Any Wartburg alums/runners here?

I ran for Simpson so am an IIAC fan. The IIAC is an awesome conference and Wartburg seems like the next big team after loras graduates everyone.

Not very sportsmanlike, bad academics, Waverly sucks. Harass Dairy Queen workers.

Dontgo wrote:

Not very sportsmanlike, bad academics, Waverly sucks. Harass Dairy Queen workers.

+1

I disagree with the claim there are bad academics, you can get solid education at Wartburg. The school has a lot of money and like the OP said the facilities are pretty nice. Plus a lot of your college education is dependent on your effort and the work you put in. Waverly is a very small town, though, so that's your call. Some people like that, some don't.

Dontgo wrote:

Not very sportsmanlike, bad academics, Waverly sucks. Harass Dairy Queen workers.

pretty white and humble 'round there

eaglerunnr18 wrote:

So I've recently started thinking about running and studying at Wartburg next year. Their facilities are better than the d1 schools I've checked out and I really like their coach. The team is very solid and they have a couple freshmen that choose to go there over d1 schools, which says a lot to me. Anybody have any additional info? I'm undecided on major, so I'm really just looking for info regarding the distance running there. Culture, running surface, coaching, etc.

in Iowa, definitely go to Grinnell instead; in the region, go to Carleton. I love Iowa but Wartburg... no.

I don't know much about Wartburg or Waverly. Both are small and if you like that and don't mind being in the middle of Iowa Wartburg would be a good fit.

I met their new coach last year briefly and thought highly of him. I did a little research on him and was actually surprised he is not at a bigger program. Today I spent a few minutes talking to him and came away more impressed with him.

As a parent I'd have no issues at all with him as my kids coach. I think he has had a pretty good track record of developing runners and seems very personable.

I coach against Wartburg Their kids seem pretty kind...haven't seen anything unsportsmanlike. They're definitely rolling under Coach Chapman.

Wartburg Track & Field

WTF

Your impressions are right on. The facilities at Wartburg are among the best I've seen at any level. Academically they're strong enough, among the top 100 liberal arts colleges, and seem have a lot of options. In track/xc they're one of the more storied programs in Division III and Coach Chapman looks to be taking the distance side to the next level. The recruiting class this past year was outstanding and the team is competing well. The program is great so it will probably come down to whether the town is a good fit for you. I'd say schedule a visit and see for yourself.

They have a great indoor track, an on-site XC course and a nice outdoor track. Campus seemed nice enough.

I can't speak to the school's academics though.

Waverly IA is in the middle of nowhere, and you'll have to be OK with that. Des Moines is about 2.5 hours away and Minneapolis is 3 hours away. You really need to research and talk to current students about their internship opportunities. Internships are what get you a good first job out of school, not what you learned in Marketing 302. If the school doesn't have a good enough program to get students internships, then find another school.

To be perfectly honest though, don't put running first. Running shouldn't be in your top 5 criteria for finding a school, unless you're getting a scholarship (which you aren't going DIII). Internship Availability, Academics, Campus/Location, Student Life (commuter school vs traditional school), and overall cost should all come before you go to a college just to run.

This is coming from someone who went to a small DIII school and half chose it because they wanted to run on the team. Turned out 2 years into it that I would have been better off at a bigger school running on a club team. Not saying my experience was bad, just that I found that running isn't an end all to life and that spending $120k for 4 years so I could run on a team vs $60k at a state school.... I would have rather had that $60k back in my pocket.

To say Waverly is in the middle of nowhere is a bit misleading...Cedar Falls and UNI are 15 miles away...Waterloo and John Deere internships are 20 miles away. There are 4 hospitals within 30 minutes. CUNA in town interns a ton of students, plus Dubuque, Cedar Rapids, Iowa City, Rochester and Des Moines house a ton of Wartburg interns. On top of that, Wartburg has a campus in Denver, CO for additional internship opportunities. Plenty of quality lib arts schools are in FAR more isolated locations. Visit the school. See what you think. I'm originally from Minneapolis and loved my time at Wartburg! Studied biology and am now an OT. Plus, the running there is awesome! There are a ton of advantages training away from a big city, like dirt roads and no stop-start runs.

AddedinsightMN wrote:

To say Waverly is in the middle of nowhere is a bit misleading...Cedar Falls and UNI are 15 miles away...Waterloo and John Deere internships are 20 miles away. There are 4 hospitals within 30 minutes. CUNA in town interns a ton of students, plus Dubuque, Cedar Rapids, Iowa City, Rochester and Des Moines house a ton of Wartburg interns. On top of that, Wartburg has a campus in Denver, CO for additional internship opportunities. Plenty of quality lib arts schools are in FAR more isolated locations. Visit the school. See what you think. I'm originally from Minneapolis and loved my time at Wartburg! Studied biology and am now an OT. Plus, the running there is awesome! There are a ton of advantages training away from a big city, like dirt roads and no stop-start runs.

I went to Augustana in the Quad Cities (IL/IA border) . Been to Wartburg a number of times.

The biggest concern is the number of internships and the quality of the internships. I interned at Deere my Jr and Sr year. My 1st job out of college was working for one of their competitors, making good money in the field I wanted, 2 weeks after graduation. I actually had 3 different job offers within a week or so of each other, because of that internship. I had accounting friends who interned at KPMG and Deloitte, based on my school's partnership with the companies and upon graduation the got full-time offers there.

I also had friends who interned at small businesses in the Quad Cities end up with nothing for months after graduation and a few ended up even having to do call-center "sales" work before they got a real job they wanted.

Also, small towns like Waverly aren't going to be able to offer a lot of "work-study" type internships where you have your internship at the same time as you're taking classes. For example, I set my schedule where MWF was class and Tu/Th I'd go work at Deere for 8 hours. Or I had a friend who would work 8-Noon MWF then afternoon classes. Places like Iowa City and Des Moines are fine for summer internships, but they don't do much for finding things during the school year.