Rowing scholarships. Where should I start looking? When? Who should I talk to? Is there a site that shows different ones? Or do I have to go to each college/uni site separately? And how good do I have to be at rowing and on the erg? Thanks! 🙂
I’m not sure what you mean by a site that shows different ones – athletic scholarships aren’t like other scholarships that require an application or whatever. Depending on where you look, scholarships might not even be an option since Ivy League and D3 schools don’t offer athletic scholarships period. D1 schools only have so many to offer as well – typically 20 that the coaches can split up in any number of ways.
I feel like it should go without saying that if you’re asking someone to give you money to go to school that you’d need to be pretty good … otherwise there’s no incentive. How good you need to be in overall is dependent on the schools you’re looking at but you definitely need to be in upper percentile to be considered for scholarships, regardless of where you’re looking. Most D1 programs are looking for sub-7:30 times and lightweights are around 7:40.
Start by filling out the recruiting questionnaires on the athletic department websites and send an email to whoever is listed as the recruiting coordinator (typically one of the assistant coaches) that says who you are, what your current grades, stats, etc. are, and what your current 2k is. From there you can go back and forth with them about what their recruiting standards are and where you fall within that.