Rowan University of NJ..Looking for feedback

Rowan is a good program. Dubois runs a nice program and makes customized plans for each runner in XC summer training. A lot of effort put in and their rise to prominence in the NJAC has shown as a result. They were close to beating Haverford this year with possibly their best runner having rolled his ankle at NJACs and he was out.

Clearly you have good wheels but your endurance is lacking. I've had two friends go off to run there and seen the difference. Had a friend who was a 4:20s miler who sucked at XC (no times under 17) went on to break 26 in the 8k freshman year. If you've reached out to Dimmit I'd try Dubois instead as Dimmit is known for saying stuff like "4:20 mile or you can't join" but Dubois does a bit more.

Socially it's also a very fun school to be at with a downtown area, Philly isn't far either.

I will also add that they have a certain amount of tryout spots in the fall and you'd need to run a 5000m time trial in August to make it, last year the cutoff was 17:00 but this year might be like 16:40. They only have a certain amount of tryout spots but worst comes to worst you just don't travel for cross and run for the club which is connected to the team and race their home meets. They'll see potential with a 2:01 and a lack of distance development and ideally want you.

Thank you. My senior year, I am hoping to get down to 16:00 in my 5k and then focus on the 800/1600 for indoor and outdoor. Last two years, my HS coaches had me focus on the 400/800 which i think hurt my endurance. But i think it is clear at this point I may be best suited for the 800/1600 and can run the 4x4. Do you believe they tale senior year times? I am hoping i can get to 1:55 in my 800 and 4:20’s in my 1600. Heck I am still optimistic about going sub 2:00 in the next couple of weeks.

They took a 4:35 senior who made state qualifier. At first he was a 4:47 guy and Dubois didn't respond till he made state and was very impressed with his progression. So yes they do.

Whats up cramister. Just an update. Coach Dimit responded. Seems real cool. Says they have a roster limit of 75 men and about 140 try to join each year. Said the cut off times are expected to be about 49.5 for the 400, 1:57.5 for the 800 and under 4:25 for the 1600. He said they do look at senior year times. FYI, since my last post, I ran a 2:00.51, so i came down another second. Got about three meets left including AAU Junior Olympics in late July.

I am getting interest from other schools too whose questionnaires i filled out. Lots of Division 3 Centennial Conference schools and some D1 Patriot League schools. Have actually been getting interest from some, including official visits, calls etc… I am a bit surprised to be honest. But just going to take my time, stay on top of my academics, try to stay healthy and probably go where the academic money takes me.

They should reply based on your 400/800 times. I think most of the kids are local to south jersey, but you shouldn't have any issues. 4:25 1600 types are XC scorers.

With those academic credentials, you can go to a lot better school than Rowan.

Here's the truth: you're not going pro. Your order of priority should be the best school possible that is affordable and/or sets you up for long-term success. Running should be well behind that.

Dimit always says fast times like that. They had a guy run like 2:05 at an indoor meet this year. Dubois is more the guy to talk to but with a 2:00 you’ll be running 4:25 in no time.

Umm we are talking about xc and track here! Even if she goes pro she needs a degree.

You should look into Haverford, much better academics and a great running program going on there as well.

I am in contact with the coach there, and Hopkins and Ursinus and Dickinson.

My first concern with Hopkins and Haverford is are my academics good enough to get in. My second issue is cost. We have played around with net price calculators and the EFC is damn near full price. Unless I get significant scholarships, it just isn’t going to happen. Haverford doesn’t offer merit scholarships. Ursinus and Dickinson do, so we will see. I am also in contact with Lafayette. I filled out a questionnaire for William and Mary too. Two other schools, one lower D1 and the other D3 have me scheduled for official visits and have already told me what kind of academic money i can get. The D1 said 1:55 in my 800 is a good time for me to get some additional money for athletic scholarship combined with the academic.

I grew up across the street from Rowan and went to William and Mary. Even though the running program at WM has recently declined, the quality of education is significantly higher than at Rowan.

At WM (and the other schools on your list), you will be surrounded by high-achieving and extremely intelligent students. Rowan is still a South Jersey commuter school.

Don't make significant life choices based on a hobby you enjoy in high school.

your thought process is strange. a smart applications process is i round up a bunch of schools i am interested in, area i want to live in, pleasant campus, happy students, has my major, has good academics, sports, etc. i then pick my favorites. if i am wise, i pick a mix of schools i will likely get in, and a few "reaches" that are a little over my head. i then see where i get in, how good they are, whether i like the sports program for me, and what financial aid offers they make.

rowan is a mediocre academic school you will easily get in. that should be a safety school if at all. what you do is figure out some good schools you'd like, and then maybe toss in a school like rowan at the end. a safety school. all else fails i can get in rowan. but you don't not apply to someplace like haverford because they might say no. you make a few calculated reaches to get the best school possible and if one says no, you tried.

rowan has some kids slower than the quoted standard. but i would be a little nervous about signing up for a program suggesting to you that you're not yet fast enough. particularly if sports are a big emphasis point. you want to be going someplace the coach is like, sure, you'll make it, happy to have you here.

i mean do you see how potentially bad it is to pick a weaker academic school hesitant to bring you in for sports, with a tryout and a cut, because of sports? you run the risk of being cut and miserable. that and if i am going good D3 with a cut it's for a good academic school. there are plenty of better academic schools who are good at track.

as the other poster said DO NOT pick a d3 on sports alone. while a handful of d3 made trials, the odds are a d3 athlete isn't going pro. and when you don't go pro, you will be using your education and applying for jobs or grad programs. they will care where you went to school and what grades you made. so pick on academics and location and fit, and throw in does this program work for me, at the end.

