My student, a current junior, is a strong runner but on the bubble of getting into more selective institutions. His dream schools are in the NESCAC but his GPA is only a 3.6. He has AP Classes and was a state qualifier for Speech & Debate. He has struggled in Math with equal parts having a not so great teacher two years in a row + giving up a bit out of frustration which has brought his GPA down. He takes the ACT next week. I am looking for recommendations for D3 Liberal Arts Colleges in the Midwest or Northeast. Right now, Denison is the only contender. He needs to visit other safety schools. He is not interested in DePauw (visited with his sister when she looked and didnāt love the area). Thinking of Wittenberg but also wondering if there are any other schools in PA or NY with strong running programs. Thank you!
How about Washington and Jefferson?
Union or Conn. College.
Normally I tell student athletes to look at the schools of interest first, and then check out the teams, but there are a lot of LAC in the regions you mentioned, so its reasonable to look at the ones with strong running first.
Take a look at the website for US track and field and cross country coaches association. (USTFCCA dot org) You can find rankings for cross country programs nationally and by region for DIII.
There are probably 6 official regions that might fall into the broad category of midwest or northeast. If you look at DIII programs that have been ranked top, say, 10 in one of those regions over the past 3 years or so, you will have identified maybe 80 schools that should be most of the strong DIII distance squads in the Northeast and Midwest. You might want to decrease from 10 to 5 or so, depending on how strong the teams need to be.
That is a good starting point. Many of these schools are LAC. When you want to see where your son might fit in, look at season best track times. Cross country times are highly variable, and conference meet races are usually tactical.
I know a male runner that had an excellent experience running at St. Olaf.
St. Lawrence? Dickinson?
second union and conn coll. also maybe look at trinity, in nescac but a little less selective. if he can get recruited his 3.6
is probably good enough for most d3 schools. just not like mit, johns hopkins, that realm (although that doesnāt seem to be of interest anyway).
maybe look at FandM?
Along the lines lurker Joe suggested, you could check out regional and national XC results for D3:
https://tfrrs.org/results_search.html
(Choose XC for sport, then search).
That might give a few ideas.
If heās more mid-d than distance then Iād focus more on the track results.
So my nephew is an upperclass D1 runner now in the transfer portal. He debated D3 vs D1. Some advice and some schoolsā¦
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speak to some people who have been through the recruiting process for perspective. You need to market yourself to coaches to get recruited and partial scholarship money. follow team members from potential colleges on instagram / strava so your name is out there.
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use the ābroken leg testā - if you broke my leg and couldnāt run here would you want to be here? Or if you hated the team atmosphere would I want to stay for academics only?
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is D1 in play? Do you want to have the D1 or D3 experience? Race more ? If both are in play, advice is not to shop division - one or the other - shop the right fit/coach.
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Avoid NCSA. In our familyās experience, NCSA recruiting is a rip off and MOST coaches want NOTHING to do with NCSA recruiters - it also costs thousands for results u can get thru a book online.
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While there is NO athletic $ in D3 you would be surprised how the acceptance rules may bend if the runner is right. Also they can expedite applications. D2 can stack money but less common for running.
Schools to think about
More Elite Assuming you are fastā¦ e.g. top 25 in the state in events?
- SUNY Geneseo. They are a top D3 program capable of running with some D1s. And itās a SUNY honors LAC.
- Williams or Tufts if you could get inā¦
- Haverford. Strong running. Great Coach
- SUNY Stonybrook is D1 and a great school with tougher acceptances for some majors. And youād need to meet D1 cut times. But the cost is so low they can compete for out of state athletes.
More mid-running/target academic schools
- SUNY Oneonta - good program.
- Middlebury - expensive
- Manhattan - D1. gives very large merit.
- Assumption (Mass) - Nice campus Lots of nearby colleges.
- Sacred Heart (CT)
What about St. Bonaventure? Really nice running program.
I wouldnāt call Middlebury a ātargetā academic school for a student with a 3.6 GPA.
If he liked Denison and is considering Wittenberg, how about some of the other schools in the NCAC conference - Kenyon, Oberlin, Wooster, Ohio Wesleyan? I also agree with others who suggested Dickinson and Conn College.
Assuming GPA is unweighted and he does well 32+ the ACT, Conn and Trinity are definitely possibilities in the NESCAC. Ursinus was one of my kidās ālikelyā schools and they have a strong XC/Track program. St. Olaf has a very strong XC team.
From what we saw, some schools bend the rules for recruited athletes.
To clarfy ā they donāt bend the rules; they may admit kids on the lower end of their academic standards, is I think what you meant.
It all depends on how much the coach wants the athlete. Weāve had a couple of nationally ranked T&F kids get into the Ivies with a 3.6.
Right, but thatās not bending ārulesāā¦because there are no ārulesā.
I didnāt mean to imply that - I realize there arenāt any rules. OPās son needs to figure out where he fits in terms of athletics (how competitive is he) as well as academically to find out what schools could be a fit.
@Kef1975 maybe itād be helpful if you gave a sense of your runnerās athletic level- approximate PRs in best events.
We all have different ideas of what a āstrongā distance runner is so zeroing in on the specific athletic profile (approximate enough to protect the athleteās identity) might get you some helpful input.
Worth mentioning that boys can take a pretty significant jump at that age, so the athletic fit might look different in a few months.
Also, I had assumed you were familiar with athletic recruiting and how that works at these schools, but if not feel free to ask questions. The way coaches can support academically-qualified recruits through the admissions process can really scramble the typical safety-reach classifications. Iāve known athletes for whom Cornell and Harvard were safeties and Wisconsin and CU reaches (given the difficulty of making rosters at the latter).
Yes, this is exactly what I said.