Match a '24 swimmer PLEASE

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

I’m looking for colleges with swim teams (preferably D1) and great academics. I’m communicating with several schools currently but would appreciate more that would be appropriate to contact. I prefer southeastern region but have not ruled out mideast/northeast. Thank you.

Demographics

  • US citizen
  • State/Location of residency: FL
  • Type of high school: Private religious, highly-competitive. c/o 2024
  • Gender/Race/Ethnicity: White female
  • Other special factors: Recruitable athlete (swimming)

Intended Major(s)

Largely undecided. Interested in chemistry, biology, sports med/science.
Possible Physical Therapy

  • Unweighted HS GPA: 4.0 (4.0 scale)
  • Weighted HS GPA (incl. weighting system): 4.57. No AP availability
    for freshman.
  • Class Rank: They do not release updates often, top 10% or better. Was
    top 5 students following sophomore year. 300+ grad. class
  • ACT/SAT Scores: ACT 34 (superscore). 33 single sitting. Taken 2x.

Coursework
11APs by graduation.
APWorld (5), AP CSP (5)
AP Chem, APUSH, AP Lang (Present)
Senior year: AP Bio, AP Lit, AP Psych, AP Calc AB, AP Gov/Macro
Fours Years Latin

Awards

3 year academic letter.

First honors deans list (6x).

3 year sports letter, main sport

2 year sports letter, second sport

Named (2x) and honorable mention (1x) as top HS athlete in the region by
local news.

National Latin Honor Society (NJCL)

Junior Captain, Senior Captain Swim

Extracurriculars
Varsity swimming (3 years), 8X State Finalist

Swimming: Holds two top 10 National age group times, one top 20, and
three top 10 State times - over various competition years.

Second HS varsity sport (2 years), 2022 District Champion. Ranked top 20
in FL in 2022.

Club swimming since very young, and I was doing concurrent workouts with
second sport for 2 years. Currently club/HS swimming focused.

Over 10 years martial arts training (Tai Quan Dao, Jiu-Jitsu, boxing,
wrestling). First degree black belt in Tai Quan Dao. Have competed
regionally in Sport MMA, Karate, and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (no gi).

Will have over 100 (non church) volunteer hours upon graduation.

Presently work at my church for 4 hours/week.

Regular altar server since 4th grade.

Latin and Medical Career Clubs (non-leadership roles)

Essays/LORs/Other

My essays will be polished, but I haven’t begun them yet.

I get along well with teachers and coaches, and I do not expect any
issues garnering glowing LORs.

Cost Constraints / Budget
Not eligible for need-based aid at most institutions, EFC is fairly
high. I will be seeking merit and possibly athletic aid, understanding
may teams are poorly funded. I would like to keep the possibility of
grad or DPT school open by keeping undergrad costs low.

Schools
Swimming in college is a personal need. I am actively recruited by a several
programs - first OV is scheduled. Currently, talking to all schools but
I am following up more aggressively with D1 programs. Most of the
interested programs are in the mid-west and northeast, which is not my
initial favorite destinations but the NE has not been ruled out.

Regarding my swimming: I am a futures qualifier who would have scored in
my top event in every mid-major D1 conference and the Big 12 (would not
have scored in Ivy or other P5 conferences). Sprint relay splits are
highly competitive, and my progress YoY has not slowed. I am a
relatively low volume swimmer with room to progress in a college
environment.

While I love swimming, I want to avoid chasing lower academics for
swimming. That’s difficult if one is also seeking merit/athletic money.

  • Safety: Any Florida directional (UNF, FAU, FGCU, UWF). UCF & USF (no
    swim teams)
  • Likely: UF (although one never knows with them), FSU, Alabama, South
    Carolina. Not fast enough for most of these (yet), so club swimming
    would be a non-preferred option.
  • Match: This is where I would appreciate help. I prefer medium sized
    campus. Interested in a more socially conservative campus life. High merit.
  • Reach: UMiami, William & Mary, TCU, Vanderbilt - all affordability
    reaches. Potential for a swim roster spot is there.
2

Bama and U of SC are safe.

Miami and TCU are likely.

W&M is a huge reach bcuz you want merit.

Are you d1 recruitable or 2/3? Asking bcuz Rollins, Fl Tech, other smaller schools up the coast etc. if you want to swim.

3

Are these projections ones for a recruited athlete?

4

No. For a regular student without swimming. Bcuz I asked OP at what level they are…and she noted most of her list is non athletic.

If she’s recruitable she should find a list of recruitable schools. Hence I asked for more info.

