Harvard Women's Golf Frequently Asked Questions
Academic Benchmarks
What grade point average and SAT/ACT scores do I
need to be considered for admission to Harvard?
The answer is complex as the above-mentioned
components of an applicant's academic performance are only a part
of a broad picture that is considered when the admissions
department reviews applications. For more information on Harvard
admissions requirements, visit the
Harvard website.
Harvard is one of the most respected and selective colleges in the
world. Accordingly, Harvard maintains the highest standards for
admission. The Harvard Admissions office has the expertise and
experience to look at candidates on the whole. When performing
preliminary, basic evaluations of prospects for our golf team, we
typically look for individual SAT I & II scores above 700 and
ACT scores above 33. We would like to see grades above 3.80
(unweighted) on a 4.0 scale or the equivalent while taking the most
challenging courses. There are many other considerations and other
factors may be more important in individual evaluations.
Athletic Benchmarks
What golf scores do I need to have in order to be a strong
candidate for the Harvard Golf Team?
In order for us to achieve our goals, the Harvard
golf team needs to continually attract and develop the best team
members possible. As in the evaluation process for admission, there
are many factors that affect an individual's ability to excel in
our environment. We need players who can score in the 70s
consistently in college.
National (USGA, AJGA, IJGT, FCWT or similar) tournament experience
is usually a good indicator of playing ability at the college
level, as these events are often contested at the same types of
courses on which we play - between 5,800 and 6,100 yards. We are
looking for scores consistently in the low-to-mid 70's in these
events. We believe that players can improve from high school to
college with the appropriate instruction, focus and effort.
Our Recruiting Approach
How does the Harvard golf team establish and maintain contact
with potential team members?
Because of the competitive nature of Harvard's
admission process, we approach recruiting in a different manner
than many other programs. We encourage prospective student athletes
to make initial contact by the beginning of their junior year
indicating her level of interest in our program. We do not make
many phone calls to potential student-athletes or bombard them with
recruiting tactics. Instead, if we believe a candidate is a person
who has the potential to help our golf program and has a good
chance of gaining admission, we encourage the submission of an
application. Contact is maintained on a regular basis with strong
prospects.
For more information on our approach to recruiting, the following link provides information on the Ivy League Admissions and Financial Aid process. Reviewing the information herein will help you get a better sense of our approach to the recruiting process and what we are all about.
http://www.ivyleaguesports.com/information/psa/index
What can I do to have Harvard coaches see me play?
Seeing a prospect in action on the golf course can be helpful for us in the evaluation process. However, it is not a primary evaluation tool for us and we rarely travel to tournaments outside of the New England.
We encourage our strongest prospects to play in a tournament near Boston in the summer before their junior or senior year so we can combine an opportunity to see them play with an unofficial visit to campus.
Even while we are interested in attracting the best players in the country to play at Harvard, we don’t believe that extensive travel to tournaments is necessary or an efficient use of our time.
There are a couple of reasons for our limited recruiting travel:
- Watching players who have not expressed interest in Harvard and/or have not provided academic information is unlikely to be productive given the academic standards for admission to Harvard.
- We cannot talk to prospects at tournaments to get to know their thoughts and internal reactions to how they are playing - we can only observe.
- Watching a couple of holes, or portions of 1 or 2 rounds, does give a feel for how someone moves, or how someone reacts to good or bad shots - on those given days. But it's just a snapshot. To judge what kind of player is in that short period of time is impossible, and we don't believe that it's the most productive use of time.
Instead, we believe in evaluating a larger body of work as a student, golfer and person. We look at grades, test scores, extra-curriculars, leadership roles and extra-curricular activities to determine a prospect’s potential fit with Harvard. We evaluate your overall body of work as a golfer including long-term tournament results, length of time playing, practice routines, commitment to being the best you can be, etc. Finally, we use the quality of correspondence, phone calls, and in-person visits over a period of time provide a better evaluation for both parties.
All that being said, however, we know some prospects like to see coaches observing them at tournaments. It feels good to receive attention, and we know that not attending tournaments can be misconstrued as a lack of interest. We prefer a far more straightforward approach. We will tell you where you stand. If you are not sure, ask. You can count on honest answers; always.
Can a prospect's candidacy for the golf team
increase her chances of gaining admission?
We will support applications for admission by
candidates for the golf team as appropriate. Support from a trusted
and reliable source (including coaches, interviewers, alumni,
faculty, etc.) will often make a significant impact on admissions
decisions. However, since we are not admissions officers and do not
make admissions decisions, we cannot and will not guarantee
admission to anyone. The amount of support we can provide and the
number of candidates we are able to actively support is
limited.
Our support is generally based upon the following four criteria:
- the ability of a prospect to help our team achieve the mission, vision and goals we have established;
- the likelihood of the individual's gaining admission based upon academic and extra-curricular factors;
- the likelihood that the prospective student-athlete will attend Harvard if admitted;
- and the prospect's desire to put in the effort needed to be the best college golfer they can be.
