Good athletic and good academic programs in the South/Southeast US for a 9:34 guy?

Myself and multiple teammates on a collegiate club team had similar HS PRs. If you choose a school for academics, club running is a great option, and super competitive, with club athletes across the country running ~24 mid for 8k and quite a few sub-15 5k runners as well. Another plus is that running doesn't have to be your number one priority when you are a club runner. It's a path I highly recommend.

Check out Emory, Vanderbilt, and Washington and Lee

For business, maybe Emory, for engineering, maybe Rice. I think you could probably get a slot for recruitment at Emory, but you would probably be a walk-on at Rice. I would reach out to the coaches at both of those schools (I imagine there is an online form you can fill out).

Are you looking to commit to a school and apply early decision? This would be the instance where you would get the most assistance with getting admitted to the school from your athletic ability, and the coach would probably be able to give a pretty clear signal of whether or not you would be admitted before you applied/committed.

I would think very carefully about what you want. Do you want to hedge your bets and apply early to a school where you are certain you will get in? Or would you prefer to send feelers out and apply to a slate of schools, some of them in contact with the coaches with their tip of hand, and some of them where you are not? I think your times + academic ability could probably get you into most D3 programs, and maybe a few lower tier D1s that have top academic programs (like Rice or maybe Davidson, thinking strictly of southern schools). I applied a few years ago and was recruited to a number of D3s where I could have applied early decision, but I was more interested in top schools where I was not being recruited to (Ivies, Stanford). We have similar times and pretty similar academic profiles, but I had another desirable extracurricular and ended up going to a top Ivy and did not walk on, although it was a possibility. I would have loved to run in college, but it was too difficult to balance with academics and other activities.

As for whether I'm looking to commit, the answer is probably yes, but I am not sure yet. To your second point, I think it would be wiser for me to apply to several schools, rather than place all emphasis on one or two.

Also, the two schools that I have had conversations with the coaches are both non-P5 D1's, if that matters. In 2019 they both finished top 15 in the Southeast region. I had to reach out, so obviously I am not a top recruit but both coaches seem to think I could at least get on their respective teams.

Try Tulane, seems like their team is a bit of a joke nowadays with mostly 10:15 high school guys, so they should be happy to hear from a 9:34 guy, though I ran similar times to you as a junior (then improved a lot as a senior) but was completely ignored by their coach a couple of years ago when deciding between schools I was accepted to.

I also talked to the Rice and Emory coaches before applying, and both said that they would love to have me join the team, and Emory was willing to support my application if I was willing to verbally commit. In my opinion both schools have much better academics and running programs than Tulane, though I was waitlisted to both schools :(

Ended up waking onto a school in the BIG 10 (which was much cheaper the above schools I mentioned, with probably a better engineering program). If you decide to do engineering, I don't think there's any purpose in attending an extremely expensive school, especially one with a mediocre athletic program. If you can improve another 15-20 seconds in the 1600 and/or 3200, most power 5 schools would be willing to give you a shot if they have available roster spots.

Also I forgot to mention that last time I checked Tulane has a new coach, so the guy that completely ignored me is no longer there.

There is no balance. Think of what connects you, right now, to what you want for your work.

Florida is fine and maybe affordable.

Georgia Tech is a good school.

I would not pay for any 'southern' schools.

UT Austin

Vandy

Rice

Tulane

are all good choices if they give you money.

Anywhere ranked below these is sort of equally unimpressive.

What about schools like Georgia, Clemson, the different UNC's, etc? Maybe not big academic names but surely there is a good education to be gained from big state schools.

Georgia Tech?

Walking on to D1? Unless you drop 10-15 seconds I your mile you are pretty far away.

You essentially described Emory.

i cant sub 5 :( wrote:

What about schools like Georgia, Clemson, the different UNC's, etc? Maybe not big academic names but surely there is a good education to be gained from big state schools.

It is not about education. You could learn from youtube videos more than you will at a tier 3+.

The only difference in the job market comes from the strength of the institution.

Undergrad is a waste of your time outside of a connected place, so you can enjoy your vacation or attend a connected institution.

I gave you 3.8 and 32 ACT. Maybe you can reach 33+. Maybe try to leverage athlete admissions somewhere like Hopkins or Brown.

I'm not sure why you are limiting yourself to a zone of worthless universities. Why not attend NYU business undergrad to guarantee yourself a good job and a good 4 years instead of wasting 4 years in the hopes of earning admission to and earning a valuable graduate degree? Or study engineering at Dartmouth to guarantee yourself a decent job upon graduation? You are overestimating the job market if you think Morgan Stanley is prowling Southern State U for their next senior VP.

Why limit yourself to the South/Southeast?

If you’re serious about engineering then Embry Riddle is your place.

RICE

VANDY

DUKE

WFOREST

UNC

GEORGIA TECH

TULANE

UFLORIDA

Emery is in a failed dem city, don't move to Atlanta right now.

You might want to try cheer leading.

OP doesn't have a test score and has less than 4.0. I doubt that he will be accepted to any of those schools. He should attend his state school in order to save money. He can join the club team which would be more enjoyable for a runner of his ability.

Lots of dumb people attend these programs. 4-5 AP exams means he will probably score 31+ on the ACT or idk, 1450 on the SAT.

With a recruited athlete or early action boost, he could earn admission somewhere like these if he applies to several of them.

Richmond? Good business school. XC only program but they won the A10 last year and the guys have plenty of opportunities to race outside of XC.

UltraDude wrote:

Why limit yourself to the South/Southeast?

Because it is closer to my home in the northeast while also having warmer winters, which I want to help with my Raynaud's.