<p>Hi, I am a 16 year old high-school student from Germany and I am determined to go to a top college in the USA after my graduation, which I´ll do at the age of 19. I am very athletic and quite succesful in Taekwondo and would like to start with an additional sport. I am considering Rugby and Rowing and would like to know if one of these two sports could be to my advantage in my future admission process to American colleges, since I will probably need lots of financial aid.
I know Rugby is not that popular in the USA, but I saw that most colleges have Rugby teams though. So is it possible to be recruited for these teams? Would playing on an international boost my chances?
And would it be possible to be recruited for Rowing as a boy? I read on a German webpage that they only give scholarships for female rowers. So is this true?
And how good do you have to be to be recruited as a rower? Some times as an example would help me a lot, because I could talk to a friend of mine about it who rows and knows my fitness and strenghts quite well.</p>
<p>Another question: Could any achievements in Taekwondo like titles in European/National Championships help me getting accepted and especially getting financial aid?</p>
<p>Thank you very much for taking your worthy time to answer my questions!</p>
<p>Rowing is very helpful for some east coast top schools, especially the Ivies. If you’re a heavyweight 6.30 would be the goal, if a lightweight 6.40! But you’ve alot of time to train, since you’re just 16…</p>
<p>I have no idea about finaid for your case, I’m afraid…</p>
<p>^^^ don’t know,
know I did hear this week that the aid was for American citixzens, permanent residents, Canadians etc…not EU/Eurasia…
$ can only go so far</p>
<p>however-- HYPS are reaches for everyone–
so OP needs to have amazing academic stats,
amazing PRs in rowing (heavyweight would be like sub 6:20 I believe) to get a look–</p>
<p>and the Fin-Aid would still only be proven need…not athletics/merit…</p>
<p>Why switch to a sport just to position oneself–isn’t that like the klids who do ECs for padding?</p>
<p>Thank you very much for all your answers. I really appreciate them.</p>
<p>As it seems like none of both sports could be a real advantage to me at college, I will simply do a test training at my local clubs and see which sport I like better.</p>
<p>And fogfog, I´m not switching to a sport to position myself, I just feel like I could handle another additional sport without any problems and I am sure it would be lots of fun.</p>
<p>Sub 6:20 for heavyweights gets you much more than a look. That said, crew is so hard I don’t think anyone doing it to position him or herself would last!</p>
<p>Rugby is not an NCAA sport, it is in a national rugby league and considered a club sport. Taekwondo would be considered an extracurricular, but not a recruitable NCAA sport.</p>
<p>Berkeley has a men’s “varsity” rugby team, supported by their boosters, I believe. I do not know about actual scholarships, but my DD has a friend on the team from Canada. She also has a rower (male) friend from Canada who has some sort of scholarship that brings the cost down to in state costs.</p>