COLLEGE CHOICE--Need advice please!!

send_szn wrote:

I'm a senior with PRs of 9:12 and 4:16 for 3200 and 1600m, good placement in championship races, and significant and consistent improvement. I intend to study biomedical engineering on a premed track.

Have any opinions of my options? (Athletically foremost, but maybe academically, $ aside):

Arizona State, Boston University, Harvard, CU Boulder, MA Institute of Tech, UC-San Diego, UTexas-Austin, and Virginia

Thank you!

Why UCSD? There are literally at least 5 schools better both athletically and academically in the same state.

I'd say Boulder, UVA, and Texas should be your top options based on what you said about athletics though I would go to MIT personally if I felt up to it and like STEM or economics. MIT has a pretty good D3 team. Boulder has Mark Wetmore so that should be your top athletic option and its academics are solid too.

send_szn wrote:

I'm a senior with PRs of 9:12 and 4:16 for 3200 and 1600m, good placement in championship races, and significant and consistent improvement. I intend to study biomedical engineering on a premed track.

Have any opinions of my options? (Athletically foremost, but maybe academically, $ aside):

Arizona State, Boston University, Harvard, CU Boulder, MA Institute of Tech, UC-San Diego, UTexas-Austin, and Virginia

Thank you!

Arizona State? What?

If you can get into MIT or Harvard, absolutely go there. UT or UVa, depends on what they offer you - not sure that out of state is worth it, especially if you can get into an elite D3 engineering school (CMU, Emory, WashU, etc.) instead.

Are any of these schools offering you scholarship?

Have all of these places communicated you have a place on the team?

Colorado is easily the best program on this list if you want to run fast.

Arizona State is horrid.

You sure there aren't better mid major opportunities out there where you'd get scholarship??

As someone who did the wrong thing a couple decades ago, I'd recommend prioritizing academics over athletics. If you can get in to Harvard or MIT absolutely go. Those places open doors you don't even have access to coming from even other top schools. You can run wherever you go.

As someone else mentioned, a place like WashU would be a good option as well. Great academics (with one of the top medical schools in the country down the street), and the team is good. Coach there is an Al Carius protege (North Central), so the esprit de corps is probably awesome and better than perhaps many D1 schools where athletics is a business.

If you get an acceptance to MIT or Harvard decide btw the two. Drop UVA and replace it with Virginia Tech better runnin, coaching and engineering. CU is a big question. Are you a recruit then keep it on your list. UT-too freakin hot. UC and ASU no, just no.

Harvard/MIT - both equal

UVA

BU

All others are okay, but focus on academics, athletics is one thing but academics is waayyy more important because your chances of going pro are low

As disparate as this list is, it is hard to imagine you couldn't narrow the list down a bit in your own. Are there extenuating circumstances you aren't relaying? Otherwise it is hard to imagine how a few of these schools could possibly be on the same list.

send_szn wrote:

I intend to study biomedical engineering on a premed track.

Studying while running? I've never run on a premed track before. Not smart enough, I guess.

Did you get into all of those places? Being a senior you should have heard back from all of them by now.

You have some great athletic programs mixed in with great academic programs here lol. The school in this list with the best combination of the two is probably Virginia, followed by Boston. CU Boulder is athletically driven, but you don't go to that school for academics. obviously, Harvard and MIT are big academically but their athletic programs are disappointing. If all you care about is competing (which I do not fully recommend) then chase CU Boulder as much as possible. But Virginia and Boston will provide you with higher academic accomplishment. Either way if you graduate it's big. It just depends what you want to study and what your bigger picture is

I suspect troll. Almost every university has their decision deadline set to May 1st. That means this kid has less than 3 weeks to choose a school and he has yet to narrow down a list of 8.

Also, what sort of kid would be torn between Harvard and UC-San Diego?

Sadly, this is probably true. San Diego is included because it has a fairly reputable bio-engineering program.

I would add Penn University. On the athletic side, the mid-d team is solid and State College is a great place to train. Academically, it might not by Harvard, but it's still an Ivy and well respected by any med school admissions committee.

Washington University in St Louis?

My son signed with our power five state school yesterday. He was accepted into 2 ivy league schools and probably could have gone almost anywhere. His times are similar to the OP. We would have had to pay full fare which we calculated would end up being close to $300k due to the rapidly increasing tuition. We will pay a minimal amount instead and he is close to home so we will get to see some track meets and a local xc meet. Those things matter to some athletes. I don’t know why everyone here is so quick to make recommendations without regard for the price. It is typical of our current society. We calculated that it would have taken a working lifetime to overcome that investment. Instead, we told him that we will purchase a residence for him so he will start life out debt free.

All very good points! OP, maybe I missed it, but I don't recall seeing your academic qualifications. Schools such as UVA would require you to be admissible before they start talking $$. In the case of Harvard, I was told by a coach on their staff this past summer that they not only don't have athletic schollys in the Ivy League, but they don't give out academic money as well. They do provide some need based aid, however.

running commenter wrote:

send_szn wrote:

I'm a senior with PRs of 9:12 and 4:16 for 3200 and 1600m, good placement in championship races, and significant and consistent improvement. I intend to study biomedical engineering on a premed track.

Have any opinions of my options? (Athletically foremost, but maybe academically, $ aside):

Arizona State, Boston University, Harvard, CU Boulder, MA Institute of Tech, UC-San Diego, UTexas-Austin, and Virginia

Thank you!

Why UCSD? There are literally at least 5 schools better both athletically and academically in the same state.

Because San Diego. Every been there broseph?

Well here is a perfect example of how Ivy's work. You make too much so your kid goes to a state school and other kids go for free or at a reduced tuition. Judging by your post something seems off. No athletic scholarships at the Ivies but very few pay full tuition. Doesn't sound like you did your homework or that the coaches were too interested in your kid.

https://college.harvard.edu/financial-aid/how-aid-works