July 1st expectations - swimming

<p>Well my son learned today that most of the coaches he has been communicating with were at nationals and it takes them awhile to catch up and if you sent an email awhile ago it may have gotten lost ! But they still are interested! This is stressful!</p>

<p>@ahsmuoh‌, it will work out fine, you will see. </p>

<p>In general, if your child sends an email to a coach, is it always best to follow-up with a phone call?</p>

<p>And how soon if so - is a week considered “not nagging”?</p>

<p>Or is another email (a duplicate) a better idea?</p>

<p>@rhandco‌ Yes - that was really the purpose of my last post. I REALLY think they should follow up with a phone call. My son has had the experience 3 times now that he has emailed, not heard, left a voicemail (typically 3-4 days later, longer in the past two weeks because of the national meets) and the coaches have gotten back to him within 24 hours ( one time was 10 minutes and one time was 1 hour) apologizing for not responding sooner. </p>

<p>Great advice, thank you so much. </p>

<p>Hi everyone. I’ve been off for a few weeks as well. I am a teacher, and we just started back to school, so it’s been a busy time for me! Congrats to all on what seems to be a successful season and some great OVs being offered!</p>

<p>@1HappyDad: My S is also looking at Brown as a possibility, and we both were also disappointed to hear that Coach Brown decided to retire as we both liked him. He emailed my S and told him that recruiting is on hold while they look for a new coach, but that he would pass his file onto the new coach and that he should be hearing from him/her as soon as they finalize that person. I have been checking the website and haven’t seen any announcements about a hire. Really a bummer for that team and for the kids who are interested in pursuing there. I am feeling a lot of pressure for my S to make decisions on his OVs, and it’s so hard when there is one you want and are waiting for. </p>

<p>An update on us…he finished his season strong and is enjoying his break. He has committed to one OV, but still hasn’t made most of his decisions on which schools he is going to visit as a few additional coaches have contacted him (not a bad problem to have; he knows that he is really lucky to have options). He had a D1 school email him last week with really encouraging words, so we think this may be a strong possibility for him, which would be great (possibly academic and athletic money?). Most of his other schools are D3, so he was really happy to hear it. </p>

<p>He wants to go see all of the schools, but it’s just not possible, so we don’t know which ones he will decide to visit. We did an unofficial a couple of weeks ago and loved the school and the coach, but the pre-read didn’t come back as strong as he had hoped. It’s interesting because the other schools, which are all at least as competitive academically, all came back super positive. I think he just has to let that one go, I think. He finished his common app essay (about swimming, of course), and it’s excellent. It won’t get him in anyplace just on it’s own, but may tip the scales for him if that’s what it comes down to. </p>

<p>I have to admit that as exciting as this is, I am ready for decisions to be made so I can stop worrying about it! He doesn’t seem nearly as concerned as I am. Lol. </p>

<p>Cheers!</p>

<p>@lovemyswimmer - I totally agree that I would like this to be over. My son reached high (all D1)and we are hoping he ends up with 4 OV’s. He has one scheduled, has been given dates by another and is playing phone tag with two other coaches. I am assuming since they keep trying him back that it is positive - but it is frustrating - I just don’t understand why they don’t schedule a time to talk!!! That is what I do in my business! Anyway - my son’s “dream” school just told him that they do not have any OV’s left so he will not be getting one. He knew that would probably happen but it is kind of a bummer when reality hits. They told him that he is very high on the B list so if someone cancels it may happen or they would talk to him in the spring - but he doesn’t want to wait. My son was OK with it and said the coach was “really cool” about it. Boys - they don’t tend to get emotional about these things!!! I wish he would look back at his second tier but he won’t. The one school that he has scheduled is a very good school and he says that there aren’t any schools on his B list that he likes more than this one - so that is what all is being compared to - which I guess is a good thing!</p>