Competition, Practice and Schedule
When is the Harvard golf season?
We have two golf seasons per academic year. Our fall
season commences upon the students' return to school around
September 1st. We typically compete in four or five fall
tournaments between the middle of September and the end of October.
Between the end of our fall tournament season and winter
break, team members take part in our TPI workout program three
times per week and take advantage of our indoor facilities to work
on their games. Over winter break -- late December to late
January -- team members often play and practice in warm climates.
We start our spring season February 1st by continuing our TPI
workouts and using our indoor facilities to work on our games.
We take a one-week training trip to warmer climates during
our spring recess. We are fortunate to have traveled to the
following locations and courses on recent trips:
| 2012 | Southeast Florida including PGA National, Seminole and other area courses |
| 2011 | San Francisco and Monterey, Calif. (Cypress Point, Pebble Beach, Spyglass, Monterey Peninsula CC, S.F. Golf Club, etc.) |
| 2010 | Orlando, Fla. (Mountain Lake, Black Diamond Ranch, Lake Nona, Interlachen, Faldo Institue) |
| 2009 | Southern California (La Quinta, PGA West, LA Country Club, Riviera) |
| 2008 | South Florida (Seminole, Medalist, MacArthur, Trunp, PGA Village, PGA National) |
| 2007 | San Francisco and Monterey, Calif. (Cypress Point, Pebble Beach, S.F. Golf Club) |
| 2006 | Sea Island and Jekyll Island, Ga. |
Upon returning from our spring trip, we compete in several tournaments including the Ivy League Championship. The winner of the Ivy League Championship receives an automatic bid to the NCAA Regionals.
What is the practice and tournament schedule?
Our home course for practice is The Country Club in Brookline - a course that is perennially ranked in the top 20 courses in the country and the site of several U.S. Opens, USGA events and the 1999 Ryder Cup. Occasionally we will practice at other areas courses. We also take advantage of our new indoor practice facility and our Trackman device.
During non-tournament weeks we typically practice 4 or 5 days per week. During tournament weeks we typically practice 3 days per week.
Practice time usually includes one 18-hole round, one day spent on individual swing work, short-game practice, individual goal-setting and review, and one day practicing and playing a nine-hole round. Practice rounds are also used for tournament qualifying. Tournaments are typically held on weekends and usually involve leaving on Fridays and returning on Sundays. Monday is usually an off day -- one day per week must be free of athletic activities as mandated by the NCAA.
How can I keep my golf game in shape during the
offseason?
Our fall tournament season typically concludes by the end of
October. Golfers in the northeast are able to play and
practice outdoors until approximately Thanksgiving which coincides
with the start of "reading period and exams". When the first
semester exams end in mid-to-late December our students are on
winter break until the end of January. Most team members play
and practice extensively in warm climates during this time.
We start our formal indoor practice routine on the first day
of February with TPI workouts three times per week, practice in the
stadium bubble 2-3 times per week and extensive use of our indoor
practice area.
With the assistance of PGA fitness guru Randy Myers, our strength and conditioning staff has developed golf-specific workouts for our teams, and the varsity weight room is available to the golf teams at set times through the offseason. The strength and conditioning staff works with the teams during the workouts to make sure that team members are receiving the maximum benefit.
Additionally, we have recently upgraded our indoor practice facilities to include a 2,500 square foot short game area for putting and chipping. We have four indoor hitting bays and can do detailed swing analysis with our Trackman game improvement tool. These upgrades are in addition to our our Full Swing Golf simulator, which allows realistic rounds of golf and practice in an indoor setting. We also have access to the bubble that is installed over the football stadium during the winter months for short and medium range wedge work. If an individual wants to improve their game, we have everything necessary to accommodate that goal.
How do students manage their time between school
work and golf team commitments?
The ability to learn how to prioritize and manage
time is an important part of the learning process for Harvard
students; especially Harvard student-athletes. The amount of time
team members commit to golf is significant and requires discipline
on the part of the student athlete. A significant percentage of
Harvard students are involved in extracurricular activities and
must plan their schedules accordingly. This planning and discipline
is an integral part of the Harvard experience.
We work closely with team members to help schedule and manage their time. Approximately 1,000 of the nearly 7,000 undergraduate students at Harvard compete in intercollegiate athletics, proving every day that it is realistic for Harvard students to be successful student-athletes.
Athletics is a primary component of the educational experience at Harvard. The abilities to prioritize and manage time effectively are learned through this experience and are useful life lessons. Learning to deal with risk and adversity is also reinforced through participation in college athletics
With what other colleges do you regularly
compete?
The typical tournaments include nine to 20 schools
from the Northeast/New England area including Ivy League schools
(Yale, Princeton, Brown, Dartmouth, Penn, Columbia), Boston-area
schools (Boston College, Boston University), Big East schools
(Georgetown, Rutgers, St. John's) and other New England schools. As
our level of play has improved, we have been playing more and more
out-of-region tournaments against stronger competition.
