rowing
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Anonymous
| I see so many posts of kids rowing for colleges. Is rowing easier to get recruited for? Is it too late to start rowing (in 8th grade) for an athletic child who is currently in a different sport? |
Anonymous
Many start 9th |
Anonymous
| Most rowers don't actually start until high school (or late middle school), often through a learn-to-row summer camp. Be forewarned, though, high school rowing can get eye-wateringly expensive. |
Anonymous
| Not too late. Kids at our public get into HYP for rowing, and started in 8th/9th. Being tall helps! |
Anonymous
Interesting. What's so expensive about it? |
Anonymous
| The HYP recruits are 5'8" up as girls (many close to 6'), 6'3" up as guys. |
Anonymous
Read up on it. Clubs, training, regattas, travel, etc. It’s easier for girls to be recruited for college than boys. Mostly because there are fewer girl rowers. For boys, rowing is one of the toughest sports to be recruited for, so don’t think it’s an easy way to get into an Ivy. You need top-notch academics and stats because most rowers come from elite private schools and tend to be highly competitive students. This is not a sport where a 3.7 GPA will get you in. There are plenty of rowers with 4.0 unweighted GPAs and high test scores. Also, a lot of top schools recruit internationally for rowing. Look at any Ivy crew roster, and you’ll see recruits from the UK, Australia, and Eastern Europe. Finally just being athletic in one sport doesn’t mean you’ll do well as a rower. There are specific physical qualities that make some kids great rowers and others wash out, even if they’re strong in other sports. |
Anonymous
| In the past 2-3 years the bulk of their rosters are international recruits, particularly at Yale. It would be reasonable to think way beyond top rowing schools if rowing recruiting is the goal. I live in a rowing-obsessed area and there is one girl going to a top 25 rowing program but the rest of the top recruits are going to schools like San Diego, Rochester, Albany, etc. Look closely at rosters to understand how coaches are recruiting. Many are choosing to fill their programs with girls who are already on their country’s national teams and some have even been to worlds and the Olympics. 5’8” for women rowers these days is on the shorter side, unfortunately. |
Anonymous
Wait - this 5’8”+ (girls) / 6’3”+ (boys) is really unfair! How are colleges getting away with this? |
Anonymous
Being tall helps in a lot of sports... unfortunately! |
Anonymous
Basketball players would like a word |
Anonymous
| For the Mom’s freaking out, our family friend just got recruited D1 crew and she’s about 5’5. |
Anonymous
It's not unfair. That is the body type that tends to do well with crew. There are exceptions, but a long, lean body type lends itself well to crew. Honestly, work ethic has a lot to do with it as well. |
Anonymous
Lots of D1 rowing programs don't need you to be a "recruited athlete" to get you into that D1 school. The thing about rowing is that it's a black/white sport for college recruiting--there's an objective mark that rowers have to meet. Most rowers (both for men and women) have to have erg metrics in line with what the coaches are looking for in a recruit. This is the only way in. Those numbers are available online; just do a search. In terms of international rowing recruits, yes, it's true, lots of rosters have heavy dose of international students. However, some big programs take upwards of 25 rowers each year and not all 25 will be international. It really boils down to where you want to go and how you want to use this as your hook. If you're thinking of an Ivy or Ivy+, it's not as easy of a path as you think. And if you're looking for a rowing scholarship, look elsewhere. Coaches get very little money in mens rowing (women's rowing does better). The distribution of the funds throughout the team sometimes make very little impact to an individual's financial aid package. |
Anonymous
That seems extremely ableist. |