<p>Hmm... if he wants to swim but focus on academics, I'd definitely have her look at Division 3 schools. There isn't a lot of pressure, but some of them are still pretty fast programs at a great academic setting. Beginning with the second semester of her junior year, have her fill out recruit forms for schools she's interested in and talk with the coaches. They'll be able to tell her all about the program and make it easier for her to narrow down choices. What I did was keep up email contact and stuff to let them know what was going on and they were able to answer questions. Some teams may even be able to pay for her to visit. Anyways, get into their recruiting system and let the coaches know you'll apply. Even if you're not a very good swimmer (I'm not very fast, even though I do hold a captain position), they will let the admissions know that you would be a valuable asset to the team and that will have some push in getting her accepted. It helped tons with me. As a decent swimmer and student (1280 SAT, 3.8w GPA) I got accepted to NYU, Oberlin, and Occidental College. The only school that rejected me was Denison, which is very fast and swimming wasn't any push for me because they often turn recruits away.</p>
<p>Anyways, for good swimming and academics, I'd look into DIII schools, unless she really wants to be fast, in which case there is DI and DII. Some DIII schools that have good swimming (which might have push in getting accepted if you talk to the coaches) would be: Tufts, Emory, Kenyon, Johns Hopkins, Williams, Carnegie Mellon, Washington U in St. Louis, MIT, Amherst. Granted, it will take good grades anyways and some are reaches for everyone (MIT, CMU, Washington), but don't underestimate the influence of athletics at a DIII school. Here are the team scores of the last NCAA Division 3 Champioships for girls. It should give you an idea of what kind of schools she can look into for academics and swimming. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.hope.edu/athletics/ncaaswim/women/312/final/SCORES.TXT%5B/url%5D">http://www.hope.edu/athletics/ncaaswim/women/312/final/SCORES.TXT</a></p>
<p>You can really push yourself athletically at the top ones, some of which are also elite academic institutions. But, other schools might be trying to build a program and are desperate for recruits, where swimming will have more push. Take Oberlin, they really needed guys and swimming probably got me in, even though they're very selective.</p>
<p>Sorry if this is long, but I love Division 3 swimming and I encourage you to look into it.</p>