If you go on a recruiting visit to a few ivy league schools, you will see there is a large range of emphasis that is placed on academics both within a team, and from a team to team standpoint. Obviously you should prefer to be on a team where schoolwork is not done.
Since I'm in the southeast I likely won't be able to visit due to my parents not caring about me going to college. I won't need a car to go practices right? Because more than likely I won't get a car when even I'm finished with high school(I have to walk across the highway every morning to school). I would like to get sub 1:45 by 2016 to make the Olympics. I'm only 17 right now though.
Cornell Mid-D wrote:
I graduated a few years ago - but this would be a typical day for me when I was an undergrad at Cornell. I wasn't one of our better runners - just a depth chart type guy. My major was mechanical engineering.
8:30am wake up
8:45am morning run if fall/early winter -otherwise probably sleep later.
9:30 breakfast
10:00-2:00 class
2:00-4:00 getting money (campus job - actually quite lucrative)
4:30 - 7:00 practice - lift afterwards if workout day
7:00-8:00 dinner
8:00-12:00 homework (maybe a bit later if I was doing undergrad research stuff, though more likely than not I would just spend less time on homework)
I had a policy of not doing school work on friday/saturday nights. I was able to stick to this maybe 90% of weekends.
I found the coursework in my major pretty time consuming and challenging - but outrageously educational as well. This being said - many of my teammates were able to get their work done in dramatically less time.
I am currently doing graduate work at a large state university and have many friends at every heps school - from what I've seen there it seems that the difference in lifestyle/workload is much more closely correlated to your field of study than your institution. The lifestyle of a electrical engineering student at Penn is going to be a lot closer to that of an EE student at Florida than that of a history major at Dartmouth.
Drinking and partying seems to largely a matter of the 'culture' of each school's at a particular time. When I arrived at Cornell we had much more of a party atmosphere - as we got better through the years that seemed to die down a great deal but that might be more of a coincidence than anything. From what I've heard Dartmouth has seen similar cultural shifts - but though I know people on that team I am far from an expert so maybe others could weigh in.
I guess to summarize - I think you'll find that Heps teams are extremely similar to those at other top d1 programs. Maybe the academic 'floor' is a bit higher, but that would be a hard thing to quantify. Certainly most top programs these days are affiliated with pretty good universities - though of course there are always going to be virtual community colleges like Stanford or Texas that sneak into the top 10 at NCAAs.
I thought it was a violation to have a job while competing in NCAA athletics. I guess I'm going to get a job as well.
No, it's not a violation to have a job. It's a violation to get special treatment (hours, pay, work, etc.) because you are an athlete, in season or not.
most of the guys who are posting schedules have it right. in the IDEAL situation (this happened maybe 50% of the nights for me) you'll have a schedule like this M-F (-Thursdays if you have an away meet)
730 or 8- wake up and double
9- breakfast or wakeup
10-2 classes + lunch
3-6 practice
6-7(30) dinner
7(30)-10(30) homework
11- bed
because you have so many diverse people at these universities you'll have the opportunity to do dozens of other activities and clubs if you want but i find they mostly detract from what i really wanted out of college (good grades and good running).
weekends are all about self-control. all schools party of course but its up to you to find what limit of alcohol/late night you can handle and still do your best in running and school. for some guys thats 15 beers til 3 AM, some its 5, and others its none at all. when you take your visit you'll hopefully get a good vibe from the guys about whether or not you'd fit well.
my team was about 25-30 guys, all pretty cool (except some english kid) and we had a house to hang out in, watch TV, etc. if you didn't feel like going out.
MJ wrote:
Since I'm in the southeast I likely won't be able to visit due to my parents not caring about me going to college. I won't need a car to go practices right? Because more than likely I won't get a car when even I'm finished with high school(I have to walk across the highway every morning to school). I would like to get sub 1:45 by 2016 to make the Olympics. I'm only 17 right now though.
On the inner city campuses (Columbia, Harvard, Brown, and Penn), you can't really have a car since there is little parking. I know people who tried to have a car, but they always had "fun" trying to find free parking.
I wasn't a distance runner, but I don't think a car is really necessary unless you go to a school that is far away from things (i.e. Cornell and Dartmouth). Even then, I bet your teammates wouldn't mind letting you ride with them OR you could buy a used one from someone who is graduating. I wouldn't sweat the car situation. If transport is needed to get to a practice area, the coach should be able to provide it by renting some school vans.
3 hrs of hw?!?!?
8:30-wake up double
9-eat then decide whether or not to go to class, most guys try and get one class a day
12-wake up for practice
5-dinner
6-contemplate going to night class, then opt out
6-11:30-hang out with the team
11:30-11:40-sparknote
asleep by midnight
If you're going to Princeton, you won't need a car. The campus is really self-contained and there's a train called the Dinky that takes you to the NJ transit station in Princeton Junction. You'll probably want a bike though.
