College 101

Every single rower has the ability to row or cox in college.

Choosing Colleges:

  • The first thing to do is decide what type of school you want to attend. Consider factors such as location, enrollment size, average class size, academics.
  • The next thing is to make a list of colleges that fit into your wants and begin to visit those schools as early as sophomore year.
  • Learn about the different types of college rowing and figure out what would be the best match for you. See below for a brief summary of each type.

Begin to Narrow Down Your Schools:

  • Narrow your list down to 5 to 10 schools.
  • Meet with the college rowing coaches on your visits (D1 and D2 NCAA schools cannot meet with rowers before June 15 after their sophomore year.)
  • Fill out the online recruiting questionnaires on each teams website.
  • Register with the NCAA eligibility center at ncaa.org

Sample Schedule:

  • Sophomore Year:
    1. Participate in Winter training and take it seriously – This is when college coaches really start to take interest in your erg scores.
    2. Fill out the questionnaires on the websites of schools you are interested in.
    3. Join a competitive summer rowing program. This allows you to gain valuable summer racing experience and allows you to be visible to college rowing coaches.
  • Junior Year
  1. Colleges start recruiting in the fall of your Junior year. But they can recruit you as late as Senior year. (The longer you wait, the harder it will be to get into a program you want.)
  2. Schedule no more than 3 official visits.
  3. Begin taking those visits in the fall of your junior and senior year. (An official visit is not a guarantee of being recruited by that school. Make sure they are interested in you first. Listen carefully to what the college coach is saying to you. Be sure you hear what they are saying, not what you want to hear.)

Different Types of College Rowing:

  • Men
  1. IRA Heavyweight (IRA heavyweight rowing is the highest level of collegiate men’s rowing. This level requires the most amount of commitment and hard work.)
  2. IRA Lightweight (The same as above, but only for rowers who are 160 pounds or lighter.)
  • Women
  1. NCAA D1
  2. NCAA D2
  3. NCAA D3
  4. IRA Lightweight
  • Co-Ed
  1. Club

College Rowing Erg Standards:

  • It is important to remember that these erg goals are not definitive. I have seen many rowers with slower erg scores go and have success at bigger programs.