I am very new to the recruiting process and I am trying to learn as much as possible. I would absolutely love to jump for the University of Pennsylvania.
I am currently in my Junior year and my marks from my past years are:
Triple Jump (Sophmore Year): 42ft 9in
Long Jump (Freshman Year, did not long jump Sophmore year): 19ft 6.5in
I believe that by the end of HS I will be able to get my Triple Jump to around 46-47 and my long jump to around 21-22. I take all AP classes and have a GPA of 3.4 unwighted/4.36 weighted. I have only taken 1 SAT thus far and received a 1400 but believe that I can bring it up to 1500+ by June.
If I achieve my goals (lots of hard work, but I know I can do it), what are my chances for the University of Pennsylvania? I hope to major in business there. Also, what marks do I need to meet to give me a good chance academically and athletically?
What you jump senior year won’t be a factor - this year is what coaches will have to use. Penn’s recruiting standard for the TJ is 47. You can look at milesplit and see what distances are actually getting signed. I suspect you’ll find some below that mark.
Your best bet is to email Coaches Dolan and Hunter. They can tell you what they’re looking for. But be cautious about getting your heart set on one program. Could be they won’t be looking for a jumper next year, or looking for just one and there’s one better than you that also wants to go there. It is not a matter of hitting any particular target. It depends on what other athletes they’re interested in, across all events. So you’d be well served to cast a wide net.
Posted standards at most schools are for junior year. Ivies recruit most track athletes before ED or EA deadlines, then fill in over the winter. Other schools will recruit as late as into the summer after senior year although most coaches and athletes aim to get things done prior to spring track season senior year.
Posted standards at ivies usually have 2 categories - for recruiting and for walk-ons. They won’t look significantly different, but consider that the recruited athlete is using junior year marks and the walk on can use senior year marks. In almost every event group, marks are better senior year (women’s distance a notable frequent exception).
Ivies don’t have much to offer other than admission support. Athletics are a big hook in the early round, but there is high turnover in Ivy athletics so if you are accepted to the college on your own, finding a roster spot is easier.
Other schools will/might/can recruit later. At this time unsigned track athletes are getting interest from coaches just to apply to their colleges if they have slots that did not fill in the early round. They need applications in by the RD date… then they can bring the athletes in for officials in Jan/Feb before offering support.
I would think for TJ you could get late $$ offers if you hit your PRs at the January or early February invitationals, but you would need to have applied to those schools and likely be talking with the coach now. My kids are not throwers, but my observation is that jumpers and throwers seem to sign early, probably because they are harder to find than runners/ sprinters and I suspect get better scholarship offers.
TJ is an event that coaches have to look a little broader to fill. It is hard to predict what any one school is looking for any given year, but competing in TJ should improve your chances of being recruited. Have someone take a video or two of you this season and post it on You tube and send coaches the link via email with your academic stats. Also see if you can run a 100 or 200 to get an official measure of your speed. You may find some interest if your technique is solid and you have enough speed for a coach to build on. While track recruiting is usually pretty straight forward, and based predominantly on hs marks, for the more technical events that take years to perfect (HJ, TJ, Javelin, PV) coaches also look at potential.
^For events where potential maybe plays more of a role, I’d also add the events that are not part of high school track and field, at least not in all states, such as steeplechase, hammer, javelin - certainly there are venues for high school athletes in these events, but participation will be lower where it’s not part of school programs.