<p>Between preparing their swimmers for nationals, attending junior nationals, and having to analyze the results of 3 Jr. nationals the college coaches have been very busy during the past few weeks At this point many OV invites have gone out and some swimmers have been asked to commit but things are still in the early stages. In particular some of the top swimmers have more than 5 OV offers and will start to turn these offers down so the college coaches will be able to offer other swimmers OV.</p>

<p>Seniors should be contacting coaches about once a week at this point either by phone or by email. The Brown assistant coach was at Speedo Jr. Nationals which suggest that Brown may still be recruiting.</p>

<p>Checking in with everyone. My son is going on his first OV this weekend. He has two other opportunities at this point but this one is by far his favorite at this point. This really hasn’t been very fun. People said it is fun - has been more stressful than expected - and honestly I don’t get stressed about things much - just want it to work out for my son. How is everyone else holding up?</p>

<p>A little stressful here too! D has her top pick, and coach wants her too. She doesn’t want to take any other officials, but we are trying to persuade her as admissions is difficult at this school. Also we want her to see a variety of places so that she is likely to be happy with her decision. </p>

<p>@acemom‌ Sounds like you are in a similar boat. We are really waiting until after this weekend to decide how hard we will push for him to other visits. We also love this school and think it will be a great fit but we don’t want him to look back and wish he had set up choices for himself. My son will not have a problem getting in academically - not that he is real strong academically but this is a big SEC school that he is in the top 25% - actually we are hoping for a little academic money too. </p>

<p>I have a daughter starting her junior year, with a slightly different question. She wants to be on relays her freshman year, and travel with the team. She definitely does not want to end up as a “practice” swimmer at a program that’s too fast for her. But in evaluating programs, she will also have 18 months of time to improve between end of LC season as a junior and the heart of the freshman college season. Are these concerns for any of your kids, and what are your thoughts? Is there a rule of thumb (especially for girls) for how fast you want your recruitable times to be when compared to the school?</p>

<p>My daughter only applied to one school, her first choice. She made two OV, and we did several other visits with general tours and a meeting with the coach. I told her I was okay with that choice, but that if anything went wrong, she may not be able to go to college this year. She committed in November, but since she plays a spring sport, and injury was certainly possible. She put all her eggs in one basket and started there last week, so it can work out.</p>

<p>My other daughter, non-athlete, did the same thing. One application to one school. Moved in yesterday.</p>

<p>@Hastomen123‌ welcome to the thread. My son had the criteria of traveling and relays too. He is a mid distance distance swimmer so it was only the 800 free relay that we wanted to “eventually” be on. He didn’t want to go “low enough” that he would be on the 400 - if that makes sense. Our big thing was to look at the size of the team. Some guys teams hold 50 swimmers! That is crazy. His goal was to get on a team that only had 25 or less gut swimmers. I think that is more difficult with women’s swimming because teams are larger because they have more scholarship money. I think most will tell ypu that coaches are looking for swimmers that can score at conference. You can look up conference results online. </p>

<p>@Hastomen123 I have a daughter starting her Senior year of high school looking at D3 schools. We considered whether she would score at conference championships given her times at the end of her high school season in November of junior year, and also looked at the make-up of the team. She did drop pretty good chunks of time her junior year short course season, which made her a more desirable recruit, but it didn’t really change the list of schools she is looking at. At this point, cast a wide net in your search, and make sure you think about academic fit, etc.</p>

<p>Hello! How exciting that OVs are happening already! I can’t wait to hear how they go. @ahsmuoh do you think he will know anything this weekend? Do schools typically offer spots at OVs or do they wait until they are all over? </p>

<p>@Hastomen123‌ welcome! I’m sorry that I don’t know much about the girls’ side of things…I do think that they look not only at junior year times, but potential as well. Unfortunately, many of the coaches decisions are all made based on junior year times… </p>

