PoleVaultPower.com

So, I've been working real hard at the pole vault (really I've been seriously pole vaulting for about a year). This is my senior year and I'm shooting for 14' so i can qualify for Texas Relays. I never really considered pole vaulting in college until now. Now, I never applied to Penn or other schools I'd like to pole vault at, but if i make the heights I'm working hard to make and I impress the coaches enough, do you think i can get into one of these schools?

Well we do not have near enough information to know if you can get into college. That all depends on grades, GPA, SAT and ACT scores, and extra curricular activities. For larger schools that have good pole vaulters you are going to be looking for a walk on spot and you are most likely going to have to get into the school on academics alone. As far as vaulting in college it just depends on what the coach wants and if he thinks you can improve.

As an 11'6 pole vaulter, you can probably walk-on at some smaller schools, but it will take a lot more for the bigger ones. You are not likely to get any scholarship money for pole vaulting because coaches have already given it out, and they base it on what you have already done, not what you think you can do.

Every school is different. If you really want to vault in college, you'll need to personally email the coaches at the schools you are interested in and find out what their requirements are to walk-on.

I had a straight A kid who was one of only 8 vaulters to make the Texas State meet with a jump of 15' 9", and the University of Texas would not let him walk on. Smaller schools are a better choice and many will let you jump even if you don't "make the team". In my 14 years at the University of California at Irvine, we never turned one kid away who wanted to vault. Bubba

well i am a pretty good student. i take mostly ap classes high b's and a's. 4.0 GPA. 1990 on my SAT. I'm a member of NHS national histroy and math honor society. I know that coaches don't wanna hear what i can do. I was just wondering if i have a chance, even though i never applied to some of these schools i'm looking at, if i do make the heights i'm hoping to make.

At UC Irvine we had guys that came out and put up the bar for the team and they got to jump before or after practices, and other non-team club practices. Some of them progressed to jumping in some team events, but everyone felt like and was treated like part of the team. Best of luck to you. Bubba

Well you can't get into a college unless you apply. You're not pole vaulting high enough to help you get in. Apply to the schools you are interested in and talk to the coaches.

Your grades look good so just apply where you want to go and talk to the coach about what you have to do to walk on. And one think a lot of kids do not realize is that male college teams have a roster cap and if they already have all of their roster spots filled, they would not be able to let anyone on the team no matter how high they jump. Sometimes as a walk on you just have to get lucky when it comes to the school being able to give you a shot.

When HS kids ask me if they can vault in college, I tell them that they have a good shot if they have good grades. In fact, the first question my college coach asked me when I called him and asked if I could walk on, was "What is your GPA?", not "how high can you vault?"

Your academics are much more likely to earn you admission (and maybe even a scholarship) to the university of your choice, rather than pole vault. If you have good grades, are a decent athlete, and a hard worker you can probably walk on at most college track programs, with the exception of the elite programs. It's good to remember that many elite US vaulters only vaulted 14'6 in HS.

Good luck!
Tom

I would highley recommend using berecruited.com.
If you can jump 14' + you will get many contacts from DIV II and NAIA schools. Depending on their needs, you may end up with a small scholorship for vaulting and a better scholoraship for grades.
If you are below that you may have to hope for a DIII school, but they can only offer academic scholarships, and DIII is very expensive too.

But that websites gets you in contact with every vault/track coach out there. I highley recommend it. Upload pictures, videos and biography and your in touch with hundreds of coaches.

I was in somewhat of the same position you are in now when i was a senior.. i cleared higher bars my senior year than any other year and they were close to 15.. but all the scholarship money had already been given out. check out alot of DII and NAIA schools, they were all willing to work with me and help me out. I ended up going to a D1 school as a decathalete. It stills lets me vault and continue my track career. you might want to check into tryin the dec. if all else fails
Best of luck

Something for you to consider. You can walk on (or get the chance to) a D1 school and work with the track team and the vaulters and never see the track or a locker for 4 years. On the other hand if you did jump 13 or 14 feet this year you could go to a DII or DIII school and jump next year. What would you rather do? Try to get on a team or be on a team. Big - 10 opening heights are 15' 8". At most schools in the big 10 you won't see the track till you're a 17 plus-er. From 11' 6" that's a long way to go. I've got a boy that I've been working with for the last 3 years that will probably be a 15 footer this year. He has opted for a Wisconsin State University. He won't get any scholarship money but he'll be competing for the team next year as a freshman and his degree will end up costing him less than if he would have gotten a partial scholarship at a DI or DII school. By no means am I telling you what I would have you do. That decision is yours to make. I just haven't seen what I've written so far on this thread so I thought I'd thow this out there.
Later...........Mike