Basic College Information for Men's Gymnastics
The following information should help you get a feel for the basic recruiting process as well as a feel for the men's gymnastics program here at the College of William and Mary. If you feel that William and Mary is a good fit for you, you should contact coach Cliff Gauthier by email at cagaut@wm.edu and/or by calling 757-221-3410.

With the 2015-16 rules, here is how college coaches will be putting together a men's team:
15 men can compete in a given meet

5 men compete on each event with all five scores counting toward the team score (until Winter Cup weekend around the middle of February, teams may enter 6 gymnasts per event with the top 5 scores counting)
           
As a result, many college gymnasts specialize on certain events rather than working the all-around. In meets, it is not uncommon for a college team to have only one or maybe two gymnasts working the all-around—sometimes none. Therefore, if you happen to have one or a couple of really good events you can be quite valuable to a college team and have a good collegiate experience. Colleges basically use the same scoring rules, trick values, and deductions used in the World and Olympic games with a couple of modifications. They do not use the Junior Olympic rules or trick value modifications, so college start values can be lower than those for identical routines done in JO competitions.
           
Many colleges have team size limits imposed on them by the athletic department. As a result, not everybody can be on the team who wants to. Some teams may have tryouts while others may give a lot of freshmen a chance to make the team but may keep them on the team for one year only if they don't score well enough or match the needs of the team. Look at the relative size of each class on their rosters or ask the coaches if this is what they do.
 
Useful websites for information on collegiate gymnastics:
www.collegegymnastics.org is a good site to visit for information on the colleges in the country that have varsity teams in men's gymnastics. You can get the email address and phone numbers for the coaches of each team from this web site.
www.naigc.net is the site that has information on the colleges in the country that have club teams in men's gymnastics. You should be aware that it is not too hard to start a club team at a college that doesn't have one (local gyms can be part of this process as you can often make a deal with them to trade work out time in return for teaching classes for them).
www.roadtonationals.com  is a site that has statistics and rankings of the collegiate teams in men's gymnastics. You can also find rosters, rankings, and schedules for each team.
 
Email is a good way to contact college coaches. You can also call them as often as you like. NCAA rules allow men's gymnastics coaches to email, call, or text you or your parents after September 1^st of your junior year in high school, so if you call, text, or email coaches before September 1^st of your junior year, they can't email, text, or call you back. If you don't get an immediate email response from a coach after the September 1^st date of your junior year, don't shy away from emailing him a second or third time.
 
Information that is good to send the coaches includes:
What high school classes you have taken and plan to take through your senior year. Eventually, coaches will want and need to have unofficial transcripts, your 12^th grade class schedule, and your scores from the SAT or ACT tests.

Your grade point average (both weighted and unweighted) as well as class rank if your school ranks students. The coaches need to know if you can be successful academically at their college.

Your email address and phone numbers and when is the best time to contact you both in the summer and during the school year.

Your gym and how to get in touch with your coaches. Your scores and meet results can be somewhat useful but videos of your gymnastics linked to a site (like YouTube) where the college coach can see your gymnastics is much more useful. Routines as well as tricks and sequences you are working are good to show on your videos. Make sure you get video footage of your meets and practices for this purpose.

Your NCAA eligibility center registration number—to get this go to www.ncaaclearinghouse.net to register. Eventually, the coach and university must have this eligibility number in order to recruit you and you must get clearance through this center in order to compete in NCAA competitions. This site will also explain many of the recruiting rules to you.
 
Finances and scholarships—NCAA rules say that each college may give up to an equivalent of 6.2 full athletic scholarships to all the members of its men's gymnastics team at one time. These scholarships are spread out over a four or five year period depending on whether their gymnasts graduate in four or five years. Each gymnast has five years from date of entrance to complete four years of competition. There are now 16 varsity teams in the country and several of them may not be able to offer the full compliment of 6.2 athletic scholarships. Figure that team sizes run around 20 gymnasts (not counting red-shirts—gymnasts on the team not competing for that year) and it will give you an idea of how these scholarships get stretched out. There are other options for scholarships for very good students as determined by their high school grades and their scores on the SAT/ACT tests. One option is an academic scholarship which often runs in the $1,000-9,000 range per year at most colleges. To keep these scholarships each year you may need to maintain a certain grade point average often around a 3.0. The top academic universities generally give very few academic scholarships but instead offer need based aid to all their students which often are much better financial aid packages than a straight academic scholarship or a partial athletic scholarship. The FAFSA (free application for federal student aid) and the College Board's CSS/Financial Aid PROFILE forms are used to determine an estimated family contribution (EFC) from which your need based aid package is determined. For example, if your need based aid figure to go to a college is determined to be $30,000 an academic scholarship could net $1000-9000 per year while a need based aid package could include well over $9000 per year in scholarships plus $3,500 or more in loans to the student. There are also loans available to parents that may cover the entire cost of your education (Parent Plus loans). You and your folks should definitely go to http://netpricecalculator.collegeboard.org/ and click on "students" and then on "participating schools". If a school offers need based aid, it will probably participate in this service (if no need based aid is offered, you probably won't find the school listed). Next you pick a school and plug in your parents' financial figures and get a ball park need based aid package from the universities you are interested in attending.