But given her list and stats I have my assessment as just a normal kid.

I noted that so not sure why the ?

5

Tagging @TonyGrace who seems knowledgable about swimming and recruiting. Hope he can help.

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I am a little unclear on what the OP is actually asking. Are you not happy with the schools you are communicating with?

Despite focus in D1, I think Emory would be an obvious addition to the mix. Maybe JHU as well but I don’t think there is much in the ways of merit. On the D1 side, what about SMU or U of Richmond?

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However, OOS W&M tuition is still significantly lower than at many private universities.

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Op did not give a figure other than to say high merit. W&M doesn’t have short of their top award.

COA is $65k OOS.

When I hear high merit, I don’t think of W&M. To me, that usually means a lower figure.
To your point though $65k a year ($48k tuition and fees) is lower than some privates which we are now seeing over $80k and rising.

But given the other schools listed, including Miami, W&M would be the most expensive noted on the list as Miami gives merit to so many if not all - ie they know they’re overpriced and reset to a realistic price.

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Okay, just looking for D-1 schools with varsity swimming that are mid-sized (3-8kish) that might be of interest:

  • Johns Hopkins (MD)
  • Providence (RI)
  • Xavier (OH)
  • Bucknell (PA )
  • Colgate (NY)
  • College of the Holy Cross (MA)
  • Duke (NC)
  • Fairfield (CT)
  • George Washington (D.C.)
  • Lafayette (PA )
  • Lehigh (PA )
  • Loyola Maryland
  • Northwestern (IL)
  • U. of Notre Dame (IN)
  • Villanova (PA )

But there’s not much there in the relation to the south. Below are some schools that are not D1, but that offer generous merit aid and seem to hit some other qualities that interest you.

  • U. of the South: About 1700 undergrads.

  • Rhodes (TN): NAbout 2k undergrads.

  • Wheaton (IL): About 2300 undergrads and has a reputation as a religious Ivy

  • Calvin (MI): About 3100 undergrads and a more conservative outlook

There are other strong southern schools like Emory, U. of Richmond, Vanderbilt, and Tulane, but at least according to College Navigator, they don’t have men’s swim teams.

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10

JHU is D3, only Lacrosse is D1

OP is female, so this should not be an issue. Thanks to Title IX this is quite common. Emory however does have a men’s team. They are ranked #1 in D3 and are faster than many D1 schools.

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@AustenNut this poster is a female.

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Thanks for catching that. Don’t know how I got that switched up. Interesting how College Navigator (feds) doesn’t have the latest info. Of course, I’m sure they’re only posting what the colleges shared with them…

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Location aside there are some great suggestions on this list. Holy Cross, Bucknell, GW and Villanova for exemple. I would add Pitt. Larger, but great merit and probably a good option given stated academic interests.

Programs such as Duke and Northwestern are likely too fast for OP.

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@Lkunk498 or @gardenstategal

Can either if you add any helpful information for this OP?

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15

Pitt is a fast swim school; OP would probably have to do club swimming there.

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I concur with @AustenNut on the above list; the Patriot league schools would be the best higher academic fits with D1 swim teams. U of Richmond is another great recommendation given that OP wants strong academics, competitive D1 team and a preferred location out of NE.

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I’d look at these and the entire Sunshine State conference. https://sunshinestateconference.com/ Different types of schools like Lynn, Barry, the tech schools of Florida Tech and Embry-Riddle, Florida Southern which has nursing and some medical, as well as a big bio program. Some people really like UTampa. You get to use your BF, stack it with the EASE scholarship (which I think is $2k/yr, any local scholarships you earn (my kids discovered almost all of those from our area could only be used in Florida).

You might also look at Queens in North Carolina. It is switching to D1 because of the swim program

There are some D1 programs that have dropped the men’s team but kept the women’s team. I’d be weary of that as schools that only have one team in a sport (unless it is football) tend to start cutting amenities because it really is harder to keep the pool pristine for just one sport. Just my opinion. My daughter really enjoyed having the comradery with the men’s team. They sometimes traveled to the same school to compete on a weekend, enjoyed doing volunteer work together, fundraising.

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Did you contact FIU?

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Thank you for all the suggestions. Sorry for the late reply, I did not get a response notification.

I am recruitable at mid-major D1, and have spoken with some D2/3. I have been in contact with 2 P5 schools - zoom & email so far. As I said I would score at every mid-major champs last year except Ivy - but only in one event (but my relays are competitive)…

It’s not that I am unhappy with my current discussions, but I am just trying to broaden my search. Thanks again for the suggestions.

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Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all.

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