"FWIW she has top grades and scores from an “inner city” school and I think feels something of a chip on her shoulder to go to a ‘high-prestige’ school because so many seem to presume she’s “dumb” being from her school. "
Lots of the D3s listed upthread ARE high prestige schools. This chip on her / your shoulder is doing neither of you any good, per your other thread.
Check out Case Western Reserve University and Carnegie Mellon…in big cities, but have many more majors than the engineering they may be known for.
You are looking at Club Swimming as a sport, and it is really a club, no different than an acting club, a hiking club, and art club. Clubs are not run through the athletic departments but through student activities or student government. Sometimes these clubs have to deal with another department, like the theater club may need to use the stage for a production or the swim club may have to schedule the pool around the varsity swim team, but usually they have no contact at all. My daughter played club hockey last year, and this year they didn’t have a team because no one organized it.
NCAA sports are not ‘non-cut’ like many high school teams. they aren’t going to line everyone up and make the cut at a certain point and put everyone on a jv team. It isn’t the coach’s problem if your child doesn’t have a club to swim with. Some kids on the varsity team may get cut.
Universities use clubs during the tours and in the brochures, but there is no guarantee that the club is going to be there when the freshman enrolls. Probably will be, but no guarantee. If your daughter wants a guarantee, she should become an NCAA athlete. If she’s looking only at urban schools, it’s likely there will be a masters swim club/team in the city, maybe even at the University. I know that a private club practices at Denver University. Has for years and anyone can join. The only thing the DU coaches probably know about the club is that it exists, and maybe when the club practices.
Takeitallin, Mom23, HangN, Bopper, 2in+1 – thank you. We’re beginning to get something of a handle on it but as someone was explaingin - 2in1, HangN - it’s a different setup. I guess I was envisioning HS team sports and I guess I can sort of see that varsity sports and NCAA is just a parallel universe. I found this offensive at first; I guess I still do, but aside from ideology, there’s really a different paradigm going on so it really requires rearranging ones expectations and search - as several of the rest of you pointed out in steering toward club and not NCAA/varsity.
When kid’s spent more than half their life competing or training to compete, it’s awfully hard to yank a new world order into place. I didn’t quite understand that it’s a qualitatively different scene.
Just to follow up, it turns out she was accepted at a D3 good school. But as well there’s this calculus of time and interests; perhaps it would be too much or just not what’s wanted for the future after all … we’ll see, she has choices to make. But you’re helping me to help her see it’s into a different world she’ll be having to fit those choices.
Pizzagirl - your tone is very crushing. Why do you bother? I would block your cruel words from sight if I could. This would be, as you note, per your other thread primarily but it’s very special of you to share at large.
sirila, congratulations to your daughter and her family. Roughly 1 in 30 high school swimmers end up competing for D1 teams. The most selective colleges admit almost 6% of applicants, so not being part of the less than 4% who compete D1 shouldn’t make one feel left out. Some athletes who have the skill for D1 decide that D3 is a better fit.
@twoinanddone : Are you describing club teams or intramurals? Most of the club teams my kids explored (and the one my nephew played on) were much more formal than what you are describing and more like what @momto3grls described in post 18. It probably varies from school to school but I definitely think it’s worth checking out the specific club experience at the actual school.
Some schools have a very strong club system. My niece played on a strong club team, went to regional tournaments and playoffs, had a paid coach. My daughter, however, played club hockey and the school sponsored it (it was the cheapest I’ve ever paid for hockey as the school subsidized ice time, refs, and travel), but this year there was no one to organize it and they just didn’t have a team. The men still did, and a very strong one, but not the women. She did not even know about the club team when she picked this school and was thrilled it existed.
I know our flagship has a much stronger women’s club hockey team that travels farther for better competition. If playing club is a important, that is a better choice.
The club teams are not part of the athletic department at D’s, but have a coordinator who is in the recreation center. It’s a big organization with 20 or so club sports at a D1 school. I don’t think the athletic department gives them anything, not even practice facilities. Two separate groups, not even in the same area of campus. IMO club sports are not guaranteed to be offered or continued at any school.
Probably not…but the same can be said for varsity teams. We have a friend who was recruited for a varsity ski team, and then told the team had been cancelled a month after he sent in his deposit. I’d expect longstanding clubs, with paid coaches and good resources to be relatively stable–all good stuff to consider though.
If an NCAA sport is cancelled at a school (and it does happen) the athletes get a release and can immediately sign and participate at another school or often the school will continue the scholarships. It happened to a friend in MAY two years ago. He was senior, all set to go to Dominican and they cancelled the men’s lax program. He found another school and was able to go there and play immediately. All the currently players were released but I think some stayed and play club now. This guy didn’t wan to play club, he wanted to play on a D2 team. His parents wanted a small catholic school. They thought they’d found a good match and just 3 months before he was to start, it all fell apart.
It happens the other way too. Schools that had a strong club team decided to have a varsity team in that sport, and all the club players aren’t asked to move up or don’t want to play varsity. The school might not have enough interest and resources to also have a club team once they have a varsity team.