<p>Hello,</p>
<p>I am a male lightweight rower and looking to start contacting coaches this fall/winter.
I was wondering, how many coaches should an athlete contact?
If they have interest in many schools wouldn’t it be okay to contact all of them?
Here is a preliminary list of schools I will probably contact by the end of the calendar year:
-HYP
-Dartmouth
-Columbia
-Cornell
-Penn
-Williams
-Bates
-Wesleyan
-Vassar
-Stanford(maybe)
Is this too many?</p>
<p>Doesn’t seem to be too many to me.</p>
<p>Not too many at all. It also depends very much on your erg time, grades, test scores, and race results. You may also want to look at LM Georgetown and MIT. And if you are also looking at D3 HW, you could add several others, e.g. Trinity, Colby, Colgate.</p>
<p>Not too many just not enough variety. You don’t have a single safety school on your list.</p>
<p>SteveMA:Well these aren’t necessarily the only schools I would be applying to, just the ones with a crew team.</p>
<p>beenthere2:Oh yes, I forgot to add Georgetown and MIT to the list. </p>
<p>Do you think that looking at D3 HW crews is a good idea?
I just figured that once all the top notch HW rowers are taken by ivy’s and other D1’s,
D3 coaches would even begin to take a look at some of the lightweights.</p>
<p>Contact all of them, because not all will be interested.</p>
<p>“Do you think that looking at D3 HW crews is a good idea? I just figured that once all the top notch HW rowers are taken by ivy’s and other D1’s, D3 coaches would even begin to take a look at some of the lightweights.”</p>
<p>Definitely. Also, your erg time is important. I know for a fact that if it is good, you can be sure that even ivy league HW coaches will be recruiting a LW rower over a HW rower.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>As many as it takes to find the right fit academically and athletically. There is no right answer.</p>
<p>I think my son (baseball) started off with 50 schools, and narrowed it down to focus on 20. Out of the 20 he had OVs and un-OVs to 7-8 schools. He got serious offers to 4, and committed to 1. Based upon your schools above, you are high on quality but low on quantity. You may want to expand your recruiting search somewhat would be my advice. In that manner you willl be exposed to a broad range of schools where your chances for success are greatly increased. Good luck.</p>
<p>@fenwaysouth
There’s a limited number of schools that have LW men’s rowing. He’s covered them all (except for navy). To be recruitable for HW, he needs to be relatively tall for a LW AND have a very fast erg time.
Also, D3 coaches have usually less pull with admissions than the ivy league coaches.
Finally, how are your grades and test scores? Are they within range?</p>
<p>Well I am still only sophomore but my unweighted GPA is 3.92 and my weighted GPA is through the roof because all my classes are honors or AP.
As for test scores I took a practice ACT recently and got 32, hoping to raise it to over 34 this summer with some test prep. Which leads me to another question beenthere2…</p>
<p>I know for the ivies many say that the benchmark is 3.8+ and 2000+…</p>
<p>Does that apply to HYP as well or are the academic standards there slightly higher than that of other ivies? (say 3.9+ and 2100+?..)</p>
<p>Also, I know MIT’s team is not nearly as good as the ivies and they still recruit too.
Does that mean with solid academics (3.9+ and 2100+) and a 6:50ish 2k, you can easily get recruited there as a lwt?</p>
<p>Honestly, a 6:50 isn’t going to cut it at the ivies, including Penn, unless you are VERY light. Hard to predict with MIT, but at least until now they aren’t giving a lot of push during admission for athletes. However, you still have time to improve your erg score.</p>
<p>@beenthere2:
If you don’t mind me asking, what was your 2k time in the spring of your sophomore year?
(I’d just like to set a good benchmark for myself this season)</p>
<p>MIT is division III–yes they recruit, however there is no scholarship money for that.</p>
<p>Thanks beenthere2. Understand what you are saying related to the sport, and clarification. But I would still go after more schools than what is listed purely from an Admission perspective. Those listed are exclusive schools with lots of admision risk regardless of sport. I’d consider others with club or something along those lines.</p>
<p>SteveMA- I thought someone else had posted a few months ago that MIT was D1 for rowing only, and D3 for everything else. I remember that because I thought it was odd or it could be that I’m just getting old.</p>
<p>I’ll defer to the experts who know their sport, and I’ll stick to baseball. ;-)</p>
<p>MIT is D1 in crew. They compete in the EARC against the ivy league schools, Georgetown, and Navy. IRA’s are the national collegiate championships for the HW men, LW women, and LW men. For LW men, only 8 teams are invited, the top 7 at EARC championships and the winner of the Dad Vail regatta (Mercyhurst last year), which includes club sports teams and D3 (e.g. Delaware, St. Joe’s, William and Mary, Purdue, Michigan, Marietta, Fordham). It’s only the 1V that competes (unlike for the HW men; they have the 1V, 2V, and a 4+; they also have 18 teams). Some LW teams also race a 4+ but that’s just for fun.</p>