Getting a Feel for W&M Gymnastics
William and Mary gymnastics continues to be defined by phenomenal success and progress both in and out of the gym. Michael Deitz not only won the national high bar title at the USA Gymnastics Collegiate Championships but also received the Senior Athlete of the Year Award. At the team and athletes banquet for the NCAA Championships, Michael was given a standing ovation as the student-athlete speaker. Additionally, USA Gymnastics Collegiate All-American certificates were earned by Aria Sabbagh, Jason Wang, Peter Ten Eyck, and Jeremiah McReynolds while All-ECAC honors for their outstanding performances at the Conference Championships were awarded to Keaton Ackerman, Rob Meyer, Nick Van Dyke, and Michael Deitz. As a team, the Tribe finished the season ranked 14^th in the final NCAA statistics and qualified seven individuals to the Championships.

Academically, the William and Mary gymnasts combined for a 3.458 grade point average to defend the national academic team championship that they won in record breaking fashion with a 3.622 grade point the year before. As a result, the Tribe has put together a remarkable streak by winning three of the last four national academic team titles in men's gymnastics. William and Mary has earned more national academic team titles (seven) and has received more individual Academic All-American Scholar-Athlete honors (130 first team and 42 second team) in men's gymnastics than any other university.

The common denominator among William and Mary gymnasts is a passion for learning both in and out of the gym as well as learning to be a true teammate. Tribe gymnasts are expected to and do seriously help each other get better both in and out of the gym for a lifetime. If helping a teammate out in the gym enables him to beat you out for the final position on the traveling squad or even for the coveted number one position on an event, then both receive significant benefits as one gets better in the gym and one grows as a person for helping in that success. This is what being a part of the William and Mary team is all about as each team member benefits throughout college and after graduation from the same honest and intelligent help from his teammates.
           
Our gymnasts also receive the added benefit and luxury of a degree from the renowned College of William and Mary which is consistently rated as the best small public university in the nation as well as the best public university for undergraduate teaching. A degree from William and Mary combined with our scholar-athlete and team work approach to sport and life truly opens doors and sets our gymnasts up for a lifetime of success in their career, community, and family.

The Academic Atmosphere
In addition to often being ranked as the number one small public university in the nation, William and Mary is also considered the top public institution in terms of its commitment to teaching. A distinct educational advantage at W&M is that students actually have full-fledged professors, not graduate students or teaching assistants, as instructors for their courses. Since the College prides itself on its teaching commitment, it is quite common to have a department's chairman or top researcher teaching undergraduate courses, even at the freshman introductory level. William & Mary's size, prevalent educational atmosphere, and student to faculty ratio of 12-1 give students the opportunity to talk to professors in both formal and informal situations beginning with unique freshman seminars. This in turn, leads to a stimulating, successful educational environment. Tribe gymnasts come to learn as well as have an enjoyable, well-rounded college experience.

W&M's prestigious undergraduate program stresses a broad-based exploration of courses before having students declare a major area of concentration at the end of their sophomore year. Some gymnasts choose to pursue degrees in the sciences to take advantage of the undergraduate opportunity to work closely with some of the nation's finest professors in chemistry, biology, neuroscience, and physics. Others take advantage of the outstanding undergraduate business program or pursue international relations at the renowned Reves Center for International Studies. Studying abroad for one semester is also highly encouraged (student-athletes generally study abroad during the summer). But the hallmark of a W&M undergraduate education—no matter which major you choose—is the high level of student engagement that often translates into independent or faculty-mentored student research projects. 

With help from a professor there is also the option of designing an interdisciplinary major to meet your special needs. This enables William and Mary the flexibility to offer majors, such as biomechanical life science, not usually found at universities with only 6300 undergraduate students. Some of our gymnasts have majored in physics, chemistry, computer science, or applied mathematics to prepare for advanced degrees in a specific engineering field. They have found that they can earn a master's degree in engineering in six years, which parallels the amount of time it takes to get a master's degree by attending a university that offers an undergraduate engineering degree. In general, most W&M gymnasts stick with traditional majors with almost all (92%) graduating within four not five years.

The William and Mary campus is one of the most historic and beautiful in the country. You can still take classes, like Thomas Jefferson did, in the famous Sir Christopher Wren Building, the oldest academic building in the United States. It anchors one end of the campus and is part of Colonial Williamsburg's famous 173-acre Historic area, which features a re-creation of the life and times in the Revolutionary City of the 1700's. This combination of William and Mary and Colonial Williamsburg provides for a unique and stimulating educational setting. There are plenty of diversions in the immediate area which include Busch Gardens, Water Country, Yorktown, Jamestown, several major outlet malls, championship golf courses and the ever present deli's. The surf at Virginia Beach is one hour away while downtown Richmond is only 45 minutes. Driving to Washington, DC or the Blue Ridge Mountains takes approximately 2 ½ hours.

