So what actually happened with your swimmers?

I’ve really appreciated all the wisdom shared on this site around the reality of college swim recruiting, but many of you posted several years ago when you were in the thick of the process.

I want to know what really happened?

Did your predictions work out? What were the surprises? What would you share to those now beginning the process? Thoughts on D1 vs. D3?

I would love to learn from your collective experience @Researchmum @SwimDad99 @swimdogmom @acemom @Lovemyswimmer @1HappyDad @swim4school @Hastomen123 @ahsmuoh @LivesinHobbiton @VMT @jmtabb @fleishmo6 @planit

Thank you in advance!

My daughter is coming to the end of her 4th season at her D3 school. Swimming has been a very positive experience for her, mostly for the built-in family and support that is always there for her. D3 was absolutely the right choice for her. She swims in a fast conference (not quite as fast as Nescac or UAA), but challenging enough for her.

I think the biggest surprise was just how much time and effort is required, even at the D3 level. It takes a lot of juggling to maintain the academics and any other EC’s on top of 20 hours a week dedicated to swimming. There have been extremely challenging moments for her, though she has been very successful. For the most part, all the swimmers on the team manage, and they help each other through challenging times. The friendships and the skills they acquire will carry them through life. This is the reason I say it has been a positive experience for her.

I updated in one of my original posts. Daughter is c/o 2019, and was accepted EA to her “dream school” (D3). Looking forward to swimming next year, and very happy that the pressure of admissions and recruiting is now done for her. We continue to be impressed with the program, the coaches, the current teammates who have been in touch, and the school overall.

I think my daughter was in contact with 6 or 7 schools, mostly D3 level. Several didn’t follow up much after her initial contact. One DI coach asked us to call and then treated my daughter as if she was “nothing special” (despite her tippy top academics and test scores, and swim times that would have made her one of the two fastest flyers on their team). I still think that school could have been a great match for her but she wouldn’t even consider it after that conversation.

A few things we’ve learned along the way from our journey so far and those of our teammates:

For the superstars, the emphasis seems to be shifting somewhat to junior year for OV’s and verbal commitments. For the rest of us fall of senior year is still when it’s happening.

If looking at a D3, know that how much pull a coach has varies wildly, and even with a positive pre-read and full coach support admissions can still say “no”. It was a rough 6 weeks waiting for admissions decisions for us (my daughter’s EA school has among the more limited coach influence for admissions) but decision day was pretty sweet (and it all went down at a swim meet even).

The lesser selective schools and teams could still be adding kids to their roster in the spring. We know of two kids who made commitments to swim D1 in April/May of last year and are thriving at their chosen schools. Athletic money may be harder to come by at that point but it’s still not out of the question.

For us, “fit” was everything. My daughter would have rather not continued swimming if she couldn’t find a program that felt like a good fit for her. I think she’s chosen well. But finding the right schools where we think she’d be happy academically and athletically was a lot of work. My persnickety kid even had decided that she would only consider swim teams that wore black swim caps at one point !! (And yes, the top two schools both have black caps).

Happy to answer more questions here or by PM. I’m still in a bit of disbelief that my kid has ended up with an acceptance at the one school she has said she wanted to attend since she was little.

@VMT Thanks so much for this insight. Your point about the time commitment is extremely helpful. Congrats to your daughter!

@jmtabb Love the black cap story! Thanks for taking the time to write such a detailed post.

A few more things - I always told my daughter she is one injury away from
never swimming again, so be sure to pick a school she could enjoy without swimming.

She did not apply to any Nescac schools. She was interested in engineering and thought other schools were a better fit. The schools she applied to did not require an ED application. Her stats were good enough that I don’t think she really needed coach support, though she had it. (It might have helped with one school.) She was told at all the schools that the coaches make a list of their recruits in order of level of support/ team need, and the list is handed over to admissions. I got the impression they could try to tip a no to a yes, but they weren’t always successful. My D observed this at her school - a strong recruit was rejected and the coach couldn’t budge admissions. So, it’s hard to tell just how much influence they have.

Her merit scholarship offers varied quite a bit, with Case Western being the highest and RPI being the lowest. The sticker price was approximately the same for all the schools she applied to. The process was much simpler for her compared to having to choose which school to use your ED on. So I can’t offer any insight into the more complex situations.

