For those who know about college swimming recruiting, I’d appreciate some advice/opinions.
I tried getting recruited for Ivy swimming this past fall but didn’t have success. My times are roughly a high 57 for the 100 yard breast, 2:05/2:06 for the 200 yard breast, 51 for the 100 yard fly and 1:54 for the 200 yard fly (though this was swum 20 minutes after my 200 yd breast at a recent meet, so I think it’s probably more ~1:51-1:52). Apart from some email correspondence with the Dartmouth coach, I couldn’t get any Ivy interest. I wasn’t able to get a response from the MIT coach either (despite my times being fast enough for the A final in their conference championship), though I fortunately am in the position to be recruited for a couple NESCACs.
I have a friend who competed at Nationals this past summer and swam converted times of 57 for the 100 yard breast and high 2:02/low 2:03 for the 200 yard breast (he did medal in this event, but IMO it’s not a blazing fast time). He told me he was in contact with the Columbia and Harvard coaches and is on a Harvard recruiting trip right now.
I’m just curious-- I thought that for HYP you needed at the bare minimum 3-4 Summer junior nats cuts (for H/P even AT&T cuts) and for the slower Ivies a range of Winter-Junior cuts would be enough. Am I missing something here? Obviously I wasn’t expecting to be a top recruit at H but I’m just surprised that my friend could be invited to H’s recruit trip with slightly faster times and I can’t even get a peep from top D3 programs like MIT, let alone an Ivy.
As I’m reflecting back on my recruiting process, I’d appreciate any input / past similar experiences. Thanks in advance.
NESCAC’s may be a better fit if you are looking for a more balanced life - many D1 caliber swimmers, and runners, pick D3 instead. Another great D3 swimming program is Kenyon.
He’s asking why the Ivys haven’t been recruiting him. You have to be persistent. Send emails then follow up emails to coaches (cc assistant coaches, as they are often charged with correspondence) especially if you drop time.
As mentioned above send another email to the coaches but especially the assistant coach
You can also just call the coach and introduce yourself
Also just go there and do an unofficial visit
Go to the pool and introduce yourself to the coach
As far as your friend goes, he could have a connection somehow to one of the coaches or sometimes it literally is just luck and timing
My two boys both swim/swam in the NESCAC and really was a perfect fit for them both athletically and academically
Good luck
MIT is not based on swimming times, more on academics. D got an email on March 13th (before admission notification of pie day) that the coach welcomed her to the team. But of course she is not recruited athlete.
Also the Ivies are getting faster though…in case you haven’t noticed. In our city, Pittsburgh, the top swimmers have gone to Yale, Princeton lately.
Yes, but the mit coach still recruits and meets with reecruitd, and he was wondering why he didn’t even get a response to emails despite having times and test scores that matched students at MIT.
In most cases they don’t have enough support to enable them to keep circling back and updating prospect lists as athletes improve their times, so you need to get the information in front of them and be persistent! They also sometimes anchor themselves to recruiting times that aren’t achievable for a full recruiting class, so there is the possibility for late season additions unless they just go with what they have - which does happen as well.
I don’t know anything at all about swimming recruiting, but in general I believe it is unfair to say you did something “wrong”. As much as we all wish it were different, recruiting is about much more than straight objective stats. I have seen guys I believed to be flat out studs get only low level or no offers, and other kids go to premiere programs that left me scratching my head. It is almost impossible for those of us on the outside to see what a coach sees in a prospective recruit, know what his or her philosophy is, what is already on the roster or what the Coach’s priorities are in any given cycle.
So by all means, take some of the advice given here. Update your target schools on your new stats, especially if you are making significant gains, and keep an open mi d. But try not to beat yourself up about it. Good luck!
