<p>
The IVY league imposes rules on itself that are more restictive than the NCAA baseline rules … for example, it allows less off season formal practices than the NCAA allows.</p>
<p>^^Not sure about running, but in swimming Stanford had (still has?) a reputation as a school that sharply restricted practice hours. In fact when Janet Evans was there she transferred to Univ. of Texas after a couple of years citing as her reason that the Stanford coaches wouldn’t let her work out as much as she thought she needed.</p>
<p>That was the official reason. The gossipy reason circulated in the swimming community was that by then Summer Sanders had shown up on campus, and there was a lot of buzz about this talented frosh with star power. So Evans left because there could be only one queen bee in the hive at a time.</p>
<p>^^-^^</p>
<p>Oh, and I thought it was because the UT male swimmers were known to be a lot more handsome. :D</p>
<p>Hi GFG and violamom,
I’m pming you the answer to GFG’s questions.<br>
The Stanford runner was very generous and specific in her response, so I’d rather not put it out for all. PM me if you can make a case for needing this info. Really not that interesting except to a recruited athlete.</p>
<p>Travel for the Stanford XC, Indoor and Outdoor track teams, some comments specifically about the women’s team, from same Stanford source. Outdoor track schedule comments are probably relevant to the OP:</p>
<p>"Cross country—5 or 6 races, at least 2 are local, one pac-tens, then pre-nats, regionals and nationals. So not too much traveling there. It’s like every other weekend or every third weekend I think.
Indoor—much of the indoor scene takes place in Washington, and the team flies there, sometimes back in the same day. I think it’s about a 1.5 hour plane flight. The best indoor track and all the meets are there so they go there pretty often I think
Outdoor—most if not all of the meets are local. Stanford hosts some of the top invitationals, so those are here, then wherever pac-tens are and regionals, and then nationals which have been in sacramento I think (though that is changing).</p>
<p>In terms of intensity—the stanford women definitely work hard and are very dedicated, but I think this is the same as at any other D1 school. I think there is a difference in ability maybe but that it only manifests itself in terms of having more training partners. In other words, I don’t think, for instance, the michigan women are any less intense than the stanford women, but probably don’t have the talent/potential that the stanford women have."</p>
<p>(editorial comment: can we assume that Stanford has a little more success in recruiting than Michigan without hurting feelings? Sending love to Michigan runners pre-emptively.)</p>
<p>Well, Michigan just recruited a girl from our state who’s arguably the best high school mid-distance runner in the country.</p>
<p>Thanks riverrunner. I appreciate the forthcoming information. It helps!
-violamom</p>
<p>Yeah- Michigan has always had a strong running program. Same with Wisconsin and Indiana. Alan Webb went to Michigan- although he didn’t stay. But that was Alan’s issue and not Michigan’s.</p>
<p>Now I wish I’d edited off the comparison of S and Michigan! I think what you’re seeing is a bit of school pride from the S athlete, and not a specific bashing of Michigan. It’s interesting to me that Mich and Wisc do have such strong distance programs in spite of what must be pretty brutal training conditions a lot of the year. Great tradition up there.</p>
<p>Well, I would have assumed that Stanford running intensity would be about the same as Michigan intensity. What I was interested in learning is how much more or less intense running and studying at Stanford would be than doing it Harvard or Princeton. Can anyone comment?</p>
<p>GFG, I would guess about the same academic intensity: similar pool of talented, driven students scrambling for the grades, and top-of-the-heap professors fully capable of providing challenges for them. Princeton has the added pressure of the grading curve allowing limited numbers of As. Much discussion of the impact of this policy can be found on the P site, of course.</p>
<p>I am familiar with the running programs at several Ivy schools, and I think the athletes take it very seriously. The Ivy League doesn’t have the kind of competition Stanford does, but the coaches are still trying to achieve results and help their athletes improve and succeed. I’m not sure it is necessarily less intense. I do know the times needed to be able to run for an Ivy school don’t need to be as fast as those required to run for Stanford. The truly intense programs would have to include Arkansas, LSU (track), Tennessee (track- espec women’s), Colorado and Texas. Those schools aren’t going to let academics get in the way!</p>
<p>Not to mention Princeton’s junior and senior papers, which are a “Yeah!” to some and “Ugh!” to others. A definite “Ugh!” for my daughter!</p>
<p>Thanks, MOWC. You answered the more general question about which programs are very intense that I just posted on the athletic sub-forum. As you might guess, D wants to be serious about both athletic and academic pursuits and so we’re trying to find a school with a balance that is comfortable for her. Some top academic schools seemed too light on the running, which wasn’t to her liking. However, she (and more I) worry about whether she can handle Stanford or Ivy-level academics along with intense Div. 1 running. Yet I’m not remotely certain how to gauge that! I’m hoping that all my questioning will miraculously reveal the answer, lol. Pipe dream, of course.</p>
<p>Another consideration is that Stanford athletes (and all scholarship school athletes) have the option of redshirting one year, while Princeton athletes do not. This can take the academic pressure off of some athletes: They can complete their degree in 5 years rather than 4, and have one year of pressure off of their athletic performance.</p>
<p>(This makes high-performing Ivy athletes even more impressive: They must carry a full load every year while competing at the same level as all other Div. 1 athletes).</p>
<p>I know a lot of the girls xc and track team at princeton. I can’t tell you much about the intensity of the program, I do know that most had time for outside activities, socializing, and most were very serious students. The team definitely emphasizes academics, and is full of people who are not in the traditional jock majors-- including math and molecular biology.</p>
<p>I know a couple of princeton runners who took some summer classes (organic, for example) at the colleges near their homes, with permission from P. This would lighten the load during the regular school year considerably. There are ways to make this work…</p>
<p>Everyone should go as far from home as possible. Someone from East should go West. West to East.</p>
<p>I have noticed that those who have not been raised in the West, will have allergies. Some can handle the allergies better than others. Shots to build immunity does help.</p>
<p>Allergies would be a concern for an athlete, to be sure. Anyone have experience with increased allergies due to a cross-country move? </p>
<p>Riverrunner, we couldn’t afford summer tuition on top of regular tuition, not to mention the loss of summer income. No doubt while Princeton gave permission for those kids to study at other universitites, they didn’t give them the $$ for it.</p>
<p>Bay, do you think the athletic benefits of redshirting for a female athlete in a non-cash sport would outweigh the opportunity cost of losing a year of career and income, not to mention having to lay out tuition for an extra year? Unless I’m misunderstanding how it all works, wouldn’t redshirting the average collegiate athlete–one with no chance of a pro. career–be a huge financial negative?</p>
<p>Re redshirting: Theoretically, a Stanford athlete’s tuition can be paid for via athletic scholarship, which would include the 5th year. Obviously, not all athletes receive a full scholarship, however. I know of a Stanford redshirt athlete who completed his degree in 4 years, and used the extra year of eligibility to earn a graduate degree there. My guess is that this is not uncommon at Stanford and similar schools.</p>