<p>I have to agree–this is one of the most stressful things I have ever had to do, and it’s not even me who is going anywhere! My son is very calm, cool, and collected about the whole thing, but I’m a nervous wreck. Here’s how things stand with us. He has turned down 4 OVs, he has 3 scheduled and is really waiting for one more school. The coach at that school really wants him and he would love to go there, but the pre-read wasn’t as good as we were hoping, so we don’t even know if it’s a possibility. It’s a highly selective school, and while he has outstanding test scores, his overall GPA isn’t as high as it could (should) be. It is what it is. He did just get a call and an OV offer for another school that he is very excited about. I feel like he has pretty big competition, though, so who knows! Ack! I’m not sure I can take another 4 months of this…and that’s if he makes a decision by Christmas!</p>

<p>Hi all; welcome @Hastomen123‌. </p>

<p>@acemom‌, I can imagine what you are going through. Hopefully it will work out as it did for @twoinanddone‌.</p>

<p>@ahsmuoh‌, all the very best to him this weekend. I hope he has a great time and that the school returns his love:). It sounds like he is sitting quite pretty regarding the school. Fingers crossed. </p>

<p>Not much has changed here apart from the fact that S has now decided to accept an OV. They are talking October. I asked him if he wanted to revisit the 2 previous offers where he had engineered a ‘no’ on account that he didn’t want to miss 3 days of school and that he would try and visit over Easter instead. This October one is slightly different because it falls during half-term (school break) and doesn’t clash with his Oct warm weather training camp either. This Oct school also has a lot of Brit history so maybe that made him say yes. Before, he just didn’t want to go. In a way, I think it will be good for him. The school is massive and I see him as a small school person. It will be interesting if I learn something new about him after the visit.</p>

<p>@Lovemyswimmer‌, good luck to your S too. Maybe the school with the not so favourable pre-read will eventually come through for him, but even if it doesn’t it sounds like he has quite a few good options anyway. Regarding your questions about do they offer spots at OVs, I think they must do, because the 2 where my S is not going on OVs immediately started scholarship amount discussions with him when he said he couldn’t come. No amounts have been finalised - perhaps till after they’ve seen their A prospects, or even everyone, but they have confirmed they want him and will give him some money. Also a top 3 school asked my S if he would still want to come to them if they could only offer him a tiny amount because right now they didn’t really have anything to offer him. If he had said yes, I am assuming he would have had a spot on the team, although he would not have made the travel team his freshman year, if ever! I suspect that if you are invited for an OV in Div 1, you effectively have a place on the team if you want it - I might be wrong though. The only question I think, is will money follow the offer, and if so, how much.</p>

<p>Right now, S has a firm top 4. 1 is ahead of the other 3. Of the 4, one is a div 3 and the others are div 1s. He keeps talking to people still but would like to stop and just make a decision. At the moment, he says his preference is still to school in the US. Time will reveal all.</p>

<p>I have heard mixed answers about whether or not my son should expect an offer at his OV. I told him not to expect one because that way if he gets one it will be a pleasant surprise. This is probably the absolute earliest of OV’s because some high school kids aren’t in school yet and you can’t go unless your school year has started. My son told me that there are 2 guys and 8 girls on this trip. The head coach called him before he left and said some things that really got him pumped. I hope it wasn’t BS!<br>
@Researchmum‌ my son also got a few “we want you to come and we guarantee you a spot on the team but we can’t guarantee much money” calls. They aren’t top 3 schools but top 20. He would really rather not do that if he can avoid it…time will tell. He said the coaches were really “cool” about it so he may decide to take an OV after all. We will see. </p>

<p>In our experience, we found that the coaches really wanted the recruit to commit during their “discussion” on the OV weekend - particularly their top recruits. (Coaches want to solidify their out year roster as soon as possible so they can focus on their current swimmers in the water.) Obviously plenty of swimmers say they are not willing to commit and coaches know this. </p>

<p>My S just asked me, so I went digging. As what I found was contrary to what had been intimated in this thread (or I might have just misunderstood what was said) I thought I would post my findings. It seems Div 3 schools can offer paid OVs - Bylaw 13.6!</p>