Actually, for the most part, D3 crew is. The reason Amherst decided to become a club sport was for financial reasons.
Gezz, time passes too quickly. Thank you for the link.
I get that. They aren’t given a tip in admissions though, and crew is open to all who want to row. So there are some key differences.
Certainly there may be many reasons hardly any varsity athletes (or specifically factor athletes) major in the sciences there, esp lab sciences, and instead cluster in Econ and, I think, poli sci and history. Of course those majors can go premed too, but they still have to take all the lab science courses.
My overall point is that premed and varsity basketball, especially where the scholarship depends on succeeding in the sport, can be tough and that ought to be considered.
I’m aware of the facts. I’ve been involved with crew for years. 
I’ve also consulted in the design of three boathouses.
I agree… especially regarding the scholarship.
NESCACs tend to be particularly strong in pre-med support, with seven (Amherst, Bates, Hamilton, Bowdoin, Colby, Tufts and Williams) recognized here:
http://www.■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/lists/list/the-experts-choice-colleges-with-great-pre-med-programs/199/
Haverford, Trinity, Swarthmore, Holy Cross and Smith are also highly regarded.
https://www.■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/top-pre-med-colleges/
@CrewDad posts this regularly. A regular poster used to chime in on posts like this to recommend Holy Cross and perhaps @CrewDad has taken up the mantle.
HC makes it clear on their med advising website that they actively screen their applicants for committee letters. If you only have a 60% or 50% chance of med school admission (or whatever is to low for them to sustain their overall 80% admit rate) they’ll be able to block you from applying since those without supportive Committee Evaluations know they are just wasting time and money. Voila! Eye-popping admit rate.
Is that highly regarded? Not in my eyes…
^^^ But things have gotten better at Holy Cross. As they note on their website
Why this mention of “class of 2016” you might wonder? It’s because entering frosh in prior class years were not even allowed to work with the Advisory Committee at this “highly regarded” program unless they qualified when first entering the university.
Amherst crew, although it was a club sport, was a 20 hour a week commitment. And yes, that crew captain graduated top of her med school class. She always says time management is the key.
Although D1 matriculated elsewhere, she was accepted at HC, as well as Bowdoin, Bates, Colby, Hamilton, etc. She wouldn’t have applied to HC had there been screening. If screening was established at some some point after she applied, shame on HC. It appears HC wisely reversed course.
Holy Cross is very up front about the committee letter process and reviews with applicants how strong the letter will be. Sure they decline to write letters in some cases, but those are cases where the applicant doesn’t have the ‘right stuff’. I personally don’t want that person operating on me! Other schools may prefer to write a lukewarm letter for a candidate. All these schools preserve their reputations with med schools, some just take different approaches. But that doesn’t diminish the pre-med education you will get at Holy Cross. They still end up sending a significant amount of kids to med school with about 10% of living alums being doctors or dentists.
But @MikeMac - you are just as prolific with your negative posts on Holy Cross pre-med advising!
You don’t need the NESCAC and with NESCAC there is still not guarantee she will get into med school.
@Taiwegian - I’m not much of a fortune teller, but, with two doctors in the family, I think it would take a major disturbance in the universe to keep D out of medical school. So, I’m taking that off the table. The only question is what the child’s preference is? I think NESCAC is for students who really want to be part of it.
Thanks to all for the advice. My daughter is the most grounded teenage girl that I know, which makes this process a lot of fun. I struggle with how to present the financial piece to her. I don’t want her decision to be largely about the cost, yet she needs to understand the ramifications. At the end of the day, she will make the decision based on her gut feeling. I started this process focusing on having her look at the very top academic institutions. Now that we are near the end of the process, I realize that prestige is far less important.
We’re sending a son to a top NESCAC, and we’re full pay. So I understand the attraction of free college. But, the question of medical school aside, there will be a vast difference in terms of the quality of education between a top NESCAC and a D2 anywhere. That would be my primary consideration.
There are a couple of D2 schools that are academically comparable to D3 NESCAC - UCSD and Colorado School of Mines come to mind, but outside of these two I am at a loss. But all of that only matters, if budget doesn’t - otherwise go the school that makes most sense when taking everything into account.