<p>So I was wondering what times I would have to run in order to be looked at by Cornell University. I run varsity cross country (decent), play varsity soccer (excel) and I run varsity track. </p>
<p>I run the 4x100, the 400, 200, 4x400.</p>
<p>My time for the 400 is 1 minute flat
Time for 200m is 26 and I hope to run under a 25.30 by the end of this season.</p>
<p>I have great grades and an overall strong application. I was just wondering what I need to run to catch the coaches eye or to even be considered as a recruit/walk on.</p>
<p>Here are the results from last spring’s Ivy championships. Your 60 second 400 doesn’t really make you competitive for the Ivies. A 54-55 would have every Ivy coach calling you. If you can do some post-season meets and drop your times a couple of seconds (I know, these are the hard seconds to drop!), you will suddenly become hot property.</p>
<p>thanks! these links are great. yes i agree, my goal is to run under a 57 by senior year. I will be training year round and hope to run a 25 second flat in the 200m. Would that be fast enough to be noticed?</p>
<p>Yes, at most Ivies, but Cornell has had a notably stronger track program recently. I’m not sure what you’re looking for in a college, but of course you will want to expand your list beyond Cornell. Give me some idea of why you like Cornell, and I can help you broaden your list to include some schools that will love your current PRs and would also probably match things you love about Cornell. If you are currently a junior, you know your senior track times are not going to be a factor?</p>
<p>Yes i am a junior and here are my school stats:
Here are my stats/facts:
Weighted GPA: 4.15
Unweighted GPA: 3.9</p>
<p>ACT: did not take (I am taking it in June)
-I hope to receive a 28 and above and will have intense prep over the summer for my second ACT</p>
<p>Subject Tests:
United States History: goal is 750 and above (I am taking this in May)
-I am in AP US History and I am studying hard for the AP exam</p>
<p>Literature: goal is 700 and above (I am taking this in June)
-I am also in AP English Language</p>
<p>Clubs
OYE Club
Newspaper
S.T.A.N.D
Class Council Vice President and member of ASB
(next year I will be in Class Council and ASB again)</p>
<p>Outside
Meetup club for shelter animals
will have over 300 service hours by senior year</p>
<p>Jobs
Internship over the summer at a Vet Clinic
-hoping this will communicate even more my passion for animals</p>
<p>Sports
3 years of varsity soccer (Senior: fourth year as co-captain))
-played club soccer for half of my high school career
2 years of varsity track (Senior: third year as a captain)
1 year of X-country (Senior: second year as a captain)
(Excel at soccer and track)</p>
<p>Recommendations: I will never read them (obviously), but I am confident that they will be great!</p>
<p>Essay: I am working over the summer on writing strong personal essays</p>
<p>Plan of action: Early Decision</p>
<p>I really like Cornell because of its CALS school. I am interested in animal science and Cornell has everything possible!!! I am looking to be admitted to a competitive school and I am open to any location. I feel like i have a minimal chance of early decision acceptance, but I am really working hard to be admitted. If i dont get recruited but I am accepted then i will walk on to the team hopefully. I feel like I havent reached my full potential yet and I know that if i work hard I can run the times they are looking for. Thanks for your help. also do you think i could get in early decision?</p>
<p>Hi lemon,
Your stats look much like many admitted and rejected students at Cornell and peer schools.<br>
You would do well to read posts on the athletic recruit forum here on CC to learn how things work at the Ivies since you’ve targeted Cornell. Specifically become familiar with the likely letter process and timeline. Athletes who are recruited for Ivies get likely letters in the fall. Being a walk-on at Cornell won’t help you in admissions.</p>
<p>It sounds to me like you are more committed to Cornell than you are to running. In other words, you would take your chances on an early admit there rather than a sure thing like a likely letter, verbal from a DI/DII or “support in admission” promise from any other school. Is that right?</p>
<p>well that is what i am thinking now however a “likely letter” would be nice and take a lot of pressure off of me since i am on the edge. I have already contacted the coach and he didn’t reply. I will be sending a follow up in about a week after championships. There is always soccer. I have been on varsity for two years and received second all league this year. My team has made it to the semi-finals and second round this year in the championship rounds. I really like Cornell, and I feel like I am putting my heart on the school, but of course there is a large chance that I will be rejected/deferred.</p>
<p>lemonbars, as Riverrunner said, Cornell has a strong womens track team - but - they also have a huge roster. 90 - 100 women are on the team, as compared to ~50 for most of the Ivy League. So the times of their top runners may not be indicative of the times it takes to get recruited. </p>
<p>D has a friend that runs 400m for Cornell and ran around 57 in her jr. year in HS. I think your academics look solid for Cornell - fire off an email to Coach Bowman and get the ball rolling.</p>
<p>I may not have the times right now at this moment, but I feel like I can reach those in college. I may not reach them freshman year but I am confident that I can sophomore year. I am extremely hard working and dedicated. Do you think it is realistic? I would like athletics to accommodate my grades and everything and I feel like I would be a “work in progress athlete with a lot of potential.”</p>
<p>lemon, I think a lot of coaches have enough trouble trying to get proven HS athletes to live up to their potential in college. If you want T&F to be your ticket to Cornell, you really need to throw down some good marks jr. year.</p>
