What I think happened. Daughter did pass the pre read. Coach goes back to AO to check about supported spots. Maybe AO’s office dropped the number this year or put a firm limit.
As Bowdoin has two overnight groups of girls coming in the next few weeks, the coach most likely isn’t giving one of the golden ticket supported slots to OP’s daughter.
So technically, you can pass the preread, coach has interest but since he is limited by AO in the number of supported spots, he says AO pulled/reneged. It’s a war of words at this point, but it seems she isn’t a top recruit, and as a dozen or so girls are coming in September for OV’s, the coach can’t give OP’s daughter a slot at this moment. Now, maybe if 75% of the OV girls go elsewhere, maybe a spot could open up in October.
Stop posting if you think it is affecting your daughter. I think you’ve come a long way in understanding recruiting at LACs and received some good info from other swim parents and LAC parents.
This is the scary time when you just aren’t sure what will happen. It’s going to be a bumpy few weeks. She can do it.
Agree and I think it also brings up a question with the two remaining “ongoing discussions” schools. Is OP’s daughter on the OV (or equivalent for international swimmers) invite list there? If not, then it’s possible that this recruiting journey is essentially wrapped up with the 2 offers at hand.
NiVo - don’t stop posting. I’ve learned from, and am interested in all the posts here.
every year on CC there’s a long-running post on here that captures my attention.
Awhile ago it was a bright set of quadruplets who were trying to figure things out. (they made national news!)
Then there was the kid who was low income, smart, got turned down from all schools, reapplied with help from wise-ones here, and had good results.
And then there was Kevin from Orange County - who had a smart hockey-playing hispanic daughter but couldn’t quite pay the costs at high end schools because of circumstances. She ended up with with an ivy admission, and took a full ride honors situation at a state school.
ultimately, we are all cheering on these kids and wish them the best - we want to know how it all goes down. So while people may not understand your strategies, I know we want the best for your daughter, and like hearing updates.
I first thought Bowdoin was one of the 3 “offers” but now that I re read I think Bowdoin was not in that group. But one has been declined so I guess its down to the 2.
IMO everyone should stop posting names of schools. OP does not need to name the schools who have or have not offered their D a slot, nor does OP owe us which school the D ultimately attends. In fact I would tell OP that if their D is recruited to specifically not identify the school because their D will lose her anonymity.
I think you are wise and absolutely correct. If we are offering our best advice to the OP, at this late stage, the family really should keep things close to the vest. Too easy to be identified, and I don’t think this thread would look great to a coach or teammates.
As much as we may want to know the details, the schools, the outcome - maybe when the OP’s family has some definitive news, they can DM people on this thread if interested. Some of us were offering advice, but some were also here to learn. But I would hate to see a negative outcome due to this thread.
(We have had, and will have, recruitment journeys ourselves and I would never post 95% of what has been put into the public domain here).
Maybe NiVo will mark out the name of the latest school and I have xx’ed it out in my comment but I mentioned it specifically because it has relevance to D24s overall college list and whether it should be considered among the 10 schools she can apply to if there is no ED recruitment option.
Regardless of the school, if the athlete didn’t get the go ahead from the AO it might be a waste of an application considering the imposed limit on apps.
I do think however, that from the original list, they have a few schools where she has a good chance as a NARP if applying ED. If the coach has a walk on spot, I’d consider taking that shot.
Bringing the conversation more broadly to the topic of an International Swimmer looking to get recruited, SwimCloud just put out a great article laying out how college swimming works.
I think having this information available would have been super helpful to @Nivo and their daughter at the start of their journey. Those of you who have stuck with this thread and given great recruiting advice but are not particularly familiar with swimming may find it informative as well. Honestly, even those who have experience with swimming, but only at the club level where it’s truly an individual sport, might learn something new.
First and foremost, it means you should do your homework to see where you (or your child fits best.
Here’s a good way to start. Take your best event.
Does it crack the top 2-4 spots on a team’s depth chart?
Does it score in the top sixteen at the team’s conference meet?
If the answer is yes, then you can feel good knowing that you can help that team out. If not, it doesn’t mean you can’t make the team, but those are times a coach will be looking for, so you might consider broadening your search to add more schools to your list.
Now, do the same with your next two or three events. Do they meet that same standard (ie team’s top 2-3 and conference top 16)? If so, then you’re a candidate for that team and you’ll demonstrate the versatility that coaches are looking for in their athletes.
If this sounds like a lot of work, you’re right, but if you take the time to do your research teams with a potential fit, you’re far more likely to garner interest from coaches.
That is the obvious point, but I think it’s important to understand the structure of the meets and how scoring works. This is very different from club swimming and illustrates why a coach might not bite even if the times are right. Coming up with any given dual meet roster can be a bit of a game of chess.
it reminded me just a very little bit of the summer (rec) swim leagues our kids did. Coaches wanted to win, and maximized the possibilities for winning based on a few different situations. You never quite knew what your kid would swim, it was not always their best stroke, because kids could only do two events & two relays. And they also gave relays more points than individual events!
(we cherished those days. although a small neighborhood pool, one of the coaches started there with summer swimming and went on to D1 swimming!)