<p>I am a rising Junior and I wanted to start thinking about colleges.
About Me:
- 4.0 uw student in very competitive HS (doesn't rank) in California
-Swim Year Round
- Coach a swim Team in the Summer and also work at my church (sound tech stuff)
-Taking almost all AP/Honors classes offered at my school
-Do mock Trial model UN etc...
-Would want a good academic school where I could swim (fast but not d1 fast)
Can you help me think of colleges that might be matches?</p>
<p>UNC Wilmington</p>
<p>do you want to stay in california? open to elsewhere? do you want a big or small campus? care about rural vs suburban vs urban?</p>
<p>^ butchokoy, I think you’re missing the swimming angle. OP loves to swim & would like to swim competitively but is not at the D1 level, which rules out Cal and Stanford.</p>
<p>OP, there are a ton of very good LACs, as well as some top research universities, where your swimming could be a good admissions “hook” (but no athletic scholarships) if 1) you meet their academic standards (sounds likely given your GPA but don’t know w/o test scores), and 2) your swimming is strong enough to help them out at the Division III level. For example, D III sports are very big in the NESCAC Conference which includes a bunch of the top New england LACs (Williams, Amherst, Middlebury, Wesleyan, Bowdoin, etc). But there are many other top schools as well. Check out the lists of schools on this Division III swimming website:</p>
<p>[d3swimming.com:</a> 2008 Men’s NCAA Division III National Championships](<a href=“http://www.d3swimming.com/results/results.php?mid=579]d3swimming.com:”>http://www.d3swimming.com/results/results.php?mid=579)</p>
<p>[d3swimming.com:</a> 2008 Women’s NCAA Division III National Championships](<a href=“http://www.d3swimming.com/results/results.php?mid=578]d3swimming.com:”>http://www.d3swimming.com/results/results.php?mid=578)</p>
<p>It reads almost like a “who’s who” of top LACs and top research universities that don’t compete at the DI level.</p>
<p>Kenyon has the best D3 swimming and excellent academics.</p>
<p>^ Kenyon certainly seems to dominate D3 swimming but it may be TOO competitive; OP wouild need to decide whether s/he is at that level. And while Kenyon’s academics are excellent, they’re not quite ath the level of a Williams or Amherst, which appear to be on the next rung below Kenyon in swimming; or a Middlebury of Carleton, another rung down; or a Hamilton or Macalester, clearly struggling in D3 swimming and perhaps in greatest need of help. I’d suggest OP contact some of the coaches at these schools and get a read on how interested they’d be. They can sometimes be helpful with adcoms.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, your swimming career will probably end during your senior year. Academics are much more important for swimmers since there is no draft.</p>
<p>Try these for starters </p>
<p>Ivies/Patriot League (D1 but not as competitive)
Georgetown
NESCAC League</p>
<p>William & Mary has a great model UN group as well as swimming program.</p>
<p>mnozzi, who are you to tell vlv92 that his/her swimming career will end during their senior year? You are far too high on your horse, and your subjective commentary does more harm than good.
doctorb, I couldn’t agree more with your sound recommendation of William and Mary.</p>
<p>Nate – I think you misunderstood what I am saying. Swimming is a great sport but it ends for 99.9% after senior year of college. There is no professional Swim League like the NFL or the NBA where you can be drafted. </p>
<p>VLV92 said he probably does not want a top D1 which means it’s extremely unlikely that he will get money to swim. With that said, many of the top schools with strong swim programs are private and expensive to attend. What I am suggesting is that because you cannot make swimming a profession after college and because of the costs associated with a good swim program at a top school – pick your school based on academics first, then the swim program. </p>
<p>IMHO – the schools I named fit this criteria.</p>
<p>You neet to spend some time learning about the different swimming divisions and conferences. Start at Collegeswimming.com. Look at the conference championship results and find three or 4 conferences that you could swim in. Then go explore the websites for those schools. I agree with the poster who said you need to pick your school for academics but it’s totally OK to look for a great academic fit that you can swim at. My daughter just completed this process. She applied to about 10 schools, nine of which she could swim at, but was truly in LOVE with school #10, a D1 swimming powerhouse outside her swimming qualifications. She was accepted at the D1 school and now will have to decide if it is where she wants to be and if it is worth “retiring”.<br>
Also, there is a great article that was in Splash Magazine a few years ago about college swimming and basically states that if you want to swim in college there is a program out there for you. You can find it on the USA Swimming website. </p>
<p>GOOD LUCK!</p>
<p>I don’t know much about college swimming programs, but would recommend that you think about some general preferences you have in regards to the college process. Which division you’d like to swim in is, of course, one thing you need to determine, but you should also think about other aspects of the prospective schools you’re looking at such as size, location, type (liberal arts, university, tech school), feel (alternative/artsy, sports-focused, activist-y, political sentiments, intellectual/more laid back, etc.), and so on.</p>
<p>Some other thoughts – Check the swim websites at prospective colleges and compare your times. Look at the school’s conference results from last year and the times of other swimmer’s/teams in the league. </p>
<p>If you swim only two or three events check to see how the rooster is loaded. If everyone swims the 200 Back, and that’s your event, and your times are a bit slower you may not get to swim much. Also look at the seniors who will be moving on. </p>
<p>In D3 you may not get money, but if you are a marginal candidate and a top swimmer, it may be the hook that helps with admissions. Contact the coach – you want to make sure you like him, especially if you are spending four long seasons with him. Also, he can be an admissions advocate.</p>
<p>Look at conference results to identify top coaches (Coach of the Year). Middlebury has a good team, but almost always is #3 behind Amherst and Williams, yet students, parents, and swimmers can’t say enough about Pete Solomon. </p>
<p>Swimming is a small universe. Talk to the college swimmers you interact with. Most will know not only what happens at their school but also a read on their friends schools.</p>
<p>Good Luck.</p>
<p>How does one find out the minimum requirements to make a swim team? It appears that some of the Ivies and Patriot League schools are DI but the teams are easier to make than some DIII schools. If a kid is admissable on academics (not recruited) is there a way to find out how fast one must swim to just make the squad? D is an A swimmer at a top HS program but will not be recruited. Late start to the sport with times dropping a lot each season, so she wants to swim. 36 ACT, 2330 SAT single sitting, 12 APs by graduation. She wants to do some research before contacting coaches. Please advise.</p>
<p>Agree with others, might want to try some of the Patriot League schools-Holy Cross, Lafayette, Bucknell. Holy Cross is near Boston while other 2 are in PENN.</p>