I would fall dead middle. I know a handfull of people that are propably doing worse and a handfull of people that are taking senior level classes so they are light years ahead.
So 1500+ and 3.5+ Unweighted should be goal? My schools median is up there at a 1440 so Im fine to grind. My GPA was so low this year because I Cruised by, Got a couple As but got a B- so that screwer me up from having a 3.5+
My school atleast from what Ive seen doesnt really do the PSAT and just jumps straight to the SAT. Should I do the same?
Also Say I do hit my goals of 40+ Feet in shot next year and 120-130 in Disc, should I contact coaches early or wait till Junior indoor season to contact them.
What does this mean? Does your school not offer the PSAT NMSQT? If you are low income and have high financial need, you should find a way to take that test in the fall of your junior year. Talk with your HS counselor about options.
I would say Im low income for my state and where i live( Boston, MA) but income is considered middle class. And because my school is 60k+ a year I havent seen or heard the PSAT mentioned by alot of students. They could take it but for juniors this year I know my school just adminstred AP test and the SAT. from what I heard
I know my GPA is low but many students dont do any APS untill junior year, so when comparing my rigor to my schools profile it will most likely look average to slightly above average unless I do dual enrollment classes or something.
So youâd be receiving need based financial aid. This actually would make your chances worse at the need aware NESCAC schools. And wonât affect your chances one way or another at the need blind schools.
Trying to base a candidateâs chances of admission based on their financial need is a foolâs errand in the sense that need-blind colleges are usually harder to get into overall than need-aware colleges, sometimes by a factor of 2x. Stands to reason since people tend to follow the money trail.
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Think we're overindexing on the National numbers here a bit.
You'd have needed 44'5" and 133'5" to score at NESCACs this year, and 46'1" and 145'1" at NE DIII, which are the more relevant numbers. Adjusting for weights (e.g. 12 vs. 16lb shot), you'd have needed 44 and 114 to score at ISL and 45'1" and 128'1" for NEPSTA D1 (not clear what school you go to ).
So for sophomore year performance targets, youâd want to at least get all-ISL to get on radars from a sports standpoint. The good news for you is that only one 10th-grader scored, with three rising seniors coming back. The best 9th grader PRâd at 39â9" for 11th, with the next best at 19th who has a 36â10"PR (but you probably already know all this). To your point, there is an advantage to going to a school where these coaches recruit, so good performances and improvement that shows a good trajectory will get their attention. Also, Sophomore year is a far less grueling year to lean in on improvement in sports performance than Junior year, which is brutal academically at all of the New England Preps. Thereâs just not enough time.
Thatâs the easy part.
As others have said, schools vary greatly on how rigid they are about academic standards for recruiting purposes. Not everyone requires all Aâs and a 1520 to be considered, but some do. You have to demonstrate that you can excel academically at their school, or its a non-starter. Wonât pass the admissions pre-screen. Do your best to show positive improvement academically and prep as best as possible for the tests, especially the PSAT which you should definitely take.
I love the fact that youâre thinking about this at this stage, but give yourself some latitude. Focus on academic and athletic performance first, and the schools that make sense will be self-evident. All of those schools provide a pathway to finance; and thereâs no guarantee that youâll still want to do finance later on down the line, by the way.
Final sports point: Great that you feel like Shot is your better event, but it matters a lot if you can contribute to two events at NESCACs. Coaches are all about the points!
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Sorry, one last point that popped into my head.
There are a lot of great clubs in your area that you can participate in for the AAU/USATF stretch in the summer. That season pretty much starts as ISL season finishes, so more time to train and perform outside of school. AAU regionals were just last week and USATF are next. Gives you more opportunities to put up marks, especially before Junior year. New England Elite, Metro Cobras, Cambridge Jets, Waltham Track are a few names to consider.
thanks
All these clubs do throwing? Would be too late to sign up now and Im wrestling so after january my weekends are kinda locked up
Iâm looking at the NE USATF Junior Olympic results and BAA Masconomet seems to have the most. Waltham Track as well.
I would be inclined to wait until the summer after your sophomore year. At that point, you can reach out to coaches with your distances, two years of GPA and scores (PSATs or SATs) and ask what coaches will be looking for in your junior year to be on their recruiting radar. Track does not recruit as early as many other sports, since the top track athletes are improving rapidly between sophomore year and junior year.
In the meantime, you can 1) work hard and enjoy the process. You have to really love a sport to do it in college; 2) talk to juniors and seniors in your school and find out what they are thinking and experiencing. Everyoneâs path will be different, but you can still learn. Most athletes keep things a little close until they make their final decision, but then they are usually willing to talk about their process; 3) since you are in the Boston area, you can casually go on tours of one or more colleges. You donât need to reach out to the coaches to do this. Just see what different colleges feel like.
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I might be alone in this thinking, but it may be worth it for you to take the ACT and SAT now, if you can. JUST for baseline purposes. My D took it her sophomore year, just see where she was, and she didnât have all of the math required at that point. She was pleasantly surprised and it really reduced her stress and motivated her to get her score up because she knew she was starting at a good point/score, and she knew she had plenty of time. Also, you can determine early which test/format is better for you, ACT or SAT and just focus on prep for that particular test/subject area.
D did this so she had a baseline, but also so she could tell coaches, when she was reaching out, what her baseline test score was. They were very pleased sheâd started taking it already and had a decent starting score. Even though my older two didnât go through the recruiting process, if I had known then what I know now, I would definitely have recommended they start taking the tests sophomore year.
I will bring it up to my advisor for next school year. I will only be in chemistry and algebra 2 after next year so I think I will have covered a decent amount of what will be on both test but if I did do this option I might study for a couple hours to days before hand to brush up on topics.
Yes, D did âprepâ lightly before she took it for the first time- probably a total of a few hours, spread out over a few weeks. I canât speak to your counselor/school, however, D went to a large, highly ranked high school and her counselor/advisor knew shockingly little about the recruiting process (and a fair number of athletes at her school go D1 and high academic D3), and likely if sheâd asked, he would have told her to wait until junior year. None of this was done in coordination with the school/advisor, she pursued this outside of school, on her own and in coordination with our independent research.
Honestly over next year I would focus on doing your absolute best to improve both athletically and academically â then you have more information to make an assessment.
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Great advice so far. Iâd focus on doing as well as you can (on both academics and athletics) over the next year and see where you are at that point.
Honestly, throwers can develop so much physically at your age that 9th grade marks arenât very predictive. Work on the technical changes you mentioned for sure, but itâs going to be physical development that drives most of your improvement. You need to do the necessary work for that in the weight room, but how your body responds (and when) can be unpredictable. So you just need to do the training and see how it goes.
One thing Iâve noticed about the track athletes I know who ended up recruited athletes is that: 1-they enjoyed the sport and seeing how good they could be, and 2- they were largely focused on improving and competing throughout HS, more concerned with what it would take to get on the state meet podium than a spot at Amherst. So Iâd encourage you to enjoy the journey and keep everything in perspective at this point (not suggesting youâre not doing that, just that itâs a risk).
Thereâs good advice here on the academic side of things, and youâre wise to organize the testing, etc., just in case recruiting does become an issue.
Good luck!