<p>I am a swimmer and had a good high school season this year. I made All-State and All-Conference in my event. I have received a few letters from colleges that I'm not familiar with. I am working on improving my times as I think they need to be a little faster.</p>
<p>How much will making All-State help me at schools from purely from an admission angle versus recruiting angle? I'm looking at NESCAC, Colgate, Georgetown as possibilities. I'm not sure how these schools recruit swimmers. I looked on their websites and my times are within the recruiting guidelines. Any suggestions?</p>
<p>swimstrong, are you on a club team or just on high school? Also are you a junior or a senior, or younger?</p>
<p>I think that in swimming, it’s not really as important if you made All State or All Conference, or whatever, so much as what times got you there and how consistently you can repeat those performances.</p>
<p>Schools want to win their conference meets, so to check on those schools you’re interested in, go to collegeswimming.com and look at best times in each conference for the events you’re interested in. Also check their conference results from last year to see where your times would put you. You might be fast on their team but not at the conference. </p>
<p>NESCAC schools, Georgetown, and Colgate are all very different in their conferences and divisions, so they will all be different. We had a little experience with NESCAC and Colgate, but none with Georgetown. Colgate’s times are pretty fast, they have a new coach and seem to be off to a good start.</p>
<p>Oh, and don’t forget to contact the coaches directly! That’s the best way to find out if they’re interested and how much their support will help you get into the school.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>What Wilberry said! Great advice.</p>
<p>You may also want to visit the swim team website for each of the schools of interest. They will have a recruit questionnaire that you can complete that is then reviewed by the coaching staff. Typical information requested includes best times, current workout schedule, height & weight, etc. If the coaching staff has an interest, they will contact you. Our son currently swims DIII and I can verify that it’s all about your times and what a particular team needs in terms of events to score at their conference meet.</p>