Swimming Recruiting for Int’l Jr. Targeting Highly Selective Colleges

Athletic Recruits
947

You have made many assumptions in this thread about why one recruit is offered a spot over your daughter including legacy status, financial contributions, sibling connections, club connections, celebrity status (comparing to Bronny James), and more

Remember a potential student athlete moves forward throughout the recruiting process because the coach sees value in what that athlete can bring to their team and that they can help the team win.

But I agree that it is nice that coaches are honest and up front, and we found the later in the recruiting timeline the more direct the coaches were with saying - we are no longer considering you or there is not a spot for you.

The next 2 months will be stressful and exciting - best of luck

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948

Are you sure about the rank of her times compared to their current roster?

I think your D24’s best relative event is the 100M Free? Based on previous comments about her LCM and SCM PBs, converted to SCY via the SwimSwam Real-Time Converter, those are something like 53.57-53.76 100Y

At the February 2023 NESCAC championship, the top two Middlebury swimmers in the 100Y Free were a junior at 53.41 (though that swimmer hit 53.13 in the prelims) and a frosh at 53.65 (53.42 in the prelims). Those were only good for 16th and 22nd in the meet though.

Midd’s 400 yard freestyle relay splits were 53.54, 52.29, 53.38, and 53.48 for 9th place in the meet (What’s the conversion time for relay starts vs flat starts because of reaction time? I think I’ve read about 0.3 seconds or so).

And Midd could very well have 2023 commits or 2024 recruits in the pipeline who are slightly faster in the 100Y. It wouldn’t have to be an “exceptional” recruiting season at all (or legacy candidates).

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949

Curious to hear back, but my impression is that OP is using Swimcloud conversions which are overly generous IMO.

At some point earlier in the conversation OP only had a couple of sectional cuts and no future cuts (when many coaches at this level are really hoping to get some JNat qualifiers).

@Nivo what is your US meet line up?

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950

From a post in April: “Regarding SCY, we’re using the “official” swimswam conversion tool, and most times are FINA certified.”

SwimSwam has two converters: “Classic Converter” and “Swimulator Real-Time Converter”. My guess is that the OP is using the former, while coaches would be conservative and use the latter. This could explain discrepancies between perceived and actual recruitability for this athlete.

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951

sectionals & futures

952

It sounds like she had some time improvements then, which is great. Or are you hoping she will qualify for futures at sectionals?

953

summer events were filed & registered by US coach. she’ll be training with swimmers from her swim school list

954

Agree, and IMO this shows that there is still a lack of understanding of NESCAC, and perhaps D3 in general, sports recruiting. It could also be getting caught up and focused on athletic recruiting at the D3 level, which happens to us parents.
Remind me again, how many slots does a NESCAC coach typically have for swimming?

955

I still am stuck on the inability to identify academically elite schools with slower swim teams.

With all the schools the OP has identified that are too fast, there must be programs in those leagues/divisions that lose to these fast teams? These slower teams should be part of the widening net the OP needs to cast.

For example, for students focused on the Ivy League in almost all varsity sports, Brown is the destination most of the less-accomplished athletes (but great students) target. I am sure the other leagues/conferences have schools with similar characteristics.

I continue to feel the Canadian schools represent the OP’s best chances, however, it has not been disclosed if there have been any positive discussions with the coaches of those programs.

Ironically, I feel the second best chance for the OP is Stanford. While it is true this is currently the hardest school to get into on the planet, their hook is double legacy, so that is one more hook than the OP currently has at other schools. For the rest of the swim/non-swim list, without a recruiting offer, the OP’s daughter is unhooked.

The OP has mentioned their URM/ORM status. If it is possible play the URM card while downplaying the ORM card that could be another hook.

Stanford being #2 is representative of my feelings of the possibility of unhooked miracles for international candidates for the other schools on the OPs list.

It is worth noting, as an international family, the OP may not realize some of the nuances that underlie admissions data that the domestic elite schools publish. A published general admit rate of X%, generally includes athletes and legacies. If you adjust those numbers to take those hooks into account, the unhooked admit rate is substantially lower than X%

The reason I mention this is the athletic admissions hook is a huge advantage. I urge the OP to find a school that thinks his daughter is fast.

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956

Plenty of students forgo their sport in favor of school choice. That’s the path they have chosen. As long as they are ok with it there is no issue.

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957

But this 900+ post thread is about swimming recruiting…

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958

Haha. Yes, there is that. But OP said they are not interested in expanding the list. It is what it is.

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959

Yes, but it is still a bit all over the place as far as types of schools. I understand that Stanford is a reach even with double legacy, and would be no-swimming, though if they have a shot at Stanford, I would think that there would be other fine schools where they are likely to be admitted without coach support. IMO, I would focus on those schools for the best fit, and open conversations with coaches about going out for the team if they are admitted.

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960

I know the world is test optional, but I think OP needs better scores to be competitive. I am also unsure of how only swim related ECs play out.

Having said that, I’d also go for fit with walk on possibility vs compromising (what that means is up to them) too much for the sure thing.

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961

So she has achieved the qualifying times for these meets?

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962

However, OP’s D has incrementally expanded her list this past month which, I think, reflects a desire to swim in college.

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965

A thread that is almost 1000 posts long is not the place to start off-topic conversations when you’re not the OP.

966

My son just completed his Freshman year as a D3 swimmer. Here’s what we learned:

All programs are getting faster. As costs increase, programs are shrinking which is forcing talent down the food chain. Just because you are in the range of top swimmers currently at a school does not mean you will be recruited with those same times.

Go to a school where you are wanted! Coaches are invested in recruits who help the team, and athletes will have a better experience if the coach wants you.

Take a look at the “Colleges that Change Lives” page https://ctcl.org/ and look around. Many of these schools have great academics and solid athletics. My son attends one of these, and he is a high academic student, middle of the pack athlete and had the BEST experience.

It’s hard for high academic kids with solid but not super athetics to find their place. Something has to give. My son found a school with solid academics and an improving swim program and is very happy with his choice.

Note: his original swim list included CWRU, WUSTL, Colby, Bates, Denison, RIT. He didn’t end up at any of these.

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