<p>Would appreciate advice on process. S (junior) is not too interested in looking at colleges right now. He has gotten several recruiting letters by mail. Apparently coaches can't call until after July 1? He is sort of quiet and would probably do better in a smaller school, but the "names" in his sport (swimming) are all huge state schools. Are there any blogs about coaches: you know like rate my professor? It might be possible to get a good fit if the coach and team were "right" but how can you know since I understand that official visits are big dog & pony shows? His scores will be just average and he is a B(+) student.</p>
<p>Overit, my son was heavily recruited for basketball among several ivy and patriot league schools. Fortunately, he had the combination of athletic talent and excellent grades in a rigorous curriculum. We went on 14 (yes, 14!) unofficial visits, so he could get a feel for the school and the coaching staff. Visiting the school and talking with the coaches is by far the best way for your son to evaluate the school and the athletic program. My son was then able to narrow down where he wanted to take his "official" visits. The one thing we kept telling him to ask himself was, "If you weren't playing basketball would you still be happy attending this school?" He is very pleased with his decision and will be matriculating in September.</p>
<p>I agree that the first decision point is what level of academics is your son seeking. There are several swimmer-parents on this forum. My son was an athletic recruit, but in a different sport. He chose to use his sport to boost his admission chances to highly selective academic schools. Clearly, you still want a good fit with the coach and team, but the primary thing is the academic fit. The coaches will give you a good idea as to how much "pull" they have with admissions. It really can vary, especially if you get into D3 schools.</p>
<p>Thanks for the replies. I don't think he would use swimming to get into a "better" or reach school because the swim team time commitment is so great it wouldn't make sense to overburden him that way. I think D3 schools are out too because he already has an NCAA B cut in his event. MWC How would I find other swim parents on this board?
BTW Upstater yes I agree that making unofficial visits would be the way to go but honestly I don't think I have the funds/time to fly all over the country for a school that only might be a fit. I am in NY and indiana, florida, michigan, arizona are schools that might potentially be swim "matches" if there is a good coach/team chemistry.</p>
<p>The two I have in mind both had swimmers go to Ivy schools, but one is Dizzymom. I'm sure there are more.
Go to the NCAA swimming site and look at the top swimming schools and see if one might be somewhat smaller. I know SMU used to be a powerhouse- not sure anymore. I have a co-worker with a swimmer daughter at UMinnesota and she is very happy. Your son will have to contact the coaches or wait for the letters and calls based on his times, and then see which schools he wants to visit. Are there swimming message forums which discuss different programs and coaches? I know there are for running.</p>
<p>I presume that you are aware of this site [url=<a href="http://www.collegeswimming.com/%5DCollegeSwimming.com::Index%5B/url">http://www.collegeswimming.com/]CollegeSwimming.com::Index[/url</a>]</p>
<p>Yes I am aware of the collegeswimming site. It is good for finding rankings and they recently started posting times, but it is still difficult to get a grip on the personality of the coach/team. I would imagine that many recruited athletes have a similar problem: if you don't know anyone on the team and you can't logistically visit all of your schools, how do you determine athletic personality fit.</p>
<p>On this board you can find out alot about the personalities of the different schools: who is preppy, who is overworked, who has grade inflation. There is a little bit of that info on collegeswimming but it is often nothing more than who is going to win such and such a conference and what I really want to know is what coach really cares about his athletes and gets the most out of them athletically while not letting them slack on academics. I don't really want to post on collegeswimming because it's such a small world swimming wise, I don't want to be seen as a helicopter sports mom (which I probably am ;) )</p>
<p>what I really want to know is what coach really cares about his athletes and gets the most out of them athletically while not letting them slack on academics.</p>
<p>If you're looking at D1 schools, academics are not going to be priority for coaches - your son will be swimmer first, student second. That is the big difference between D1/2 and D3. I'm a swimmer parent, but my daughter is still a freshman, so too early to tell where she may end up. I strongly suspect that she won't be good enough for D1, and it's probably for the best. </p>
<p>Don't dismiss D3 schools, just because your son already has a B cut. There are several very strong swimming teams in D3, and students come to these schools for academics first. </p>
<p>Another site related to college swimming - d3swimming.com</p>
<p>Thanks! I think we will make a list of 3 categories of schools: swim matches, academic matches and schools that have a combination of both (D3) and see where we go from there. A swimmer has to be careful because programs get cut left and right: Arizona State just cut men's swimming, tennis and wrestling yesterday. This is on the heels of URI cutting their program a few weeks ago.</p>
