Greetings all! Yes, I found the other swim parenting thread, but it's two years old, so thought I'd start a different one.
Our daughter is currently a junior with decent swim times. We've started getting letters from D3 schools interested in her swimming for them. Thus, questions abound.
a) Is there such a thing as D2 schools? Our DD has great times (as a junior!) to place and in some instances win D3 meets right now, but she is nowhere near D1 times. Where is D2?
b) So far, the two states we want her to look at (Texas and Virginia) have many D3 schools, but only one total (in VA) state school. If you have a child going to a D3 private school, how much financial aid (percentage of total cost is fine) did you get from the school? (Yes, I know that D3 schools don't give athletic scholarships, but I'm learning, at least for other sports, they will find money to get your kid there.)
c) Does the financial support come with a guarantee to 4 years of support? What if my child gets injured?
d) Is there such a thing as financial support for College Club swimming? (I only just learned of CCS in another thread.)
e) Anything I'm not thinking of with respect to a child competing in a varsity sport in college? Holidays ruined? Required living arrangements? Practices taking precedence over studies? I don't even know where to begin.
I thank you all in advance. This'll be our first of four we're self-supporting. (Previous one used my GI Bill and the other two both joined the military.) Our current college kid knew exactly where he wanted to go and (thankfully) got accepted there. Our daughter isn't sure where she wants to go or exactly what she wants to study. (We've recommended a gap year and she is not for that at all!)
Cheers all and stay healthy!
Mike,
Thanks for the added info. No disagreement with the weather in Boston. In Virginia, Washington and Lee (D-3) is an outstanding school for academics and swimming. And, at one point 10 or so years ago, the swim team was prohibited from morning practices so the kids could stay focused on academics. They still were placing Top 10 at Nationals. Also, William and Mary has good women's swimming. You can do a google search "Virginia schools with D-III womens swimming" which brings up alot of info.
And, if your daughter really likes Texas A&M, talk to the coach. Some teams allow and encourage walk-ons. The lousy part of that is whether or not she would be on the Conference team at the end of the season. As a competitive athlete, I would hate to train with the team only to be left home for the best part of the season.
A good D-2 school down in the southern region is Delta State (in Mississippi). It is a bit of a hike from where you are looking though. Just know they are pretty good D-2 swimming school.
Good luck - sounds like you are on the right track and just need to talk with alot of coaches.
Mike,
Thanks for the added info. No disagreement with the weather in Boston. In Virginia, Washington and Lee (D-3) is an outstanding school for academics and swimming. And, at one point 10 or so years ago, the swim team was prohibited from morning practices so the kids could stay focused on academics. They still were placing Top 10 at Nationals. Also, William and Mary has good women's swimming. You can do a google search "Virginia schools with D-III womens swimming" which brings up alot of info.
And, if your daughter really likes Texas A&M, talk to the coach. Some teams allow and encourage walk-ons. The lousy part of that is whether or not she would be on the Conference team at the end of the season. As a competitive athlete, I would hate to train with the team only to be left home for the best part of the season.
A good D-2 school down in the southern region is Delta State (in Mississippi). It is a bit of a hike from where you are looking though. Just know they are pretty good D-2 swimming school.
Good luck - sounds like you are on the right track and just need to talk with alot of coaches.
