As others have stated, congratulations on your admission to University of Maine!
OK, let’s talk coxing a bit:
Unfortunately, as you know, your list of schools has very few (IRA) men’s teams. You have a number of schools with women’s teams that may not have directly recruited coxswains and might be interested in providing soft support - Michigan, Wisconsin, BU, GW, Northeastern, Wesleyan, and maybe Syracuse - it’s of course extremely late, but you could certainly reach out. There are certainly competitive walk-ons on women’s teams, but of course it’s easier to walk on when pretty much all the coxswains (maybe except one) are walk-ons. A little bit of roster sleuthing can give you some sense.
And agreed with everyone else - you sound like a wonderful student and person and we’ll be pulling for you!
I’m definitely going to try and reach out to some of the women’s coaches this weekend since I am currently procrastinating a whole lot of homework on here…but I guess I’m being semi-productive haha!
I’m just a little bit worried about trying to get soft support since I’d feel bad if I ended up getting lucky and receiving it at multiple schools and then having to turn down one or more of them. I guess it probably wouldn’t hurt anyone’s feelings since coaches don’t care THAT much about one coxswain but I’m already receiving support at one school I really love. I actually was offered more support through ED but I decided not to go for it since I was afraid of the binding aspect of it…but now I maybe wish I had!
It definitely won’t hurt to reach out though so I’ll stick to that plan and see what happens. Hopefully I’ll get lucky and get some replies (:
Gentle observations: you mention feeling burnt out. Have you explored the idea of a gap year? I don’t know what this might do for you as an applicant.
I do wonder if getting Bs in your AP physics courses + applying test optional might have been a lot for schools to process in conjunction with your expressed desire to study astrophysics. I think having teacher references from your humanities teachers might further add to the confusion. Note: I’m not saying you shouldn’t study astro/physics – just saying that if I were an AO, that might raise an eyebrow.
I think, too, that applying to a really hard major that you love, even if it maybe doesn’t come as easy to you, AND committing to cox for a serious varsity program might be a lot to handle. Again, you’re challenging yourself in wonderfully authentic ways. I’d WANT to take a chance on you. I’d just worry (absent any test scores – e.g. AP tests or a strong quant showing on the SAT) that you might be biting off more than you could handle. I’d especially worry this if you weren’t coming from a school that sends a ton of kids my way.
If you’re super happy with your current options (and I think you should be! full tuition at Maine is fantastic, and Virginia Tech seems to be one of the happiest schools), maybe just stay the course and see where the chips fall. If you have a nagging feeling that you somehow left something on the table…or if your feelings of burnout are more significant than you mentioned…do consider the mental health benefits of doing something completely different for a year, whether or not you choose duing that year to reapply.
I agree with the potential concerns in every way. I could have asked my calculus teacher to write me a recommendation but he is very unemotional and clearly not into writing but nevertheless one of the best teachers I’ve ever had and one of my strongest relationships since I had him for 2 years in a row…so maybe I could but maybe I shouldn’t have–I guess the grass is always greener.
I was considering taking a gap year but I know that would probably drive me insane. If anything, I think I’d choose to commit to VT or Maine and then apply to transfer if I wasn’t happy. But then again I am still waiting to hear from a lot of RD schools.
Do you think it may be wise to try and email AOs requesting to switch my intended major? I don’t want to come off as desperately trying to reach for ways to be accepted, but I genuinely have always felt torn between applying to major in physics vs politics, so maybe the switch would be beneficial in multiple ways if it didn’t come across as “cheating” my way into an acceptance.
If not, I hope the AOs see it from your perspective and try to take a chance on me. I’ve handled an extreme rowing schedule all throughout high school (this includes the entirety of spring season with 5-7 morning practices and 4-6 PM practices) with my hard classes so I think I would handle things pretty similarly in college and I hope they see that.
oh and–when I say burnt out, I mostly mean from college applications. I’ve just been treating myself too harshly and I’ve compared myself to every single person surrounding me. I love my classes this year and everything else is going amazingly, I’m just sick of feeling like I put in so much effort for applications just for me to not even be “good enough”.
It’s hard to chance without an unweighted gpa. You can easily figure it out. 4 for A. 3 for B. Divide by # of classes.
All that said, you’ll know soon enough and you’re already playing with house money as you’ve got great acceptances. Anything else is bonus.
The UCs won’t work for you cost wise if you need aid.
If Astrophysics is what you want, and it will depend on unweighted gpa how much $$ you get, you might want to check out U of Arizona which is one of the top astrophysics schools in the country but an admission safety. Surprised but looks like they have a rowing club.
I wouldn’t recommend this at this point in the process. It’s normal to be second guessing yourself, but try to take a break from always thinking about the pending decisions (whether consciously or subconsciously).
If you do want to put in other apps, I agree with tsbna that Arizona could make sense. ASU too. Not sure if rowing would work at either tho.
