Post Graduate Year for Rowing Recruitment

Hi All,
I’m a high school senior in the UK, I started rowing(crew) 6 months ago and seem to have a natural gift for the sport as after only 6 months I’ve come second on the GB trials and my times put me in the top 15 in the world for my age group.
Because of this, I am now planning on going to the US to row however I have stared too late to be a recruit for this year so will have to take a gap year to achieve this and one option some people suggested was taking a post-graduate year at a NE prep school. And as I am very unversed in this I have a few questions.
-Which schools are the best for rowing?
-Which help the most with admissions for ivy leagues and achieving a high SAT score?
-Of these which offer post-graduate years for athletes?
-To what extent does rowing help with admissions?
-How does being an international student impact all this?
Finally do you think this would be a good option and if not would you have any other suggestions?

Many Thanks and thank you for answering any questions

https://www.boardingschoolreview.com/ Is a good source for information on US boarding schools, including those with rowing programs. The application season has passed at many schools with decisions March 10. There are many schools with rolling admission dates, and may have crew. Best Crew Boarding Schools (2023)

I know several people who rowed at Orange Coast College, the only community college in America with a competitive rowing program. There were quite a few international students there, many from Scandinavia, and many were recruited to ivy and other top college as transfer students. The people I know had indifferent high school academics and no money but progressed enough that they were viable transfer candidates.

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If you are top 15 in the world, have you reached out to college coaches? They may be able to give you some guidance, including whether to do a gap year, and where.

You may be late for PG admissions at some schools, although admittedly I am unfamiliar with the PG process. To answer one of your questions, yes rowing helps tremendously with admissions.

Are you full pay? A year at a prep school can be pricey. Though again, some schools may be more inclined to offer aid if you will have a big impact on their program.

There are some posters with rowing/college recruiting experience on CC, you might also post in the Athletic Recruits forum. But also tagging @coffeeat3 .

In terms of prep schools, I believe The Salisbury School has a strong rowing program, with a lot of experience with college recruiting.

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@DoubleBuffet
I don’t know anything about PG years/boarding school for rowing - so no help there - sorry.

I agree with @cinnamon1212 that contacting college coaches now is advised. Ivy full season just cancelled for Spring and guessing coaches will have time to reply to you. They will be the best ones to offer you guidance. Here are a few things to research prior to contacting:

Does your current team send kids to the US- if yes, what schools and does you current coach have relationships with these college coaches?

Are you academically qualified for the top D1-Ivy schools ? Does you current school have a history with US programs. Do you need a PG year to get your grades up or just to buy time?

Presume you are a “heavy weight” - if “light weight” - a lot less options.

Crew athletes tend to be strong at academics too - if you check bios on the different college websites, you will see that usually a team has a couple National Merit finalists - you can also check the bios to see which teams tend to have more international students. (these students may compete for their home country team too) Many of the teams have 50% or so international rowers - male and female.

This year was very competitive for recruiting with 2 academic schools (Stanford and Dartmouth) cutting teams (Dartmouth now just reinstated their team) and rowers declining their spots at those schools (Class of 2024) and reapplying for this Fall to other top programs - now will be Class of 2025.

Plus - with Covid - other athletes took gap years and it all impacted the numbers for the Class of 2025. (entering the program in Fall 2021). I have no idea how this will impact the following year.

Good luck - we found the coaches to be very responsive when contacted either over email or meeting up at regattas. The contact forms didn’t seem to be the preferred method of communicating - just email coach directly and include your ERG, height/weight, school grades, class rank.

Congrats on your great ERG scores - and hoping you also had to opportunity to be on the water too - it is a beautiful sport.

This was very helpful. My son wants to row in bs. After months of covid-backlog, we finally got an erg. Any idea what a 13yo should be aiming for in terms of erg times? . He is quite slim right now, but hit 5’11” before 13. Probably going to be about 6’5”. My nephew rowed at Cal and was the one of the shortest players at 6’5”.

Thank you for writing me such a detailed answer.

Ive had some contact with coaches but haven’t rushed into it because of my planned gap year. While my academics are not weak they are not the strongest they could be and I’d like to push them up so that would be an advantage of a PG year. I am a heavyweight and I row at a tiny club that has never sent an athlete to the US.

I know that for top athletes coaches have a certain leeway with admissions so I was wondering if you could enlighten me to what extent my scores would help.
I’m at a sub 6:10 2k atm after 6 months of rowing but my coach believes I will be around sub 6 by late August.

I’ve had a little time on the water but numerous national lockdowns have slowed that down which has been a shame because it’s my favourite part of the sport.

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I couldnt say on what times would be good. But my main tips would focus first on building a strong technique, especially in terms of the rockover at the finish towards the catch. As I havent acheieved this and while i can go fast on an ergh its already leading to lower back pain. Also i would suggest starting off with SS as his first works outs. Which is low rate (18-20) for long periods of time (at his age around an hour) this will build a strong aerobic base and pay off in the future. In addition if you have a HRM to hand you can use this to ensure hes rowing at the optimal split and effort level,

My only thoughts - and really limited to my own child and rowers from the club - 13 is still really young and most rowers come into their own with the sport around age 16+. Injury and doing too much too soon would be my biggest concern for someone that young.

Recruiting is later (Summer of rising Jr. Year) because of this sport depending so much on physical development. US Rowing website has some good info too and occasionally runs webinars on recruiting. Last one (a year + ago) was with Bill Manning of Princeton and maxed out at 500 participants. Lots of advice on how to talk to coaches, pick right fit programs etc.

Height really varies by college program too - some really love the tall guys (Univ of Wash and Cal come to mind) and others teams don’t seem to be full of the 6’5"+ guys.

I would say if you son continues crew and loves it - a lot will be clearer by spring of 10th grade. College camps - only ones that have the actual coach in session could be an option to spend a week with another group of rowers, trying out for the national team etc - but all comes much later.

Grades and leadership opportunities are two things he has control over right now and would be ideal to set him up for success with or without rowing in college.

You can also search for other threads - one very helpful - but will be dated soon is called Lightweight Rowing - a good step by step guide WHEN there were official visits - which disappeared now due to Covid - but still good summary on the Ivy programs. We found the writer’s descriptions to be spot on based on my child’s interactions and successful recruitment with one of those programs for the Class of 2025.

Again - just from my limited experience, I have not seen any leeway in grades for the Ivy programs - but I have ZERO experience or “insider” knowledge" of the international members of the teams.

I remember one Ivy presentation we attended said if you are not within the mid range of accepted students - it would be very hard to recruit you. There does not seem to be a lack of fast rowers in our limited experience and it took a lot more to attract these schools.

I do know some of the big programs like University of Washington and Cal have both brought in recruits with great ERG # and work ethic and zero water experience - think Cross fit athletes and swimmers with injuries moving into a new sport.

Hopefully you can get on the water again soon - singles seem to the new rage here with Covid and everyone is missing the big boats. Your ERG times are excellent (your height and weight will matter too) with your coach believing even more room to grow - that is great.

Good Luck !