<p>Two D1 coaches have contacted our daughter about running at their school. Today we went and visited the first one and spoke with the coach for a little over an hour. Basically him telling her about the program, yada, yada.He knows there is another D1 school that she is going to visit, but we basically left not knowing will they offer her a spot or what? She is our first child going thru this process so we don't know what to expect or what we should be doing in all this. She has already been accepted at both of these schools and provided some acedemic money. She could live at home and commute to the school we visited today but the other is out of state, 2 hours away.</p>
<p>The coach did leave the visit today with an invite for her to come to a track meet they're going to be having or to come to "open track" one night. She is also a varsity basketball player at her high school so we're in that middle of that season and she doesn't have a lot of free time to do open track, but we can make a track meet.</p>
<p>I just don't know when will they say if they're going to offer her a scholarhsip or not? Do we ask? How does that all work. </p>
<p>Oh they are interested in her for the 800m. Her PR is 2.18 and that is what the majority of the girls run on the team but there are a couple that run 2:10. We are figuring she'll probably shed a few more seconds off her PR this season, as she seems to every year. So her times do fit in with the rest of the team.</p>
<p>To answer your question - yes, absolutely you (your daughter) can ask the coach about athletic scholarship money. Just be prepared, in the world of track and field, there are a maximum of 18 womens scholarships to cover the entire roster, track and xc. That’s for a fully-funded program, and not all programs allot the full number of scholarships. That means lots of partials and walk-ons. In my experience, 2:18 might not quite be ‘in the money’ for D1, but it doesn’t hurt to find out how much the coach has to offer and where he wants the times to be. Good luck!</p>
<p>Is she a senior or a junior? If a senior, the signing for D-1 is coming up (although it can be later). She should keep in contact with the coach through emails or texts. I think it is fine to ask if she’s being considered for a scholarship and for how much. You might also run the NPC and see if she’s eligible for any merit aid at the two schools.</p>
<p>You say she has already been accepted to both schools, so I assume she is a Senior. I have a Senior D who is signing next week with a D1 school and had several offers so I’m basing my comments on her experience.</p>
<p>Every school we visited we had some one on one time with the HC, or coach recruiting her. We left those meetings with either an offer in hand, or the promise to send us an offer via email within a certain timetable that was delivered as promised. Based on what you are saying I think you are on their radar but don’t quite have times to justify athletic money. They may also be waiting to see how much academic money you can get from the school. </p>
<p>If they have several runners with 2:18 800m times but also a couple with 2:10s, you can almost bet the 2:10 are scholarship girls and the 2:18s are walk-ons or very low scholarship girls. </p>
<p>One thing to be careful about. Don’t just look at a roster and their times and assume they would want you because you have better times than anyone on their roster. They really only throw around good money if you can score points for them at conference championship meets. With limited scholarships and so many events to fill most D1 schools adopt this approach. </p>
<p>Just because she hasn’t received offers yet doesn’t mean it won’t happen. I have seen several Seniors sign in May after their outdoor seasons so it can happen. I would apply for all the academic scholarship money possible at both schools. Also stay in touch with both coaches, watch the announcements of who they sign next week and then contact both and try to gauge their interest. At some point you may just have to come out and ask if they are talking to you as a walk on or if there is the possibility of athletic scholarship money.</p>
<p>Thanks for the replies. She has also gotten a little merit scholarships at both schools. I’d say about 25% of the total cost at each school. We can afford for her to go to the school that she can commute to with no scholarship money at all. The out of state school is not doable without a free ride. We’ve not had a chance to visit them yet but from looking at the times on line, they are a small D1 and her sprints are faster than what anyone is running. We’ll see how it goes. I think I’d rather have her at the home school should she decide the commitment to track is too much. At least that school we can afford to pay out of pocket.</p>
<p>As awkward as it is, you need to come out and ask if there is any athletic money that you are being considered for. My experience with my S was that there were many schools that really wanted him to attend but very little money to go around, (although it is worse for men). Just because the coach is really pushing the school doesn’t mean there is any money. </p>
<p>When recruiting was done and we looked back on what offers he had, my S was offered more academic money than athletic, (although he was a very competitive athlete and met all of the published athletic scholarship performance criteria). The difficult part in trying to make the final choice was trying to be realistic about what he could accomplish and the criteria to keep academic awards. In many cases, he was offered some very nice academic money that he probably had very little chance of retaining because of the caliber of the team, the travel schedule and the burden it places on the students. </p>
<p>We came across a few D1 schools that would gladly take my S as a walk-on, (no athletic money, just academic) but they had a very poor track record in helping students achieve academically. We had one very successful D1 coach tell us that all they were concerned about was keeping athletes academically eligible, which at their institution required a GPA of 2.0! Yet the academic money the school offered required a minimum GPA of 3.25 and the completion of 30 credits/year. The team’s GPA average was 2.5!!! and they came out and told my son they wouldn’t let him take more than the minimum number of credits (12) to retain full time status. In other words, there was no way for him to succeed… </p>
<p>So make sure your D understands when making her final selection, who is paying the bill and what that means her priority will be if balancing sports and academics become an issue, it sounds like she already has. But we were surprised when my S came out and said that competing in his sport was his priority, which is not what I wanted to hear, but it helped us narrow down the options. </p>