into the finals where we placed 4th. Had an excellent visit with Penn head coach in Canada.</p>
<p>Have secured Official Visits for September at Williams, Penn and Columbia. I am visiting Yale coach and Dartmouth coach on their respective campuses in the days ahead with hopes of securing Officials Visit requests. ERG is planned for late August with goal of a sub-6:25. </p>
<p>Two questions:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Is it too late to move coaches at Harvard, Princeton and Stanford? Harvard has requested academic materials but hasn’t reached back. Princeton coach says to keep him informed of rowing progress. No response to inquires at Stanford. I feel the clock ticking away. </p></li>
<li><p>What should I expect coming out of the Official Visits in September through mid-October? </p></li>
</ol>
<p>I have played hockey at a high level for years, will play Varsity hockey in the fall and could play in a top D3 program if I wanted, but don’t. New passion is rowing; using hockey to show persistence over time to coaches. I have been very dedicated to hockey.</p>
This is an exciting & nerve wracking time, but you have a lot going for you - good luck!</p>