Question for those of you who ran in college (Read 883 times)

Thanks, Mr. R. One other question about walking on. At one DI school, we learned that if DS got ANY kind of athletic scholarship (even books), he couldn't accept an academic scholarship because it counts against the team limit. If he walked on, could he accept an academic scholarship? He could get more academically than athletically. Or if he's on the team, period, does that mean he can't accept other money? jonsnape, he's on the high honor roll this year (all As), in the National Honor Society, top 10% of class, Eagle Scout. But a lot of kids are like that these days! It's scary how hard it is to get into schools.

Wow, that's great. Congratulations-he's gonna have some great options. Seems like now it's about all the pretty cool stuff of researching schools, visiting (when possible), and getting in touch with coaches. I had such a good time with that whole process with my dad. It can be pretty special, because y'all are surely so proud of him. I'll definitely take this chance to throw out a shameless plug for Rhodes. No idea what kinda school your son wants, but if he wants small classes with strong academics and a great running situation in the south, I had a great experience there (recently enough that it is relevant). At Rhodes he wouldn't be the number one recruit (depending on his senior year), but would certainly be up there and be a scoring member of the team early on. If he has any interest in Rhodes, let me know.

I did not take the time to read all the comments and am sure that this has been mentioned but I would make sure that the philosophy of the coach is similar to the one that got him to this point. Many college coaches have amuch different approach to that of the high school coach. Your son needs to be educated on the nutrition and psychological needs of a college runner. I went from running 20-35 miles in high school to running 35-70 miles in college. I got burnt out with it all and dwindled out of the competetive racing scene. There just needs to be a solid transition to more miles and bigger goals. I would think the training needs to stay relative to your sons goals and dreams.

Teresa- You've got the right angle. You want to be involved and give him good advice, but not make the choice FOR him. Just remind him to consider all the aspects of a school if he seems to get too narrowly focused on track...or the female-to-male ratio Financial aid - Maybe they've changed the rules since '93 but two of my friends from the track team had half academic and half athletic scholarships and it didn't seem to limit the coaches in giving out any additional scholarships. And it IS very hard to get in now. I got 1340 on the SAT's and had schools begging - 10 letters a day. I had 2 huge boxes full of them by the end of senior year. Univ of Maryland at the time was taking people with 900 and offering anyone over 1200 money...now its "don't bother applying unless you're over 1200". Social life - its all about choices once he gets there. True that several of my close friends were on the team, but not all of them were. If DS' time management skills aren't up to snuff he will learn them within 2 months - the team atmosphere will definitely provide the structure for the taking. He will find time to study and find time to make friends. Our team managed to be some of the biggest partiers on campus - it wasn't every Friday that we were lights out by 10 or 11 because we had to be in the van at 5AM for a meet. And what's wrong with Wednesday nights? Or Tuesdays? But there are limits, which 2 guys on scholarship my freshman year didn't learn and were off the team by the end of the year. If he has self discipline and isn't worried about popularity contests, he'll be fine wherever he ends up.

Well, for a interesting combination of running and social activities in the NESCAC (and other new england colleges), you may want to check out this web site: http://www.streaktowin.com (might be NSFW, depending on policy...use appropriate caution...or your neighbor's PC)

You definitely learned more from classes than from running.

No I didn't. It's not true that academic scholarships count against athletic scholarships in every case. Coaches love athletes that can win academic scholarships exactly for that reason.

There's lots of good schools out there. State schools are good, too. So far this thread has been about small elite private schools, but that's certainly not the only way to go. There are lots of DI college programs who are looking for runners just like your son to develop. Like Mr. R said, very few DI teams have any distance runner on full scholarship (maybe Arkansas and Stanford and CO have one or two). In most programs, you earn your way into partial scholarships. The NCAA limit for track and field scholarships (includes distance runners, throwers, jumpers, sprinters, etc.) is 12.5 for the whole team. You have to have 14 athletes to even field a scoring team in the NCAA. Compare this with football's 80-something scholarships for 22 players and you'll see where priorities lie with the NCAA.

The NCAA limit for track and field scholarships (includes distance runners, throwers, jumpers, sprinters, etc.) is 12.5 for the whole team. You have to have 14 athletes to even field a scoring team in the NCAA. Compare this with football's 80-something scholarships for 22 players and you'll see where priorities lie with the NCAA.

Ha. Nice one. I'm thankful for the football and basketball programs that help fund the other sports. No need to make them the enemy.