Recruit Information-- Read our complete brochure here
Penn State Rugby welcomes you! You have found your way to the Best Rugby Program in the country with 45 years of history and over 1200 alumni, most of whom would say that rugby was their defining experience at Penn State. Both the men and women have long traditions of excellence with the men reaching the National Div 1 Collegiate Semi-finals 11 times in their history while the women have reached that pinnacle 12 times in the last 13 years and notched three National Championships in 1997, 2000 and 2004. More important than the combined records are the myriad of life-long friendships created over the years.
Penn State Rugby welcomes all players regardless of experience. The philosophy of rugby is that everyone plays and there are no cuts. Many players take the sport very seriously and train and condition outside of practices to maximize their performance. Others can't or don't choose to commit to that level and train and attend matches when they can. We try to accommodate both the serious athlete and the social player at Penn State Rugby. The only requirement of the University is a pre-participation physical. The only equipment necessary to begin is a mouth guard and a pair of cleated shoes. Rugby is a full contact game and for women, the only sport where the rules are the same as the men.
The rugby seasons for both men and women at Penn State commence with a pre-season "camp" in late August, followed by Potomac League play in September and October, then a break in November and December. We reconvene for indoor training in mid January through February and the season culminates with the National Championship qualifiers and Tournaments in April and May. It's always best to try to begin as each season commences, but we welcome new players at any point in the year. Both the men and women normally travel to play rugby during spring break in early March. The women have traveled to Europe for the past 5 years.
Practices are always subject to change due to field scheduling, weather and upcoming matches, but a normal outdoor schedule is men 6-8 PM on Tuesdays and Thursdays and women 6-8 PM Mondays and Wednesdays. We train on two different fields, the east "flower garden" fields adjacent to the Blue Band Building and west campus across Atherton from Rec Hall next to the golf course.
If you are a high school student interested in attending Penn State University, we welcome your inquiries.
High School Students
To be eligible to play rugby at Penn State it is first necessary to become an enrolled student at the University. The application is available online on the undergraduate admissions page.
1. Apply by November 30 for best opportunity of acceptance in fall.
*International students have different deadline requirements
2. Ensure that your application fee, transcripts and SAT scores have been sent to Penn State. Send your SAT or ACT scores directly from the testing organization because PSU will NOT accept them on your high school transcript.
The following are links that will help you with the application process. There are different admissions requirements for first-year students, transfer students and international students. To find out what the different requirements are click on the link below
www.psu.edu/admissions/steps/understanding/index.htm
For First year students this is the break down of the average GPAs and SAT scores of the fall 2006 Penn State admissions. Admission decisions are based on a variety of factors. The most important factor, the high school grade-point average (GPA), accounts for approximately two-thirds of the admission decision. The remaining one-third of the decision is based on other factors, which may include standardized test scores, class rank, personal statements, and activities
|
Penn State University Park |
All Other Campuses |
|
High School GPA*
Middle 50% Range |
3.46-3.87 |
2.80-3.34 |
|
Composite SAT**
Middle 50% Range |
1160-1340 |
930-1150 |
|
Composite ACT**
Middle 50% Range |
26-30 |
20-25 |
*High school GPA range is based on a 4.0 scale.
**Critical reading and math scores only; Penn State will incorporate scores from the writing portion of the new SAT and ACT for students applying in 2008 and entering in 2009.
- Office of Student aid: Here you can read information for prospective students and be lead through the application for student aid at Penn State
www.psu.edu/student aid
- Tuition information: On this site you can click on the appropriate links to find what tuition would cost for you at Penn State University Park campus.
www.tuition.psu.edu
*If you are an international student the following links will assist you in detail with your admissions requirements, deadlines, financial aid and tuition information. An international student is defined as any individual who requires a VISA to attend Penn State.
www.psu.edu/dept/admissions/steps/understanding/intrequire.htm
www.international.psu.edu
Some additional helpful links –
www1.fastweb.com/index.ptml
www.apps.collegeboard.com
www.srnexpress.com
www.gmsp.org/(vxy1hp3fkfqy3z55spajhtej)/default.aspx
Team / Contact Info
For specific in-season information, go to the websites of the teams
Men: www.clubs.psu.edu/up/mensrugby
Women: www.clubs.psu.edu/up/womensrugby
You may also contact the Head Coaches directly:
Men: Don Ferrell daf4@psu.edu
Women: Pete Steinberg pete@psurugby.org
Prospective Student Recruiting Form
We are currently working on putting this form online. For now, we ask that you download the form HERE, fill it out, and email it to the following:
Men's Team Head Coach:Don Ferrell daf4@psu.edu
Women's Team Head Coach: Pete Steinberg pete@psurugby.org
Health Insurance Coverage for Rugby
Penn State University Student Health Insurance now covers team sport participants. This health insurance or any other policy the student has (from their parents, etc.) will be the primary health insurance provider and is required as usual.
On top of that we have two policies to protect Team Sport participants in any incident during team sport participation:
1. Athletic Injury Plan: The primary insurance will be billed first, then anything that is not covered under that plan will be covered under the Athletic Injury Plan. This should alleviate a financial burden on the students to get medical care as they will not have to pay for anything that happened during a Team Sport practice/game/travel.
2. Catastrophic Plan: Team Sports are now also under the athletic departments catastrophic plan which will give assistance in any major injury.
This is obviously going to help our teams, but is also going to require that our rosters are constantly up to date and we know who is at practice and who isn't. It means more benefits, but more organization and more work for all of us.