Run DII or Go To Good School (with No Running)?

There is way more involved in the decision than that.

I would always advise that running not be the motivator behind your college decision unless it is used as a tie breaker. Don't pass up on your best fit college just because you can't run on their team. If you settle for a school that you don't like as much just so you can run, you might end up regretting it.

Your D1 option likely has a club team, or some way in which you can continue to run at a high competitive level if you so choose.

I would say you need to balance two things - cost of education, and quality.

You should go to the best academic school you can, but within reason. IE if you get more financial aid or scholarship from a school ranked a few spots down from the top school, it makes more sense to go there.

I was recruited by a couple patriot league schools (d1), but ended up at a d3 school b/c I got a more substantial academic scholarship package, and it was ranked higher. My school still had a great xc and track team, and we competed against d1 schools all three seasons, and fielded fairly solid dmr's and 4x400's at Penn relays - beating a number of fairly large, well known d1 schools. So there still quality runners in d2 and d3.

Of course if you want a football atmosphere and all that crap, then you should go to a big state school. Personally though, my college experience would have been totally different and I wouldn't have a number of my really good friends if I hadn't ran. I'm still closer years later with my college friends than a lot of my other hs buddies who weren't athletes are with their college buds.

I am going through the same thing myself. I have been admitted to several high-caliber (as far as academics go) Division 1 schools which I would be unable to run at, as well as some lesser known D1 and D3 schools, where I could presumably continue my running career. I haven't made a decision yet, but here are a few bits of advice I have found helpful: Ignore the people who say "well, it's not like you're going to be a professional runner". It's probably true, but that's not really relevant. You want to be on a college team for the experience and because you will enjoy it. The other thing you need to consider is whether or not you will be able to motivate yourself to run on your own, or if you will be bored out of your skull logging 10 milers without a group of guys to train with. And if you don't mind me asking, how substantial is the difference in academics between the schools you are considering?

^10 miles without someone to train with is patheticaly easy(even in Collge) Just saying...

Anonymous Runner wrote:

So, would you run DIII or go to a DI school & give up your running (because your times aren't good enough for that level of competition)? I'm trying to make that decision.

It depends on running's place in your life (and slightly on skill level, but mainly this). If you have to ask, go to the good school.

Really???????????????????????? wrote:

^10 miles without someone to train with is patheticaly easy(even in Collge) Just saying...

If you want to be cynical, at least learn to spell. You just come across as an uneducated, arrogant ass. I know threads like this upset people who didn't have the brainpower to get into a decent college, but try and deal with it...

If you're fast enough to be a DIII runner then you can be a stud cyclist or triathlete for the D1 school's club team (and many many schools have those). Those sports require similar levels of training and the competitions (at least to my mind) are even more fun.

No, all you guys are retarded. It's your undergrad man, go to any school, have fun, run and compete. Nobody in the real world cares where your Bachelors came from as long as its an accredited institution. If you really want prestige do that in grad school, in fact, since nearly everyone goes to college these days, your probably going to have to attend grad school to get a good job.

Which schools? (Or, to preserve your privacy, what are schools very equivalent to each?) DI schools aren't necessarily academically better or more prestigious than DIII schools. At the undergrad level, Williams academically dominates Ohio State, to pick a random example.

Is money important? What's the cost tradeoff between the schools?

What is your intended major? How do the two schools compare?

We'd like to help, but you haven't provided enough detail about the situation (or about your own interests and priorities) for us to offer meaningful advice.

[quote]i like smaller schools wrote:

At the undergrad level, Williams academically dominates Ohio State, to pick a random example.

quote]

Stats Fail.

what schools?

and what do you love about running? it doesn't sound like you want to pursue it as a profession so is it theteam, the actual running,or the competition that you love? if it is just the action of running then you can run by yourself. if it is the team/competition then that would factor a little more. investigate if the good d1 school has a club team and what it is like, also looking into the team and coaches at the d3 school. compare the quality of the two educations as well, is there a huge difference, or a marginal one. also, are you sure you would be able to run at the DIII school, confirm that before it affects your decision. good luck.

I had multiple scholarships to run for small DI schools, and DII-DIII schools. However, I chose to walk on to a large DI school with an excellent XC and Track team because I wanted to improve, and compete on a national level. 2 years later, I was cut from the team, and I still wonder if I made the right choice. Basically, if you are looking at schools only to run, choose an option which you will not be the number one guy right when you show up, but also look to see if you will be able to contribute to that team. However, as I said earlier, I was only focused on running, and you seem to be wiser than me.

So... prioritize academics over running on the team, but prioritize football atmosphere above all else?

Not to pick on you but I wanted to put in my bit, which is that I agree that you shouldn't "chase the better running school" at the cost of any lessening of your total-package college experience, but if you find yourself running on a great team (great not in terms of times, necessarily) that experience is likely not going to be merely an insignificant part of four years of your life.