<p>If you have not, make a "swimming resume" and send it out, prior to the coaching contact date. D was in a non team sport also, but heavily recruited, primarily due to her scholastic profile. You would have to get the info together anyway. You can then see who is interested, but you should do it now so you can talk after July 1. Also, do the NCAA clearing house just to be safe (matters for div 1 sports), also you can check the rules. The high school should have some examples of sports resumes to use as a guide. It will also have his academic stuff on it (ecs, awards). Keep in mind, some coaches have to run the basic data by admissions before they can actually recruit.</p>
<p>Good luck.</p>
<p>I am a swimmer and I emailed the coaches of the schools I was interested in. Keeping in touch with the coaches will help you get a better sense of the school's swimming program. And after I got accepted I visited the schools and hung out with the swimmers on the team. I highly recommend visiting.</p>
<p>I decided to go to a D3 school because I would be able to balance academics with swimming. D1 schools have way to demanding practices and depending on your major, it will be difficult to juggle both academics and athletics.</p>
<p>Syracuse University was to end men's and women's swimming after this season but the sport was extended for three more years allowing current freshman swimmers to complete their collegiate athletic careers at the 'cuse. Save</a> Syracuse Swimming and Diving</p>
<p>So far it doesn't look like ASU is getting that option but the swimmers are trying to raise $240k to save their current season. Then they would need $5million to endow their sport.</p>
<p>@hikids Did you also send the resume to the same schools that you responded to the athletic recruiting questionnaire? Or is that overkill?
My S is getting alot of unsolicited recruiting questionnaires. Is it bad form if he doesn't respond if he's not interested?</p>
<p>@hotapp Can you elaborate on the difficulty of Div I swimming? What kind of swimming you did in hs? was it high school only or hs plus club? What made you think Div I swimming was too difficult? Too many hours in the pool? Too much distance?</p>
<p>overit, my daughter was a recruited swimmer with Y National times. She received letters from quite a few DI schools (including Ivies), as well as two service academies. I knew she was not the type of kid who would enjoy a DI experience, as she would not be happy with college=swim, study, swim, sleep. She has friends who went to DI schools and then quit the sport because they found they had no life outside the pool. Bigger schools sometimes have swimming on a club as well as varsity level, which offers a wonderfully laid-back approach to training and competition. However, if your kid is getting $$ to swim at a DI school, he/she may not have the luxury to quit.</p>
<p>The nice thing about looking for schools as which she could swim is that it's easy to find out what they need. If my kid is a butterflyer and a school she's interested in has four swimmers who are faster by a few seconds, it's a clue she would not get a lot of meet opportunities. But if a school shows a serious lack of butterflyers, the coach would be very interested in her and she would get a big tip in admissions.</p>
<p>She also looked closely at the rosters to gauge how committed swimmers were to the program. If she saw it was mostly freshmen and sophomores, that gave her a clue that kids could be unhappy with the coaching there.</p>
<p>There are plenty of DIII schools that have swimmers who can keep up with (and beat) the best of the DI athletes - Denison and Kenyon are two that come to mind.</p>
<p>My daughter ended up picking a DIII school that has the major in which she's interested, and where she will be able to contribute during meets. It's easy to be seduced by the recruiting, but I kept asking her after her visits if she would be happy at that school even if she didn't swim. Coaches change, injuries and burnouts are common. She knows she's not heading to the Olympics, and she wants to get involved in other campus activities and clubs.</p>
<p>Good luck with the search - your son will have plenty of great options!</p>
<p>Look at D2 schools. You will find these schools to have some athletes that are high level D1 as well as below average D3 athletes. It helps to give a kid more of a balance. Many of the schools are smaller and offer good student to professor ratios which help to provide a good education.</p>
<p>If you are in New York then one D2 school comes to mind: Clarion. They are building a new pool and have had a lot of success (more so in diving.) But there are many other good D2 schools to look into; don't write them off.</p>
<p>Best of luck!</p>
<p>Go to d3swimming.com and take a look at the results. You'll be able to see if your swimmer can reasonably expect to final, thereby making a potential recruit at the more competitive programs. YNational times are fine, but not really competitive at the d3 championships or most D1 conference meets.
If you want to know where your swimmer will be a contributor (recruit) look at the conference websites and the championship results. The Patriot League schools have some competitive programs, but clearly are students first. Most of the swimmers we know have a great college life if they've matched well their times, commitment and other needs with those of the program. Don't pay too much attention to letters, many many sent out.</p>