<p>My son has one more visit. Still has not decided. Honestly it has been interesting and stressful. I will share more when it is over. </p>
<p>So I have a question…can a student get both academic and athletic money? I have been told that sometimes if there is athletic money they will take that amount off of any merit-based scholarships. Can anyone confirm? Thanks!</p>
<p>You absolutely can get both. I actually have heard the opposite. If your swimmer can get merit money they may save on the athletic money for other athletes. </p>
<p>@acemom - What school did she decide on? (I don’t really understand the cultural norm here of not mentioning actual school names . . . )</p>
<p>
To protect privacy.</p>
<p>@lovemyswimmer - As I understand it, they can combine merit money only if the merit award is based on relatively objective standards, and is not based on a competitive or subjective process. For example, at the University of South Carolina, they have a variety of out-of-state scholarships published (<a href=“Apply Now - Office of Undergraduate Admissions | University of South Carolina”>Apply Now - Office of Undergraduate Admissions | University of South Carolina), most of which appear to be based on a straight matrix of GPA and ACT score. The McNair and Horseshoe awards, though, are based on an interview process and a selection committee. My understanding is that an athlete could receive athletic money and also one of the lower awards, but not the McNair scholarship. I would be interested if anyone has personal experience with this - it doesn’t seem black and white to me. </p>
<p>Yes, the athlete can take any merit money from the school offered to other students with similar qualifications. My daughter has the merit award offered to all others with her gpa/scores (off the matrix; there are 3 levels). She also has two awards for visiting the school and knowing an alum that are available to everyone. She can take federal need based aid (Pell or loans) and any state merit or need based aid ;she received Florida Bright Futures and a grant to residents going to a private school.</p>
<p>What she couldn’t take, and we signed away on the NLI, is any need based aid from the school. Some other scholarships might be okay to take, but if they are awarded just because she/he plays that sport, they may go against the cap the NCAA sets. For example, if a tennis player also gets a scholarship from USTA, the coach might have to include it in the total number of scholarships allowed, but if the same student received a scholarship say from the Elks club for grades and community service, that’s fine. It makes sense because they don’t want alums or others awarding scholarships that are really for athletics and the school getting around the number of scholarships allowed by the NCAA, or for the school to call it financial need when it is really just more athletic scholarships.</p>
<p>@Acemom,</p>
<p>Want you to know that by writing this sentence:</p>
<p>“In the meantime, the sense of completion has completely changed the mood around the house!”</p>
<p>You became a source of inspiration and comfort for all of us still enmeshed in all this nonsense! Thank you.</p>
<p>Also, I have a guess as to where your daughter might be attending (and it should be noted that I have a terrible track record when it comes to guessing, just ask @ahsmuoh or @researchmum), but if it’s where I think it is, it’s a great school. No wonder the stress level is down in your house!</p>
<p>Thanks @1HappyDad! She was ranked as high as top 75 nationally at one time but chose to focus on academics junior year, and her athletic stats declined somewhat. I do feel it was the best route to take though as it really gave her the most options. She IS going to a great school.
Less than three weeks until ED deadline. Wishing you all a great finish in this exciting journey. </p>
<p>I’m sure many of you are swimswam fans but just in case you missed the recent article, this may be of interest to recent commits and soon-to-be commits and the early signing period coming in November:</p>
<p><a href=“http://swimswam.com/verbal-commitment-letter-intent-dead-period-mean/”>http://swimswam.com/verbal-commitment-letter-intent-dead-period-mean/</a></p>
<p>Hello…just checking in on everyone! How are the visits going? Applications? I hope that some of you have decisions and happy households! We do in my house…my son committed last week and submitted the application! It is a huge sense of relief that I am hoping can be shared with you all soon. Let us know! </p>
<p>Congrats to you and your son Lovemyswimmer. That is great news. My son has decided to wait until spring to make his commitment. He has several offers but the schools he has his heart set on (he reached high) want to see what he does this season because of his weak junior year (from having mono). It has been pretty emotional but he is ok with it now and he knows it is a decision that he is choosing. So, he now has to do 4 applications instead of just one that he was hoping ;)</p>
<p>@ahsmuoh…it sounds like he has made a very mature and thoughtful decision. I’m sure it was hard for him, but it seems like he knows what he wants and has great motivation to work hard and achieve those goals. Good for him for being able to make a decision based on his long-term goals. </p>