I agree with all of the above, though I also don’t know that you did anything “wrong”. Swim is a sport where unless you are one of the super elite, you really have to sell yourself. Here’s the nuts and bolts as I see it Your times in breast look good enough, but you don’t know who they are already targeting ie: do they have a need for just breaststrokers or are they looking for someone with a lot of diversity - sprint/IM, as well - or even distance - what is their real need, and how do you fit into that picture? How big is their current senior class - are they losing a significant number or no? If all the breaststrokers are sophomores at your target school, coach may have little need in that area, but if there are several seniors, then there might be a need. All these things and more likely come into play in a coaches’ eye. There are so many things going into recruiting that sometimes it’s just hard to predict. And, nothing wrong with NESCAC…some solid swim schools (and top academics!) there, so you certainly can’t go wrong either way! Best of luck to you!
D is being recruited by D3 schools, actually trying to make the decision which school to apply ED1 to soon. Anyway, from our limited D3 experience sometimes you need to pick up the phone and call. The coaches get lots of emails and yours can be lost in the shuffle. D has also called and emailed coaches when we are in the area to ask them if they have time to meet. One school who never replied to her emails, did respond to her call and sat down to meet with her. She is now being recruited by that coach. Good luck.
Agree with the advice above. Only caveat, if you plan to be on campus, call or email the coach a day or two before and ask ahead of time if you can meet.
I am going to agree with others who don’t think you did anything wrong. It sounds to me like you did a lot right; the recruiting process is just wonky sometimes. Every swimmer I know has been rebuffed by at least one (and usually more than one) school that went on to sign a slower breastroker/flyer/IM’er–whatever. My daughter targeted mid-major D1s and was offered an OV by a program after several calls and an unofficial visit. The coach said she would follow up immediately with an email giving her dates, and that email never showed up. My daughter politely pinged her a couple of times and got crickets. A couple of weeks later, they signed a slower fly’er.
The only think I would suggest is casting a wide net if you want to swim. Best of luck!
@planit, seem to hear that scenario a lot - think D3 coaches of timed sports (swimming and XC/Track) get caught in the roulette wheel just like student athletes do…
You have to be relentless. There are thousands of emails every week sent to these coaches. Emails need to go to coaches, position coach, assistant coaches. We even have sent to secretaries and strength coaches. Relentless. I think it also shows commitment on the recruits end.
We emailed weekly highlights and even after season we continued with weekly, every Sunday early and we would get many real-time responses.
Just sending in a few emails won’t get noticed unless you are a 4+ star recruit.
Also as you know, MIT, even with support is at best 20% odds. High stat 1550+ SAT: 35+ ACT rejected by the thousands. It’s MIT.
Thanks everyone for the comments, I’ll try emailing & calling over the next couple of days. My only worry is that it’s very late in the recruiting process, but hey you never know…
You can ask the coaches what times they are looking for. Most will tell you if they need a breaststroker in the near future or not. You can also tell by looking at their meet results (collegeswimming.com is good) to see how you (unshaved, not tapered, not suited) fit in a regular season meet. Make sure not to compare your champ times with their dual meet times. Persistence, as many others have noted, also tends to be rewarded with attention. A coach should be able to tell you if s/he can use a slot on you or if you have to get in with your brain and then are welcome to swim; very different scenarios. Some NESCACs are building programs right now (Hamilton) others are probably all set (Williams). Also, Harvard had 3 guys under 56 at finals last year and only one was a Senior.
(http://www.meetresults.com/2017/ivies/live/170222F012.htm). MIT had 3 guys 57 or under at NEWMACS (2 freshmen and a junior) and the top 2 were not nec shaved/tapered totally since they already had B cuts prior to that meet.
@CCThunderfin, as many have pointed out, the process is not a quantitative as one would expect - even for timed sports.
FWIW - my DD is a Freshman XC/Track student-athlete at a NESCAC school, and as of mid-season is seeing her times and results in “head to head races” faster than Freshman at several of the schools where coaches showed limited interest in her; there wasn’t much rhyme or reason as one coach at a Top-10 D3 school wanted her all the way through RD, but a coach at another Top-10 D3 didn’t ever ring the bell during ED - both NESCAC schools and both schools where she was an A Band.
Actually ended up getting in contact with the MIT asst coach, though am unfortunately 1-2 secs off to have my name on the list (which surprisingly has a 50% acceptance rate into MIT!). Oh well…