Distance Scholarship

About the 1,000 mile radius - I would prefer a school within 300 miles. At the same time, I don't think I will go home often and don't want to miss an opportunity with a school that has everything else I want. I plan to take out some loans but want to minimize them because I may go to a graduate or law school.

runner dad with advice wrote:

You're looking in the right direction. Some SEC schools have standardized scholarships.

You may want to try Miami Ohio (http://miamioh.edu/admission/merit-grid/), South Carolina, Alabama and Indiana.

Talk to your counselor. They'll have a full list.

Good luck!

Thanks for the reply. I'll check them out. Do you know if Miami of Ohio or South Carolina's men's programs have many scholarships? I know that South Carolina doesn't have a XC team.

Miami OH has a pretty good program. Don't know their funding level.

Good point on SC. I was listing schools that have good merit scholarships.

Definitely take a look at Indiana. They have merit and they are the best program of the ones I listed. Pretty good academic rep, too.

Just read through the thread quickly--apologies in advance if I've overlooked stuff.

1) Don't go to any college (except a JC) with the intention of transferring out. That's a really, really poor idea. If you're not "all in" at whatever (four-year) college you choose, you are not likely to get the grades or the running performances that would make you an attractive transfer candidate. [Full disclosure: I transferred to an Ivy, but only after having made a full commitment to my previous school and getting a GPA close to 4.0 there.]

2) The merit scholarships that you and others have mentioned are a great way to go, PROVIDED that there'd be a chance for you to walk on to the college's team (I'm assuming you want to run in college--correct?). At some schools the coaches have severe squad limitations and realistically can't take a walk-on--even if you could help the team greatly! You'd need to contact the coach(es) at your target school(s) and make sure you know the walk-on policy.

3) If you're dead set on D1, then ignore the following: Some D3 schools have tremendous merit scholarships. I'm familiar with the NYU program, and know that they've given substantial merit aid to truly outstanding students; I have to think that other schools in their UAA conference have similar awards. But key to this would be to kill your current semester academically--these awards don't factor in athletic ability at all.

4) The Ivies give only need-based aid, but they all calculate "need" very generously (for all students, not just athletes--I got a great package and was not a varsity college runner). A 9:24 might not put you on any of their radars, but if you kill this semester academically AND have a standout cross season, you might prompt some interest. In particular, I know that Cornell has made a late, recent switch in distance coaches--they've had considerable distance success in recent years and seem to have had high recruiting standards, but their brand-new coach might be glad to see genuine interest from a 9:24 guy--again, especially if you do a great job in cross country this fall.

Good luck!

I am a professor at a mid-major university. Where you go for graduate school (MBA/JD/PhD/MD/MS) is more important than where you go to undergrad. The top students at my university are as strong as the top students in the Ivies/top public/private universities. The difference is we don't have the depth of those type of students. Every year our top graduates get fully funded research assistantships to the best graduate programs.

If you are an exceptional student it doesn't matter where you go for undergrad. Opportunities will abound. However if you are an average to merely above average student, it is far better to be an "average" student at an Ivy than an "above average" student at State U.

I just posted about a new NAIA cross program in Omaha. Probably outside of your 1000 mile radius but we have academic/athletic scholarships so that a good share of our athletes are getting 100% of their tuition paid. It is pretty cheap to live here. Tuition is about $9K and room and board is about $9K, too. Our business and cyber security majors are highly ranked.

Take a look:

www.bellevue.edu

PS I am recruiting kids much, much slower than you.

Ivyguy wrote:

3) If you're dead set on D1, then ignore the following: Some D3 schools have tremendous merit scholarships. I'm familiar with the NYU program, and know that they've given substantial merit aid to truly outstanding students; I have to think that other schools in their UAA conference have similar awards. But key to this would be to kill your current semester academically--these awards don't factor in athletic ability at all.

I ran at another UAA school (Rochester), and I can concur that they do have these types of scholarships (or awards). Pretty much everyone I knew at Rochester was on one at some level (i.e. no one paid full price). The problem is that the tuition at these private D3 schools have gotten astronomical. I was on a half academic scholarship at Rochester, which at the time meant I only had to pay $15-17K. That half scholarship now would still have a student paying almost $34K (incredible that it has more than doubled in 17 years).

Also keep in mind that you'd be running at a D3 school, and while D3 can be competitive (and there are some good program in the UAA), it's still at a much lower level than D1. With a 9:24 junior-year two mile you'll likely be one of the top runners on most UAA (and most D3 programs). I had issues with not having enough faster guys to train with at my school (we were definitely in a rebuilding phase for a few of my years). Also the facilities are going to be worse, etc. We had to buy all our own shoes type of issues.

I agree that outside of a few select academic schools (Ivy, Stanford, etc.), it doesn't really matter much what undergrad school you went to. It's about what you do after you graduate (grad school, etc.).

I still always amazes me that people select colleges without knowing what they want to major in. That was a big part of my decisions and I targeted schools that I new had strong microbiology programs (in addition to having some running success). Makes the decision a lot easier to narrow down if you know what you want to do at the school.