ploy to get you in
then you'll stay for chicken feed
find a place you really want to be
go there !!!!!!
best recipe for a great college track experience
money is nice , but if you want to be your best, run for a program you love in spite of the money
Total sales pitch, the coach is just trying to get you on campus (coaches have to do this due to the few scholarships they have). If you have offers elsewhere that have the academic program you want, then take them. Very rarely do coaches put people on scholarship after the first year. I was a state champion in high school and went to a private college with a middle tier Division 1 program my freshman year hoping to get athletic money on top of the academic money I was already getting even though I had a full academic scholarship offer from the state college. I ran faster than most of the scholarship athletes on the team so I should have earned an athletic scholarship. They changed coaches and brought in five foreign athletes the next year, so I got no athletic money offered to me. I transferred to the state school (none of the academic money I was originally offered even thought I was on the Dean's List both semesters at a more rigorous academic program since I was a transfer) which was a top tier track program with 4 all americans and one national champion in the event I ran and finished up there as relay fodder. It was still a great experience to run in college and I exacted some measure of revenge by beating some of the recruits they brought in when we faced them down the road, but it would have been nice to have gotten some of that money back.
joedirt wrote:
Total sales pitch, the coach is just trying to get you on campus (coaches have to do this due to the few scholarships they have). If you have offers elsewhere that have the academic program you want, then take them. Very rarely do coaches put people on scholarship after the first year. I was a state champion in high school and went to a private college with a middle tier Division 1 program my freshman year hoping to get athletic money on top of the academic money I was already getting even though I had a full academic scholarship offer from the state college. I ran faster than most of the scholarship athletes on the team so I should have earned an athletic scholarship. They changed coaches and brought in five foreign athletes the next year, so I got no athletic money offered to me. I transferred to the state school (none of the academic money I was originally offered even thought I was on the Dean's List both semesters at a more rigorous academic program since I was a transfer) which was a top tier track program with 4 all americans and one national champion in the event I ran and finished up there as relay fodder. It was still a great experience to run in college and I exacted some measure of revenge by beating some of the recruits they brought in when we faced them down the road, but it would have been nice to have gotten some of that money back.
I am a high school junior and appreciate all these informative posts. I am trying to learn from all of them. From what I'm gathering athletic money is more available if you sign in the fall but I know that lots of academic scholarships are given out in the spring.
What I am about the write will be tough to read.....especially for someone of your generation. But, what if they don't want you or need another 300 hurdler who may or may not transition up to the 400 hurdles?
Move on.....if you are smart you aren't stuck on one school. Get out of Maryland, it is a dump....I only assume you visited a MD school.
Colleges only have @12 scholarships for @23 events to be spread out over 4 to 5 years. Because of this you are competing for 12 scholarships spread between @ 100 to 150 athletes. That is why we have student athletes who have to have well to do parents to pay the bill for school or attain academic scholarships to pay most of the bill. If you need help with admissions let the coaches know. Also contating the assistants may be the way to go as they are in charge of most of the recruiting and admissions anyway.
sprinter2017 wrote:
I am confused. Went on official track visit for D1 mid level school. Was told I am a top pick but tbey dont have scholarship money now for hurdlers amd sprinters. Told me ro come on as a walk on and could possibly get schlarsbjp money in Spring if something opens up or while I am ruuning at college and my times are good. Has anyone had this happen to them?
Getting people to do something for free now in exchange for the possibility of big money later is among the oldest tricks in the book. You've been given an opportunity to learn this at a young age.
If you really want to go to this school for other reasons, walk on with no expectation of a scholarship. If you need the money, look elsewhere.
oheo wrote:
Don't go somewhere expecting a future scholarship based on performance. There are plenty of schools with money for talented runners right now.
I would add the following caveat to the end of your first sentence:
- unless this school is a perfect fit for you in every other way.
The posts above warning you about the low chance of being bumped up to money later are spot on.
Some coaches lie about the potential for money in the future. Others are sincere and really will bump athletes up to money later. There is very little information out there about this. If you hadn't already taken your trip, you could have tried to ask current athletes about this candidly on your recruiting visit. In general they have no incentive to lie to you and every incentive to be honest with somebody who may be their teammate and friend if they come to that school.
Oregon is an example of a school that has recently been lying about this, and many of their girls have left in the last few years. Others I'm sure can chime in with examples of schools that have added athletes to scholarship when they met specific criteria. The mid major DI school I went to was an example, but I won't post who it is since it is all new staff since I was there, so I don't know how it is now.