Do elite colleges understand the time commitment for swimming?

Applying to College
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From what I have seen, I believe a student with your profile with a strong application (good essays and recommendation letters) can expect some acceptances at schools with 25-50% acceptance rates, but should not expect acceptances at schools with an acceptance rate of under 10% unless they are a recruited athlete.

That said, go ahead and apply to one or two of your most favorite highly selective schools because you never know how your particular application will be viewed. Just don’t go in with any expectations.

That doesn’t mean that your hard work, commitment, and achievements are meaningless. It’s just that when you pool the top 5% of hardworking achievers from all the high schools in the nation, there are not enough spots in the 25 most selective colleges for them all.

At many of those schools, many spots go to students with family connections (alum parents, donors, etc.). Even at schools who do not consider that, their first picks will include recruited athletes over other athletes in the same sport and students who fill other institutional needs — like perhaps they want more first-generation college students or more students from Nebraska. After those spots are filled, the few remaining spots often go to the very rare kinds of students you see profiled on the news for unusual nationally-recognized achievements in science, the arts, and/or activism.

I think there is way too much societal focus on getting into a selective school as a “reward” or acknowledgment of excellent high school performance. The reward comes later, when you are able to excel in college courses and stand out to professors and hiring managers because of the superior discipline, time-management and interpersonal skills, and academic foundation you brought with you from high school. And you can use those to your advantage at any college.

So flip the script. Instead of focusing on the school’s selectivity, focus on your own. If you didn’t know their selectivity rate or ranking, what schools would you consider ideal based on location, size, cost, programs offered, typical college experience, campus “vibe,” etc.?

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My kids (both of them) had very very significant time commitments for their music things…outside of school. This was their choice, just like it’s your choice to do your swimming. Just put the times you spent were noted on the college applications…and forget about it.

I will say…if your swimming is interfering with you getting better grades, then you need to prioritize what you are doing. The elite colleges aren’t going to give you leniency on your grades just because you spend a lot of time swimming. They expect your grades to be top notch (and even then…there is no guarantee of acceptance)

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I agree with this. The DOA of a T10 spoke at our school, and when discussing holistic admissions and ECs specifically used a swimmer as an example of someone who might not have time for other activities, which was ok because everything is looked at in context.

I would be careful of how/if you frame this. My swimmer makes a point of attending varsity practices because he feels it’s responsibility as captain. He cares about the role and wants to know his teammates. If it’s just a label awarded to the fastest kid it is meaningless.

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Not to go off topic, but travel time counts? As in 30 minutes each way to the dance studio = an extra hour for every dance class?

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IMO yes, but I expect others would disagree.

The time spent traveling to away competitions can also be significant for many.

I do have students think about whether the commute/travel time is time when they really can’t do anything else, and estimate accordingly.

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This is really a question of is one enough - and if that’s what is important to the student, then yes it is.

Travel time, competition time and all the other stuff doesn’t matter. Impact does.

We see so many kids with 8 and 10 activities. Do you think AOs really believe these kids are doing these and making an impact and spending time ?

If the student explains their commitment and impact, they won’t be disadvantaged. And if they were to be, it’s the school’s loss.

These kids need to be true to themselves. There are no assurances.

Gaming the system as many seem to do is silly.

Being true to yourself should be most important. And I would hope schools would appreciate this authenticity. And I suspect they will.

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I think it’s a bit much to count drive time as EC time. My kid went to closest big cities for their “club level” EC, usually at least a 2-3 hour drive or 3-4 hr bus trip one way, every weekend all through high school (except once the pandemic shut it down), even had to spend Fri after school through Sun evening away most weekends starting junior year. Performance trips abroad, too. We didn’t document travel time. We only counted practice time, rehearsal time, performance time, etc, and we still wound up with >40 hrs/wk. To me, it seems a little over the top to count drive time, especially since my kid used it for academics, to the best of their ability, since they were the passenger most of the time throughout high school.

But honestly, once the applicant has managed to convey the depth of their involvement in their EC, it doesn’t make a difference whether it’s 15 hours/week or 40 hours/week, unless the college particularly wants that student for the sake of that EC. So if the EC is sports, unless the person is a recruited athlete for that school, it’s not going to make a difference for the highly selective colleges.

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That’s interesting, thank you. D24 and I used to discuss how much time ballet took up. Her two hour Saturday class really wrecked a big chunk of her Saturday, between eating a weirdly early lunch, doing her bun, etc, then driving 30 minutes to the studio, allowing for traffic. Her schoolnight classes meant weird dinner, etc. A toe injury that wouldn’t heal was the nail in the coffin.