My son is currently in the middle of his freshman year at a D3 LAC . Here are some things from our experience:

  1. I agree with @VMT. If it all ended tomorrow, could you see yourself still at this school? Many athletes don’t make it all 4 years - be it injury, burnout, studies, or study abroad…and, unfortunately, programs do get cut. Can you see yourself there without swimming?

  2. Also…if the coach left tomorrow (happens all the time) could you still see yourself there? Don’t choose the school simply because of the coach.

  3. Cast a wide net - you never know where you’re going to end up. Where our son is is not where we even envisioned him landing in the beginning :). That was our biggest surprise.

  4. Keep all options on the table until that acceptance letter is received.

  5. Be as transparent as needed with all of the coaches, and be respectful of their time and of them. Let them know when a choice is made, and thank them for their time. You never know where one of those coaches may land…Coaches talk. Coaches come and go…you never know who could end up on your pool deck.

  6. Ultimately our son is going to college to get a degree, not swim. The school, fit, etc. were the most important things to us. Swim was a bonus, not the most important thing.

  7. Have your kid fill out the recruit forms online and follow up with an email. Keep in touch with the coaches. Unless they’re a superstar, they need to sell themselves. We heard over and over again that kids who just did the recruit form were not as valuable a recruit vs. the kid who followed up and made a conscious effort with the coach. Bottom line is, coaches want kids who want to be there.

Our son applied to, and received admission at his ED1 school and then had 4 others that he was considering if this didn’t pan out. For his #2, he made sure to keep in contact with that coach, and kept an open dialogue to see if ED2 would be a possibility if his ED1 school didn’t work out. I also agree w/ @jmtabb - those 6 weeks are very much like sitting on pins and needles.

As far as difference from D1 to D3…I’m friends with a parent who has a swimmer at a top 20 D1 and a swimmer at a very selective D3 LAC - 2 opposite sides of the spectrum. She told me recently that really the only difference are the abilities of the swimmers…the time commitment is very similar in season - as others have already said. I would agree with that based upon our son’s in season practice/lifting/doubles schedule The only thing different is that at his school, classes come first so…if you have a class conflict, that takes precedence over swim and even meets. And they are much more flexible with Study Abroad. It’s also important to note that some D3’s operate more like D1’s, and some are very, very laid back. All depends on what you’re looking for. Find the right fit.

Our son was challenged with juggling everything around midterms. Swim, he was sick…we had a few panicked phone calls, and then he got into a groove. As others have said, the other kids on the team were integral in getting him through the rough patch and guiding him. He wouldn’t change his decision at all (Well, maybe after this week of training hell in FL he would - haha! ).

I agree totally with all of the posters above @kjs1992 has a great list.
Once the decision is made and if ED1 is selected as others said make sure you let the coaches know of your decision.
I had my boys in the email ask the coaches if it would be okay to reach back out if ED1 did not pan out at the first choice school. Between both of my sons, only one coach did not have a very positive response.
The family atmosphere and immediate group of friends makes college life so much easier and more enjoyable when being on a team. Both my boys went ED1 and swam for a NESCAC school. The amount of school work is substantial but manageable and the coaches know that academics come first. My son is on a flight home from Florida from his training trip, so his life is good.
Just went through my youngest daughters college recruiting choice and hope her selection works out as much as her older brothers.
Best of luck

@kjs1992 I’m so glad things are going well for your son. Your comments are extremely thoughtful! Thanks for sharing.

@fleishmo6 and others…it really does seem that many swimmers enjoy the NESCAC experience!

Our swimmer ended up having some great choices and narrowed down his list during the summer before his senior year. He started contact with coaches in September of junior year and began with maybe 20 schools he was interested in - DI and DIII based on where he would fit on the team and his academic interests. He was invited to some junior days that he attended and also visited schools/coaches over the course of the year. This really helped him to clarify what he wanted. He accepted official visits to five schools, but ended up only going on four as he felt one of the schools was bigger than he wanted. The official visits were in September and he LOVED all of his visits - certainly a highlight for him. All of the coaches were supportive and seemed transparent throughout the process. Some were more consistent with him over the course of the year and I think that influenced him a bit, but not as much as you would think. They all pretty much told him that he had their support for admissions before the official visits, which was good for him as some can go on official visits but not be offered spots or a coach’s support. He realized he was in a great position, but it was still difficult to make a decision on where he wanted to be as he truly connected with all of the schools, teams, coaches and just needed to decide.

