Hi I’m a rising senior and I’ve been swimming competitively for the last 6 years. I would say that I’m decent, not extremely good. The highest level that I’ve competed at is probably at the state level. Is it worth it to contact coaches at the universities that I want to apply to? I know that I won’t get recruited, because the people that I’ve seen get recruited have like Olympic Trial times. I haven’t registered with the NCAA. Is there any way to indicate that this is an interest of mine outside of the essay and just getting recuited? I would be interested in swimming in college. Thanks for any advice!
Hi @MS5040 I hope your post gets more visibility. I’m not an expert in this area by any means, but I have a few things that could help. It depends if schools are DI, D2, or D3. Obviously, the lower the division the easier to get on the team. I think it would be worth it to email coaches and see if there are walk on spots on their team. I know people who have walked on to track teams, and swimming/diving teams are usually the program most similar in size to track. D3 can recruit, but won’t offer any scholarships. Also check the swimming rankings of the schools. If they are in a very competitive conference or the top of a less competitive conference, perhaps they will be less likely to accept walk ons.
Go to collegeswimming dot com and compare your times by division, conference, and school. There is a good deal of overlap in terms of talent by NCAA division, and there are also non-NCAA schools with swim teams.
If you have schools on your list where your swim times are competitive for the team you should contact the swimming coaches at each school (intro email to all of them). Also fill out the recruiting questionnaires that you will find on each school’s swim team page.
These tasks will take you some time. If and when you start speaking to coaches, it will become clear whether you are recruitable for their program. If not, do ask about the potential to walk on…sometimes that works out, sometimes not.
Good luck.
This isn’t true. There are very good D3 teams and very weak D1 teams. Check your times against those posted by the team. Check your grades against the schools too. You’ll find the sweet spot where you can be happy on the team and with the school.
Thank you for your replies. For me, since I’m not exactly looking to get recruited, is there a way that expressing interest in sports and perhaps getting to know the coach will help my application? This is more targetted towards more compeitive schools that have very good swimming programs (D1) as well.
You can, but you seem to be looking for coach support with admissions that typically is given to athletic recruits, without actually being recruited. I doubt that a coach would support your application for admission, unless the coach thought that you could contribute to the team. I don’t know of an instance where just “knowing the coach” helped with admission, but there absolutely is no harm in trying…
At the D1 and D2 levels, there are preferred or recruited walk-ons, but I understand that they still go through a recruiting process. You definitely should explore whether this is a possibility for you. Go ahead and contact the coaches of schools in which you have an interest and see what happens. You may also consider D3 schools and schools that have club swimming programs. Go ahead and give it a go.