Good swimmer (school + club), wants to continue competing in college but doesn’t want to focus on the sport, so a not very competitive D3 swimming team would be preferred. Down to earth/friendly and/or intellectual college, definitely not cut-throat. Preferably not too Greek (doesnt want to join a sorority but wants a decent social life, with debate, movies, and team events.) Currently a junior, 3.7 GPA, good curriculum rigor in private school, no ACT yet. Interested in social sciences and humanities (economics, philosophy, foreign language/French, political science?)
It’s hard to say what “moderately fast” means, since that’s a matter of perspective. If you go onto collegeswimming.com , you will find a wealth of information. Click on teams, and filter on D3. You can then see best times for each event. There are many D3 conferences across the country, especially in the East and Midwest. You can probably find whatever level of competition you are looking for. If you can narrow down the geographic area, that might help you focus on potential D3 Leagues/Teams.
Thank you for your response.
Something like 1’08 Fly 100 and Back 100?
I really don’t have a sense of what that means and am trying to help a first gen kid whose primary goal is academics but is a good swimmer.
A female swimmer?
yes, female.
Do those times look wrong for a girl?
And 2:22 IM 200.
She is willing to go anywhere. Her first interest is academics, I don’t think she even considered swimming in college (she doesn’t want D1 and her club seems to focus on D1 so she didn’t think of D3).
Has she considered Sewanee?
There is no one right answer. Her times would be slow for the fastest D3 school, but fast for the slowest D3 school. It’s like SAT scores - there is a lot of variation from school to school. I don’t know how many D3 schools there are, but there are a lot.
My daughter also wants to swim D3. She searched on schools that met her other criteria (a smaller school with strength in STEM areas, a certain range in SAT scores, East/Midwest/South) and then she looked them up on collegeswimming.com to see where she would fit in. It’s a long process, but that’s the way we did it.
I could give you names of colleges, but it would really be a random list without knowing more about her academics, goals, etc.
Can you just point me to 2-3 so I could check them out and have a better idea?
3.7, good curriculum rigor at private school (on scholarship), no ACT yet, future humanities/social science major.
How do I find slow-ish schools on collegeswimming.com? Are all colleges ranked and how can she compare herself?
Well, without knowing what her 3.7 GPA means exactly, here is a shot in the dark.
Here is a link to the Mid-Atlantic Championships, 200 IM. You can click on a school and get more info.
http://www.collegeswimming.com/results/28682/event/9/
Here is a link to the Centennial Conference Championships 200 IM - lots of nice schools in this league…small LAC’s in PA
http://www.collegeswimming.com/results/15577/event/5/
Here is the Landmark League - I have heard good things about Susquehanna.
http://www.collegeswimming.com/results/28670/event/5/
Other schools to look at: Union College (NY), Hobart and William Smith (NY), Hartwick (NY),
I am more familiar with the Northeast, maybe someone from the South or Midwest can add to this. @swimkidsdad did mention Sewanee, which is a very nice school.
If she wants to be recruited, she would need to be one of the better swimmers in her League. Otherwise, she can swim at a lot of D3 schools. It’s not quite the same as D1, where she would have to try-out to be a walk on. She would maybe still have to try out, but it isn’t hard to get be able to join one of these teams, as long as she is dedicated to attending all practices, etc.
I hope this helps.
I would first find several school that work academically for your daughter and then look at the swimming program. Long term, being happy w a school and your major is far more important than swimming in college.
S1 is a club swimmer and had given up on the idea of swimming in college, as he’s been a bit stalled the past 2 years with his times. (club practice has not been a priority, so his yardage is weak, plus his shoulder was an issue junior year). He went about his search process and then looked up the swim team of his first choice and sent the coach an email. He’s been invited for a D3 overnight, as they are a small team that’s graduating several seniors this year, so they will need depth on relays next year. He knows he’s not going to be a top 3 seed in his events (fly & distance free), but hopes he can improve and help the team on relays. (he has a great relay start, but is lousy off the blocks w a horn).
He also thinks contacting the coach helped in the admission process, as he applied rather late and it’s a school that takes interest into account. (he applied late because he completely changed his mind on what to major in and what sort of school he wanted in mid-December).
