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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