What top schools have womens lightweight rowing?

Question
My daughter is in her junior year and rows for a highly regarded prep school program in NE.  She is 5??and 133 lbs.  Her racing results, 2k erg scores, grades and GPA are excellent, as well as any recommendations.  SATs are around 2000.  Rowing may be the difference between getting into a top/IVY league college and not.  We realize that her size is at the high end for lightweight and low end for open weight so we抮e focusing on colleges that have lightweight programs in addition to open.

Is there a list of top schools that have lightweight programs?  

She might be interested in D3 or D2 programs for the right school.  The education is our top priority and frankly she is somewhat fearful that the commitment to rowing in college will detract from her studies.  She抎 be more interested in a school that will challenge her to succeed academically first.

We welcome any other advice you have for our situation.  

Answer
Hi MJ: This is a toughie.  While men's college rowing has several very viable lightweight programs among the major schools, this is not the same with women.  The NCAA does not recognize women's lightweight championships even at the D1 level.

There best women's lightweight programs are in the Eastern Association of Rowing Colleges.  The EARC consist of your Ivy's and other major East Coast schools like the Naval Academy, Syracuse, Rutgers, Northeastern, etc.  Within these schools, only 5 field lightweight women's programs: Radcliffe, Georgetown, MIT, Princeton and Wisconsin.

The other major Lightweight Rowing conference is the Dad Vail Rowing Association.  These crews all get together in Philadelphia in May to compete in the Dad Vail Regatta, the largest collegiate regatta in the world.  Last year, Bucknell university won the women's lightweight eight, followed by Cal Berkely, Tulsa, U. of Buffalo, Lafayette and Georgia Tech.  

The ten schools named above could serve as a good starting short list of Women's lightweight schools.  Check the schools' web sites for more details ont the academics and the crew programs.  But in view of your daughters height and weight, and the fact that the college lightweight cutoff weight is 130 pounds, your daughter may have better options if she just competes as a heavyweight.  

As I tell others, rowing is a good tiebreaker when schools are making selections for admission, but academics and SATs are far more important.  Rowing is not like football, where coaches go to the ear of the dean to get someone admitted into the school.

You are correct in assessing that education is a priority when you are paying maybe $100000 a year for tuition and board.  From my personal experience in college rowing many years ago, doing both well in school and competing in a rowing program takes SUPERIOR TIME MANAGEMENT SKILLS.  Considering that there may be other things like a job, other extracurriculars and a social life, there is a possibility that grades could suffer if they are not prioritized.  If she decides to tryout for crew, you may want to give her a minimum grade to maintain "OR ELSE..."

Good Luck/AP