Sophomore rower

Question
My daughter is a sophomore rower - 2K 7.34 6K 24.21  She attended Jr Nat Dev Camp in New London.  Her 2K time is from the end of freshman year.  We're starting the college search.  How do we know which schools are fully funded for scholarships?  Do rowing programs wait until Senior year to offer - or do they have a history of early verbal commitments?

Answer
Hi Liz: Your daughter seems to all the things needed to get a scholarship.  Top 10% erg time, on-water experience, and National Camp experience -- and she's still relatively young.

I don't see any problem with looking for candidate schools now although it is kind of early.  By junior year, you should have three to five colleges identified, which includes corresponding with the coach.  By her senior year, you should know from each school if your daughter was accepted, and if she is going to get a full scholarship, partial scholarship, or just be invited as a walk-on.

It's hard to tell you which colleges are going to give your daughter a full scholarship.  Typically, if a school has a large crew program, chances are they have more scholarships to offer than your smaller schools.  

It all happens in senior year.  Junior year is usually too early because they need her SAT score.  There is a chance she could hear something in the summer between junior and senior year if they want to get an early commital from your daughter.

Regards/AP