D3 Swimming Recruitment

pb2002
Mon, 16 Feb 2009 22:26:41 +0000

hey there,

i enrolled at bowdoin about a decade ago with almost identical times to yours. funny. i didn’t pursue recruitment at any of the schools to which i applied, but did communicate with the coaches at many of them. in my experience, your times may bend an ear at bowdoin, although in my year, while i was a valuable member of the team, i was certainly not the fastest member, and therefore would have unlikely been given preferential treatment in admissions. i remember that my times weren’t sufficiently fast for the ivy league or other D1 schools. friends of mine that were roughly my (your) speed, who enrolled at the likes of dartmouth and brown quickly dropped the sport. it’s just far too competitive at the D1 level and absolutely incompatible with an ivy-level education. the NESCAC schools have the best balance of education and sport in my opinion. but amherst and middlebury are two of the top D3 colleges for swimming in the country. it’s certainly worth reaching out to them, although i’m unsure if you’re fast enough to warrant a bid.

do you suspect you can make it into these colleges independently? even though i was an avid swimmer in high school (it was, by far, my biggest commitment), i didn’t pursue the recruitment process in earnest, in large measure because the contact i did have with coaches indicated their interest in me as a student athlete, but never touched on influencing admissions decisions. i should admit, i was more interested to get in based on my academic merit, and so may have half-heartedly pursued the athletic recruitment avenue. if you think you’ll need to rely upon your athletic ability to help with your admission to these schools, i say you’re most likely to help the teams at swarthmore and maybe even NYU. again, bowdoin, depending on the depth of their team this year, may also be interested. but i think they’re “fielding” a much stronger team than when i swam there.

good luck with the schools and with your swimming! do try your best to enroll at a good D3 program, preferably in the NESCAC. with your times, the competition will be intense, but you’ll also not overwhelm your education.

:)