To loop this back to the original post, club swimming also has prep, travel time, etc. This is different from an after school club or sport, where you walk 5 minutes to the gym/classroom and catch a ride home/maybe take an activity bus. I understand the poster’s frustration with it being compared to school activities.

D24’s after school clubs (she is more available now that she quit ballet) feel like a complete nothing burger compared to her previous activity.

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Is one EC enough? I believe it is. I know many students who dedicate to one EC and perform very well (winning awards at state and national levels). In addition to good time management skills, intensive EC (even without top achievements) naturally lead to excellent teamwork, leadership, services, etc. I believe these are characteristics good colleges look for.

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As a general rule, if you start a post with “Not to go off-topic, but…” you probably should not post in that thread. Also as a general rule, hijacking is not allowed. If you are not the OP and have a question specific to your situation, it’s best to start a new thread.

Tl;dr - move on from drive time please.

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This illustrates perfectly the life/health/academics imbalance that comes along with extreme involvement in a demanding EC, far above the high school level, be it a sport, or performing arts. When the pandemic shut everything down, my kid (11th grader then) slept something like 10-12 hours a day for a week or two, and said that they’d forgotten how good it felt not to be sleep deprived. During the fall of 12th grade (back to their usual level of rigorous academic and massive EC hours PLUS college application stress), their hair started falling out - it stopped after stress was over.

In my kid’s case, it turned out to be worth it. Even if they’d only wound up at our very good flagship state U, it still would have been worth it, because they loved that EC, would’ve done it to that extreme even if there hadn’t been a pot of tippy-top at the end of that killer rainbow. Other kids who are involved in a special EC to that extent often go to homeschooling, so that they can practice 8-10 hours a day, and travel to competitions/conventions/festivals/touring/productions.

Colleges recognize these kids’ level of involvement, but still, for the most selective schools, they’re only going to take them if the school wants them for that particular accomplishment (they’re going to play their sport for the school, or be heavily involved in the on-campus scene for that EC). Otherwise, it doesn’t matter how many hours the applicant spent on the EC. It won’t necessarily get them into the tippy-top, unless they’ve achieved at such a level that the school wants them for their prestige - think famous actor who probably won’t be in school productions, Olympic athlete who won’t be competing for the school, etc.

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32

This is anecdotal, but I don’t think colleges give much credit for club sports unless you are an athletic recruit. That’s why many kids chose not to continue with club level sports once they get to high school if they don’t plan on playing in college.

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33

Do you think this applies both to overlap sports (available at the high school and as a club sport, eg soccer) and niche sports (club is the only option, eg rowing in some geographies)? For the OP, swimming an obviously the former, but as generalizable information for the public it seems relevant to know.

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I think colleges like to see students commit to any ECs that they find meaningful and will value the time and energy spent doing a club sport. FWIW in the OP’s case the club swim team is more competitive than the HS varsity team (that is the case with some club teams in my area as well for a number of sports including swimming).

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Elite colleges are well aware of the time commitment required for club swimming - not only that, you will share how many hours you dedicate to it on your application. You aren’t going to be penalized for just having one, high commitment activity. That being said, unless you are recruited by an elite school, swimming is just another EC where you have dedicated a lot of time (like dance, music, any thing else) and it most likely won’t increase your odds of admission (nor will it hurt).

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The perfect example of the axiom: the plural of anecdote is not data, since the conclusion reached from said anecdote is incorrect

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Here’s what one very selective college (Stanford) says in part about ECs

Students often assume our primary concern is the number of activities in which a student participates. In fact, an exceptional depth of experience in one or two activities may demonstrate your passion more than minimal participation in five or six clubs. In general, we want to understand the impact you have had at your job, in your family, in a club, in your school or in the larger community, and we want to learn of the impact that experience has had on you.

So if you can show thru your essays and letters of rec the impact it had on you and/or your club that can help you stand out from the many other students applying to elite colleges that are putting in similar hours in their ECs.

One issue with selective colleges is they have a deep pool of applicants (sorry for the pun!) They’ll get apps not just from those who spent hours on their swim EC but from recruited swimmers and those who are setting local and state records, and this is part of your competition for admission as they shape their entering class.

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The OP might consider asking the coach of the swim club to write a supplementary LOR. Many schools allow one non-academic LOR that speaks to other aspects of the applicant’s profile (ex. could highlight the dedication to swimming, any leadership roles, etc.)

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For what it’s worth, the college counselor at our private school told us this, and we live in an area where club sports are popular, particularly for swimming, lacrosse and soccer. I’m not saying that no credit is given but the weight given to it is not commensurate with the hours the club sport takes up. Of course, if the student wants to play the sport in college, involvement in the club sport is very helpful, if not essential.

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I know gymnast and dancers that work 25-40 (weekends are very long weekly…

So ya… You make it work or reduce your schedule.

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