<p>Looks like a lot of speculation at this point as far as test scores and track times. Just keep working and cast a wide net. Good luck.</p>
<p>I just reread that and it sounded very dismissive - sorry- you really do sound like a potential candidate, there’s just not enough data there yet.</p>
<p>Hi lemon,
I’m not sure I’m saying things very clearly. I do want to encourage you to try for Cornell. And contacting the coach is the absolute right thing to be doing since it sounds like you would be willing to work and train during college. What worries me is that you seem to have tunnel vision about Cornell. If you had a couple of 56ish 400s, and let the coach know over the next few months that Cornell is your number 1, he might find you a likely letter. That’s the best case. However, if he says he can’t quite support you with a LL, that puts you in the pool of applicants with everyone else. </p>
<p>My point is, if you really love to run, and plan to do so in college, it might serve you well to research some other schools that aren’t quite as hard to get into as Cornell, but that have some of the things you’re looking for, and where you could get coach support. Saying you can and will run faster in college is a great attitude to have, but coaches need to see an actual performance. </p>
<p>Dyestat shows 845 girls in the US have reported 400 meter finishes under 1:00 so far this spring. </p>
<p>Not all of them are in your graduating class, but a lot are. You do have the somewhat-less-common combination of being a girl with really top academic stats who can also run fast, so that cuts the field down a little. Running track for a college you love would be an amazing experience. Give yourself some choices and gather up some names of other schools just in case.</p>
<p>I want to reinforce that being a sprinter fast times and high academic credentials makes you a valuable commodity. Having just been through this with my daughter, who has slower times (not fast enough to look at Ivys) but higher test scores, she received a lot more interest from coaches at “academic” schools than I would have anticipated.
A long sprinter from our area with times similar to yours ended up at Princeton (I know nothing about her academic credentials). I know many athletes (including runners) at Cornell with far lower grades/test scores than the norm. Good luck!</p>
<p>I agree with Varska. However, I would go through your coach. My S’s coach has said time and again that he wants to make contact for his runners. They talk the same talk. It often turns into a verbal “letter of recommendation” Best wishes to you!</p>
<p>Beetfarmer, some high school coaches are great about understanding college recruiting, and some are terrible. </p>
<p>Athletes should communicate early and often with their HS coach about which schools they are in contact with. They should also inform the coach that they are putting his/her name on recruiting forms and that they might start getting inquiries. College coaches often ask the high school track coaches about the athlete’s commitment to the sport, intent to compete in college, how coachable they are, what the coach sees as the athlete’s upside potential, in which division the coach sees the athlete fitting best, and so on.</p>
<p>Some high school coaches have little or no experience helping with the transition to college athletics. Others have dozens of strong connections to college programs and and a reputation for being objective about their athletes. </p>
<p>For track athletes, self-recruiting can work well. College coaches can easily verify your times if you let them know you are interested in their school, without ever calling the coach. In some cases they never contact the high school coach if they are able to reach a level of comfort with the athlete through the recruiting process.</p>
<p>Riverrunner, you’re absolutely right. I’m spoiled. Our coach is the winningest hs xc coach in our state’s history. We’re a very small private school that affords him the time for such personal attention. I apologize. It’s easy to forget, being so isolated in a small town, how things operate elsewhere.
Lemonbars, listen to riverrunner and Varska.
I’m new to CC. I’ll spend more time just reading posts. I’m happy to be here!</p>
<p>Thanks for all of the advice guys! It really means a lot! I contacted the soccer coach, cross country coach and the track coach. If worse comes to worse (If I am accepted) I will walk on the team and work my way up. I am going to look into other schools like many of you guys said. The good news is that a DIII school already said that I would be supported and that they want me to come there to play two sports. Thanks everybody and I will keep searching. I plan on applying to Cornell ED and if I do not get in then I will move on and pursue track/soccer somewhere else. Thanks! :)</p>
<p>Hey Beetfarmer, welcome to CC, and no harm done. This forum often functions like the parable of the blind men and the elephant. Your experience is certainly no less valuable than others who post here. You’re very fortunate to have a coach with time and knowledge, and the wisdom to appreciate what you’ve got!</p>
<p>lemon, have you been emailing Cornell Coach Artie Smith? <a href=“mailto:acs1@cornell.edu”>acs1@cornell.edu</a>
He was their mid-distance and distance recruiter on the women’s side a couple of years ago and I have never spoken to a nicer guy. If you feel like you’re having trouble getting through to a human over there, I’d send a copy of your original inquiry to Coach Smith with the preface that you know they’re in the middle of their busy track season, but you’re thinking about track camp and Cornell is your #1.</p>
<p>With DIII, the fact that you could do two sports (soccer and track?) is a plus while it would not work with D1. Extremely few D1 athletes can do two sports.</p>