You might want to consider Hopkins and Emory as well.
Based on some discussions with the parents of my children’s teammates, the academic standards for Ivy recruits appear to be lower than for NESCAC schools. According to these parents, the minimum ACT score for a recruit was about 3 points higher at NESCAC schools. Assuming that parents of children with modest academic credentials don’t understate their child’s ACT and SAT scores when speaking with other parents, there were swimmers who were admitted to Ivy League schools with surprisingly weak grades and test scores.
For a strong student, like m4tt0201, the NESCAC schools which “may” have more strict academic requirements than the IVYs and definitely have less stringent time standards for recruited swimmers are a better option at this time. If he gets faster, some of the IVY teams might be good options as well.
One problem that some teams have is a lack of pool space to accommodate all of the swimmers who are able to finish practices and might be able to contribute points in dual meets. Teams that have 50 meter pools and separate men’s and women’s practices have more room for walk-ons than schools with more modest facilities. So schools like Princeton and Harvard, which have faster teams than Penn, might welcome an athlete that Penn wouldn’t.