<p>You can look at all the NCAA teams, and see the times of swimmers in all events. Also, if your son is swimming Nationals, is he interested in swimming Division 1? FYI - the top Division 3 swim schools have D1 level swimmers who simply chose not to go the D1 route. I know there are rules limiting the D3 practice season. However, there must be ways they get around this becasue you can’t maintain such a high level of swimming without swimming year round. </p>
<p>I do know that many college swimmers return to their club teams in the summer.</p>
<p>My understanding from a friend whose child went through the UK (or at least the Oxbridge) process is that first US students have to qualify to take the exam (through AP scores or SAT Subject exam scores) and then after getting a sufficiently high score on the entrance exam can apply to EITHER Cambridge or Oxford (but not both) and particular colleges at either university. Then the colleges decide who to interview. If the interview goes well, the student gets an offer. The process is all very early in the school year, but fairly straightforward, and for US students, grades count for almost nothing; everything’s based on test scores.</p>
<p>Your daughter is absolutely amazing to me! She’s so energetic and motivated. I have no doubt she’ll be successful at the SAT!</p>
<p>We were able to get the detailed score report for the SAT and it’s really helpful. It’s so interesting to see how many you can miss on each section and get a certain score.</p>
<p>My son missed 3 questions and omitted one on math to get 690. Two were the hardest level of algebra and I’m thinking that taking Alg II this summer will naturally help him, so I am hopeful of his score rising when he takes it again.</p>
<p>He missed 6 questions (three of each kind) on the CR but still got a 730. </p>
<p>And he missed 2 questions on the multiple choice writing for a 76.</p>
<p>@VMT. Thank you very much. We are mainly looking at D1s and D3s, and a couple of D2s, but like I said I am worried about the short swim seasons in D3… We shall see…</p>
<p>@IJustDrive. You are absolutely spot on. That is one factor I forgot about. UK students can’t apply to both Oxford and Cambridge. At one time, I thought Internationals could, but I was never really concerned with that side of things so I suppose my thinking was wrong. Re irrelevance of grades, that is so so true. We don’t use GPAs at all! For us, the important factors are GCSEs, A Levels/IB. Even when you get into uni, you just have to pass Yr1 ( England and Wales) or Yrs 1&2 (Scotland) to advance to the last 2 years of your course, and it is only your grades in these last 2 years that count towards your final degree classification.
[want to stop my habit of using smilies in every post, but then there’s always tomorrow:)]</p>
<p>Appolo6 - congrats to your son. I am welsh born and bred, tell him he will need waterproof clothes the jokes about the rain are true, but when the sun does shine it is fantastic. He might also need to learn a little Siarad Cymraeg (Welsh language). It is not necessary but can make for interesting dinner conversation.
My DD was looking at the US but as we have now relocated to Germany she is looking into European unis, which are much cheaper, her German language is good enough now (we have been here nearly 4 years), she is also looking at Holland as there are many English language courses available.
Researchmum - I am glad I am not the only UK mum on here, my DD did IGCSE’s this year and will do the IB.
