<p>What year are you? When you begin to go on unofficial and official visits you will get a great sense of the different cultures at the different programs. Of your list and off the top of my head, I’d say Berkeley would absolutely be the most intense and competitive, Williams the least (it’s Division III). Look at the recent results at Eastern Sprints and IRAs to see how the teams have fared. The top teams are - naturally - going to have the most competitive programs. You may want that. You may not. My older son was offered multiple likely letters but a)picked the school he liked most first and b)was OK with a less successful program because he wanted to be able to have a full college experience.</p>
<p>That said, rowing in a Division 1 program is really, really intense and consumes a huge amount of time and effort. In the end, you probably train the same number of hours and intensity at any Division 1 program, but the Team culture and feeling will vary from school to school.</p>
<p>You should spend some time thinking about how important it is to you to be on a winning team. If you are used to being in boats that cross the finish line first, winning - or at least good results - may be something you really value. If your high school team is not in the habit of winning, results may be less important to you which will give you more flexibility in terms your college options.</p>