In the end, he chose the school and team where he felt most comfortable and would be able to pursue his academic interests and be part of a competitive and fast swim environment. He committed to his top choice (an Ivy) at the end of September. Although he had a pre-read conducted before his official visit (all Ivy schools do this to make sure you are recruitable), once he gave his commitment, he had to wait two weeks for admissions to give their initial acceptance (phone call and email reiterating acceptance) and then in December received the official acceptance (when all EA candidates receive theirs). It was much more stressful than any of us imagined - even with things aligning as well as they did for him. We really encouraged the official visits as we knew it was important for him to see what the team/school/coaches were like over the course of a few days. Most of the coaches told us at any time we could inquire as to where our son stood as far as recruiting, which was helpful.

My advice would be to have your son/daughter keep in regular contact with coaches, but don’t overdo it - each coach is different. Some coaches wanted weekly updates, others not so much. Our son would update the coaches after swim meets, when test scores were received, to touch base, to share news and/or to inquire about team. Figure out what is important as far as the team goes - where do they want to be - top end of swimmers on the team? kids to chase? big fish? small fish? In the beginning of the recruiting stages, our son had D1 and D3 schools all with strong academics, but he narrowed down his list as time went on and he discovered more of what he wanted. Over the course of his junior year, he communicated mostly through email and phone calls with the coaches. Some coaches came to visit our club team to watch our son swim and/or home visits in the summer, which was nerve-wracking for our son, but I believe meant a lot to him. Our son did most of the communicating. We did communicate with the coaches when we took our son to visit schools and also during home visits. Towards the end, my husband did have some communication, but mostly about financial aid/merit money and the timeline.

Realize that the list of schools can change based on performance or projected performance. Our son had some great swims in December and over the summer of his junior year and then had more interest from some schools (although he ended up sticking with the ones he was interested in the beginning of the recruiting process). Your son/daughter will build a relationship with the coaches and for our son, it was difficult to make the phone call to turn down a school - something that you can lose sight of as the process unfolds. We got to know the coaches as well from home visits and school visits, so it is tricky all around. I know rules on recruiting have changed this year, but I would encourage your son/daughter to have patience - our son did not express his commitment until the end of September of his senior year. He did not feel pressure to commit early from any of the coaches and they recognized that he was a kid who needed time. He could have verbally committed earlier, but we really encouraged him to take the official visits. However, if your son/daughter feels that they have found the perfect fit, then I can understand wanting to commit early. I also strongly agree to base the decision mostly on the school as coaches leave, programs change and injuries can happen.

In the end, we witnessed our son mature, come out of his shell and learn how to have a conversation - difficult ones when necessary. When it was all said and done, he knew what he wanted and we supported him. There are so many great programs/schools/teams/coaches and getting everyone (swimmer/parents) to see the big picture is important. Our son is so excited and can’t wait to become part of the team and school. We are so thrilled for him! Good luck! Feel free to message me if you have any further questions.

Wow! This is such a thoughtful narrative. I’m so glad the process worked out well for your son @RecruitedSwimmer.

One question I have about Ivy League swimming is around balance. Can anyone comment on the swim/school balance, particularly in the current era of such fast swimming? Can swimmers excel academically or are they struggling to keep afloat given the swim schedule? How does this differ across the various Ivy League schools?

Thanks @Wombat921 for asking this! I have often wondered the same. My son is considering swimming in college and I’m wanting to make certain before he goes all in that he knows what he’s getting into for his college days. Knowing more about what it is like balancing classwork, team duties and meets (plus just learning how to adult!) will help him make this decision.

