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College Rowing: How Sports Can Help You Get Accepted

I can’t tell you how often students and parents ask me exactly what they need to do to get into Ivy League schools. As you well know, these schools are looking for the smartest and most talented individuals. In reality, there isn’t a simple answer or shortcut. There is, however, a brilliant strategy you can implement to significantly improve your chance of getting into a top school. And it is to prepare for college rowing...NOW!

By this I mean, if you are interested in sports, decently athletic, or just like being on teams, you should try to get recruited for a sport. Why? Because recruited athletes go through a completely different, and much less rigorous, admissions process than normal applicants. Instead of being read regionally in stacks with thousands of other highly qualified applicants, athletes’ applications are generally read by the “athletic liaison” in the admissions office. This is someone who has a close relationship with the coaches, gets prepped and briefed by these coaches before actually reading applications, and who even tells coaches what test scores, GPA, or extracurriculars/awards he or she needs to see in order to accept their athletes. To put it simply: it is easier to get into an Ivy League school as a recruited athlete.

Now, I understand that sports aren’t for everyone. I also understand that not everyone is genetically blessed, which is why I don’t really suggest that you start playing basketball, football, baseball, or soccer. That would not be a realistic strategy.

I think what people don’t understand is that there are a lot of Varsity sports offered at Ivy League (and other competitive) schools, and with that, hundreds of recruited athletes on campus. In fact, at Dartmouth, the percentage of athletes on campus has reportedly been as high as 50%! These are not just tall basketball players or muscular football players or child phenom golfers; these are archers, field hockey players, sailors, and students who do college rowing — people who you wouldn’t necessarily look at and think “wow that person must be a great athlete!”.

So, if you’re reading this early enough and are interested in getting recruited, here are some suggestions:

• If you are tall or broad, try heavyweight crew (rowing).
• If you are strong for your body-size or have good stamina, try lightweight crew.
• If you’re really small and petite, try being a coxswain.
• If you love football but are undersized, try lacrosse.
• If you like racquet sports, try squash.
• Try fencing.
• If your family grew up with boats, try sailing.
• If you’re athletic but not fast enough to play soccer, try field hockey.
• If you’re strong and are open to contact, try wrestling.

This is not to say that the sports mentioned above are easy — by any means. Playing any sport at the collegiate level takes hard work, dedication, sacrifice, and physical and mental strength. The reason I chose these sports are because (1) they are less common and therefore there is less competition, (2) they don’t require a high-level of hand-eye coordination or athleticism, (3) they don’t take years of practice to master, and (4) they have strong presences at all of the Ivy League schools — especially college rowing! At Yale, there are 43 people just on the lightweight crew team. That means that Yale is actively looking for about 10 lightweight rowers to fill their team every single year. They have a constant need for strong (but not big) applicants interested in college rowing.  

Once you’ve picked a sport, you should practice and work really hard at honing your craft — inside and outside of official “practice” time. You should be spending as much time as you would on any other “main” extracurricular activity (i.e. debate, student council, orchestra, theater), and I mean this seriously! In high school, I spent at least 3 hours a day playing basketball during the school week, probably about 5 hours on Saturdays and Sundays, and way more during the summers! That’s A LOT of hours. There are no shortcuts in that regard.

To increase your chances of getting into an Ivy League school, here are your action points:

1. Pick a sport that suits your body-type and athletic (or lack of athletic) ability
2. Practice at least 20 hours a week.
3. Try out for a great travel or club team.
4. Craft an athletic resume or website.
5. Reach out to varsity coaches via email.
6. Attend sports camps at colleges during the summer.
7. Compete in front of college coaches as much as possible.
8. Still maintain a high GPA!
9. Still get strong test scores.
10. Still be an involved and engaged student-athlete who exhibits strong leadership skills.

In sum to make your way to college rowing, look into a unique sport such as, and put in the time and hard work. Soon you will be rowing your boat gently into your dream college.