I am sorry if I was not clear. I do have a list of schools like you alluded to and they are categorized by reaches, target and safety. I plan to apply to ALL of the schools. Affordability will be a major factor as well. How much i can get in academic merit scholarships etc assuming I don’t get much financial aid but of course we will fill out the FAFSA and CSS profiles for privates. I would never go to a school like Rowan WITHOUT a roster spot. I simply inquired about the program and I reported back what was told to me.

also, i believe you have financial aid precisely backwards. familairize yourself with the statistic "% need met." haverford meets 100% of need. it might not be presented as an "academic scholarship," but so what. i had places offer me a half scholarship but little else. that doesn't pay the bills. what you want is a school which by some combination of scholarships, academic or otherwise, grants, loans, etc., makes you the cheapest offer.

my personal experience out of state public schools did not make the cheapest offers. or public schools in general. the in state public will offer the lowest sticker price. you will not get that out of state. and IMO state schools don't offer a ton of non-merit, non-loan aid. my experience the best coverage was the better academic private schools with the best alumni giving and endowment. the closer to 100% need met the better.

only a nincompoop disses haverford for meeting 100% need because the sticker on the aid doesn't say "academic scholarship," then goes to rowan for offering piddly things with a label saying "academic scholarship for out of state" while meeting 48% OF YOUR NEED.

more to the point, again, as with academics, pick a variety of schools you like -- and please visit many before you decide, and talk to the students and athletes -- and then for financial aid purposes wait and see what they all offer, and compare. IMO you're going to find rowan's aid offer likely abysmal, based on the % need it reports meeting. you will get better offers from better academic schools -- and still be able to run track.

Agreed. Thats the plan. My top school is Hopkins. But again, we used the net price calculators and the EFC came back almost full price. And for athletes, Hopkins can only offer support during early decision. Early decision limits the ability to compare financial packages. I did call Hopkins admissions and they offer financial pre reads, so maybe we made a miscalculation and we could get aid. But i am planning for the worst case of no financial aid. That is my concern with Haverford not offering any merit. Doesn’t mean i won’t apply but it does mean i may be unlikely to meet need.

yeah and you were criticizing better academic schools with solid track teams because a meh school offering lousy aid calls their aid a scholarship. which kind of sounds to me like someone obsessed or mind getting made up.

to me at this point what you want to do is both set minimum standards and/r rule out a few schools as too good. you then want to contact schools in between those bounds you like, and just let flowers grow a while. explore a bunch of ideas. get a sense of the academics and how happy the students are. visit and take in the area. apply. see if you get in. see what their aid offer is. only then start really comparing them. until then it's just is this school beneath me or is it a waste too far over my head. everything else is just take in information and try to develop over a time a sense of what you really want. you might even decide to include more schools based on you figure out what you really want is x y and z.

don't make any decisions until it's either early decision time or you start having to pay to file applications. and even then try and give yourself 5-10 options because my experience the schools are different, the programs are different, and the aid varies -- even when they are supposed to be alike.

last point, for someone with slower times than me, that really scream "go to a good academic school with a solid program in an average conference," you need to realize that they aren't taking the 10th string 400 guy to a ton of meets or to nationals. you might be there when they win conference. you likely won't be around when they are competing for nationals. that feather is going to feel a little distant in your cap. versus you go to some other school, where you are one of their favored recruits, the team is lower down the totem pole, but you are a priority, and you have a chance at conference, and if anyone goes to nationals, you're as likely as the next guy.

put differently, you're not joining the soccer team, you won't be on the travel roster for nationals, consider your own success as much as the team's. to me the coach is nudging you that you'd barely make his team. their stats say they have a ton of kids.

If you're a girl, you're in.

i kind of get what you're saying, though i don't understand why someone with good grades and tests and seemingly some family money goes to a cheap out of state public school kind of beneath them. that sounds like we're trying to avoid spending daddy's money even if it throws away every advantage you just gave yourself in HS.

cause you aren't beyond need unless pretty rich. and yet we're shopping second rate state schools offering academic money.

i think you'd be a pretty big stretch for hopkins. you have bigger problems than aid about hopkins with a <1400 SAT.

Definitely good advice. And i am definitely taking it all in. It’s a little stressful to say the least. I do want to go to a good school academically, I do want to continue my track and field career, I want to be at a program that WANTS me there and incur as little debt as possible. It is not easy to find a school that provides all of that when your times aren’t elite.

The bottom line is I have work to do. I need to raise my SAT score, I need to run faster, I need to remain positive, and keep an open mind. Take my time like you and others have said and things will work out.