good teams at very prestigous schools

With your times and scores I would look at good DIII schools, particularly the NESCACs. Try poking around the websites of Williams, Middlebury, Bowdoin, Amherst. If you can bring your times down substantially or your scores up, you could look at some Ivy schools. Focus this semester on getting your times down (judging from your 5k PR it looks like you should be in for a pretty big jump), your grades, and retake the SAT to try to get your math above 700. You should focus on the academic side of the school first though. And maybe start emailing coaches and filling out prospective recruit forms. Good luck!

A place like Georgetown jumps to mind, but your times aren't good enough to get any sort of help. I would suggest looking at D3 schools like Williams or Haverford. Good teams with good academics where you might be able to contribute to the top 7. You can also get your "preppy" fix, dork.

try the NESCACs wrote:

With your times and scores I would look at good DIII schools, particularly the NESCACs. Try poking around the websites of Williams, Middlebury, Bowdoin, Amherst. If you can bring your times down substantially or your scores up, you could look at some Ivy schools. Focus this semester on getting your times down (judging from your 5k PR it looks like you should be in for a pretty big jump), your grades, and retake the SAT to try to get your math above 700. You should focus on the academic side of the school first though. And maybe start emailing coaches and filling out prospective recruit forms. Good luck!

Sorry, posted at the same time it looks like. What he said.

No offense, but you aren't going to be able to walk on to any good DI teams unless you can drop your times a lot say to 9:20 and 4:20. You won't make an impact for any top DIII team unless you can run about 25:30 consistently for 8k cross country.I agree looking at DIII schools. Haverford, NYU, Geneseo and Washington St. Louis were all top 10 at the DIII championships and are consistently ranked highly for their academics.

wildcat? wrote:

what are some schools that have very good teams that are also very good schools. Excluding Stanford, as I know I am neither smart enough nor fast enough to go there.

SAT-2150 730 reading 680 math 740 writing

gpa- 3.6

other academic awards/info- national merit scholar. ap scholar. honor roll. NHS

xc/track- 5k xc-1530, 1600-4:40(soph year), 3200-957(also last year)

other- I prefer private colleges as I am kind of preppy and would like to be with people like myslef in college

that 5k xc time does not add up compared to those track times....um, short course? colleges only care about track times and maybe place in cross country state meets

bucknell university is a pretty good academic school (D1) and very preppy in addition to being a decent fit based on your times.

also looks like a decent fit for bates/tufts, maybe trinity/hamilton/conn college if you're especially "preppy"

The northeastern D3 xc powerhouses like Williams, Middlebury, and Amherst would be a perfect fit so you should apply, but if I were you I wouldn't expect to get in. I had similar stats as you (2100/3.6 with solid extracurriculars) and applied to Williams and Middlebury for shits and giggles (easy appliations) and got straight up rejected at both. Don't get your heart set on them. If I were you, I'd look at the liberal arts college rankings and D3 national/regional rankings and see where schools overlap. Pay special attention to the schools ranked 20-50 as opposed to the top 20 because realistically, that's where you'll have your best shot.

Also puzzled on the 15:30 in comparison to the rest of the times. I assume you are a JR in which case it seems as if you have improved from 9:57 to 15:30 which is solid. You still have time to improve (aka JR track- which most coaches will look at in detail). Your SAT is solid for an Ivy recruit if you could get the times down to 9:20/4:20. However, your GPA will hurt you, 3.6 is rather low for the Ivies. In addition, consider strong DIII programs such as: UAA- WashU and UChicago seem like a fit for your personality, Brandeis if you are Jewish. Also the NESCAC as others have mentioned.

ALSO try not to get hyped up in the "prestige" of schools. Just because a school is more "prestigious" than another does NOT mean it would be a better fit for you

If it's "prestige" you are seeking I think UChicago should be near the top of your list as it has been consistently ranked in the Top 10 by USNWR. I do believe they are the highest academically ranked NCAA DIII program on USNWR and other lists. Your stats (SAT) would be good enough to get you in if you continue to improve and justify the admissions boost from the coach.

If you run fast enough, as long as you meet the minimum GPA requirements at a certain school, it should not matter. People get into ivies with 3.0's if they are top recruits. Coaches can have lots of pull at high caliber schools.

Was that 5k short? It is WAY faster than your other event times. If you did improve that much over the summer though, congrats. That's legit!

As far as great schools with great programs, Princeton and Villanova are very solid teams. Also, Cornell doesn't have the strongest front runners, but is a very deep, which may be a good fit given your times.

I'd look at Oberlin College in Oberlin, OH. They have a fairly young crew, a great coach, and have improved a lot in the last couple years. Their mens' XC team was nationally ranked at one point during the season, and their women's team made nationals and is coached by the same coach. They are D3.

And their academics are considered in the same league with many of the liberal arts colleges out East such as Middlebury and Williams. It's an extremely liberal place, though, which I think is awesome, but you may disagree.

Don't look at D3 schools. Stick to D1. Sounds like you would get an academic scholarship to cover for a decent amount of tuiton anyway and from the looks of it you have a lot of room for improvement. You're fast enough to get decent money to a lower-level D1 school.

i second bucknell. academically you're a really good fit. socially, you're probably even a better fit. break 4:30 or 9:40 and you would also be a great fit for the team.

I'll break it down for you...

D III NESCAC

athletically: good to go

academically: williams middlebury hamilton might be tough, the rest should be fine if coach helps

D III UAA

athletically: good to go

academically: Chicago Brandeis tough carnegie mellon tough

the rest are more realistic

DI IVY

athletically: close but iffy with some schools

academically: harvard yale princeton would be tough, the rest are more possible

DI PATRIOT LEAGUE

athletically: probably good to at least make a team

academically: colgate would be tough, the rest should be fine (although I'm guessing ARMY and NAVY aren't preppy enough for you)

Im not saying you shouldn't apply to the tough schools to get into but dont expect too much.

i talked to the bucknell coach. he was a dumbass. told me my 4:25 1600 wasnt good enough...

U Maryland

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