For D3 swimming plus engineering, try Harvey Mudd, Rose Hulman, Colorado School of Mines (D2), Stevens Institute of Technology, Tufts, George Washington U (D1, but not crazy fast), Valparaiso, Seattle University or another Jesuit school. It’s a tough combination. I’ve been there! Most engineering is in D1 state schools.
@BertieMom Dartmouth (and other Ivy League schools) don’t give athletic scholarships. However, they have good need-based aid if you qualify, and if the swim coach is interested in recruiting your daughter, it may help with admission.
I knew that about the HYPS and MIT but didn’t know Dartmouth was in that group. Good to know.
We should qualify for enough financial aid to make many schools a possibility. Hoping merit and/or athletic can help round that out.
Looking at the list of the full ride NMF schools, I wondered about University of Idaho. Would that just be miserable for girl like her who loves intellectual stimulation? It is smaller than some on that list, has engineering and swimming program that would want her.
Just remember…those Ivies do NOT give merit or athletic scholarships.
Georgia Tech is very rigorous, and I don’t think it’s known for generous aid, are you instate for Georgia?
No, Kansas. I’m not really a fan of Georgia Tech but it is in consideration because of swim coach recommendation.
The swim could be a hook at MIT. If she can get her ACT up esp the math. You could try for merit at WashU. The merit at Rice isn’t that high except for athletic rides and I’ve read that most swimmers get partial scholarships in general.
I expect her to end up with 34 or 35 by her junior/senior year. This was a first test and she didn’t review math concepts from geometry and alg 2 or do any other prep other than one practice test. But I agree that her math needs to be 34 or higher for sure for MIT.
I am sure she will get better scores, particularly in Math, by the time of college application. If she can get 35 in ACT, she may be able to get a merit scholarship at UMich for a girl applying to CoE. You should try their NPC to see if it is afforable to you. They have started to give more generous aid s to OOS students in recent years.
I have a cousin who was recruited for swimming at Georgia Tech and has now graduated. She had a great time and has been quite successful academically and in the pool.
My recommendations don’t have swimming recruitment potential, but have a decreased cost of attendance: University of Waterloo engineering is excellent and has co-op. The students essentially spend every other term working, earning an average of $8K (first term) to $12K (last term) (USD). This really helps to offset the tuition, which runs about $14K USD/term. https://uwaterloo.ca/co-operative-education/earnings/weekly-earnings-information-january-december-2016 The admissions director has an excellent blog https://profbillanderson.■■■■■■■■■■■■■/2013/09/21/things-people-say-about-co-op/?wref=tp The bad news is that Waterloo engineering is super competitive and there are only about 200 international spots each year. They do have holistic admissions so the swimming would be a definite plus.
Franklin Olin College may be too small for your daughter, but everyone gets 50% off tuition.
@BertieMom Start with safeties. Engineering schools she could afford to go to. What is your EFC?
I had a swimming engineering girl too, but it was 10 years ago. I was going to suggest Waterloo. We had a great visit there including a conversation with the swim coach. Yes, they have a swim team but on more like a d3 level of intensity. We also looked at RPI and WPI but it sounds like your D will want the possibility of non-engineering options. Santa Clara seems worth looking at.
Colorado School of Mines was mentioned and they LUV female students and have a pretty good swim team. Have a friend whose daughter swam for Forham and loved it. Notre Dame.
I’d look at the list of schools where she might have a chance of swimming, then make a list of schools she’s interested in, and see if any are on both lists.
@twoinanddone If the parents contribution is 10k and she is not being recruited, where can she get enough money?
O’k took a look at swimming. 3% of high school female swimmers swim D1 in college. The average scholarship for D1 female swimmers is 16k, D2 7k, D3 0.
For finances, OP’s daughter needs to target merit and hope for meets need.
She has to be recruited to get money. The athlete can (should) make the desire known by filling out a recruiting questionnaire and following up with the coach. Don’t wait for coaches to come calling, because they don’t unless you have just won an Olympic medal.
If she likes Rice, keep it on the list but realize it might not be a possibility for swimming. Contact Colorado school of Mines and see what’s possible for swimming and merit. University of Denver might not be right academically (does have engineering, does have other majors) but check out the swimming just to get an idea of what that level offers athletically. She might get a really high merit award at a school where she’s an academic superstar. Does she have to go down a level in swimming? Up a level in academics? Just figuring out her level at this time.
It is really hard to figure out how much a typical scholarship is. My daughter went from school to school and only received two actually figures. The first coach said “Zero. I don’t give scholarships to freshmen.” Okay, moving on. Second coach was new to the school, new team, sort of desperate to get a team together, offered the merit and the athletic at the same time at the first meeting (D was a senior). Then we had a negotiating point. All the other coaches hemmed and hawed and said “It depends.” It does depend on the merit, the COA, the budget of the team but it makes it hard to compare.
If I were this mom with a d at this point I would probably make a spreadsheet. Academic reached, targets and safeties based on her academic points, then the swim times at those colleges in her event(s) and then financial aid based on the college calculators and then potential merit. It might help make things clearer otherwise it gets pretty random…
I think it is too early to be thinking about this, if she is a sophomore. A lot can change. Talk to her about other options than engineering, tell her it’s okay to have other interests. It sounds like she is on a sort of conveyor belt of expectations that she will do engineering and swimming and either or both could change. Maybe, if given the opportunity, she would like to explore other ideas about her studies and future.
Small thing, but it is a good discipline for us parents to stop using the pronoun “we.” 
There are many small excellent schools that she might like. For engineering, Olin is top notch, project-oriented, personal. Check out Colleges that Change Lives (website, book, fairs). Ivies and little Ivies would be good for aid (google little Ivies). Lots of other good, smaller schools.
If swimming is still a “passion” AND she still wants to do engineering (after really examining these choices and trying out alternatives in her head at least) then go ahead and make the spreadsheet- but I think you should wait a year.
Too much college talk this early can, in my opinion, distort the high school experience.
@twoinanddone If I understand correctly, her D is in the top two in her state and not competing on a national level. With the rarity of scholarship in swimming, I think @momofthreeboys is correct and a spreadsheet starting with academics. Places like Colorado School of Mines don’t give much to OOS. She might want to consider KU as a true safety since so many places will gap you. And Ivys are just lotteries with too many elite applicants.