I’ve seen there are recruiting standards, what does that mean? https://www.ncsasports.org/mens-track-and-field/scholarship-standards
Does that mean those certain track and field times are a cutoff to the team?
What if I almost reached the cutoff time?
Would they give me leniency if I started track late and I have potential?
How much would being in track help with my admissions as an asian student?
Is doing 400m sprints as an asian sterotypical?
Also, what are the most prestigious colleges with the worst track teams?
I cannot answer your questions. I would like to share that the “low recruiting times” for Division I male track events seem to be on the slow side. I suspect that the 10,000 meter slow recruiting time is a misprint, but am not sure.
Also, the Division I slow recruiting time for the 1,500 meters for men is too slow & is almost certainly a misprint.
As you probably know, Division I is the most competitive category for colleges & universities.
P.S. Go to the chart for scholarship times for the University of Michigan. These times seem accurate for full scholarship, partial scholarship, and for walk-on consideration.
In theory the recruiting standards listed by a particular program will show the rough marks a coach is looking for. In practice, most of the time the actual recruiting class doesn’t match the standards. So I’d take them with a grain of salt. I’ve talked to coaches who didn’t even know they had recruiting standards on their websites…
Tfrrs.org is usually a better resource to get a sense of athletic fit by conference and school. Coaches are mostly looking for athletes who will help them score in the conference meet. Once you’ve identified where you might fit, email the coaches and fill out the recruiting forms. They’ll get back to you if they’re interested.
If you share your PRs, people here can probably help you identify the correct level to be looking at, and also suggest specific schools or conferences.
OP asked: “Is doing 400m sprints as an Asian stereotypical ?” No. Actually it would be unusual.
For cutoff times, see the “walk-on consideration” times for the University of Michigan.
No leniency for late starts.
If you almost meet the specified time for an event, it is unlikely that you would be allowed to walk-on to a Division I team. Probably true for Division II & for Division III as well. NAIA times are quite slow so if you couldn’t meet those times, then you probably won’t be able to join the team. But, this can be decided on a school-by-school basis.
Look at times posted by specific schools. The broad-based stuff put out by NCSA isn’t very helpful. If a school doesn’t list times, look at last years conference results and see if they would have scored. That is what coaches pay attention to, and it provides an objective measure of an HS athlete’s potential fit. The big programs will want more, however: NCAA scorers.
In fact just going to a couple conference meet results can tell you about a lot of schools at one time: are they terrible, are they stacked in your events, are they graduating anyone next year and so forth. And you can go back through a few years to see if they’re in a little lull or always this great.
But pick some schools first. You need to get in, afford it, enjoy the place enough to succeed academically and personally, and only then seek happiness on the track. One other thing: really excellent schools usually won’t give a lot of admissions pull to coaches of terrible teams, so don’t hope to use that to be your key to entry unless you’re already well above what it’ll take to score at conference. Potential won’t cut it if they only have a couple tips for a roster as large as t&f.
My daughter was a recruited track and field athlete for a D1 school. The school she went to was heavily invested in the distance events… cross country etc. Her particular event was not “as important” for the program so they recruited at a lower standard than typical for many D1 schools. That said, most head coaches are looking for athletes who are “all in” even if they are recruited as walk-on (no scholarship). If you are looking at track to get you into a competitive university or college, and are not at the very tippy top of your event then it will not help in admissions.
What is your intended major? Some D1-D3 schools that are strong academically and might have more lenient track/field standards… William and Mary, Davidson College, Colorado School of Mines (D2), Washington and Lee (D3)… WashU (D3). Also, most track and field programs are looking for the best athletes… so ethnic makeup usually does not enter into the picture.