<p>For UW Madison I took a look at the currant roster. They right now have 4 Long Jumpers. One is a Senior, two are Sophmores, and one freshmen. By the time ill be a Freshman, there will be two seniors and a junior. But those two seniors will graduate the next year and the coach will probably pull in more since his jumpers will graduate soon.</p>
<p>The senior jumper right now has a PR of 24’9
One of the Sophmore 23’6
Other Sophmore 22’9 in High school but only 21’5 in college
Freshman, he did 22’8 his junior year. And hit 23 a couple times his senior year. I talked to him and he said hitting 23ft during junior year will np doubt get you into Wisconsin. Dispite the 3.0 gpa</p>
<p>track, you’re doing a great job with your recruiting. Talking to current athletes and knowing what it’s going to take is the right way to go about this. I know you feel defensive about your GPA and want reassurance that it won’t hold you back. I think you’re probably right in that you can get in to some schools you’d love to jump for, even with a 3.0 </p>
<p>Two thoughts, however: the higher your GPA, the easier it will be for the coach to get you in, the more schools you’ll be able to be recruited to, and the more merit money you might become eligible for. Second, I’m going to challenge you to change your relationship with academics. I get the feeling you’re a kid who can work hard if he sees a goal. I also get the feeling you don’t see education as a goal in itself, but as a hurdle, keeping you from competing in college athletics. I’m not sure how to help you fall in love with learning, but start with small steps. Embrace your favorite class, and throw yourself into it. Not because passing it will help you jump in college, but because the subject is something you have genuine curiousity about. </p>
<p>Yeah, I’m a mom, and I can’t help giving advice at times, but only to kids I like. You strike a chord with me. Hang in there.</p>
<p>Preach it, riverrunner. track, I’m in the middle of this discussion with my own son. While he was still in high school, he could not come to grips with setting the same high goals for his academics that he set for his sport. After a failed recruiting process (his first choice schools had academic requirements he did not meet) and a year at a school and a program that were not the right fit for him, he is back home going to school working hard to get his grades back up so he can transfer to a school with the right sports situation and academic standing.</p>
<p>He came to me last summer and said, “Dad, I really screwed this up.” </p>
<p>I am going to give you the same advice I gave him. The past is the past. Your glass is half full. Step up and apply yourself to your studies the same way that you work at your sport. The great news for you is that you still have time to reach your goal. It’s all up to you and choices you make. Good luck!!!</p>
<p>Thank you for all the help and information it has been great. I still have a few questions that i keep generating. Live does not always turn out the way you want it to so I have to expect the worse. Maybe next year I will only be hitting 22ft jumps instead of 23ft jumps. Hitting 22ft jumps would hit me off the D1 coaches list for recruiting. And since I dont have good enough grades to get into the college normally I would not be going there. I know 22ft jump would not meet the standerd for D1 schools but maybe for D2 and D3 schools. There is one D3 school that I would be intrested in going to, it is UW Lacrosse. However the school seems harder to get into then UW Madison. Its pretty odd because Madisons a better school. However Lacrosse is D3. In the site that showed information about the recruiting proccess which was posted earlier in this thread, it shows that a walk on for D3 is 19ft’6in. I got better then that as a sophmore. If I hit mid 22ft and D1 colleges dont take intreset then maybe this D3 college would eagerly take me. What do you guys think? I really badly want to go to Madison but if worse comes worse then Lacrosse would not be a bad choice at all. In the end I could always transfer any.</p>
<p>track0145, now might be a good time for you to send an email to the track coach at Lacrosse. He would be in the best position to give you advice about whether you can get in. He can tell you the GPA and score thresholds an athlete would need. I assume you know DIII can’t give you a straight up athletic scholarship. They do give scholarships for merit (grades) and also for things like leadership, which you might qualify for if you are a team captain, or have other achievements not necessarily sports or acadmically related. </p>
<p>DIIIs also don’t do OVs, but you would be allowed to visit the campus and sit down with the coach any time you want at your expense. I think this might be great for you, both to check out the college, and possibly to find the motivation to get the grades you need, and to have a college coach watching for your results this spring. </p>
<p>If you’d like me to look at your letter to the coach, please PM me, or post it here, if you want general advice. Bare minimum, run spell check!! </p>
<p>Hey - UW Lacrosse is definitely easier to get into than Madison. Over 30 ACT in Lacrosse is 5%, its 35% in Madison. But with decent academics and your track stats Lacrosse might be a good fit. My spouse actually did 2 years at Lacrosse and transferred to Madison. You will need to keep an impeccable GPA to make that switch, though.</p>
<p>Say you have a 3.0 GPA but you have volunteer hours clubs other sports and extra curriculars. And you have a high act like 29-30ish. Would that make up for the GPA and school rank? Well in my in my situation.</p>
<p>A rising trend on your GPA and a stellar ACT like the 29-30 would be great! Not sure the volunteer hours are going to get you much. Being a recruited athlete will overshadow other actitivies. At the end of the day, track, you have to show you are willing and able to do school work like reading, studying, writing papers. It’s college, after all.</p>