W&M has a national and international reputation for its academic quality. Time magazine has referred to The College as, "Probably the most selective of the 'Public Ivies'. The Williamsburg, Va., school offers an idyllic residential campus, small classes and a superb placement record." There is a true "personal" atmosphere at William and Mary where students are known for their active involvement in many campus and community activities.

The pre-med, pre-law and accounting majors who as a group score right at the top on admission and certification tests are constant examples of William and Mary's academic quality. William and Mary students opting for advanced degrees also attain outstanding scores on the GRE's for graduate schools. Many of our undergraduate students do honors projects or research that leads to professional presentations or publications. This level of achievement generally occurs only on the graduate level at most other universities. Since 1975, 30 W&M gymnasts have gone on to attend medical school.

William and Mary requires that all undergraduates develop good writing and verbal communication skills regardless of major. This certainly enhances your ability to move up in the career of your choice. Quite frankly, a degree from William and Mary has long-term career benefits and clearly puts you at the head of the pack.

W&M Gymnasts and Graduation
William and Mary gymnasts have benefited from the long-term effects of an outstanding education with gymnastics serving as a cornerstone of their total collegiate experience. As a result of traditional excellence as scholar-athletes, most W&M gymnasts are able to pick and choose among career opportunities and professional schools in their chosen fields. Since Coach Gauthier came to William & Mary, 159 of his 169 (94 percent) recruited gymnasts have graduated from William and Mary with seven of these having transferred and graduated from other schools. Of the 159 W&M graduates, 146 (92 percent) graduated in four years or less.
           
Coach Gauthier, his gymnasts and their families' feel that commitment to the William and Mary gymnastics program does not end with graduation. The continued support of our gymnastics family is directly responsible for the quality of William and Mary's program. The success of our gymnasts in the classroom, the college community, and in their lives and careers combined with their continued support of our program after graduating has been a significant factor in stabilizing men's gymnastics as a varsity sport at William and Mary.
           
Each year our gymnastics graduates return for various alumni functions not only to keep in touch with each other but also to help perpetuate the total success of the gymnastics program. For example, the medical students and doctors will take the pre-meds aside and give them helpful advice and encouragement, just as the current gymnasts encourage and help each other in and out of the gym. Those in business talk to the current gymnasts about expectations, interviews, networking, and preparation for various fields in the business world. The gymnastics program's primary goal has been to help individuals achieve their gymnastics potential while becoming well educated and ultimately successful and fulfilled in all aspects of their life's endeavors including family, career, and community. This is the essence of the William and Mary gymnastics tradition that the graduates as well as the current gymnasts are perpetuating.

Application to W&M
For a wealth of information on William and Mary from an on-line application to a virtual tour of the campus visit the www.wm.edu web site. Each year, the Office of Undergraduate Admissions receives over 15,000 applications for a freshman class of approximately 1,520. Since many more students apply than can be accommodated, W&M uses a selective admissions process emphasizing (in order) high school achievement, test scores, and personal qualities. Updated application materials usually become available on the W&M web site late in the summer.

The Common Application and the W&M Supplement to the Common Application must be filled out to apply to William and Mary. You will be able to access both of these forms through the Common Application web site: http://www.CommonApp.org. Early admission freshmen candidates (a binding agreement) must submit their application by November 1^st, while regular decision candidates have a January 1^st deadline. Transfer students who wish to start in the fall semester must apply by February 15^th while November 15^th is the deadline for spring transfers.
           
The Committee on Admission encourages students to pursue a rigorous curriculum in secondary school by enrolling in AP, IB, honors, or gifted courses whenever possible. Recommended secondary school preparation includes: four years of English, math, social science, and foreign language, and three years of lab sciences (biology, chemistry, and physics). The SAT I (W&M's code is 5115) or the ACT (W&M's code is 4334) is required of all freshmen applicants.
           
The personal dimension is also important in the application process. W&M looks for individuals with different talents, backgrounds, experiences, and abilities to help build a class of young men and women who will learn from one another outside of the classroom walls. The application essays along with activities and recommendations all contribute to the personal dimension of the application.

In order to compete in college, all athletes must be registered with and certified through the NCAA Eligibility Center (www.ncaaclearinghouse.net). The certification process is started by filling out the Student Release Form (SRF) online as early as the beginning of your junior year in high school. Be sure to list W&M on the Clearinghouse release form as well as send SAT results to both W&M and the NCAA Eligibility Center.

The William and Mary gymnastics team is looking for true scholar-athletes who are willing to enjoy life and learning while working hard to pursue athletic and academic excellence. Prospective students should take both the SAT and ACT tests since one-third score significantly better on the SATs while a different third score significantly better on the ACTs (the final one-third score about the same on both). It is wise to start taking these tests in the junior year and then repeat your best scoring test to maximize your results. It is also wise to take a fourth year level of a foreign language in high school to meet the language requirements for graduation at many universities.