College swimming help

Athletic Recruits
1

I’m a high school junior.

I have been swimming for my hs team.
Although I’m not the best swimmer I would really like to swim in college.

How do I go about doing that.

I’m looking at schools like Harvard, Columbia, NYU, Wellsley, and Barnard.

Please help. What should I do.

2

Can you provide just a little more information?

  1. Male or female
  2. Top 3 events in tapered/shaved meet
  3. Do you swim club year round?
  4. How many practices a weed do you swim?
  5. SAT/ACT scores if available/GPA

Here’s some basic information to help you get started:

  1. After identifying your top 3 events you swim, go to collegeswimming.com and review the teams and their top times in those events. If your times are not in the top 5 fastest on the team, you are not going to be interesting to a coach. If for some reason, your times are not competitive for the schools you are potentially interested in, then you should identify additional schools where your times would fall into the top 5 fastest on the team. When looking at times, make sure you are comparing your shave/taper times to the shave/taper times of the college teams. Most college teams are having conference championships right now, so it might be easier/cleaner to look at their 2014 times rather than 2015 times.

  2. For college coaches to be interested in you as an athlete, they’ll want you to be able to score at conference championships. Scoring typically means making finals of the conference championships. Lots of these championships are going on right now. Look across D1, D2 and D3 to see where you might place. Those conferences will direct you to the schools that might recruit you.

  3. For the colleges that you have identified in 1 and 2, then email the college coaches providing the following information: grades, SAT/ACT scores, top times in events. They will most likely ask you to complete a recruiting questionnaire. They will also want to know the dates of your championship meets so they can track your progress.

  4. If you do not swim club year round, this can work for you or against you depending on your HS times. Some coaches are intrigued with generally good athletes who have not swam year round, because there is typically room for improvement. However, some coaches do not like athletes who have not swam in a club environment, because club swimming demonstrates the discipline of routine practices, managing academics and athletics, and big competitions.

  5. If you are truly interested in the Ivy league, you should familiarize yourself with the term “Academic Index” and find out where you rank in that calculation. Certain AI parameters have to be met at Ivy league schools. There is quite a bit of information on the AI on this site, simply search for it.

Do some homework, choose schools that are potentially interesting, and those that might be interested in you. Start discussions very soon with coaches, as most juniors have had discussions already with coaches, and are ready for the July 1 personal discussions that will occur. Please note–you might not receive a lot of attention from college coaches for the next 3-4 weeks as they pursue conference championships and NCAAs for their current athletes. By April 1, the dust will settle, and they’ll be ready to talk to recruits again. Spend the next month getting your information together.

Best of luck.

3
  • I am female
  • I swim 200 free and 500 free (I am still new to these events because the past 3 years I have been mostly swimming sprint events (50 free and 100 free), but realized that 200 and 500 AR much better for me.
  • My times are not the best but I am working to get competitive times
  • I swim on a club team Durring the summer months (didn't swim that often last summer, but am going to try really hard this summer)
  • My hs team practices 2 1/2 hours Mon-Fri with either an hour practice on Saturday or a meet on Saturday (Durring swim season Aug-Oct)
  • My gpa is good (3.85 uw and 4.35 w) I am still working on getting good sat scores

Thank you for helping

4

So a few thoughts for you:

  1. For Ivy league (Harvard, Columbia, etc) to score in the Top 16 at Conference, you would need a 5:05 or so in the 500 and a 1:51 200 free to be valuable to them. Secondly, most 500 freestylers are typically milers in college, so you would need to get a mile or two times (even in LCM) this summer for the coaches to review.
  2. Peruse collegeswimming.com website to review where your times might fit on certain teams prior to emailing coaches about interest.
  3. When emailing coaches, I’d make sure they fully understand that you have not fully swam a club schedule ever, and probably have very limited experience in doubles (which are critical to turn out to be a good distance swimmer). If your times are even half way competitive to a school, they might at least talk to you since you’ve had limited training and have some potential upside if you are willing to work very hard in college.
  4. Since you have limited experience in yardage training, I would say that your senior year will be quite critical for your recruiting opportunities. Train very hard this summer, do some doubles, get good yardage on board, and see how the senior season goes.
  5. You might not be highly recruitable for the November recruiting period as a senior, but with good trajectory in your shave/taper meet in late Oct/Nov; you could be interesting to a coach for the April of senior year signing period.
  6. Have you had any weight training? If not, then that would be a point to include in your emails to college coaches as well.
  7. There is quite literally a place for everyone to swim in college. D1,D2, D3, NAIA, etc. However, pinpointing where you fit is the true key. Then balancing out the academic component is very important. Very few kids actually end up in the professional ranks of swimming. Therefore, you’ll want to choose a good academic school balanced with your swimming so that you can get a job when you graduate.
  8. Note that there is little money in college swimming. Really. I promise. When you think about college affordability, think about financial aid policies of schools, merit aid potential, etc. Don’t think swimming will pay for school. As a female, there are less than 20 athletes in D1 programs that have full rides. If someone who is a “good” swimmer tells you they have a full ride, they most likely have a combined package with merit aid.