Hi there!
I am beginning to consider recruitment as a rower as a transfer student. I just finished my 1st year of college and began rowing this year for my school just for fun as a walk on. It’s D1 but not especially known for rowing at all. I seem to have a natural talent for it and have comparable times to girls that were recruited.
I was a very competitive runner in high school until I suffered a serious knee injury. Before my injury I was considering running at some pretty competitive schools including NYU, Berkeley, and Cornell. I loved the idea of being a student athlete but unfortunately that didn’t quite happen. I was a good student in high school but in all honesty running was pretty key to my admission at those schools (or affording out of state). So I am quite familiar with the regular recruitment process for potential runners but I know nothing of rowing or of transfer recruitment. Do D1 schools even recruit transfer students as athletes? What is the process?
I understand how unrealistic (even childish) wanting to pick up a sport and transfer to a prestigious school based on it sounds, but I really am quite good and I can’t shake my desire to be a student athlete at one of those schools. I’m 5’8 and have very broad shoulders for a girl. It was my dream to run for Berkeley. I can’t run, but maybe I could be recruited as a rower in a year. I am in chemical engineering and currently have a 4.0 from a decent state school.
Any advice/experience would be great! Or if you think I should just row for fun, focus on my studies, and forget about this transfer recruitment nonsense, that’d be appreciated too. 