I have finished my junior year and am interested in running track at an Ivy, NESCAC, or UAA school. I love the sport and think it will make the road to admission a lot easier at these highly selective schools. My main event is the 400 but I also help my HS team by running the 200 and 800. I prefer the 200 but trained more for the 400/800 throughout the season. I run mainly relays because that’s what my team needs me for. My pr’s: 21.6 on the 4x200, 49.9 on the 4x400(1st leg) so comparable to an open time, and a 1:59 on the 4x800. I am aware of the fact that my 400 time is borderline so I am running in the summer with a club to improve my pr’s and medal in the JR Olympics in 4x800 and possibly 400.
I attend a decent public school in Missouri and have a 3.7 UW, 4.3 W taking the most rigorous course load available. I scored a 31 on the ACT on my first attempt but am taking the June one to see if my score improves with studying. I’m the captain of the track and mock trial teams, president of Rho Kappa, Senior Class Vice President, Senior Patrol Leader, and a member of the French Honors Society. I want to major in economics and go into either business/banking or law. I think my academics are ok because the Dartmouth coach told me he’d put me in contact with my event coach if I broke 50 and didn’t mention my academics. I’ve been emailing coaches from the leagues I mentioned earlier and some safety schools and have serious interest from some schools like WashU(HS typically sends 2-3 kids every year), Amherst, etc.
I would appreciate any advice on steps I should take in the recruiting process and an outline or personal example of the track recruiting process. Please mention the school and league you are talking about in your reply.
Many of the coaches in these leagues will start pre-reads on July 1.
In these 3 leagues, there can be a large variance by school and by sport with regard to the coach’s influence with admissions, how many spots/slots each track coach has, and how many spots/slots by academic band (where that is used).
For Ivy league schools it looks like your AI is around 214, based on 3.7 uw GPA and 31 ACT… 214 is below average and typically most recruits at that level would be in the helmet sports. I say typically, as there are always exceptions. It would help if you were able to get your ACT up in the June sitting. Some coaches may tell you that you need to hit an ACT of X to even be considered.
For now, continuing filling out the online recruiting questionnaires and contacting coaches via email/phone call. Your goal is to get on their radar, and ultimately a pre-read, maybe an OV. You need to cast a wide net, don’t overlook the less selective schools in the NESCAC and UAA conferences. The NESCAC schools will likely have one or two slots for track, and some of the UAA and Ivy leagues will have similarly low numbers of slots.
Fundamentally schools in these leagues generally look to the track recruits to be high academic performers, to balance out some of the other teams. Have you done any OVs or UVs? Do you have a coach to advocate for you?
Based on your intended major of economics, NESCACs such as Williams, Middlebury, Wesleyan, Hamilton, Bates, Amherst and Colby would be great schools to research further.
Athletically speaking, there is a very big difference between the Ivy League (DI) and the NESCAC (DIII). For the 400 meters, the NESCAC champion would have placed 18th in the Ivy this year.
Appreciating the differences between a relay split and the 400 from the blocks, I’m guessing you might struggle to get a lot of Ivy coach support, whereas the NESCAC schools might be very interested in your being on their team.
Regarding the NESCAC…Middlebury finished 1-2-3 in the 400…so maybe another school would really like some help (or maybe in 2 years Midd might be looking for reinforcements…). Do some research on the teams. Look for schools that have a lot of Junior (now senior) runners. Appreciate that these coaches need good students to help fill out their teams, and as mentioned above engage with the coaches (never too early to get on the radar). Good luck.
I wouldn’t put a lot of effort into trying to get recruited at Ivy League schools. In the sprints they are looking for really fast people. Not just fast, but top level fast. Google Harvard track recruitment standards. Compare them with your times. I know a kid that was recruited at Harvard 2 years ago for the 400 and he was the Sate Champion and just ran a 46, so kind of fast
You might have better in the Nescac,UAA or other DIII leagues. Fill out the recruitment forms for schools that you are interested in. Do some research first about each school so you don’t waste time on schools you have no intent on attending. Focus on the schools where you really want to go. Send the coach a note. Include your times, and transcript and test scores.
Nescac coaches will ask you to submit info for a pre-read in early July if they are seriously interested in you. You will e asked to come to an OV visit in the Fall. You will have to ED to get any coach support so be prepared for that. You have one chance, so make the right choice.
Just because you don’t get officially recruited doesn’t mean you can’t continue running in college. Many D3 schools take plenty of walk ons too.
Keep running fast! Good luck. improving over the summer!
My S applied to several UAA schools and currently runs for one of them. The process really varies between schools. At one of the schools, he met the coach at an information session during an open house, and continued to email updates through the year; the coach ignored his emails until he was accepted with no apparent coach support and then invited him to campus. At 2 others he did receive invites to visit (note D3 schools do not have OVs like D1 schools and will not pay for you to visit). He had contact with coaches at 2 other UAA schools that he did not end up visiting or applying to (S’s decision). At most of these schools the coach said their influence in admissions is limited; admissions is made aware of who the coach is interested in, but there is not much pull beyond that, at least for track. S told me that several recruits this year at his school were not accepted. My advice for the UAAs is reach out to the coaches but focus on the rest of your admissions application.
You will find a variety of recruiting standards and interest among the NESCACs. Williams and Amherst, for example, have recruiting standards not far from Dartmouth. Some others will jump at the chance to bring you on board. Bowdoin’s coach will encourage your application but will likely tell you he has little pull with admissions. And there’s Hamilton which finished dead last among the NESCACs in the most recent Learfield Cup standings.
