<p>Hello everybody. I am currently a sophomore at a small private school where there is no crew team. Despite this and the fact that I have never rowed before, I have become very interested in pursuing this sport and will be doing a fairly intensive (4 days a week) rowing program outside of school this spring, as it is the only real way I can get experience and start to actually do it. However, next year I will be moving to a big public school where there is a team. If I were to work hard and become very good at it before I join the team next year, how do you think it would impact me in terms of college admissions? </p>
<p>I know that Junior year (when I would first officially be on a team) is typically the most important year for a sport, especially for a spring sport such as crew. Do you think that there is anyway I could be taken seriously by colleges, or would I simply be starting too late?</p>
<p>BTW, I am by no means doing this simply to help with college. I am genuinely interested in it and am just curious how much it might be able to help me and whether I would be able to do it in college as well.</p>
<p>No one can really answer this for you–until you actually do it.</p>
<p>It is wonderful you have an interest in the sport. It is very difficult and intensive. A team sport and getting a seat in a boat requires the best from you.</p>
<p>Your Jr yr you would need to be fast on the ERG plus be the right ht/wt.</p>
<p>Are you man/woman…that will determine a lot when it comes to info for recruiting…as rowing is not a NCAA sport…alot of schools use it for parity in athletic dollars.</p>
<p>There are others here who can give more info…
Good luck</p>
<p>There are plenty of rowers, particularly female, who were heavily recruited who started their junior year or had never rowed before. However, most of them excelled in other sports (e.g., swimming, volley ball, basket ball, x-country, cycling). The beauty with rowing is that a good athlete can excel very quickly in rowing; there are girls on the national team who have only rowed for 1 or 2 years, something that doesn’t happen in (most) other sports. So, yes, try to work on your erg time as much as possible.
Also, is there a way that you can row over the summer and/or during the fall season?</p>
<p>We are in the exact same boat (haha pun) anyway, I am starting my junior year and I go to a small private school. I’m rowing outside of school all year round. You can join independent clubs and practice in the fall and winter and normally boats go out until it is no longer safe in the fall. My cousin started rowing her junior year and is going to Dartmouth as a full fledged rower on there team and she had many other Ivy prospects so yes it is a sport, especially for women, that can help A LOT in regards to admission. My cousins brother started rowing in December, broke a school record (he’s in college) and is now going to row for Berkley. Also I just want to point out, the first person who responded was incorrect in saying rowing is not a NCAA sport. It is. hope this helps! Good luck</p>
<p>Just to clarify - women’s rowing IS an NCAA sport, goes to NCAA championships, etc.
Men’s rowing is NOT an NCAA sport, they do not go NCAA championships, but instead IRAs.
Hope that helps!</p>
<p>Maybe to understand Samantha’s post is that there is a misconception that men’s rowing does not offer scholarships. For the most part, that is true. However, Berkeley, Washington and Wisconsin do offer scholarships to men. I recently heard that GW offers $ to men as well, so perhaps that was her definition of “NCAA” sport.</p>
<p>I agree with everything above. For all new/late rowers, there is always a chance for you to be recruited, but everything will depend on your erg score and finding the right program fit for your score, your academics, and your rowing ambitions.</p>
<p>My advice would be to scope out the level/intensity of the crew program and join a gym (so you can use the erg) if you need to. I seriously underestimated how important erg work was when I joined, and I wish I had focused on that a lot sooner.
As others have said, if you are already an athlete rowing will be challenging but you will likely excel with time and effort. The same can be true if you weren’t already a competitive athlete, but I speak from personal experience and others who were on my team when I say it will be a lot harder. I never really “made it” as far as being in the best boat in my club went.
You should also research whether this new team you want to join has requirements for making varsity. My club required that you go through “novice year,” in which your times could still get you recruited by colleges but you were ineligible for varsity or JV. In your case, you could obviously make those teams as a senior, but just in case you were hoping to make varsity or something junior year you should definitely check the protocol of the team.</p>
