<p>Does anyone know what sort of times harvard looks for when recruiting? specifically in the mile? is a 4:58 mile enough for a high school junior ?</p>
<p>Harvard is a Div. I school for track. That's a good time for a girl, not so good for a boy.</p>
<p>what sort of times do i need (i'm a guy) to at least make it serve as a good e.c.? are we talking 4:40s?</p>
<p>at least 4:35 to have a shot at getting recruited. A sub 4:30 would be much prefered and I'm not sure if even that will be good enough.</p>
<p>I ran a 4:55 in my sophomore year and nobody considered that DI level. Not even close.</p>
<p>Is 4:58 even a competetive time where you run? My high school is in central NJ and I never even close to doing well in county, sectional, or state meets. My best was 8th place in sectionals and that was only the smallest schools in central NJ.</p>
<p>To put it bluntly: you're not going to get recruited. You're not going to be at DI track level. To do that you'd have to drop at least 30-40 seconds off that mile by the beginning of next year. If you can pull that off, then wow I'm an idiot for doubting you, but its pretty much not gonna happen.</p>
<p>getting recruited and it being a good EC are 2 different things. If you've been involved many seasons, are working hard at it, and especially if you have shown leadership and/or skill then it can be an excellent EC. The other posters have addressed getting recruited for track.</p>
<p>yeah umm....</p>
<p>thats what the OP asked ...."recruiting"</p>
<p>yes, in post #1 ... and then in post #3 they asked about track as an EC</p>
<p>yeah i definitely understand where you guys are coming from, bc. i know that 4:58 is not exactly DI level. I think I should have elaborated more when I originally posted. Track is not by any means my most important thing. It's not even close to being one of my top 3 e.c.'s. I have won state championships in piano,debate, and I am an NFL national qualifier for policy debate. Also, I consider lots of my leadership spots to be "more important" than my track e.c. So, what I'm trying to say, is if I have the academics (2200 + SAT), 35 ACT, and these e.c's, could track be the deciding factor if i end up running say a 4:40 mile? and say sub 17:00 in xc?</p>
<p>also, looking at Harvard's roster, there are a few guys with personal records in the mile of around 4:25-4:40. Harvard isn't exactly an athletic powerhouse. and I don't know if this helps, but I'm an Asian athlete.</p>
<p>bumpppppppp</p>
<p>no responses because noone has any additional info to add. </p>
<p>Having an EC help your admissions does not necessarily depend on how good you are at the EC ... showing passion and commitment are the main draws about ECs. However ECs on their own are just a piece of an application and make the applicant a whole person and not just a bunch of stats. For track to be a tip factor for you I would guess (and it is a guess) track would either have to be an outstanding EC even though you won't be a standout at Harvard (Captain of your team in HS and your coach says you're the greatest captain/teammate he's ever had on a team) ... or you're recruitable to run at Harvard. Harvard's track team likely allows walk-ons (meaning they allow anyone to show up and join the team) so you can't read too much into the range of times on their web-site. The fastest kids are more indicative of who might be recruited ... and even then there are various levels of recruiting. I was a high 4:20s miler in high school and I got a few letters and phone calls from IVYies but no offer for paid trips to the school ... I can imagine the coach put in a word with admission for me "all things being equal can this guy get in" but I am sure he did NOT use one of his recruiting slots for me ... I would have received a lot more attention if that was the case.</p>
<p>By the way, track is not a big money sport in college ... they do not have a lot of coaches or bucks for recruiting ... if you're interested in running in college I'd suggest contacting the coach (they will have a contact link on the team's web-page most likely) and they're response will tell you how interested they are. </p>
<p>No one here can tell you how much your track experience may help yoru chances ... but for 5-10 minutes (contact the coach) you can get as much advantage as it will provide.</p>
<p>Not only is a lot of the track team walk-ons, I was told by a believable source that the distance runners and cross-country team have a higher GPA than the student body as a whole. So it seems unlikely that being even a fairly good runner would offset a less-good-than-usual academic record.</p>
<p>"could track be the deciding factor if i end up running say a 4:40 mile? and say sub 17:00 in xc?"</p>
<p>You will likely NOT be recruited at those levels, so your running will not be a tipping factor.</p>
<p>But who knows for sure, call or email the coach (Saretsky). He is new, young and accessible, at least he was at Columbia and Iona. He will give you a very good idea where you stand.</p>