I am willing to help with any queries about UK, Dutch or German Unis we have done the lot.</p>
<p>Thank you SBJ - the two words that best describe her would be " driven" and " perfectionist." While those traits can certainly be positive, we have to keep them in check so that they do not become unhealthy. So far so good!!</p>
<p>Your son’s scores are outstanding. You should be proud!</p>
<p>IJD and Researchmum, the UK process sounds so much more predictable. It’s even more competitive than here I’m guessing but it would probably suit my D better than this holistic process that seems to favor a more outgoing personality. Researchmum, keep the smilies, they are nice! I can “hear” your accent in your postings and I am really enjoying it.</p>
<p>Welshpixie, Wales sounds like Seattle. I’m sure it’s absolutely beautiful but I’m not sure I could handle the rain. </p>
<p>Twogirls, I also want to say how much I appreciate your daughter’s attitude. Good for her standing up for what’s right.</p>
<p>My D is starting week 2 of her computer coding immersion course. This week they are working on robotics and learning Python. She is really enjoying this; I admit I’m a little bit surprised. I’ve always thought of her as being more humanities oriented but this is appealing to the part of her that loves games and strategy. She also likes the food :)</p>
<p>This discussion about UK schools is timely in a really weird way! My D just said this morning that she would love to go to college in the UK - Oxford or Cambridge of course. I have no idea where that is coming from, but I told her I would look into it. Does anyone have suggestion as to where I would start to research this? I have no idea about costs or anything, so I’m starting at square one. I will go to the Oxbridge website (is it Oxbridge as opposed to Oxford?) and start, but if anyone else has any ideas, I’m open to it. Also open to commentary on pros and cons of this idea.</p>
<p>Very timely haha. For what I know, you would want to go to each university’s website. Most people apply to a particular college, but you can also make an open application where the university assigns you to a college if you are admitted. Some courses require that you take extra tests, and some that you submit essays ( usually that you have written as part of your class work). A very good place to get up to speed ASAP is by going onto the UK version of CC. It is www[.]***********<strong><em>[.]co.uk - just remove the square brackets - CC doesn’t like the use of URLs in posts ( previewed this and it still didn’t work. the 3 words you need are *the</em> student</strong>room - no spaces, no *s).</p>
<p>There is a section for Applicants from the US. Here you will see what SAT scores etc. got people into which courses etc. I don’t know how much overseas fees are. Home fees are £9000 pa, and for older my son, we budget £7500 for accommodation and food/ year - an amount which would be sufficient in most UK unis. Good luck with it, I hope she gets in.</p>
<p>@Welshpixie, hello!!! European unis are most definitely cheaper, aren’t they! Half of my son’s subjects were iGCSEs too - 3 x sciences, maths and 2 x English, and the other 4 were ordinary GCSEs. Good luck for results day in August!!!</p>
<p>@sbj - congrats on such great scores ( our posts crossed earlier, and I am just picking up on your good news:D). You are lucky to get that out of the way so early. I think son will sit ACT in Dec and then again in June if need be, and if June date doesn’t clash with ASs.</p>
<p>@3girls3cats. I agree it is much more straightforward, but I have to admit that I like this holistic idea too, as it allows you to compensate for what might otherwise be fatal weaknesses in an application. My son is rather quiet like your daughter. Whilst he will engage when he needs to, he seems to prefer his own company, and sometimes that of old friends. What is reassuring for me is that time after time, he has proved that his quietness is not due to him being weak, and people who have tried to take advantage of his nature have learnt the hard way, although sometimes I wonder why God didn’t just mix up my 2 boys and give them each half of the pot - my other son always has a smile on his face, and is a bit of a social animal. But then this one is more focused and doesn’t shy away from gruelling work.</p>
<p>The course your daughter is doing sounds intriguing. What an opportunity. It is great that they still have at least 1 more year to try to decide what they want to do. </p>
<p>@VMT, meant to ask - are you also a swimming slave (aka parent)?:):)</p>
<p>@Researchmum: I suspect you’ve heard this already, but if you want a very solid LAC with good swimming, you want to look at Kenyon. It is a top 25 LAC in rural Ohio and only recently had a streak of 27 consecutive Division III swimming national championships snapped. You could compare times posted in their results to your son’s to see whether it would fit his competitive interests, but I suspect it may.</p>