You may want to consider other D3 conferences. Some Centennial teams (Hopkins, Haverford) have good track programs and may value your performance. W&L in the ODAC conference would appreciate your ability.
As far as approach, email each coach with your times and your academic performance. You should know fairly quickly who has interest.
This is not true. NCAA rules allow D3 schools to offer OVs (a visit that the school pays for), and some do. If a school, or specific coach, does not offer OVs, it’s their choice.
@SmartTrackStar you can email coaches with your times, ACT score and UW GPA, if you are in the ballpark they will email you back. The track folks above know the times, but seems they are saying the bottom Ivies and range of NESCACs/UAA are a good start. You’ll find out from responses how your times fit. Ivy leagues want top 0.1% athletes and top 10% students; so a 31ACT is good enough to get into IVY as recruited athlete but your time may not be.
As a side note, this is a particularly good time to start reaching out to coaches. The D3 season is over, and coaches are now heading to All State/ All region meets and Nationals is next week. They will be certainly checking emails during this time and formulating recruiting lists.
NESCAC schools allow the coaches to submit pre-reads for July 1, and this a great way for the coach to find candidates who can get thru their admissions department. I would get on their radar now. Continue to follow up with summer results. It’s also OK to ask where you fit in with their plans. If a coach is willing to offer support wit admissions they will tell you. If they don’t say they will, don’t assume you are getting any significant help in the ED round. Track recruiting often drags out until the Spring as coaches fill up slots. Especially if you have a very good indoor season. So keep working hard and don’t give up.
Good advice so far. I don’t think Ivies are the right athletic fit for you at this point. Also, I have never met a coach who will recruit off of relay splits. They’re going to be looking at your open times.
Thank you guys for the kind words, encouragement, and great advice. So far I’ve been talking to coaches from WashU, UChicago, Tufts, NYU(no response yet), Williams, Amherst, and Bowdoin. Schools that I don’t know too much about but have contacted me are UDallas, Grinnel, Oberlin, Denison, Vassar, Earlham, and Kenyon. Can you guys give me more school suggestions where I could get a lot of aid.
Carleton, Pomona (and the other Claremont schools) usually offer pretty good need based aid. I would go to tffrs.org and look at the D3 conferences and performance lists. That’ll give you an idea where you might fit and also schools you can look at more closely. You can fill out the NPC at each school to get a quick idea about need based aid.
Needing aid complicates things. Some of the schools on your list give merit aid (the less selective ones) and need based aid, while some only give need based aid. Some meet full need, some don’t. I expect you know DIII schools give no athletic scholarships, nor do the DI Ivies.
Come back after you have some NPC results from these school’s websites and posters can help you from there. Have you visited any schools yet? Besides running track, what are you looking for in a school?
In many cases, the best academic opportunities correspond with the best financial opportunities, so you may not need to compromise one for the other. You can use this resource as a quick cost estimator for some of your colleges of interest: https://myintuition.org/.
Nice job on relays but for recruiting you really need to quote your open times not relay splits. You need to run sub 49 to get a lot of recruiting action at an Ivy and a 49 high is not likely to get you much beyond a lot of encouragement to get in on your own and walk on.
More positively, the high academic schools have a really hard time finding academically qualified sprinters. Like others have suggested, I’d focus on the DIIIs and I suspect you’ll get some looks.
Basis for my perspective: my son just wrapped up his track career at an Ivy where he ran the 400. He was a 49 low junior year runner and he was heavily recruited by DIIIs but he had to get a little lucky to get his slot at the Ivy.
Check into doing the Complete Track and Field 2 day clinic held at Harvard this summer if it is not full yet. There are college coaches from many of the colleges above. You will get expert instruction and a look at by potential coaches from Ivy to D3 etc.
CTF Clinic
One year late to your post, but I may be of help. If you are still looking as a parent I can offer some insight.
UAA vs NESCAC. With the exception of the conference with Claremont and the conference with Johns Hopkins, Swarthmore the UAA and NESCAC are clearly the DIII conferences with the highest quality of academic schools. UAA schools are mid size university 5000 to 9000 undergraduates with professional and graduates schools that are located in large urban areas. NESCAC are LACs with 1500 to 2000 undergraduates with no graduates. There are a few exceptions (Tufts should be UAA) but that is where your choice should lie in terms of choices.
Daughter number one played volleyball. She wanted to go to a larger school in a major city. Here 3 final choices were Washington University, Columbia and Emory. She was a good student but not great. Columbia coach told her that she could get her into Barnard but not Columbia. She decided against that. Wash U and Emory coach both told her she was the top recruit and she would get in if she committed. When I went on the Naviance site later her ACT score was the lowest admitted. Both schools won national volleyball titles during her 4 years . She chose to go to the school furthest away from home and had a great 4 years. Access to the city made her time much happier.
Son wanted a small LAC. He is a sprinter on the track team. He looked at all the LACs Pomona, Claremont McKenna, Occidental, Rhodes, Carleton, Grinnell, Williams, Bowdoin, Wesleyan, Amherst. He loves his college time. At NESCAC schools it is true there is a divide between athlete and non athletes. My son says it is true. Not saying it is good or bad just a fact. He was originally admitted as a nonathlete. He applied early decision to Amherst and was admitted. He never talked to the track coach until after he graduated from high school. He wound up NESCAC freshman of the year in track. He loves Amherst and loves his track friends. For him the choice was NESCAC. For his sister UAA. They both had good times. Only you know you.
Hopes this helps
