[quote=“LurkerJoe, post:156, topic:3611403”]
…I have heard of many times student athletes (TR/XC) were offered official visits but no slot. …
I heard this first hand from a parent. At the end of the OV, which was Oct. Sr. HS, the coach met with each or their recruits and I know of at least one recruit was told they were not being offered support. The coach told them that would like to have them on the team, hope they apply and get in but they would not be getting support as other recruits higher on the list.
…named the only Ivy that I have ever heard where a coach’s letter could help without a real slot. My data suggest it really helps if the student athlete is legacy there. For all the other schools I am pretty sure “you are either on the list or you are not” (quote from former coach)…
That would be my understanding as well, including what coaches either stated or implied. They only have so many slots that can support.
We did not ask for a Likely Letter as well. The coach(s) offered a LL, going thru the official process of course, coming from admissions once they had committed and applied EA/ED. That said, still did not feel secure until the LL came , and even further not until officially admitted.
The guys hosting him will set him up with bedding. It won’t be anything fancy—sofa or floor are good possibilities—but they’ll make it work. Might be worth having something along that can be repurposed into a makeshift pillow if needed, and a layer that could be slept in (sweatshirt, puffy, etc.). They do this all the time and will make him comfortable but these are college guys after all so their standards might be different than his.
Be prepared to run each day.
Nothing special needed for class.
There will be times when the hosts might be studying or otherwise occupied. So bringing along an IPad (or laptop if that’s what he usually has with him) or book isn’t a bad idea. That way if they end up in the library studying a bit he can tag along and get some of his own work done.
Otherwise just casual clothing. Shorts/jeans/ polos/t-shirts are totally fine if that’s what he’s comfortable with. The most formal I’ve seen was chinos and casual Oxford shirt because that’s what that kid wore to HS every day. No need to dress up for class or really anything else.
Just a backpack is plenty for some people but a backpack and duffel/suitcase is fine too.
Remind him just to be himself, have fun, and enjoy the process.
Can someone throw some light on the XCTF program at Yale along with their coach/ coaching principles? Any comparison with HPCU that one could consider while thinking about committing?
The distance coach at Yale took over fairly recently after being an assistant. I don’t know much about him but I’ve heard second hand that people think he’s a good distance coach. The distance program there has some good young talent. I wouldn’t have any qualms about going there as a distance runner if the fit felt right. Others might have better info on training, etc. Your son could also follow team members on Strava and check out past workouts.
Harvard and Princeton are very strong right now and if being on a team that goes to nationals regularly is a priority, those two programs are head and shoulders above the rest of the conference for now. The flip side of that though is that it’s harder to make their top 7…
Otherwise I think you’re going to find good coaching and running cultures at most of these programs*. There will be some differences in emphasis and training nuances—Gibby at H tends to be more long distance, high mileage focus while Vigilante at P and Ireland at Columbia are known as great mid-d coaches—but at the end of the day my guess is that the overlap in how they train a 10k/XC guy is 95% the same and very effective.
So I’d focus on where I’d be running and with whom as much as anything, and then of course where I felt the best fit with teammates and the school (academically and socially).
*I say most only because there have been changes at Dartmouth and I’d want to know more about the future direction there, and at Brown I think Benninger is a good distance coach but I’d want to have a sense of whether they’ll be able to recruit strong distance guys for me to run with.
There are more new faces over the last few years on the women’s side of coaching than the men’s so I’m not as familiar with the different coaching styles.
However, I think the coaching is very good across the conference. Gibby (and his wife, who made several world champs teams) has had great results at Harvard and whatever the Yale coach is doing must be working as they had a steeplechaser place 2nd at NCAAs last spring. Princeton same thing. Some of it is that these teams are loaded but you can’t get the results they do without good distance coaching.
Penn, Dartmouth, Columbia, Cornell are all solid programs.
I’m not aware of any problems on these women’s teams of the sort that women distance runners should worry about—disordered eating and the like—and from what I’ve seen at meets the women are pretty happy with good team camaraderie.
Sorry, wish I could offer more detailed info but I think you’ll get a sense of things from official visits.
I believe Ivy coaches have an average to hit on the SATs fot their team. Taking a kid at 1560 would mean they can take another kid or two, who might not have high enough score, but very strong athletically.
It’s how it works but I was thinking more “I’d like you to clear a 1500” or maybe a 1510…. I believe the one outstanding athlete I know was told he needed a 1430 for admissions. Took it once for a 1470 and was done.
All Ivy league schools are test optional, and MANY recruits are applying without test scores. With that said, some coaches still do require test scores for potential recruits, even at test optional schools. The NCAA does currently NOT require test scores for NCAA eligibility purposes either.
True, but both DI/DII academic councils have voted to have a permanent test optional path, and it’s widely expected the NCAA will formally adopt this. Test optional is part of the NCAA’s 8 point plan to advance racial equity.
Many coaches are recruiting assuming test optional will be still be there for 2024 and beyond. Again though some schools and/or coaches require scores, so it is in a student’s best interest to have a test score.
“Answering” my own question… interesting results from Princeton’s 2026 freshman survey:
In testing, perhaps no group stood out more than recruited athletes. Only half of recruited athletes (50.5 percent) submitted standardized test scores to Princeton — an option made possible by the University’s decision to remain test-optional through the 2022–23 admission cycle. Among those athletes who shared their SAT scores with the ‘Prince,’ 41.3 percent scored lower than 1390. This contrasts starkly with non-athletes, 81.3 percent of whom submitted test scores and 8.5 percent of whom scored below 1390.
I’d be cautious about reaching conclusions based on a survey conducted by the student newspaper. I don’t doubt that recruit scores range from 1300s to 1600. But what any given athlete needs in any given year, and the role of testing going forward, is something best discussed with a coach.
Wasn’t reaching conclusions - just find it anecdotally interesting. These survey’s are not particularly surprising IMO, but I think they are an interesting peak into the classes the schools are building non the less.