PS - adding…take a look at Wheaton College in MA. A girl I know who just an OK HS swimmer and swam club 3 of 4 years (50 free :28; 100 free :59), was contacted by the coach after she applied and was encouraged to come out for the team. Again, not a deep team and she would be used on relays. (she ended up not joining the team, but is happy there).
Thank you very much. That’s very useful. I really had no idea where to start with this - I’m more on the academic side of things and I typically leave the team aspect to the coaches, but here the coach’s focus is D1 and there’s not much advice about D3. Since this is a first gen/immigrant kid, there really isn’t anyone who can give advice.
As the former owner of CollegeSwimming.com, I can tell you that with a free account you can actually log in and see how your times compare to different schools. And its completely free (or at least it was).
It is still free. You can create a profile with her times. Then when you look at the times for different teams, it will show you where she fits in. Collegeswimming.com is a gold mine of information.
My daughter also had a berecruited account. Quite a few coaches emailed her after finding her on berecruited. She was also contacted based on her collegeswimming account. Though, what panned out the most was emailing the coaches at schools she wished to attend.
We’re starting this process right now with S16.
I’d second (or third) the suggestion above that your daughter look at the best academic fits first, and then check out the swim times on collegeswimming.com.
But since you’ve asked for specific schools, she may want to check out Occidental College. Solid school, more focused on humanities and social science. Great location, incredible weather. Not a big Greek scene. And her swim times are good enough for her to swim for them (http://www.collegeswimming.com/team/419/mod/teamtimes).
Also Chapman University. Strong in Economics (and poli-sci, I think). And again, she could probably swim for them (http://www.collegeswimming.com/team/85/mod/teamtimes).
Obviously we’re out in CA.
Unless you already have Junior Olympic times or go to your HS state meet of champs, D1 won’t likely be interested. Also, most club coaches in our area are fairly worthless in the college recruiting arena. (Know a kid who was a NJ state champ many years ago and his exposure came from Jr Nationals. He ended up at an Ivy).
Come up w the list of schools, then look for swimming. We didn’t even look at the college swimming or berecruited website. Just went straight to the school’s team page and looked up actual results for meets. That’s where you will see the C and D relays.
Sewanee is in the Southern Athletic Association, as are a number of outstanding small liberal arts colleges that give generous merit awards. See the conference championship times at http://www.collegeswimming.com/results/28692.
My son is at Hendrix College and swims on the team and loves it. One of the prettiest pools I’ve ever seen - glass with a roof that opens (http://www.collegeswimming.com/team/142). Really, take a look. Hard to believe.
Other schools in the conference include Rhodes, Centre, Berry and Austin colleges - all among the best education for the dollar in the country. Your daughter could swim at any of them, I think.
Thank you very much. That helps me tremendously… I had no idea of where to start, where to look, even how to navigate the collegeswimming.com site (didn’t realize the info could be on “recruiting”, didn’t know the names of the conferences or what MIA could represent…)
This isn’t my daughter, it’s someone I’m trying to help because she’s first gen/immigrant.
I’m trying to help my daughter with this too. Current junior female, (56 100 free, 25 50 free, 31 50 breast.) Totally uninterested in D1 swimming (and too slow anyway). Looks to me like she could swim at most D3 schools, but I think she’d prefer a less high stress place than the top teams. Hendrix pool looks awesome! I’m also having her look at Grinnell and Gustavus, although she might be a little slow there for top relays. Can you really just show up and say “I’m here” in D3, or is it better to notify coaches in advance?
I would send coaches an email or complete the online form that most schools have on the team page. If your re going to be visiting the school, drop the coach a line to see if they will be around and you can stop by.
Those times are in-line for D3, especially relays.
Again, my recommendation is to find schools and then see if they have a team. While there is no overt $ for D3, coaches can advocate to admissions for an athlete and merit aid may be offered. It could also mean the difference between being admitted or not if your child is just average or the school is a demonstrated interest school.
Had a great unofficial visit at a top D3 program. Will be tough if everywhere is that nice (campus, pool, but more special were coach and swimmers–so welcoming!)