That’s why it’s super important your athlete is in regular contact with coaches and has a legitimate feel for where she is in their recruiting pool. Using the NESCAC as an example, if your daughter has an offer(s) from other schools in Spring of junior year, but is hoping for NESCAC(s) offers July 1st or thereafter, she needs to have an honest conversation with the NESCAC coaches recruiting her and tell her the offers she currently has, ask where she is on their list, confirm they’ll be doing pre-read (hopefully she’s aware of that by then), if they think she’ll pass pre-read (assuming they’ve seen her transcript, grades, schedule, etc., which by that point they should have), and if she passes pre-read, do they anticipate offering her a roster spot. If a NESCAC coach really wants her, they will be upfront and honest (there is no guarantee, but your daughter will have a pretty good idea). If they’re vague/not that responsive, hedging, etc. than she shouldn’t put her eggs all in that basket…
All good advice! Building good relationships with coaches is key.
You can only plan so much though, because one month a potential recruit might not be at the top of the list, but then all the athletes that were higher on the list commit elsewhere. Things can be quite dynamic well into the summer, sometime in to the Fall.
Yep, I’ve been telling her that the next 18 months will be very fluid and she will need to learn to adapt. Valuable life skill.
Great advice from all. My swimmer was a SCIAC recruit that had conversations/unofficial visits with many top D3 schools including NESCAC and UAA schools, and advice given here is relevant and true. Mine applied ED1, was told he was a top recruit with full coach support, accepted to top choice school. Thankful it all worked out, as the process was so stressful.
Definitely take the SAT/ACT until you get the desired score, look at the common data sets for the schools you are interested in and focus on their important data points for acceptance. Don’t rely on just coach support, be a strong candidate for the school without your sport, so that the coach support is icing on the cake. And definitely be open to applying ED, it’s what they want and expect.
The summer has flown by and my kiddo is ready to tackle the recruitment stuff with earnest. She’s narrowed down her list to the following schools and has done all the questionnaires and emailed the coaches listed on the schools’ athletic websites. ACT and SATs scheduled for the coming months.
Claremont Mudd Scripps
NYU
University of Chicago
Emory
Tufts
WashU
Pomona
Johns Hopkins
Amherst
Williams
Boston University
Carngie Mellon
Case Western Reserve
Swarthmore
UCSD
Let the waiting game begin!
Good luck! Don’t forget to regularly verify the list of coaches and cc any assistants. Send regular (~monthly) short updates. Don’t overlook the value of academic updates! Some coaches communicate irregularly - just keep those updates going.
Try to visit schools on your own if you can but email the coach to coordinate a meeting. Focus on school fit above all else. And put some attention on a good test score if you don’t have one. At JHU that means 1520+ for support. Having that under the belt may help move the conversation along.
Also - she may get invited to some Jr days. We got a lot out of them. Not quite an official visit but much better than a regular tour.
If she is reasonably competitive for the top D3 schools (swimming wise) she might want to throw Georgetown in the mix.
My D was HS class of 2021, so her recruiting journey may be a little dated by now. However, I can tell you from the two years that she’s been to D3 Nationals that times even in D3 are really, really fast. She was recruited by two top D3 swimming schools (both in Ohio 
), and the expectation at that time for recruiting was at least one Futures cut, not just Sectional times. I would be surpised if your D was ‘recruitable’ (i.e. coach support for an ED slot) at at least the top NESCAC schools, Hopkins, BU, Wash U, CMS/Pomona etc without Futures cuts, esp if she’s an IMer and thus not useful in relays. (That doesn’t mean that she couldn’t walk on with Sectionals cuts if she got into one of those schools, but that’s a different discussion).
In any case, you’re doing the right thing by starting now. And we found that most coaches were very transparent about what combo of grades+testscores+swimtimes made her ‘recruitable’, so you’ll learn a ton in the next several months (and yes, get her testing done early.) And good luck and hang on for the ride. It’s not for the faint of heart.
She has since managed to get one Futures cut since I made the initial post as well as an additional sectional cut. Within tenths of a second Futures cut.
She knows that Futures cuts may not be enough. She knows she needs to be shooting for NCAA D3 B cuts.
@UpNorth2019 is right, but to a certain extent, it is what it is. Work hard and don’t get in her own head and don’t prioritize swim over school. The greatest challenge with managing the high level meets as S24 got faster. He missed 15% of school days for big travel meets.
I think realistically she has until the end of next summer to drop times and still get interest. If the faster schools are getting back to her now it means they are keeping an eye on her.
Second Futures cut obtained, within a fingernail of a third, super close to a couple of D3 NCAA B cuts!
Also, the summer research project she’s been assisting with was just published, she gets her first journal citation.
Working diligently on test prep and keeping grades up.
She’ll be working on update emails to all the schools she’s interested in over Thanksgiving break.
Fun times!
D26 has hit a wall with test prep. I think she’s made peace with her scores being what they are and looking more heavily at test optional schools…
On the plus side, her first semester junior grades were great, which I was concerned about earlier in the fall with 4 APs and 1 honors class.
Swimming is going okay. Close to her best times, faster than she was this time last year. Hoping for a good taper next month!
Updated all the programs she’s talking to with her grades and test scores to date, will see if there is continued interest.
My daughter is also a 2026 swimmer and has a few unofficial visits with coaches set up for the summer. What typically happens during those visits? Are parents usually included?
In most cases for us there was nothing much for the parents. In a couple of occasions there was a parent sit down with the coach. Typically, we just dropped him off and that was it.
At unofficial visits, we just dropped D26 off and had her meet with the coach on her own. She was able to meet a couple of team members on one of the trips when school was in session, not on the ones we did over the summer.
I just signed myself up for an admissions tour and saw the school on my own while she was doing her thing.
Thanks for the info! Any tips or tricks for helping them prepare for the meetings :)?
Have her dress appropriately. Something “nice casual” or “business casual”. No athletic wear. She’ll probably be doing a walking tour with the coach(es) so comfortable shoes, maybe some nice sandals.
She did her research on the schools in advance, came prepared with questions about the program, training, meet schedule, school-swim balance. Asked about the team culture, coaching style.
Adding that it is appropriate to ask what the coach’s decision making process is and the timeline. She should focus on listening to what the coach says, what’s important to the coach. When the opportunity for questions arises, don’t ask them rapid fire.
Many coaches will ask if she will be applying for financial aid…if she is, tell them what price you need to make it work. Run the school’s NPC before the visits.
Some coaches or team members may ask where else she is looking and/or where their school is relative to her list and/or if she has other offers, so she should be ready to cover that.
A year later, and this is where she is. She will be doing as you suggested and reaching out to the schools she’s waiting on and having candid conversations about where she falls in their recruiting pool.
@Crosbylane provided spot on advice. We were in this exact situation (different sport). Some schools were obviously trying to front run the NESCACs but ‘it is what it is’. Also, as part of the conversation let the coaches know where they fall in your D’s recruiting pool. My D had NESCAC tell her flat out that they would not pre-read anyone else at her position if she would commit to them as her top school. Nothing is binding of course but both sides are usually trying to signal where they are.