Minimum standards to get a full D1 or D2 scholarship

Yes,

It just depends on the school/ program.

forest wrote:

Can somebody tell me what these are? The other day I saw that a coach was offering a full scholarship to anybody who could run:

800m: 1:51

1500m: 3:52

5000m: 14:40

Is there any hope for somebody who is slower than these times? Just what is the minimum? I'm particularly interested in 3200/5000 times. Thanks a lot.

Those times are likely his minimum. But, full rides are pretty rare for incoming freshmen, especially boys. You have to be running some great times for a D1 coach to burn a full scholarship on someone untested at the collegiate level.

A lot depends too on the school and how they approach their program. Do they want a balanced program that can compete at all distances/events? Or are they willing to focus on distance at the expense of everything else? A fully funded program gets 18 scholarships across 4 years. How coaches divide that up depends a lot on the focus of the program. Plus, coaches are like businessmen in that they will try to land the best talent at the lowest cost. If you can get a kid at 50%, why offer more? It can become a bit of a cat and mouse game in your senior year.

My advice is that you focus on where you want to go to college for reasons other than running, or at least where running is weighted equally in the mix with cost, academics, social life, location, etc... Get that sorted out and then worry about how much athletic money you can get. If your #1 school offers 50% and the number 2 school offers 75%, you're probably better off taking the number school of choice unless #2 was a very close second. Don't let the amount of scholarship money push you to a place you wouldn't be happy at if you could never run again.

Good luck.

The women's max is 18 the men is 12.6 fulls

men wrote:

The women's max is 18 the men is 12.6 fulls

Right - good catch. I have a daughter running.

A full scholarship to anyone who can run sub-14:40? Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha yeah right.

yeah, if you're male, don't get your hopes up for a full ride no matter how fast you are. now, if you're really fast and willing to go to a not so great school, the story may be different. if you're really in need of the money, by all means go that route - it's not a bad decision (probably a good one) to parlay your high school running into a free college education.

however, if your aim is to be a good runner, too, you're going to want to reach some balance between education, money, and running.

at any rate, you could probably find programs willing to give out a full ride to someone with a 9:15-9:20 3200 or thereabouts, especially at the d2 level. as you get quicker and quicker you'll find more and better programs willing to do so. at the end of the day, however, there aren't going to be many places that a runner interested in maximizing their potential, or as close to that as possible, will actually want to go until the times start getting below 9:00.

this stuff isn't exactly hard science but that's my experience (probably somewhat dated now but i've adjusted a little for the times). get enough opinions and you'll find a range. the best advice, of course, is to run as fast as possible and win races. i'm not necessarily sure using "scholarship times" for goals is the best idea.

Well the thing is I'm not looking for myself; I'm looking on behalf of a foreign citizen who won't be able to afford college unless he gets a full ride (being a non-citizen he's not eligible for loans). So to him, it really is all about the running money, sad as that is.

I guess I'm wondering about these foreigners who come to the US by virtue of a scholarship. Isn't that how Bernard Lagat first came to the US?

That's why I'm looking for specific numbers. I'm hoping I can tell him something along the lines of: get your 5k under 15:xx and then we can start contacting college coaches.

It really depends on the school. We had a guy on my Div I team that ran 16:20 in HS and got a full ride.

Depends where you want to run. Lots of places will give you a full ride on much less. (My case in point - I ran slower but got several full ride offers to run at "athletically modest" but academically solid DI schools. Admittedly, this was 10 years ago and HS distance running has gotten more competitive in the interim.) One way to guess who has a full ride at a given school, is to look at the roster and pick out guys who have come a long way (i.e., from Canada or Europe, or even out of state). These will more often be scholarship athletes because not many Germans, Norwegians, or even Californians are going to go to college at East Bum-F-ck State University without a full athletic.

Don't be discouraged - and good luck.

Hey - and to find out, just email the coach!

forest wrote:

Well the thing is I'm not looking for myself; I'm looking on behalf of a foreign citizen who won't be able to afford college unless he gets a full ride (being a non-citizen he's not eligible for loans). So to him, it really is all about the running money, sad as that is.

I guess I'm wondering about these foreigners who come to the US by virtue of a scholarship. Isn't that how Bernard Lagat first came to the US?

That's why I'm looking for specific numbers. I'm hoping I can tell him something along the lines of: get your 5k under 15:xx and then we can start contacting college coaches.

if that's the issue, don't limit yourself to D1/D2.

I think 24 or 25 guys ran under 14:40 in the SEC meet. How many of them are on full-rides? Eight maybe..........

I think it totally depends on the school as well.

For any colleges that are not great academically and less well known they may have to offer full rides to people of a lower standard to get them to go there.

I agree with the poster above. Check out the roster of certain schools that already have foriegners. Say Iona, Providence, Villanova. Now obviously for those places your looking at maybe 4.05/6 or 14.20/30 to get full ride. But certain other east coast schools..say Stony Brook/FDU give our full rides and they are not getting any 14.20 guys.

I'd also say its not just about times. It may be about consistency, winning races and some grades and a bit of academic money could not hurt.

Again someone said above - email the coach.