Every year our schedule gets stronger. In the past year we've played in tournaments alongside a number of Big 10 schools, Pac-12 schools, and SEC Schools. We are competing against better teams in stronger fields, and we're doing well there. This is a nice testament to the growth of our program in recent years, and we look to continue on this trajectory.
What are some of the results from tournaments in
which Harvard has competed?
Complete tournament-by-tournament results are available on
GoCrimson.com or Golfstat.
We have become more and more competitive since the inception of our
program in 1993 and are looking for continued improvement. The
tournament format used in college is best-four-out-of-five-scores
from each school.
In the past few years we went from being a "winner" to being a
"champion.” Our won-lost record over the past four years
against Ivy League teams was 91 wins and 12 losses. After our
strong showing at the Golfweek Challenge in 2009 we received votes
in the top 25 in the country -- a first for any northeast team.
It is unlikely that any team will ever surpass our won-loss results from 2008-2009. Prior to NCAA Regionals, we played in seven official tournaments and won six of them. We placed second in the other event. Our combined won-loss record against the other teams in these events was 74 wins and 1 loss. We played in an unofficial event at the PGA West Stadium Course against UCLA (#1 in the country), Stanford (#23), California (#18) and UC Davis. While it was an individual event, counting the top four scores for each team we shot 309, one stroke behind UCLA at 308, and one stroke ahead of Cal and Stanford. In addition we won the Ivy League Championship and earned a spot at the NCAA Regionals. While this record is an outstanding accomplishment, we are not satisfied.
We will look to improve the level of competition as well as our showing at the Regional level to continue to build on our position as the Best Program in the Northeast.
I would really like to attend Harvard, but I have
several offers for full scholarships to other schools. Can you
provide any information that will help me with this decision?
This is a frequent and difficult question. Harvard
and other Ivy League institutions do not offer athletic
scholarships. Financial aid at Harvard is based strictly on need.
Harvard has an outstanding financial aid program that allows people
from all financial backgrounds to attend. Since Harvard applicants
are the "best and the brightest," they frequently have other
opportunities available to them. Recruited athletes are often faced
with this decision.
Harvard's relatively recent financial aid initiative is quite
impressive. Students whose families make less than $60,000 per year
attend Harvard free of charge and students whose families earn up
to $150,000 attend Harvard for 10% of their family income.
Financial Concerns:
Although Harvard (and other Ivy League schools) does not
offer merit-based (athletic or academic) financial aid or
scholarships, our financial aid program is outstanding. You are
encouraged to review the following web page for more information on
the Harvard
Financial Aid program.
Athletic Questions:
A top athlete and student should be sure she is choosing a school
that will foster her personal growth in all areas. Ivy League
schools have a unique view of athletics that allows its member
schools to provide this balance and development. Visit the Ivy
League's official website for more information about the
league.
Within the Ivy League framework, Harvard is able to balance
athletics and academics while being the best at both. Harvard teams
won 10 Ivy League championships in the 2011-12 academic year, while
the Crimson annually produces squads that are successful at both
the regional and national level.
Part of the reason for Harvard's success is the ability of
Harvard teams to compete with the best programs in the country --
including winning national championships and being ranked in the
top 20 in several sports each year. Our roster of 41 varsity sports
means that Harvard not only has a fantastic athletic department; it
is the largest Division I program in the nation both in terms of
sports offered and student-athletes served.
Sports
Illustrated's ranking of "America's Top Sports Colleges"
listed Harvard as the top school in the Ivy League and among the
top 15 percent of all Division I schools. The ranking considered a
variety of factors, including performance during the in the "big
five" sports (baseball, football, hockey and men's and women
basketball), position in the NACDA Cup all-sports standings. number
of varsity, club and intramural sports, range of recreational
facilities, and whether or not spirit-boosting events like Midnight
Madness were held.
Harvard placed 41st in the ranking, finishing ahead of the other
seven Ivies (Princeton was 56th, Penn 70th, Cornell 74th, Brown
92nd and Yale 95th), and ahead of Boston College and Boston
University.
All the while, Harvard
remains one of the best and most renowned academic institutions in
the world.
I am confused by the Early Action versus Early
Decision process. Can you explain the difference and how applying
early affects the chance of gaining admission?
Early Decision is a binding commitment to attend the
school if an applicant is admitted under the Early Decision
program. Harvard utilizes the Early Action program, which restricts
the applicant from applying to other Early Action or Decision
programs but does not bind the student to attend. It is usually
understood, however, that the student is applying Early to her
first choice. The chance of gaining admission can be increased by
applying Early depending upon many other factors including the size
and quality of the Early applicant pool and the recruiting
situation of the sport involved. Students are encouraged to make
this choice carefully.
The Harvard
College Admissions site can answer many of your questions about
the application and admission process.
Be sure to also read Buisness
Week's commentary on the problems associated with Early
Decision.
