<hr>
<p>Hello
how much wiggle room is there for allowing acceptance to a varsity swimmer .
looking at the times of the swimmers now my S would be the 2/3rd swimmer in his events
he is just starting the process as he is a sophmore and is expecting his times over the next two years to improve.
when should he reach out to the coach etc</p>
<p>thanks</p>
<p>Welcome to CC. I’d suggest you use the search function to look for previous threads on IVY recruiting or recruiting in general.</p>
<p>The IVY league does allow some leeway for athletic recruits. Recruits are classified by their athletic index (AI) and each school is allowed a set number of recruits in each AI band … more nearer the average admit at the school and less further away. Each school can decide how to split the slots … but in general to use one of the lower AI slots the recruit will need to be a high impact recruit in a major sport (a possible star RB on the football team … not the 4th miler on the track team). I think of the AI bands as a lot like standard deviations … a lot of recruits are allowed within a standard deviation of a typical admit … while only a few are allowed 2 or more StDs away. Half of all the admits to the school will be below average of the average admit so those recruits in the first AI band below the typical recruit fit the profile of a ton of the “regular” admits. So bottom line for a swimmer is how good your son is and how important swimming is to the school will drive how much of a break he may get in admissions. Good luck!</p>
<p>An no one is a “slight” reach for an ivy. An ivy is a high reach for everyone.</p>
<p>I don’t know much about swimming specifically, but have a S who is an athlete in another sport at a different Ivy. In general, if an athlete’s times are competitive, I think it’s a good idea to make contact early (in sophomore year is fine), but the coach probably won’t get serious until you have some data that convinces him that he could get your S through the admissions process. He’ll want to know about GPA as well as any test scores that your S might already have - if he took PSAT or SAT early? If those numbers look encouraging as well as his swimming times, I would expect that the coach is likely to encourage your S to keep in contact. </p>
<p>I agree with posters above, in many sports there is not tremendous leeway to let athletes in who wouldn’t be competitive for admission anyway. The better the athlete is, the more leeway there will be. But even among those athletes who are good candidates without the sport, having the support of the coach can go a long way to distinguish them from all the other well qualified applicants these schools get! Good luck - this is an exciting process!</p>
<p>thanks to you all for your info.
the fun is just beginning
have a great holiday season</p>