Similarly, great academics don't guarantee you an environment where you're going to make a lot of friends (connections), which is an important part of college.

When you know what you want, figure out what to do to get it. When you don't know what you want, pick something you like and try to do it well.

mahogany wrote:

No, all you guys are retarded. It's your undergrad man, go to any school, have fun, run and compete. Nobody in the real world cares where your Bachelors came from as long as its an accredited institution. If you really want prestige do that in grad school, in fact, since nearly everyone goes to college these days, your probably going to have to attend grad school to get a good job.

This is not totally true. The quality of your undergrad institution matters if you want work in an investment bank, and graduate schools take into account the quality of your school. A lot of companies will target specific schools for hiring, especially in engineering.

Right. If you're looking for run-of-the-mill recent college graduate jobs then undergrad doesn't really matter. However, if you want to pursue a highly competitive career atmosphere such as investment banking or elite corpos then undergrad really does matter and not having a degree from an elite academic institution all but eliminates any chance of recruitment by such firms.

What are your goals... do you have a strong desire to be part of a college team and get that collegiate competitive experience? Or do you just want to make sure you keep running in college and stay active?

What career do you want? How important is the prestige of your undergrad degree for that career?

I spent 2 years at my dream school unable to make the track team. I loved the school, but realized I loved pole vaulting more and couldn't live with the fact that I was wasting all of my eligibility just by being in school.

So I transferred to another DI school, but spent a year and a half not improving and not getting to compete. I was really enjoying my major and was close to graduating, but then...

... I got an offer I couldn't refuse from an NAIA school. It was a BIG step down academically. Like a JC except you could stay 4 years. I was really bored in all of my classes and frustrated with how lazy and dumb most of my classmates were. I didn't anticipate it being SUCH a big step down academically... maybe my clue should have been when my coach nearly fell over after telling him my SAT scores.

But for what I wanted to do, getting collegiate experience was much more important. I also got to be the sports information director for my team, and coach at a nearby DIII school, all while still competing, something I never would have been able to do at a bigger school. Oh yeah I also had a coach who worked better for me and a level of competition that was better for me. I also got straight As there which looked good when applying for grad schools.

I am happy with all of the decisions I made. They wouldn't be the right decisions for everyone else, but in my case, the academic quality of my degree has never mattered. Plus where I live now, no one has ever heard of my alma mater, so they don't realize that it's not a good school.

P.Whelan wrote:

There is way more involved in the decision than that.

I would always advise that running not be the motivator behind your college decision unless it is used as a tie breaker. Don't pass up on your best fit college just because you can't run on their team. If you settle for a school that you don't like as much just so you can run, you might end up regretting it.

Your D1 option likely has a club team, or some way in which you can continue to run at a high competitive level if you so choose.

Worst advice EVER! Running can make your college life better and give you experiences you can never have again. College is college, you can get jobs out of any school. If you love running you MUST do it in college. I don't know how many people in met in school who didn't think they could run for us and wished they went to a school to run.

Think about the D3 leave up in the northeast with Bowdoin and Colby and

Williams. A lot of those kids would get shunned by d1 and they have a great time and almost always improve to d1 levels.

College is what you make of it. I know doctors who went to JMU and losers who went to Yale. It's what you do in college that matters, if you love running you must run in college. (not some club bull $hit either)

That would be great if college running worked out for everyone. I think we all know the attrition rate for kids on D3 teams is pretty high. If you think that running is going to be something you really want to do in college, then it can be a part of the decision, but you need to be careful with it. As great as some people's experiences are, some people end up unhappy with college running. Not every team is Williams or Bowdoin, for every Keene State there are 5 Salve Reginas.

If a runner probably can't run D1, they will probably be spending a year or two on the team before they are contributing to the team in a meaningful way in cross country or track, and at a lot of middle of the road schools, the coach might not be able to get you where you want to go. Just remember this, people run D3 for one of two reasons. Lack of talent or Lack of commitment. For those highly committed runners who don't have the talent of their team mates it can be frustrating watching people run 30 miles a week and bash their head in every weekend.

If you are going to a D3 powerhouse then the team will probably be something you enjoy, but committing to running means giving up a lot in other areas of your life too. You can be just as happy or happier going to a different school and running on your own.

Since when is a DII school a bad school? Or DIII or NAIA? Those are classifications for SPORTS....not the academics for the school! They have nothing to do with anything. There are many smaller schools that are vastly superior to DI schools academically....many places you will get into grad school before a big school undergrad does because you go to a better school.

You ALWAYS pick your school for academics.....if you know what you want to study, find that school and go there.

People need to get off the DI is better mentality. It ain't so.

AND....I worked a meet over the weekend and the DII schools kicked the butts of the Big Ten schools that were there.