<p>Four applications really isn’t that many…my sister is making her kids do TEN! Lol. I hope he has a fabulous season–is swimming a winter sport for you? It is spring for us, which is really hard on the swimmers for exactly that reason. My S’s school has not given him a true financial offer yet because it, too, will depend on how he swims this year. We are grateful for that, and we, too, are hopeful that he will be able to be healthy this year (at least we know they won’t get mono since they have already had it!) and get a good, solid offer in May. </p>
<p>Keep us posted on his season and good luck to him. </p>
<p>My turn to follow in the footsteps of @Acemom and give our thread a bump. Like @Acemom 's daughter, son has committed to the process at a DIII school, and has hit ‘send’ on his application. So now we wait, but with plenty of coach reassurances. As @Acemom reported, the stress level in the house is much lower now. Son even remarked how nice it is to only have to focus on school and swimming.</p>
<p>So most interesting recruiting story happened on last trip. Coach met son at the airport. While waiting for another recruit to arrive, coach says to son something along the lines of “so I’m guessing your SAT score is about xxxx,” and proceeds to name a score about 150 points lower than son’s actual score. Coach also guesses a lower gpa, and apparently (according to son) doesn’t really know son’s times. Son worked pretty hard to get where he is, and thinks to himself ‘this guy doesn’t know who I am’ Son is much better about this than dad would have been, and says "well, you’re close, my score was actually yyyy.’ That night, same trip, Jr. host abandon’s son to go drinking and spend time with his girlfriend. Fortunately, other team members and recruits pick up the slack and son sleeps elsewhere.</p>
<p>It’s a weird story because son, mom and I all sat in coach’s office not all that many months ago. We even met son’s host when we were on campus. All indications at that time, and every single correspondence since, were that they were very interested in son. Only thing I can think is during phone call from coach prior to the trip, coach indicated they had a number of swimmers commit from the first recruit weekend…The plus side of all of this is it made the final decision all that much easier, and son is excited to attend his choice school (which, ironically is a faster team). </p>
<p>So now it is waiting until decisions are sent out. Like @Acemom, plan B is a heavy two weeks of applications if something unforeseen happens in December.</p>
<p>Also, fwiw, mom and I love the school son ultimately picked… </p>
<p>Congratulations! So happy for all of you!</p>
<p>I loved your story because I am reminded that my family was not alone on this journey, so many of you out there had similar weird and even negative experiences that we had to just shrug off in order to remain focused on why we are doing this. My S had a similar OV experience with a drunken host. And my D had some really weird disconnects with coaches who seemed to forget who she was and that her academics were very good–coaches who wanted her to think she “needed” them in order to get into school.</p>
<p>DIII swimming is phenomenal. You are going to love it, your S is going to love it.</p>
<p>@LivesinHobbiton - It’s hard to believe that @ahsmuoh started this thread back in June. So much water under the bridge since then. As I recall, your son was trying to decide between swimming and rowing. I think I saw on another thread that he got an Ivy likely letter this week, so a great big congratulations to him, and to you! </p>
<p>But I have to add, I was sorry to hear that he did turn to the dark side, choosing rowing over swimming…if only he had used his powers for good! 
</p>
<p>Hi happydad, it really is incredible how things change and how much we learn, just in a short span of time.</p>
<p>I think my S will miss swimming. He’s been competing since age five, so I’m sure it will feel strange to not swim. I think his swimming will improve this year, because he no longer has anything to worry about or to prove. It’s a little ironic! But I guess one way to think of it is that he has been training to row since the age of five, long before you can actually get into a boat.</p>
<p>This thread was very exciting to watch and I hope to hear more news from the swim world!</p>
<p>Interesting stories about the OVs, but similar to D1 3 years ago at a D3 school. We visited in the summer before senior year and then she went back for an overnight. Switchup in host who had alcohol in the room, plus big drinking party that night. Visit with coach who talked to her about her great backstroke and what she could add to the team. Uh, her primary strokes are breast and IM, backstroke a distant 3rd. She chose her other school and is very happy there. Still swimming as a junior.</p>
<p>It’s amazing what happens on some recruiting trips. Some recruits and hosts are so arrogant that they alienate potential teammates. At one school the hosts played a mean prank on a recruit which made at least one younger teammate avoid that school. After ditching a recruit, one host returned drunk and apparently quit the team in front of the recruit. </p>
<p>My D is going to her first recruit trip next week at a D3 school. It is high on her list. I sure hope it goes better than some of these stories. I know of an excellent candidate who visited a very good D3 school, and the host ditched him at a wild party. He crossed that school off of his list. </p>