But meaningful is subjective and what you make of it. I am pretty sure it was meaningful that my D showed up, day in, day out, 6am, 9pm, year round, to do something she loved but was absolutely terrible at.
That is fair. And like every other EC it’s what you make of it and what it makes of you.
I read the question as would the OP be penalized for having one major activity rather than a number of clubs/summer activites.
Yeah, that didn’t come out right. I go to HS practice when it doesn’t conflict with club practice. Usually that means two pool hours with my club and then going to the HS pool for another hour +15. Our club coach doesn’t want us missing his practices for HS because the HS practices are honestly too easy. I really like my HS teammates and the HS meets. As captain, I want to help organize a fundraiser.
I think it reflects well on your character that you participate in your high school team, even though it doesn’t sound like it is beneficial to you for purposes of competitive swimming. It sounds like you really like being part of the team and like you want to contribute to your school community. Those are attributes colleges look for. There are many ways you can present your swimming experience to enhance your college application.
That is the definitive answer here. Correct whether the applicant has times fast enough to be recruited or not. Only possible exception to that is if the applicant is world record/Olympic Gold medal level outstanding. Even then, the expectations at elite schools (Nathan Chen @ Yale, for example) is that the applicant will still be a stellar student.
Just wanted to echo my D22 did the same, and in our area it is common that the Club swimmers stay practicing with the club team, and will do a morning practice here and there at the HS for the sake of comradery. My daughter has some ECs outside of swimming but primarily her volunteering as a swim coach for SO, lifeguarding and swim lessons in the summer. Don’t take away anything from the impact those have and your commitment to what feels like a singular interest. That depth can be very much desired. Longevity and passion are important too!
That is what I read as well. And, as I said above, I think one high commitment activity is fine - how it will affect admissions is unknown. Unless an athlete is recruited there isn’t necessarily any kind of guaranteed boost but that doesn’t mean that student won’t be admitted (or that they will).
I think that there are two main points that OP should take away from this thread, both of which have been raised by other posters.
Calling them “middling” belies a lack of understanding of the sport.
The skill level of a team USA ice skater is roughly equivalent to the skill level of an LSC-ranked swimmer in terms of skills, and this is a result of the time commitment required for mastery as well as the degree of competition. I am talking about actual athletic skill, not mental characteristics. The same is true of ice hockey players. I chose two other sports on purpose that I know about directly and that do not have much recruiting activity in the NCAA.
Club swimmers compete in far more events than most NCAA D3 teams have as well.
That is what OP was asking, and as you show, no, it isn’t understood outside of the athlete parent/coach community.
Of course, this is fine. Selective schools are trying to fill small classes. They need so few students, so they don’t need to understand.
I don’t find this frustrating, but this is exactly why I read this site. I’m trying to learn about the mindsets of the people involved. It’s particularly important to learn how to help an applicant manage expectations and disappointment, especially if they are your offspring.
Do colleges understand it; most will if you convey it to them correctly. Do colleges expect it, no. Will there be other applicants who do more in addition to year round swimming, yes. Is it possible to do other ECs along with year-round swimming, yes, but that doesn’t mean you need to do extra ECs in an attempt to boost your app. D20 did year-round with that club in southern NC, so that meant A LOT of hours of practice time in addition to commuting, team activites, leadership meetings, meets, training trips, etc. She also did HS swimming and robotics because she loved it, but it meant being very purposeful with her schedule. Practice, HS swimming, robotics club, APs/DEs left very little down time. It took a toll on her after awhile. Bottom line, do ECs because you love them; put your passion and energy into those ECs, and convey that in your apps. Quality over quantity.
I am certain they are highly skilled. Nevertheless, most colleges evaluate achievement on a relative basis, that is, does the student have school level, regional, state, national awards in that particular EC. One may be highly skilled, dedicated, have great tenacity, etc, and still perform in the middle of the pack of other superbly qualified athletes, who will likely be preferred for admission.
We have no idea of this swimmer’s skill level or ranking. The question was asked simply in terms of whether or not one high commitment EC is enough - most of us have said it is. Many elite schools tend to like athletes for the reasons enumerated above. At the same time, if an athlete isn’t recruitable at a given elite school, they can’t expect the same kind of admissions advantage (huge) that recruited athletes get.
The poster didn’t ask about elite schools ETA: in the post, not the title. They asked about selective schools.
My DS24 is being recruited by a ‘selective school’ and a ‘more selective’ school (both D3). Neither are what I would call elite (T10). This has been his experience.
OP, I wouldn’t worry about this. I’m not writing it to intimidate you. It’s just the real situation. You’ll need to be in the mean both academically and meet the coach’s recruiting needs at a selective school, at least in swimming. And having at least one more interest will help, too.
USA swimming is a big time commitment at the high school level - even for swimmers not at the national level. It’s been this way forever - at least since I was swimming 30-40 years ago. I did a quick search and found there are approximately 20,000 USA swimmers for each age year in high school (not age group). I can’t believe that AOs aren’t aware of USA swimming and it’s time commitment by now.
And FWIW, when I was in HS, our club swimmers rarely went to high school practices for the same reason.
The title refers to “elite colleges,” and the post itself says “selective,” FWIW. Perhaps the OP can clarify?
Does it matter? The answer is the same. A deep EC, no matter what it is, is looked upon favorably. What someone made out of that EC is what really counts and is not looked at in a vacuum.
Not for me, but earlier, a distinction was made about what type of college OP was asking.
As indicated, FWIW.
Unlike a newspaper where an editor writes the title instead of the reporter, on this forum when you start a thread you write the title. And so I’d bet the use of “elite” in the title was not an accident, and that “selective” in the body of the post was meant to be a synonym.
My daughter is a club swimmer and I have closely watched her teammates’ college results over the years. What I have observed for the extremely “elite” T10 colleges is that, if you are not recruitable, swimming as an EC is not enough — even with superlative stats. My personal view is that not having non-swimming EC’s will hurt you at the T10s. The swimmers who got into Yale, etc. were the ones who missed a ton of practices because they were doing other EC’s.
Not saying you should do other ECs to increase your chances. Do what you love! But I have observed that the kids with near perfect stats, that spend all their free time in the pool, are always disappointed if they are gunning for the Ivies.
If you are not recruitable, I would consider adding a non-swimming dimension to your application.
They might have been disappointed anyway. There is no way to tell with schools that have 10% or less acceptance rates.