I am a high school senior applying to NYU and I was wondering if anyone knew how hard it is to walk on. I’m a long and triple jumper and their coaches aren’t responding so I was wondering if anyone here knew.
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Huh
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How long ago did you reach out to coaches? If it is very recent, you should realize that it is the holidays and you may not get a response quickly. Or you may not get a response at all. Track is obviously a very stats based sport. For any school, you can look up their current roster and see their marks on tffrs.org. If you are in the general ballpark of their current roster, it can be something to pursue. Some D3 schools take a lot of walk ons. Some don’t. Also look at the roster size and how many in your events.
I don’t have any information for NYU in particular, but seeing how you stack up to their current athletes may give you some indication of what kind of athlete they are looking for.
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They had one triple jumper last year who jumped 44 feet and 20 feet 6 inches but both of those marks were wind illegal but those are his high water marks. I jump 41 feet in triple and 19 feet 6 inches in long jump
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I tagged politeperson because they know a lot about TNFXC recruiting.
Thank you so much that would be really helpful if he replied.
I don’t know much about the NYU program but I’d be surprised if you couldn’t walk on to the team with those marks.
I’d keep trying to reach out to the coaches, both the head coach and the jumps coach. Let them know you’re applying and want to learn about the program and if walking on is a possibility. As mentioned above, with holidays and storms some folks have been pretty busy. Fill out the recruiting form if you haven’t already.
I’d also get in touch with coaches at other schools of interest where your marks might fit. Your marks will improve during track season and the coaches know that.
Sorry if this is too specific but do you know about similar programs and their walk on standards
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Pretty sure you could walk on at most D3 programs with those marks.
I’d focus on applying to a range of academic fits if D3 is what you want. You can look at tfrrs.org conference performance lists to check out marks.
On NYU, I see David Thompson still listed as Head Coach. I think he was hired elsewhere recently. A coaching change could mean you won’t hear back from them until the dust settles.
Great point. In my experience many colleges are slow to update their websites.
Make sure to cc any relevant coach in all communications - Jump coach, assistant coach, etc.
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The problem is their jumps coach has no contact info. Should I just email every coach who does have contact info and hope they pass it on.
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I am not sure how much cross-over there is between coaches with different specialties in T&F. @politeperson would one of the assistants be in charge of overall recruiting, or would they each deal with their area?
I would call the athletic dept and try to get the email that way. Most likely it never got posted.
Have you filled out the athletic recruiting form? If you haven’t I would wait until next week, fill it out then email again mentioning that you completed the form and reintroducing yourself. In addition to your events, include test scores and gpa. I think you are more likely to spark interest if they believe you have a good chance of getting in.
Make sure your subject line is something like “Name, best jump distance - Application Submitted.” IME late morning during the week is a good time to email coaches.
As suggested, I would do this with all the schools you are applying to where you think you may be able to walk on. Worse that will happen is that they will say no.
If you still don’t hear back, to not be afraid to email again when you have something relevant to report - a PB from indoor season. Assume he read your earlier email (ie don’t introduce yourself again) Put “Name - Update” in your subject and send a short message with your news. Sometimes it takes a little persistence but don’t email if you don’t have anything new to add.
D3 programs are all over the map in terms of structure but I think in general the head coach does most of the work that would be delegated to a recruiting coordinator at a D1 program. But it’s good to include relevant event coaches on emails because they have a particular interest and can poke the head coach about specific athletes; they also receive fewer emails. (Distance/XC is usually a bit different in the sense that, even if the XC coach is a track assistant, they’ll play a larger role in recruiting for distance/XC).
One of the challenges at D3s is that for many of the event coaches, especially jumps, coaching is a side gig while they hold other full time jobs. So there’s a lot of turnover and oftentimes they just don’t have much time for work off the track. So I think contact will be sort of hit or miss.
In the particular case of NYU, if there was a recent coaching change it’s possible a new staff isn’t in place yet and/or a lot of things are being juggled prior to the indoor season.
So I agree to just send the emails, fill out the recruiting form, continue updating as appropriate. Some coaches are really proactive with communication; others might wait to see who is admitted and even then require persistence.
I would make sure to get applications in at an appropriate mix of schools. Again, I think someone with these marks (probably better after senior year) won’t have much trouble walking on at most D3s. But getting admitted is a pretty crucial first step.
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So who is their new head coach I’m very confused about that.
Confirming Coach Thompson is gone, to SF State: WTRK | David Thompson Named Head Women's Track & Field Coach - sfstategators.com
Deck Shipley has been named Head Coach per NYU statement in October:
ETA: Looks like the Class of 2026 recruits is fairly large, nothing about Class of 2027 recruiting: Track & Field Introduces Incoming Recruiting Class - NYU Athletics
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Your sleuthing is so much better than mine! My Google search didn’t yield anything.
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Would a school in the same conference have similar walk on standards
Probably roughly similar but there can be some variation just based on total numbers and coaching bandwidth.
But look, you’d have been top 8 last spring in the UAA, top 12 in the SCIAC, and top 20 in the NESCAC with your current TJ PB. I’d be pretty surprised if you don’t add a foot or two to that PB this spring. So I don’t think meeting a walk on standard at most D3s is going to be a problem for you.
What you need to focus on now is making sure you’re applying to a proper range of schools, not just super selective schools. If you want D3 LAC, make sure you have a few on your list that aren’t as selective. Contact those coaches too; they might be more willing to help with admissions than coaches at the more selective schools (and at the less selective schools the recruiting timeline is sometimes later).
I’ve got pretty strict parents who are all about name value of the school so they want me to go to a school like an NYU for the name recognition (I also do like the school) and I’m fairly confident I’ll get in so that’s why these have all been nyu questions