I do think he’d definitely prefer high academic D3 at this point over a lower academic D1 (he’s had outreach from coaches at IU Indy and similar schools). But if he had the opportunity to go to a high academic D1, that is where I am not sure the best path at this point. Frankly, he might have a better shot of getting in at a school where the coach has more pull–he has a great, but not perfect, academic record and testing. I know some high academic D3 coaches have more of a say in admissions than others.
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You don’t have to decide this now!
Cast a wide net, keep all options that are even remotely appealing open, and later on you can figure out if Stanford or Williams will be a better fit :-). You aren’t at that point yet.
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Among STEM majors, engineering majors often have the highest volume of major requirements (including time consuming labs and design courses) that can make scheduling with NCAA D1 athletic training and competitions more difficult. But they may also be less common at the smaller NCAA D3 schools.
Music courses with performance may also be time consuming.
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We were there. Daughter now runs XC/track at a NESCAC, but we had plenty of conversations with mid-majors, other D1s. I have lots of thoughts, but maybe best to answer specific questions through private message. You can search my username to see prior posts on the topic or reach out and I’ll help in any way I can.
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I’d suggest perhaps avoiding the D1 vs D3 lens altogether for now. I just don’t find it a very helpful way to view these various programs or schools.
There are a lot more similarities between the student athlete experience at Dartmouth and Williams, for example, than between Dartmouth and Florida (D1s) on the one hand or Williams and NYU (D3s) on the other.
I’d just focus instead on schools where the academic offerings and experience are what he’s after, and then sort them a bit with an eye toward athletic fit.
The recruiting process is actually pretty efficient at communicating athletic fit to recruits. If he reaches out repeatedly to Ivies with no response then that’s not the right athletic fit for him.
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Meant to mention this above, sorry:
I think you know this but it’s worth mentioning to help with focus.
The priority at this point and heading into the summer is getting going with the selective schools where coaches can help with admissions support.
Those decisions will be made by early fall or earlier at most of these schools and once the ED deadline comes a lot of those options (for support) will be off the table. The process is going on now and into the summer.
Then he can expand the list when he has more time this summer. If he wants to start blasting out emails to B1G programs, state directionals, less selective LACs, or whatever, he can do it then.
That can include thinking about backup plans. Is that applying widely with the state flagship and running club as a backup or?
He should have a good sense by late summer of his prospects at the selective schools and can adapt.
Sequencing that way might feel less overwhelming to him, because the list of selective schools that’d be fits is somewhat finite.
If it helps, if this comes down to just applying widely in RD he’ll still have running options (just maybe not at his first choice schools).
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This is reassuring. He does have a very good match academically where he’d get a solid running experience (though maybe not many teammates to push him) who I think would be happy to have him in RD. I am really hoping he can find a good athletic and academic match and get it all figured by ED time. He is doing some exploration over the summer and in his fall courses to help him better narrow down his academic interests. If he ends up picking engineering, the funnel of schools in all divisions under consideration narrows considerably.
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In addition to the great timeline information provided by @politeperson above, I’ll add that most high academic schools will want to do an academic pre read for you son. The process is slightly different at each school and some conferences like NESCAC have very defined rules and timelines. Some of this may occur over the summer, so you should try to get a copy of your son’s transcript before the school office closes for the summer.
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I knew about pre-reads but this makes me remember that last year I couldn’t get an official transcript from the spring until August after they had processed summer school grades and redid the class ranks. I am going to ask right now what the situation is for transcripts this year! Hopefully something with the grades will work even if everything else hasn’t been run yet!
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You probably won’t need an official transcript, screen shots/copies printed out from whatever platform your HS uses should suffice (e.g., naviance/scoir/maia learning.)
NESCAC schools (and Ivies) can start pre-reads July 1, many coaches will ask their top recruits for materials including transcripts, school profile, senior year classes, and test scores in June. Plenty of non-NESCAC D3s are doing pre-reads now, but I don’t want to scare you…track and field recruiting is often delayed until the end of junior spring season.
Your S can and should ask the coaches he is engaged with about their process and timeline for decision making.
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To me, this is screaming D3, not D1 commitment!
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Different sport, but for D26, the one NESCAC school she was talking to requested pre read materials in June. Admissions did their pre read July 1, and offer came later that day. Coach gave a 1 month window to accept.
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Just a quick update to this conversation! The get-to-know-you phone calls and conversations about prereads have started in earnest. I managed to help him make a more functional spreadsheet (with next steps, color coding, a date of last contact, and a “work on next” check box). Looking at it regularly has helped him stay on top of conversations and figure out who needs an update from him (and what they need an update on). He is still a bit reluctant to reach out to new schools, but he has been able to add a few that I think might be really good academic/athletic/cultural fits. Now that school is almost out and his workload will be less for at least two weeks here, I am going to try to encourage him to send one more round of emails to schools that might be more reach-y. I was also very happy to see that he has finally taken a few schools OFF the list now that he is getting such a robust list of contacts. Progress!
