My granddaughter has several colleges interested in her. She is very excited, however, there is a naysayer in the family. Every time my granddaughter brings up the subject in his presence he makes comments like, "Swimming isn't your life," or "It is a waste of time because it won't get you a job." If she says, "What if I want to be a swim coach?" He says, "Sounds like a hobby, not a job."
My question, what doors did swimming for a college/university open for you after graduation?
I know I'm repeating what many others here have said, but swimming in college changed my life. It helped me learn how to balance my time (studying, swimming, working), how to set goals, and how to discipline myself. And I have brought these up in job and fellowship interviews. I now run an adult education program, and these are skills that we work on with our students. But more than anything, I got a great set of friends from the experience. We were absolutely a family to each other during that time, and now, almost 20 years after graduation, I am still close with many of my teammates. I wouldn't change that for the world. One word of warning: some college teams may not have the same close-knit-ness, and one of the reasons my sister stopped swimming was the internal team competition, which she found negative, so doing homework on the personality of the team can be important. Good luck to your granddaughter!
Just to add a quick note: I swam at Carleton College, a D3 school in Minnesota. I wanted to add that, because some D3 programs like this may be good, but less intense than a D1 school.
I know I'm repeating what many others here have said, but swimming in college changed my life. It helped me learn how to balance my time (studying, swimming, working), how to set goals, and how to discipline myself. And I have brought these up in job and fellowship interviews. I now run an adult education program, and these are skills that we work on with our students. But more than anything, I got a great set of friends from the experience. We were absolutely a family to each other during that time, and now, almost 20 years after graduation, I am still close with many of my teammates. I wouldn't change that for the world. One word of warning: some college teams may not have the same close-knit-ness, and one of the reasons my sister stopped swimming was the internal team competition, which she found negative, so doing homework on the personality of the team can be important. Good luck to your granddaughter!
Just to add a quick note: I swam at Carleton College, a D3 school in Minnesota. I wanted to add that, because some D3 programs like this may be good, but less intense than a D1 school.
