Coach meetings have been very helpful in terms of assessing how many swimmers a coach has recruited in 2023, and how many he/she intends to recruit for 2024, and indeed if there is a walk-on scenario at that school (eg: none at Tufts, or Claremont).
By July of junior year, the body language of coaches with whom we are in discussion seems to broadly fall into 3 categories
The coach really wants you: the pre-read is either completed or about to, and coaches are confirming good fit, and progressively confirming they want ED, asking how you like the school, and pushing you to commit.
The coach keeps you warm with weak interest: he/she is in full recruiting mode, attending swim meets to seek faster swimmers, and doesn’t confirm your ranking on his recruit list, or politely says his list will be finalized in September. This would include a school where D24 passed her pre-read (confirmed in writing)
The coach doesn’t need you/stops communication/says good luck.
D24 funnel 3 filled up early, there is now a rapid buildup of funnel 2, and hopefully leaving 2-4 US schools in funnel 1… complicated by some musical chairs
We presume this is typical of the Junior Year D3 dynamic in swimming. Any swimming comments appreciated
Wait, I’m confused. You say: “… coaches with whom we are in discussion… fall into 3 categories” and category 1 are coach(es) “… pushing you to commit.” If I’m understanding this, that’s fantastic news and I think this thread can go silent for a while until signing day!! (Oops that’s my D1 slant… not sure what the right term is for D3!)
it probably different in that D1 schools offer scholarships, although we’re full pay.
D24 only has one school in funnel 1 and she prefers McGill for a number of reasons, but things can change with teenagers. Her recruiting journey is very much live.
Oh well that’s still fantastic news that one of those (super selective academic + swim) schools is pushing her to commit. I would think that makes it more likely that there are others that will do the same!!
Baseball and softball are two more sports where the club coaches play a big role in helping their players get recruited. Now, it definitely can depend on the organization, but those “in the know” with these sports know which orgs provide support and guidance through the process. They also typically have a dedicated “recruiting coordinator” who will talk to the college coaches during showcases, provide recruiting flyers to them, and find out who the coaches are there to see (since club coaches are also on top of their players about emailing college coaches). Our club coaches would also always call college coaches before school-specific camps if our players were attending, and would also do follow-up calls after. This is in addition to the players emailing, texting, or calling the coaches themselves.
I was a recruiting coordinator for a high level softball team. It was almost like another full-time job during the fall and summer.
@Thumper1: thanks for your question, but D24 wants to (and we agree) keep all college discussions confidential until the school officially drops off her “live discussion” list. Several are expected to formally drop very soon. A reachy school has 5 spots, 2 confirmed, and it’s head/asst coach are actively recruiting across swimcloud/regional meets… that school is in funnel 2 and will very likely soon move to funnel 3
I believe your three groups is common in all sports at this point in the recruiting process. Discussions with coaches become much more clear and there is much less grey area at this point. Lots of rejection in the recruiting process for many kids, remember it just takes one coach to want your kid to make it all worth it.
Best of luck at the upcoming meets! And hopefully you and your family are enjoying the rest of your summer!!!
D24 visited almost every school that’s talking to her, including all the NESCAC ones. At this juncture, the meets are the only difference she can make in her recruiting journey. 2-3 coaches will effectively decide her recruiting outcome.
I might reconsider how you are framing this “2-3 coaches will effectively decide her outcome”.
Your daughter created/chose the list of schools she reached out to. She did the academic work that makes up her transcript. She is the person swimming and making the times she is reaching.
Your daughter has effectively decided which coaches/schools are considering her for a spot on the team/admission. She’s been in the driver seat for 95% of this journey - she chose the coaches/schools making that final 5% fo the decision.
Was she able to visit the one school in the first category that has strong recruiting interest? I hope you were able to work that in to the trip to see if it would be a fit, and to confirm her interest.
I think the word was that McGill is preferable to that one, but does that mean McGill without swimming (which seems the more likely outcome there)?
@beebee3 Your comment is very correct in that D24’s recruiting journey is very much made of her choices and decisions, which has been a great maturing experience: discovering how swimming mixes up with coach rejection, musical chairs, and the impact other swimmers and coaches will have on her outcome.
July 15th/Aug 1st NESCAC pre-reads fast approaching, will formally confirm her updated list, and hopefully lead her across the recruiting finish line.
She was surprised by the size of the pre-read pool that some coaches alluded to, sometimes reaching 50+ women swimmers, which seems huge. Maybe that illustrates both the number of qualified applicants, how aggressively certain coaches are recruiting, and that there could potentially be a very active period of “commitment” discussions, hopefully opening a suitable opportunity for D24.
In early May on this thread, I quoted a post from a different thread that stated “the Middlebury soccer coach told parents that he has 50 preread spots.“
And on 5/26, I re-posted that quote and stated:
It seems that 20-50 is probably a baseline number for initial pre-reads for most competitive D3 programs across a variety of sports. I don’t know what swimming might be.
It looks like swim programs announce about 4-6 commitments each year usually divided up among the 4 stroke specialities and diving: so, realistically, 1-2 commits max in each stroke.
The key is what the coach is signaling about possible support prior to submitting and after passing a pre-read.
D24 is completely cogniscent and accepting of her likelihood of being recruited with strong coach support. In fact, she’s already more or less ruled out the probability of being recruited by several college where her times do not rank her atop the coaches list, but she remains sternly hopeful this process will come through
Did you say why she dropped these? They are schools that routinely pop up as suggestions for my kid so I am interested on takes and perspectives. Are there schools she cut from her list after her visits?
the cuts were either time cuts lists from the coaches (Chicago, JHU, Dartmouth, Williams), absence of response after emails/zooms (Washington St Louis, Swarthmore, CMU).