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COLLEGE TRACK RECRUITING - How I Made My College Decision - Mike Murphy

Finding your "X" Factor by Mike Murphy - distance runner - Columbia University / Brother Rice (MI) - NCAA I All-American

Deciding where to go for college is one of the first big life decisions most high school students ever have to make. Having the luxury of being recruited to continue an athletic pursuit at the collegiate level makes the decision more fun, but not necessarily easier. While your friends are agonizing over their standardized test scores, you’re landing in a new city for a college visit. As a 17-year-old from the suburbs of Detroit, receiving letters from top tier schools trying to sell me on their program was humbling. Connecting with the coaches and learning about the schools was exciting. Hopping on an airplane to visit the school and live like a college student for a weekend was simply unbelievable.

Throughout the recruiting process, it is tempting to try to narrow down your choices with black and white questions: “what is the best academic school I can get into?” or “what is the fastest team I can get a spot on?” While I do not intend to write these off as trivial, I would urge any high school athlete being recruited to dig a little deeper and ask themselves “where do I think I will be happiest?” That is what will ultimately lead to the optimal college experience.

When I was being recruited, I spoke with a number of coaches but ultimately narrowed my list of schools down to four: Michigan, Harvard, Yale, and Columbia. With those four, I really couldn’t go wrong as each school had their fair share of objective selling points. Michigan has strong academics, a solid track program, in-state tuition, scholarship potential, and I would have had a number of friends from High School there. Harvard…has a reputation that speaks for itself. Yale is (almost) as prestigious as Harvard and Columbia is a top five academic school in the middle of “The Big Apple.” If I were trying to be purely objective about the decision I probably could have skipped all of my visits and simply committed to Harvard based on prestige (would have made my parents happy) but it is imperative to take the visits to get a feel for the intangibles.

By definition, these “intangibles” can be hard to pinpoint but as I was going through my visits, I really tried to picture what my day-to-day would look like. Would I be spending all my time in the library? Do the guys on the team spend time together or would I need to find other social outlets? On my Columbia visit, there was an evident camaraderie among the guys on the team. I had a chance to go on a run with the guys and the conversation was an incredible balance of races, training, and complete nonsense – exactly what I was looking for. The guys meant business when they were working hard, and had a lot of fun when they weren’t. That atmosphere is not for everyone, but it was unlike anything else I had seen and I was confident it would suit me well.

After all, your college experience will absolutely not be made or broken in the classroom. In the same vein, your personal successes or failures on the track will not define you. The relationships you form with your teammates and coaches are the greatest thing you will learn from and take with you. On the plane home from my Columbia visit, I knew that it was the right place for me. In just 48 hours I felt a strong connection with the guys on the team, I was impressed by the coaching staff and I was inspired by the energy of New York City. I could see myself being successful there both academically and athletically and in the end, with the help of my teammates, coaches, and friends, that turned out to be the case. It would have been easy to get blinded by the prestige of Harvard and Yale, or the comfort of Michigan, but ultimately it was the “x-factor” at Columbia that helped me make the right decision.

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COLLEGE TRACK RECRUITING - How I Made My College Decision - Thomas Razo

Create A Formula - COLLEGE TRACK AND FIELD RECRUITING
Thomas Razo - Middle Distance - Bradley University / LOCKPORT HS, IL

My personal experience with the recruiting process was that it can be very overwhelming in its early stages. I remember receiving letters from coaches from smaller schools early in my high school career. At that point, I still had no idea what I wanted to specialize in for an academic major and I was unsure how fast I could run to determine which route I wanted to go (i.e. NCAA, NAIA, Junior College, etc.).

I was a very mediocre runner in my first three years of high school and did not start to become an elite runner in the state until my senior season. Going into my last year I had no resources available to me to get in touch with college coaches at the schools where I wanted to run. Luckily, my dad is a high school coach (and was my high school coach) and was very instrumental in getting me connected with college coaches around the nation. Without his help, I do not know how I would have connected with the coaches I had a chance to talk with throughout the recruiting process. I began to narrow my choices down based on several factors.

My parents emphasized from the beginning that the three most important factors to look at when choosing a school are: cost, academic reputation for the program you want to go into, and the ability to run for the team. Running was very important to me, but I realized it should not be the lone deciding factor in a school. I went on several official visits and evaluated each scholarship package that was offered to me. Once the visit portion of the process concluded, I sat down with my family and evaluated each option that was available to me. Using a simple formula comprised of the three factors I mentioned above (cost, reputation, and running) my choice quickly became apparent. Bradley University offered me far more opportunities than the other schools I considered could and became my obvious choice.

After graduating with my Master’s Degree, I sometimes reflect on my 4.5 years at Bradley. It was filled with many good athletic memories and accomplishments and provided me with a top-notch education. If I had to do the recruiting process all over again I would not change my decision. I can honestly say I had the best experience in terms of student-athlete life and academics. One thing I wish I had available to me in high school, is a recruiting tool I could have used to get on coaches’ radars more quickly than I was able to five years ago. I think you will find Fast Track Recruiting to be a very useful resource at your disposal. They have actual connections to large and small programs across the country. My father has sent many athletes to the next level and spent 30 years developing relationships with some coaches. However, there are few high school coaches with these connections, therefore having Fast Track Recruiting at your disposal will improve your chances of landing at the right destination and having no regrets. Everyone should be able to look back at their experience after graduating from college and be 100 percent certain they made the right decision for them.

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COLLEGE TRACK RECRUITING - Admission Spot vs. Scholarship Money

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A Coach's Perspective - COLLEGE TRACK AND FIELD RECRUITING
WILL BOYLAN-PETT: Former Head Coach - NYU; Former Assistant Coach - Columbia University

One of the biggest misnomers in Cross Country /Track and Field recruiting (and non-revenue sports in general) is the fact that so very few athletes are on full ride scholarships. When you break down the numbers it makes sense; a fully funded men’s team has 12 scholarships and a fully funded women’s team has 18. Add that to the fact that very few colleges actually fully fund their track and field teams and you can see why few athletes are getting that much scholarship money. Now while this reality may seem harsh, it does not mean that there is not plenty of opportunities to use your abilities to better your college opportunities.

One of the most underutilized uses of college recruitment is when an athlete gets into a school that they normally would not because they can run fast. Specifically, coaches in the Ivy League and all Division 3 schools, neither of which give merit-based scholarships, can help you gain admission to their schools. The average SAT score in Harvard’s incoming class is 2260, yet IVY League rules would allow for a coach to take an athlete with a score as low as 1500. While the guidelines are not as clear in Division 3, the application is still the same, a coach can help you get into a school that you may otherwise not be admitted.

Now let’s get to the best part: IVY League schools all offer great financial aid packages and Division 3 schools offer financial aid and are allowed to offer non-athletic scholarships. Not only can you use your athletic prowess to get into a great school, but it could also end up being the best financial option. Unless you are in the rare group that is getting offered full-ride scholarships the IVY League or Division 3 schools will many times be the best financial option; beating out partial scholarship offers and in-state tuition options. Further, most schools offer financial aid calculators so you can get an idea of what the cost would be, there is no waiting game on a coach saying they may be able to give you 25-50% scholarship but are not sure.

The most important part of all of this is making sure you put your name out there! Let Fast Track Recruiting help you identify which schools would be viable options for you and tell your story to ensure maximum attention from those coaches. Knowledge of the process and putting yourself out there are the two biggest keys to a successful college recruitment process; let Fast Track lead the way for you and get you results you desire.

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