Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I mentioned my DD being interested in a school for D1 track and people have commented how bad their team is (in terms of winning, not the people or coach). I am confused as to why that matters. My kid likes the school, the people are great, she's not ever going "pro" (and there isn't even really any pro in track). So why not join a team, despite its losing record, if you like the college (passes "broken leg test") and the people? Is there a consideration I'm missing/not thinking about?

The big hiccup would be if the coach gets fired while your DD is being recruited. There is no guarantee that a new coach would honor commitments

Anonymous wrote:I mentioned my DD being interested in a school for D1 track and people have commented how bad their team is (in terms of winning, not the people or coach). I am confused as to why that matters. My kid likes the school, the people are great, she's not ever going "pro" (and there isn't even really any pro in track). So why not join a team, despite its losing record, if you like the college (passes "broken leg test") and the people? Is there a consideration I'm missing/not thinking about?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The difficulty with high-academic options is that they tend to prefer using most of their admissions help on mid and long distance runners who also run XC. Other teams, like football, will often help provide sprinters for the track team.

So i have a freshman in college - engineering major - who faced a similar dilemma. Was a very strong student in high school and ran competitive track and xc for 4 years. His best times were in mid distance where he ran at both regionals and states as well as invitationals.

He was getting recruitment letters from D3 schools. But as someone interested in engineering, he didn't want to go a D3 school. No matter what anyone says, liberal arts schools are not competing with Michigan, Cornell, Berkeley, Rice, Duke, Georgia Tech, Northwestern, Texas etc when it comes to engineering. For those schools his times in his most competitive events were at the "walk-on" level - not the "recruitment" level.

So he focused on the very good D1 school he wanted go to. Got in during the ED round. Spent the summer training. And when he arrived at college, he reached out to the track coach. The were no roster spots at all for his distance. This is D1. There are fifth and sixth year students running. And there are very few 18 year olds who are going to be competitive with 22/23 year old runners. But given his abilities, he was given a training regimen and put on a squad with other competitive freshman and team runners coming back from physical therapy. He needs to bring his time down by a few seconds.

So it's worked out so far. He gets to go to the engineering program he really wanted to. And he trains and becomes familiar with what it takes to run at the D1 level. And hopefully he joins the formal team next year.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DD did it in her late junior year but started the sport as a sophomore. Had she started earlier she would have hit the times earlier.

Not necessarily, and it’s a little silly to say that. We have juniors and seniors that hit top times in their first year on the team.

Anonymous wrote:My DD did it in her late junior year but started the sport as a sophomore. Had she started earlier she would have hit the times earlier.

Anonymous wrote:This post makes me realize that my HS sophomore should not aim to make the track team in college and just do club. Sounds like running for the school (being a D1 athlete) and majoring in electrical engineering would be too much for her. Does anyone know, do you you have to try out for club teams or can you just join because you want to?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The difficulty with high-academic options is that they tend to prefer using most of their admissions help on mid and long distance runners who also run XC. Other teams, like football, will often help provide sprinters for the track team.

So i have a freshman in college - engineering major - who faced a similar dilemma. Was a very strong student in high school and ran competitive track and xc for 4 years. His best times were in mid distance where he ran at both regionals and states as well as invitationals.

He was getting recruitment letters from D3 schools. But as someone interested in engineering, he didn't want to go a D3 school. No matter what anyone says, liberal arts schools are not competing with Michigan, Cornell, Berkeley, Rice, Duke, Georgia Tech, Northwestern, Texas etc when it comes to engineering. For those schools his times in his most competitive events were at the "walk-on" level - not the "recruitment" level.

So he focused on the very good D1 school he wanted go to. Got in during the ED round. Spent the summer training. And when he arrived at college, he reached out to the track coach. The were no roster spots at all for his distance. This is D1. There are fifth and sixth year students running. And there are very few 18 year olds who are going to be competitive with 22/23 year old runners. But given his abilities, he was given a training regimen and put on a squad with other competitive freshman and team runners coming back from physical therapy. He needs to bring his time down by a few seconds.

So it's worked out so far. He gets to go to the engineering program he really wanted to. And he trains and becomes familiar with what it takes to run at the D1 level. And hopefully he joins the formal team next year.

May I ask, what is wrong with being on the walk on level? Sure you don't get a scholarship but you make the team and get all the perks and responsibilities that come with that, correct? My kid (not OP) isn't looking for money but just wants to run, but at a school with engineering like OP's kid. My kid would like to do computer science which falls under engineering in many schools. If it seems that would be too demanding with a sport, they'd would be open to majoring in math to avoid the lab aspects that make playing a sport and engineering hard.

I'm really happy it worked out for your son but isn't what he is doing essentially walk on level or is it try-out level? My limited understanding is walk-on is a guaranteed spot with no money. Try out is you essentially trying out to see if you make the team. In both instances, (walk-on and try-out) you could get a scholarship later (D1_ but it's unlikely.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The difficulty with high-academic options is that they tend to prefer using most of their admissions help on mid and long distance runners who also run XC. Other teams, like football, will often help provide sprinters for the track team.

So i have a freshman in college - engineering major - who faced a similar dilemma. Was a very strong student in high school and ran competitive track and xc for 4 years. His best times were in mid distance where he ran at both regionals and states as well as invitationals.

He was getting recruitment letters from D3 schools. But as someone interested in engineering, he didn't want to go a D3 school. No matter what anyone says, liberal arts schools are not competing with Michigan, Cornell, Berkeley, Rice, Duke, Georgia Tech, Northwestern, Texas etc when it comes to engineering. For those schools his times in his most competitive events were at the "walk-on" level - not the "recruitment" level.

So he focused on the very good D1 school he wanted go to. Got in during the ED round. Spent the summer training. And when he arrived at college, he reached out to the track coach. The were no roster spots at all for his distance. This is D1. There are fifth and sixth year students running. And there are very few 18 year olds who are going to be competitive with 22/23 year old runners. But given his abilities, he was given a training regimen and put on a squad with other competitive freshman and team runners coming back from physical therapy. He needs to bring his time down by a few seconds.

So it's worked out so far. He gets to go to the engineering program he really wanted to. And he trains and becomes familiar with what it takes to run at the D1 level. And hopefully he joins the formal team next year.