<p>@VMT voila! I am counting the days…another 2 years (June birthday and ours can’t be passed to drive till they are 18). Girls fare better though in the lottery of available swimming money at College, so I hope it goes v well for your daughter. Was looking at the 2013/14 D1 standards yesterday. Wow! S’s hope was to make NCAAs from freshman year in his No. 1. If he goes D1, he will have his work cut out with such tough time standards, which will probably be even faster in 2 years’ time. So many things to consider…</p>
<p>@SOG, thank you for mentioning this as everyone in the know has told me ‘if you will consider D3, you must look at Kenyon’. Son really really likes K, but I am just not sure if the shorter season will do; he thinks there might be a simple way to have his cake and eat it, but what do I know? Time will tell.</p>
<p>@OHM, I wonder if that was last year cos this year, K won</p>
<p>I think you may need to distinguish between the length of the collegiate season and the length of the competitive season. I know running a lot better than swimming, but my sense of the latter is that top American swimmers continue to compete after the NCAA season through our national trials programs. That is certainly the case in track and cross country. It would stun me if a school as competitive as Kenyon does not treat swimming as a year-round sport, regardless of the formal length of the NCAA season, but that’s a conversation to have with a coach there. </p>
<p>If your son really is a national-class swimmer in the UK (i.e., on track to get invited to your Olympic trials), then another option might be to look at Colorado College and see if your national association can arrange some sort of “exchange” program so that he can access the USOC’s facility in Colorado Springs. I’m not sure they would do this, but you could ask.</p>
<p>@VMT, yes you are right. The reason why I said what I said was because re last year’s D3 cuts ( this year’s still awaited, I think), he would have had a B cut, and nearly an A cut in his No. 1 event. Re D2 cuts for this year, he would have had a B cut. This is just looking at SCM times for both Ds. The hope was therefore that strength and growth gains in the next 2 years (fingers crossed that he has no major mishaps etc.), would make him faster and that he would then definitely qualify for the champs were he to attend uni in the US. OK, the D1 standards are purely in yards (which I don’t understand), but whilst when we convert his No.1, he is well in on the B standards above ( as well as in SCM), for these 2013/14 D1 cuts, he has neither an A or a B, which is OK, but whilst I hope he will make improvements, I have learnt never to count my chickens before they hatch. all of this again presupposes that he will want to go to a D1 school.</p>
<p>@SOG. Many thanks. From the research done to date, in D3, I think the collegiate swim season mirrors the competitive season, which for this div ends with the NCAAs in March. I know, it does seem odd, and it saddens me, because if this restriction wasn’t there it would be absolutely fantastic for those who wanted to train through the year as they might be used to. There is even a post about this on the CollegeSwimming D3 messageboards.</p>
<p>Re Colorado Springs, thanks for the heads up. Our Swimming body hates our swimmers training abroad, and so would definitely not be amenable to facilitating anything like that. Unfortunately, and it is most unfortunate, they encourage the top swimmers to forgo a uni education, and encourage them to train full time. Whilst swim results may indicate that these swimmers are at a uni, that is not always the case as the unis have set up swim clubs in their names and these clubs are open, if not to everyone, then to our top swimmers. I suspect this is another reason why you are unlikely to recognise a GB swimmer name at the World Uni champs:(</p>
<p>@suzy100, you are most definitely welcome. I hope it goes really well:)</p>
<p>@Researchmum Yes the cost of european unis is what swayed me, but my D also liked the style of teaching. She is very European and as she pointed out she has only lived in the UK (Wales) for 2 years, so she does not feel British. Also as an EU student she does not have to pay the full price in Scotland, but she cannot stand the thought of the weather there, however a lot of kids from her school did apply.
She has done 12 IGCSE’s all with Cambridge exam board.
She is on her work experience at the moment, she is working in a film studio, and a certain Mr Clooney has been filming there at the same time, didn’t meet him though
but apparently the staff are all “really cool” I think because one guy has a jar of M&Ms on his desk, and 2 others bring their dogs to work.</p>
<p>@Welspixie, I dare not tell my son about your D’s WE. He will just be too envious as he likes George C, even though your D hasn’t met him; you never know. He will be doing his in Aug.</p>
<p>12 iGCSEs! That is v impressive. Good luck. </p>
<p>Re Scottish uni fees, my understanding is that EU students ( except for those in England, Wales and N.I) don’t pay. If you are from GB you pay ( unless of course you are Scottish;)), so your daughter might have been caught had she applied (assuming she is Welsh too).</p>
I can “hear” your accent in your postings and I am really enjoying it.</p>