For future readers, I would not worry about this. All you’re doing at this point is reaching out to coaches to see if they might be interested, and in the off chance someone says yes, then you can see if there is some way they can help you. None of these are commitments and coaches understand that. Soft support isn’t an obligation for either side. You have a skill that coaches might value - it’s ok to try to see if it can help both sides.
Does it matter if the school only has club rowing vs D1 etc? I ask bc my D24 is also a rower and got into Virginia Tech but doesn’t want to go there bc they only have club. I don’t know anything about men’s but wasn’t sure how far you had looked into that. We are in NoVA too and she was too late to try to get recruited but is planning to try to walk on. Good luck!
Assuming Maine and Virginia Tech are indeed both affordable, that is a great start. As others noted you have a lot of reaches in RD, and I agree there may be a little mismatch between submitted qualifications and a stated interest in Physics, but you have a generally solid profile so who knows?
I think my immediate question would just be what it would look like if you wanted to try out Physics anyway at Maine or Virginia Tech. At Maine it appears Political Science and Physics are in the same College, at Virginia Tech two different Colleges, but Physics does not appear to be a restricted major at Virginia Tech. So while you would want to confirm this, it may not be hard to major in Physics at either if you so choose.
I can understand “burnout” from so many applications.
I am surprised that your applications were not focused as much on rowing. Do you plan on continuing? I know someone who got into Harvard for rowing. I get that you have been working with men’s rowing but…
How many of your schools have rowing, and how many are clubs?
It also seems important to attend a school that has some flexibility in curriculum and that has students declare major later, at end of sophomore year at least.
What people are dancing around here wrt rowing is that even being recruited (even soft recruit) for women’s rowing is THE most helpful hook there is in terms of ratio&results. You have an incredible hook, use it, since anyone with any knowledge of rowing knows it’s very very demanding.
So if you’re serious about your RD/WL/Df colleges, rather than changing your major, contact the women’s rowing coach (or even club coach) at all of them (except for UCs and PSU) and see what happens. Most won’t get back to you at this point but you never know.
You can still send a rec by a math and/or physics teacher BTW. Just ask teachers and have the GC review it before you send it to the colleges where yoj applied for Physics. Your GC should be uploading the updated transcript and optional report about now anyway, they may want to add a few things about your interests and strength in Physics + whatever they know about your rowing.
You could also contact your guidance department at your school immediately and tell them of your interest in women’s rowing. I remember an e-mail from my daughter’s guidance office saying, “If you are good at a sport that we don’t already know about, please let us know so we can help!”
I think the question is, which do you want more: To row on a men’s team somewhere or to get into a top tier college and row on a women’s team potentially? That’s a question only you can answer. But for now, I think you can still pursue both.
Edited to add: While she’s late in the process for recruiting for this upcoming fall, the timing is just right for her to redshirt on a team her freshman year, train, and then begin rowing fall '25.
You have two great acceptances. The rest is now a wait and see, and you will have those results soon enough. Just hang in there.
I do agree that somehow capitalizing on your rowing experience and desire to continue could be beneficial. Talk to your rowing mentors, and school counselor asap to figure out how!
Have you reached out to both men’s team at Columbia - light and heavy - 2 different coaches and teams.(light wins national championships) Barnard admits are Columbia D1 athletes and you mention Barnard is a top choice. Do you have test scores and just not submitting? You mention soft support - depending on the school/coach that does mean something especially for a cox. Do you really want D1 sports = 25-30 hours a week all school year? Yes, students walk on as a cox - but top teams want experience too. Have you checked rosters to see the year of coxes - any holes? For the soft support school - is it a top choice and have you checked back in with the coach to confirm that your app is submitted and that you would love to join the team plus pull out something personal like a comment from their social media or upcoming race schedule, comment about team culture etc - if this is really what you want to do.
Dartmouth is rebuilding men’s team and some coaching changes - reach out there too. Test scores for the Ivys do matter - so that may be a hiccup this late in the game. Is your test score strong for your HS - that context could matter too.
Being a good cox is not easy and a woman that can manage 8 young men on a boat is an asset. You don’t mention race results - have you coxed Charles, Youth Nationals or ? Charles is a great race to show coxing skills.
As you know, crew is a tight community and having that built in support at college is wonderful.
I will say your list does throw me a bit if crew is a priority - if it is - then go for it with the schools on your list that have teams.
Can u PM me? It’s about the soft support and rowing…I just want to keep it a little private to avoid posting too many details. (I’m a normal Reddit user so I don’t really know how to send PMs otherwise I would do it myself haha)
@sukie Welcome to CC! I’m glad you’re finding the site beneficial. You’re hearing from very knowledgeable users so I hope you continue to participate and make use of their generous advice. And, of course, let us know how your college journey plays out. All the best.
You have an incredible hook, use it, since anyone with any knowledge of rowing knows it’s very very demanding.
All the best.