This is probably a stupid question, but I can’t seem to find the answer, so thought I’d try here. My D19 is a coxswain for her school’s varsity team (2 years as a rower, then she switched to cox for 2 years as she’s only 5’3"). Has always considered trying to walk on wherever she goes, if possible (mostly applied to Ivys and LACs) but not recruiting caliber (she’s coxed a boat to SRAA Nationals but no medal there). She did apply (and was accepted) to one large state university with a good D1 women’s rowing program. On a whim, she sent an email to an assistant coach there with her rowing “resume” and told them she’d be visiting the university soon. They immediately responded and set up a meeting with her, a practice to attend, a tour of facilities, etc. At the end of it all, they told her they would love to have her if she decides to attend and gave her their cell numbers, etc., to contact once she makes a decision. This is a school that really treats athletes well, the facilities were over-the-top fabulous, my daughter really liked/clicked with the coaches, and the school is now a serious possibility for her, depending on what other choices she might have come April. Now my question–since she’s not being recruited, and thus would only be a walk-on even though they’d be “expecting her” (and handling her housing, etc.), do we need to be registering with the NCAA or anything like that? All that NCAA clearinghouse stuff (sending ACT scores, etc.) is only for recruited athletes, right?
You can fill out the NCAA clearinghouse forms. It is very fast and I think costs $80. She cannot go on an official visit without a clearinghouse registration being started.
If she does go to a D1 school and joins a team, she’d need to meet the NCAA standards and I think would have to fill out the clearinghouse info then as they’d have to certify that she’d met all the requirements (ACT scores, gpa, official high school transcript).
The clearinghouse forms are not needed for D3 teams.
Did she ask the D1 school about scholarships? Some D1 teams have quite a bit of money available since the NCAA allows 20 (not all schools are fully funded). Now is not the time to be shy. Ask for money.
Yes, they did mention scholarship money! Not specific amounts, but they did tell her that scholarships were available, even for walk-ons. I guess we can wait until April when she makes her decision, and then do the NCAA stuff (and ask more specifically about scholarships at that time, too!). Thank you for your quick reply!
I agree you will ultimately have to register with the clearinghouse for DI or DII.
Did you talk about timing with the state school coaches…meaning was your D clear that she is going to wait to hear from other schools? Just want you to know for sure if the spot will still be there on May 1 if that’s how long your D’s decision might take.
She did! She was very clear that she was waiting on all decisions and that it would sometime in April before she decided where she was going.