<p>I don’t claim to be an expert on this subject but my brother graduated from Princeton many years ago and I recall him telling me about his roommate’s younger sister; she was one of the very top squash players in the entire US and the Princeton coach wanted her on his team so she got into Princeton. (Of course there was no athletic scholarship involved but she did get an Ivy League education.) Are your swimming times some of the best in the nation? If so, that might overcome, in your words, your “not particularly stellar” academics. I am not trying to be harsh, but the competition/level of quality of applicants at the top schools is unbelievable! On the other hand, there are a lot of great schools out there in the tier just below the Ivies–Stanford, Northwestern, Duke, Vanderbilt, Notre Dame, Georgetown, Wash U, etc.</p>