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Thanks for updating. It’s great that he’s getting some engagement from schools of interest. And even better that he/you are making sure to maintain those connections as appropriate. Sounds like a good, organized process.
I wouldn’t worry too much if he isn’t able to add much to the recruiting workload over the next few weeks. If he’s in the midst of championship season, that can take a lot of attention and he obviously needs to prioritize mental and physical preparation for that in the very short term. If it helps, D1 coaches are now either recovering from their own conference meets or getting ready for regionals and then nationals over the next several weeks. So their attention might be split also.
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It may depend on the school or the coach. My daughter was at a STEM school so of course most of the athletes were STEM students. The school made it as easy as they could (all math tests on Thurs nights so coaches knew not to schedule games on those nights; many of the Friday quizzes were available for athletes at 8 am so they could then leave and travel for the weekend, etc).
Not all schools in D1 are super good academically or academically, even in the same league or conference. Not all schools in the NESCAC are going to be similar academically in every major, and of course they aren’t all the same in all sports. It’s very possible for an athlete to love Colby for his sport but prefer Middlebury for languages. A choice must be made. On the other hand, the student can find a good mix of academics and athletics at Tufts, especially if he wants a school that is a little bit larger.
My daughter was recruited at D1, D2 and D3 schools. She really didn’t like LACs, so was happier at D2 (STEM) schools than D3. The D1 schools that were recruiting her were smaller than UF or Ohio State. For her, it worked out to be at a D2 because, as I said, many of her teammates were also in STEM so they had similar study requirements, she played almost every minute of every game (important to her), the coach did not ‘own’ them (she was in a sorority, several engineering clubs, got enough athletic money that she didn’t have to work).
Have your sovn pick the style and size of the school he wants, and then find a track program he likes and will fit into. If it is Patriot league, see what a few different schools (he likes) offer. Worry about the D1 v D2 v D3 later.
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Thanks so much for your family’s perspective. Right now I think he is drawn most strongly to the medium-ish sized schools but doesn’t seem to have a strong preference for urban, suburban or rural–he has liked schools so far in each of those categories. I think one of the areas of tension right now is not exactly knowing if he is set on engineering yet. If he goes that way, there are a subset of the schools he is looking at that will rise to the top, I think, as many of the LACs he is considering don’t have that as an option. One thing I need to get him to look at are gen. ed requirements because based on his reaction to one place we looked at (U Chicago), I suspect that he might have strong feelings about the programs at some of the schools.
This is really helpful to know. I don’t think any of the places he is currently looking at have explicitly said “don’t be a STEM major” (and we’ve done some asking) but there are definitely some schools where science majors have a much bigger presence on the teams than others.
I was watching a Colo School of Mines v South Dakota Sch of Mines football game and the announcer said “There is a lot of brain power on that field” as almost every player was a STEM major, with most in engineering.
My daughter’s STEM school was a good choice for her as if she had decided to switch out of engineering she would have gone to math or chemistry and never into something like English or history. The STEM schools can have limited offerings in the arts or humanities.
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Engineering school vs engineering school does mean most of the people on the field are engineers.
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My kids and their former teammates didn’t have any trouble combining STEM, including the E part, with running in college. Obviously, engineering requires a bit more planning due to the sequencing. And any major with labs is going to be a bit more challenging in terms of logistics than, say, Econ. But very possible and common.
Distance runners have a bit more flexibility to adapt workout scheduling than those in team sports. And the competition schedule, while challenging, does have enough gaps to make things workable. Just as an example, college XC men don’t compete every weekend in the fall the way HS boys might. Races are 8k or 10k. So, for the most part top runners are doing a big invite, conference meet, regional, and nationals if they make it. Maybe one other meet in addition. Everyone doesn’t compete in every meet on the schedule
If mid-sized schools with engineering are becoming more interesting and he’s looking for more to explore, he might want to look at some of the WCC schools like Gonzaga, Portland, Santa Clara. Those are distance-oriented programs. If looking for ways to cast the net wider, might be worth a look in addition to the usual suspects that I assume he’s already on top of.
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Thanks, I will pass those names along! It seems like those schools would be good matches to several of his criteria and all seem to have credible music options too. It will be interesting to see if what he is looking for changes going forward - he has a senior teammate this year who was recruited very late in senior year to a Power 4 program who was essentially running the same times this year that he was. I realize late recruiting probably has very different criteria than early recruiting (and I still don’t think he wants to go that particular route) but I’d imagine it is going to put some ideas in his head. 
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