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Crew at Top Colleges
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Replies to: Crew at Top Colleges
You said that your mom hates Dartmouth. Is that based on her personal experience or things she has heard about the college? I am the mom of a lightweight rower who just graduated from Dartmouth and, although there are things I like and dislike about Dartmouth, the whole rowing program and coaches are wonderful. There are some things about Dartmouth rowing that I think are especially appealing to moms such as the fact that the boathouse is located right on the campus as opposed to, say, Yale where it is a bus ride way. Less time traveling back and forth translates (maybe) into more time for academics and other activities. The only other Ivy with this situation is Princeton, as far as I know. At any rate, if your mom has any specific concerns that I can address, just let me know.
@mhmm: Colgate and Hamilton seem like fine schools to me. Again, it's been difficult to get my parents to take me on an unofficial visit because of their distance from Boston and other colleges in which I'm interested. If things don't work out ED I may end up at one of those schools.
On Colgate and Hamilton; Take matters into your own hands. Get a car and drive yourself to these schools. Alternatively, take a bus. You're not helpless. This is the time to grow up son.
Use the promotion of Simon Carcagno as Freshmen coach as an opportunity to send a congratulatory note and make your case to him.
Carcagno promoted to freshman coach - UWBadgers.com - The Official Web Site of The Wisconsin Badgers Athletics
Be sure that your letter is clearly written and free of cant. Like a nail, you need to hit this cleanly and squarely on the head. Get editing help from someone who writes well. FedEx the letter to him overnight, if you can. And don't waste time perseverating. Time is not your friend.
My message is simple. Rather than quest after schools where the chance of admission is small, pursue those that fit your considerable abilities and are in line with where you find yourself now. Your fascination with the Ivy League, while not unusual, is a bit of a chimera. Hope is not a strategy son.
Some dreams die hard. None of us live without illusions. They're our necessary angels. To be alive is have new dreams emerge. But in them begin responsibilities. Change the frame through which you look at the opportunities that lay before you and you change everything. But only YOU can do this.
Let me sketch these opportunities for you. Over the next five years, you will learn what it is like to give yourself completely to something you love. You will accomplish things physically -- as an individual and with others -- that you can't today imagine. You will know what real intellectual accomplishment means and pick up a Phi Beta Kappa key in the process. You will learn how to accept the love of a good woman and enjoy its fruits. And if you are lucky, you will have moments when you transcend yourself and touch the face of God.
Never mistake the idea of the thing with the thing itself. It is the beginning of the getting of wisdom. Take the straighest line to your objective. Reduce all unnecessary movement. Time is your scarcest resource. Guard it and learn to use it well -- yours and others.
As to you ERG time - yes - continue to improve it. Do not do it for purpose of admission alone, do it because it is what champion rowers do. As Aristotle once wrote, "We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act, but a habit."
Let us know if yiou are ready to shift the frame, many of us are willing to help you tactically get what you want.
Don't press coaches for an official visit. They will offer if they are interested. If you push them, they may think you are difficult to work with. Basically an official visit is on their dime and most programs don't have an unlimited budget. Prove to them that you are interested and willing to put out some time. Not all schools are costly to visit, depending upon your location. They may be a car or train or commuter flight away.
You should tell them that you are interested, and if possible go on an unofficial visit on your own. Make sure they are aware of this fact.
Never underestimate other schools. There are 3000 colleges out there. Many of them are very, very underestimated.