<p>I have a high school junior who wants to swim in college and is interested in engineering. His times are fast and coaches will most probably be interested. But - Mom is concerned about his ability to handle the work load of engineering and the demands of a Div I sport. I have heard horror stories about practice schedules and kids dropping out of the sports they enjoy. Some Div III teams can be just as intense too, I have heard. Thoughts, advice, where do I start?
FYI - He loves swimming - is a pretty good student - and of course great kid!</p>
<p>He needs to take advantage of the special treatment he'll receive as an athlete and get get his hands on the best tutors available. Also, I'd steer him away from any school where the number of students is higher than the yearly tuition. Large state schools weed kids out of engineering in a merciless and sadistic fashion.</p>
<p>One of my classmates was in engineering and is now in the NFL (starting, I believe). But then again, he was Biomed, which is generally easier than most engineering majors.</p>
<p>That guy is the biggest winner of all time.</p>
<p>i believe there's a bunch of starters on the Stanford football team who're in engineering...</p>
<p>and yeah, i agree with Luminaire. state schools also don't hold the students' hands as much, and it seems like only private schools practice grade inflation.</p>
<p>Stanford would be a good choice (if he has the stats).</p>
<p>Berkeley is also very good both in swimming and engineering, but the workload is very intense...</p>
<p>Don't fool around with Cal Engineering. You're playing with fire.</p>
<p>One of my coworkers played basketball at Marquette and then went to MIT for his grad degree in structures. At Rice, my suitemate was a varsity athlete (basketball as well) and really regimented her schedule very well... ended up going to pharmacy school. During band season, we had comparable schedules, because I was drum major and that's easily a 40-hour-a-week job. I managed to take 19 hours of classes and land the honor roll. There were a few varsity football people that were in my geotech classes. </p>
<p>It's rough, but so is doing any activity in college that eats all of your time, in addition to engineering. It's all a matter of whether your son is committed to doing both. Winter sports are hard because you're messing with both semesters, but it can be done!</p>
<p>Look at Rice when you start looking at programs. They're very good at helping athletes manage their academics and their athletics schedules, and all athletes have to be smart. No grade inflation. Lots of support, though.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>Thanks for your replies. Good advice. He would no doubt love to go out to CA, but this Mom would like to have suggestions for some east coast schools - closer to home. Or maybe midwest. Looking now for smaller engineering schools with decent swim programs.</p>
<p>Public universities are going to have the best combination of Div 1 sports and engineering programs.</p>
<p>Check out the Big Ten schools, U Texas-Austin, Georgia Tech, and U Florida.</p>
<p>"Public universities are going to have the best combination of Div 1 sports and engineering programs."</p>
<p>Only if he expects to be in the top half of his class. The bottom half gets pwned.</p>