<p>Can anyone tell me their experience on the swim team at Caltech and MIT - combining academics and swimming and the intensity of each swim programme? My son ( a sophomore) wants to take science courses at college and is a good not great swimmer (50 Free 22.87 100 Free 49.19 100 Fly 54.32 100 Breast 1:02.16) and an A student taking PreCalculus Hon and AP Chem in sophomore year.</p>
<p>I don’t have any personal experience, but I knew a guy who made Tau Beta Pi in EECS at MIT who was also on the swim team. (Tau beta pi is the honor society for engineering, and you need a GPA about 4.7/5.0 and above.) One of the chemical engineering professors was a former MIT undergrad swimmer as well. So it’s possible to balance academics and swimming. </p>
<p>My guess is that MIT’s team will be much stronger than Caltech’s.</p>
<p>I’m a swimmer and know a little about both programs. Athletics at Cal Tech are more like intramurals at other schools. Cal Tech’s swim team is mostly a group of kids who don’t quite drown when swimming. A 49 100 free would be the best male swimmer on the team, by far. Participating on the team won’t take any measurable time away from his studies at Cal Tech. MIT is a different animal altogether. Athletics at MIT are taken seriously, and they have a number of very good swimmers. Practices are time consuming, just as they are at other universities.</p>
<p>I was at MIT in the 1970’s and was on the varsity swim team for 2.1 years. In my freshman year the coach was not as serious as the coach that was hired in my soph year. My frosh year in swimming was less serious that soph year. My junior year was really intense and the team got much better so I quit. Handling classes, work and swimming was tough. 2.5 hour practices M-F followed by dinner and a nap, then homework. Life was much easier for me after I quit. As at any school, the seriousness of the team depends upon how good its members are that particular season, which changes depending upon its members. Now, 30 years later, I get e-mails monthly (in season) from the swim team, so I think it’s pretty serious. I met some kids while on the team, but since most of the time was spent with my head in the water, we never got close, possibly also because I, like many others were in frats with their own social life. Not quite sure if I would do it again if I had the chance to do it over. I had more fun when I was NOT on the team – I was able to go skiing in January, I had more time for work and in my living group. There are so many intramural teams that I could have participated in which I did not becasue they were established by the time I quit the swim team.</p>
<p>SciSwimMom: You asked how serious was MIT’s swim program. See the following E-mail I received today from the MIT swim team PR department:</p>
<br>
<br>
<p>Dated 1/25/10</p>
<p>Over the past 2 weekends, the MIT Women’s Swimming & Diving team<br>
improved their overall record to 8-0 with wins over Springfield<br>
College, Colby College, US Coast Guard Academy and Tufts University.<br>
Junior Amy Jacobi (Cranbury, NJ, The Peddie School) was involved in 4<br>
wins on Saturday winning the 200 Freestyle (1:58.03) and 100 Butterfly<br>
(1:00.33) and as a member of the 400 Medley Relay (4:08.21) and 200<br>
Free Relay (1:40.27). Sarah Scodel (Chicago, IL, St. Ignatius) was<br>
named NEWMAC Swimmer of the Meet for her great performances the<br>
previous weekend. Sarah was part of MIT’s winning 200 Medley Relay<br>
(1:53.14) and went on to win the 200 Back (2:14.41), 100 Fly (1:01.93)<br>
and 200 Fly (2:14.46).</p>
<p>The MIT Men’s Swimming & Diving team improved their overall record to<br>
7-0 with a decisive win against Tufts. Senior Luke Cummings (Sturgeon<br>
Bay, Wis./Sturgeon Bay) led MIT with wins in the 50 Free (21.37) and<br>
100 Free (47.69) as well as anchoring the winning 400 Medley Relay<br>
with a 46.01 split. Freshman Max Pruner led the team in distance<br>
events with season bests of 4:47.99 in the 500 Free and 10:01.42 in<br>
the 1000 Free. In addition to two relay swims, junior Toomas Sepp<br>
(New Egypt, N.J./New Egypt) picked up wins in two individual events,<br>
winning both the 100 Fly (51.46) and 200 Fly (1:57.48).</p>
<p>The team has one week left of IAP training and will face New England<br>
rival Amherst College on Saturday at the Zesiger Center where we will<br>
also honor our 10 Seniors. The NEWMAC Championships are a month away<br>
and Tech looks to win its first conference championship title for the<br>
women and 5th team title for the men.</p>
<p>Dawn (Gerken) Dill
Head Coach
MIT Men’s and Women’s Swimming & Diving</p>