Rowing Heavyweight- Recruitment

Question
Hi,
I am a 6'2" boy, (~160 lbs for lightweight weigh-ins at the moment, but I have cut from ~170 and could most likely put on more in the coming years by growing, lifting, etc.) currently rowing on the openweight/lightweight crew at Community Rowing Inc. To get into a top-tier heavyweight rowing program in the US, what would my erg scores, academics, and OTW experience have to be? As of February, I pulled a 1:43 (6:55) for 2K, and a 1:51.5 (21:18) for 6K. By the time I am a senior, I will have five years of experience and hopefully continue to be on the First Varsity boat. I currently have a 3.9 GPA and am taking the highest-level courses at my high school. Is there a bench-mark estimate you can give me for the academics and erg scores of the "average" recruit to, let's say, a HYP school (as a heavyweight)?
Thank you,
Riley

Answer
Hi Riley: This is a very difficult question to answer.  I wish there was software where you can enter you erg times and GPA and medals won, then the software spits out a school for you.

I will do my best to guesstimate the erg ranges that major college programs might consider.  It looks as though academics may not be a disqualifying factor for you.  However, you still need to take the SAT.  In general, you should :

1) Choose the school(s) that meet your academic goals.
2) Of that list, Choose the school that gives you the best scholarship
3) If #2 does not apply, choose a school based on the crew program that appeals to you the most.

To potentially row Freshman 8 at a top level crew (most Ivies, traditional Eastern powers like Syracuse, Wisconsin, Cal, Stanford or washington): 2K time of 6:20 or better and major hardware (medals) won from regattas such as the Stotesbury Cup.  Junior Development Camp experience is desired.  The general adage for rowing for Yale and Harvard is, either you are one of the top students at your school who is also captain of the Varsity 8 or you are one of the most talented rower in the country.  

To row Varsity Frosh 8 at a 2nd-Tier school (Dad Vail powers like Temple, Virginia, or Purdue; lower-level Eastern Sprints school like Boston U. and Rutgers): 2K Time of 6:35 or better with some success in a high school Varsity eight.    

I think your 2K/6K times are already good enough to get a shot to make varsity  at most smaller college crew programs.  Assuming your on-water technique is good,  I see no reason why you couldn't join any college crew program other than academics.  In other words, even Harvard would be happy to have you compete for one of their boats.

What you really need to do is just continue to row and train; and by junior year, come up with a list of 5 to 10 schools you would like to attend and row for.

Good Luck/AP