My daughter’s story is a little different but hopefully gives some hope to those that are late bloomers. My D started dropping time late in her junior year. Prior to that we were not even thinking that swimming in college was an option. Even then her times were good but not top tier times. She had very high academic marks. She received some interest from smaller schools initially but not schools that she was interested due to their academics. Chicago swim coach was willing to take her as ED, but we are from a small town and the urban environment wasn’t her thing and she wasn’t willing to go ED at that point, She did apply RD to chicago but didn’t get in on RD. She was waitlisted at Georgetown and Rice and had some support from their swim coaches but not at their top of the list full support. She continued to improve on her swim times in the spring of her senior year with times that would have gotten her a lot more interest had they happened in her junior year. She was accepted at the in state school honors program that has very good academics but no swim team and she was considering taking that and only swimming at the club level.

In May, Alabama reached out with a significant academic scholarship. She had sent her SAT scores to them earlier but never applied… She reached out to their swim coach and he was interested in her and he called her swim coach. He asked that we come for a visit and we visited last June. After checking her out, he offered her a spot on the team, but no athletic money the first year and the potential to get money on future years. She was not at SEC level yet but was obviously still dropping significant time. She committed to Alabama and enrolled there two months later. She has had an incredible first year and loves it at Bama. Her times have continued to improve and the coaches feel she will be able to place at SEC conference championships by next year. She is in their honors engineering program and was accepted into their STEM/MBA joint program.

My main point is that don’t give up looking even late in your senior year of high school as you never know what might pop up. Some of the larger schools also are able to carry larger rosters especially girls and especially if the student’s academics are good. My daughter basically got a full tuition academic scholarship and is only paying room and board. She is loving it and couldn’t be in a better situation and it all happened very late in the process

^^this is a great story!

@southernmtdad This is a very powerful and inspiring story. Thank you for sharing!

My DS represented Midd for 4 years, making the podium at NESCACs every year. He was happy never to have qualified for nationals because he had always had enough by the end of the season and wanted then the time to focus on his studies and enjoy other social activities!
You also might want to look at my old thread-“Fess up, who is still competing? D1 vs. D3” from a few years ago-lots of insights…

I haven’t been on here in months, so I haven’t seen the request for an update and can’t remember what I’ve posted about her before. My swimmer was never a candidate for a high-academic school. She chose the program that offered her a full ride and not the one that I thought was a better fit. She only took these two OVs and turned the rest down. All that said, she was not happy until pretty far into the first semester. She was hurt and not swimming well, she was shocked by how much drinking there was, and she felt like everyone had BFFs but her. I thought there was a good chance she wouldn’t go back second semester, but somewhere around mid-November, she got happier (very happy) with the other girls. She did not, however, get happy with the coach or the medical care, and turned in her transfer request today. She actually swam her conference meet with a misdiagnosed injury. None of the girls swam well at conference, and the coach was an ass to them about it. She is banged up but not ready to be a swammer, so I hope she will end up somewhere next year that is a better fit.

My take-aways:

  1. We know TONS of kids, athletes and not, who are transferring schools after a semester or a year. Being an athlete doesn’t seem to be the deciding factor.
  2. Don’t let the medical staff at the athletic department be the only ones who have eyes on your kiddo. We got irritated with what seemed to be less-than-optimal care there and flew her home to see her sports med guy here. She was on the ground for 36 hours, and she got back on the plane with a diagnosis, a completed CT scan and a medical device.
  3. Even though this was not my first choice for her, we really couldn’t have foreseen the issues that turned out to be issues. Ending up with a bad fit is not necessarily anyone’s fault. Sometimes it just is.
  4. My swimmer was not prepared for the heavy drinking that is part of the team culture. We could have prepared her better for that. She eventually found friends who were willing to do something besides drink, and her drinking friends found things to do her besides drink, so it worked out, but she was lonely until it did.

@planit Thanks so much for chiming in, you’ve given lots of great insight to me and many others I’m sure. So sorry for the disappointments, but glad to hear your swimmer is making adjustments. Life does throw curve balls! Hope she ends up somewhere great!

My D is also not high academic, she is also not high D1 fast, so it was hard to get applicable advice on CC, but I was able to glean enough to help ease her recruitment process at mid-D3. She has chosen a D3 we feel really great about after a tour/visit and a recruiting trip. She also struggles with some overuse injuries, so we’ll be keeping close tabs on services she gets. I must say , I’ve always thought (hoped) that swimming in college would mean an instant network of friends and that it would help a lot when being far from home. I guess the message here is to always keep “eyes wide open” for culture/inclusion/fit.