That said - why would you want to go to Princeton if your goal is to make it to the Olympics?
ivy mid-d wrote:
practice starts at 3PM for us. if you need heat/ice/tape/physical therapy before you run, you're coming down to the athletic facilities at 2:30 or so. some guys do hip mobility or other stuff to warm up early. 3 PM coach announces what's going on, we do some dynamic/rope stretching and head out for warmup or pile in the vans if we are going to a hill or our xc course for the workout that day. it takes an unreasonable amount of time to get everyone rounded up most days. 2-3 mile warm up, drills, strides, workout, 2-3 mile cool down. obviously this is longer or shorter depending on the day, and if travel time is involved we are lucky to get back to the track by 5:45 or so. generally the football players clear out and our lift starts at 5:30, or whenever we get back. lift takes 40-45 minutes including core, then we shower, get ice bath/treatment, change and are leaving the track at 7 and hustling to make it before the cafeteria closes. obviously on non-workout days it's much shorter, stretch, an hour to run or so, core, ice bath if you want, and out just after 6.
harvard
MJ wrote:
Since I'm in the southeast I likely won't be able to visit due to my parents not caring about me going to college.
If you want to go to an Ivy, your parents need to start caring about you going to college. There are no athletic scholarships in the Ivy League (financial aid is fantastic though) but even if you qualify for 100% financial aid it's still a ton of forms to fill out and you'll need to provide proof of your parents' income, etc.
MJ wrote:On the inner city campuses (Columbia, Harvard, Brown, and Penn), you can't really have a car since there is little parking. I know people who tried to have a car, but they always had "fun" trying to find free parking.
Not true. I kept a car in the city for several years, but I did spend an inordinate amount of time driving around looking for parking spaces which often resulted in arguments with other desperate drivers.
you know not wrote:
MJ wrote:On the inner city campuses (Columbia, Harvard, Brown, and Penn), you can't really have a car since there is little parking. I know people who tried to have a car, but they always had "fun" trying to find free parking.Not true. I kept a car in the city for several years, but I did spend an inordinate amount of time driving around looking for parking spaces which often resulted in arguments with other desperate drivers.
Hence the quote about my friends having "fun" trying to find parking.
Perspective from someone older and slower than most on this forum: Spend as much time visiting the schools as you can. Then go to the one where you think you'd be happiest, as a person, runner, and student (probably you need to choose for yourself which of those three to prioritize). You're devoting 4 years of your life to this institution, will always identify as an alumnus of same, etc. Make sure they'll be four years you enjoy.
Also, not to be an asshole, and I wish you the best of luck wherever you go, but keep in mind that you might not get into Princeton. They reject plenty of people with your numbers. Just saying.
I find it strange how nobody else finds it skeptical that the OP can drop from 2:01 to 1:53. That's a huge improvement required.
Really??? wrote:
I find it strange how nobody else finds it skeptical that the OP can drop from 2:01 to 1:53. That's a huge improvement required.
That's because this thread isn't "Evaluate my chances of dropping 8 seconds off my 800 time." The OP wants info on balancing school and running at an Ivy League school, not to be told he can't do it.
Also, 1:53 is a VERY strong mark for an Ivy recruit. You could get by with 1:54 or 1:55.
Trustfund.
Or two words, if you're really A-R.
Being an Ivy Leaguer means never having to say you're sorry.
ivy mid-d wrote:
I was recruited at Harvard, Yale, and Princeton, and I run for one of those schools now. I don't want to say which one to avoid this post being traced back to me ....
I guess they teach you how to be real pussies at the Ivy league schools as well.
Really??? wrote:
I find it strange how nobody else finds it skeptical that the OP can drop from 2:01 to 1:53. That's a huge improvement required.
This kid is either wildly unrealistic or a troll- he MIGHT get down that much but lots of people want to, and very few do. As far as I'm concerned this discussion is hypothetical.
I ran at a very academically competitive D III school with a pretty bad team, and our schedule was a lot like the ones described here- we started at 4:30 and people varied in done times between 6 and 7. I was done at like 5:45 most days because I skipped a lot of the "critical non-essentials," usually lifting earlier in the day instead. But my girlfriend swears by a lengthy rolling routine every day, so she'd often get to the dining hall right as it closed. Each to their own.
I think unless you run at a top program that's what you're looking at.
Also, the kid seems worried that he won't be able to balance academics and a three hour time commitment. First I would say that it's not that hard for smart people to get Bs at good schools; choose an easier major and it's very doable. The more pertinent issues are finding focus and self-discipline and deciding your priorities. One of the biggest changes between college and hs was suddenly, I found myself with abundant free time.
Of course, until you produce the 1:5x, this is all academic.