I’m currently a male junior at a high ranking public high school in Illinois, and I am very hopeful to recieve D1 track offers, however I have some questions about how much GPA and test scores affect chances of receiving these types of scholarships. I don’t care all that much about getting into a highly selective school but I want to make sure the school that I eventually end up going to has a great track program.
I have around a 3.2 GPA with a 28 ACT score. I know my GPA is considered by most to be sort of low, but I also know that when it comes to college coaches athletic ability is first and foremost.
My two strongest events are the 110m high hurdles and the 300m intermediate hurdles. I went to state last year as a sophomore in both events and it is likely that I will do the same this year.
My current PRs are 14.74 in the 110m HH and 38.54 in the 300m IH, what kind of shot do I have at making it into one of the Big Ten schools for track and field assuming my times get better next year as well?
Track scholarships are split among many athletes. Only a few get a lot of money. Coaches are a lot happier if the athletes also get merit scholarships because the athletes can afford to stay at the school without loans, or at least without huge loans. Your scores and grades are certainly high enough to meet NCAA minimums at all the Big 10 schools, but may not be for merit scholarships. If you don’t need the money, the coaches might be able to assist you with admissions.
You’re putting up some very good times and your academics seem solid, but D1 track has 12.6 scholarships for men to cover the whole roster (including xc). I’ve known a few kids that ran at Wisconsin, Illinois and Iowa. Be prepared to be brought on at 0 or ‘books’ and earn your way to a partial once you’ve proven your ability to score in college meets.
Don’t be so hung up on competing at the D1 level. Your times are very good, but would be unlikely to yield scholarship $. Don’t discount D3 competition. It’s just as fun if you are part of a decent program and you’d be a national caliber D3 athlete with opportunies to make All-American. D3 coaches sometimes have the ability to influence a 4-year financial aid package if they really want you and given your solid academic credentials. Such aid is often better than a D1 scholarship arrangement.
I was a D3 track athlete and have no regrets (conference champ, All-American, Hall of Famer at my school). Had I gone D1, I probably wouldn’t have even been the best guy on the TEAM in my events.
Go to www.tfrrs.org and look up conferences and their conference championships. In order to get Athletic money you need to be able to come in and score at their Conference Championships. People get hung up looking at teams and saying “I would be the fastest guy on the team” in my event, that doesn’t matter, what matters is scoring points. Some teams might not even have a recruited athlete at your event.
Now if you can score big, or in multiple events, the money can go up. But D1 track with 12.6 scholarships for Men can be pretty thin. If you are just finishing your Junior year you need to be contacting coaches NOW. Almost all money is given based on Junior times, very little of what you do in your Senior year will change things much. Also you need to be competing this Summer in the National events - USTAF and AAU. Coaches want to see how you compete against other top athletes, not just base things on PRs. A pattern of several times near a PR are a lot more telling than one great time that comes out of nowhere.
Focus on contacting some mid level D1s and see if you get any interest from coaches. Based on that feedback you might adjust your sights up or down. You have a dozen or so guys in your class in your own state ahead of you in the 110 so that looks like a long shot. Your 300 time is pretty competitive but you really need to run the 400H some this summer so coaches and evaluate you against college competition.
I wonder if all the athletes at Power 5 conferences, even those just getting book money or a small percentage of a scholarship, are going to be eligible for the ‘cost of living’ stipend. If so, that is going to be a big help as some of the schools are giving $3500-4500.
^Interesting point @twoinanddone, not sure how the recently approved stipend will play out for equivalency sports. My guess is that the ‘cost of attendance’ will now reflect the add’l 4000 in costs and the scholarship percentages will be based on that number, rather than every athlete across the board getting a 4000 bonus. But we’ll see.
That’s not how it is happening at some of the schools. Utah and Colorado State, Mountain West schools, announced they were going to spend over $1M per year on the stipends, valued at about $4000 each, which I think was the difference between the cost of room/board/tuition/fees and the COA the school quotes to all students. I saw where the PAC 12 said they were requiring schools to give the stipends to all athletes.
I just don’t know if ‘books only’ or walk ons would get it. I think no for walk ons, but maybe yes for any type of scholarship. Just guessing.
“Football, men’s basketball, women’s basketball, volleyball and tennis are the full-scholarship sports at CSU. Sports that offer partial scholarships — soccer, men’s and women’s cross country, men’s and women’s track and field, men’s and women’s golf, softball and swimming and diving — will receive a percentage of the cost-of-attendance stipend equal to the percentage of a full scholarship they receive.”
The news reports initially said CSU would spend $1M per year on the stipends, but it appears that was an error and now they are not giving a full stipend to every athlete and the amount has been lowered to $600k per year. Or someone realized how much it would cost to give every athlete a full stipend and the powers that be changed so the percentage of the team scholarships would be the percentage of the stipend.
I guess each school will have to figure it out. Of course Mountain West doesn’t even have to give the stipends. PAC 12 said they were going to give them to every athlete, but it seems to me that a school/team could get around the team limits for scholarships if they give lots of athletes small percentage scholarships and full stipend. A student could get a $1000 scholarship but a $3000 stipend, basically bringing the amount of athletic scholarship for a team to 3 or 4 times the max allowed by the NCAA. I don’t think that’s what the NCAA had in mind, but I do think it is within the new rules.
My daughter’s school/conference is not giving a stipend. Boo hoo for us. :((