This is a situation where times may matter. At a school like Middlebury, he’s going to need more coaches support than a school like Trinity, because Middlebury is very academically selective and while a 3.6 GPA is good, Middlebury’s averages are higher.
2 Likes
Unless you are one of the very top runners, these are probably out of range for a 3.6
I can only tell you about another sport, but very generous with money for kids in that GPA range.
Doable for 3.6
My son really liked the XC coaches at St. Olaf and Macalester, and St. Lawrence.
3 Likes
My son decided not to continue either of his sports, but for some reason, when we visited St. Olaf, he felt like that was the one school where he would like to continue to play. It just seemed like a school that had a very good work/play/sport balance.
1 Like
St Olaf offers a great balance between academics and athletics. An added bonus is the Natural Lands adjacent to campus. It’s a great place to run An outdoor sanctuary in our own backyard – St. Olaf College
2 Likes
Hi, my son has a similar GPA and is also a T&F recruited athlete. Take a look at Centre — that should be a solid academic target.
1 Like
My son’s teammate from high school runs for Macalester. It is a bit far away but it is on our radar.
1 Like
Does anyone in this thread have experience with Bucknell? The Patriot league has similar recruit times as the NESCAC. Bucknell has an ED acceptance rate of 54%.
You don’t have to worry about overall ED acceptance rates if you’re a recruited athlete.
2 Likes
At some schools you do - MIT, Haverford for example. The pre-read says you are qualified, but many many students are qualified. It doesn’t mean they are the most qualified and even if the coach wants the applicant doesn’t mean admissions is going to take that student.
But it might be better information to know how many of the 54% of ED at Bucknell were recruited athletes.
1 Like
Even then the overall ED acceptance rate isn’t applicable to a recruit. For example, people say the MIT coaches tell them that their ED odds are 50/50 as a recruit.
2 Likes
IMHO Macalester is worth traveling for.
But isn’t it relevant that the rate for a recruit is 50/50 but for a non-recruit only 20% (not sure what it is, but seems it would be worth knowing).
For the vast majority of even highly “selective” schools,” the ED acceptance rate for recruits is >95%, and the comparative ED acceptance rate for non-recruits is irrelevant.
MIT is one of the very few outlier cases. Even there, the recruiting coach will tell you what your chances are, and the acceptance rate for non-recruits doesn’t matter.
3 Likes
The conversation after this post went a little sideways, though @YoLo2 has brought it back on track. If you’re trying to use the ED acceptance rate as a proxy for overall selectivity, it’s a really messy measure, because it’s confounded by a bunch of factors (including recruited athletic applicants) - better to look at other data like GPA and test scores, and do some comparisons with other schools you’re looking at. (It looks to have higher standards for admissions than Wittenberg, for example.)
As noted by @YoLo2, with only a couple of prominent exceptions, ED acceptance rates for committed athletes are ~100%, minus strange edge cases (self-inflicted shenanigans, miscommunications, etc.) That’s the deal.
5 Likes
Take a hard look at Dickinson. My child has had a fantastic experience and the new head coach has already produced two All-Americans.
2 Likes
His dream schools are in the NESCAC… Is he looking at Bates and Connecticut College? Both of these NESCAC schools recruit and might be great choices.
1 Like