I was talking to a friend of mine who went to a private school with a football scholarship and he told me that they had players even in their late 20s and early 30s.I was wondering, how getting a swimming scholarship works as far as age.Obviously you have to be good to ba looked at in the first place, but then what if you are good but "old", like 25 and after.Not that I am looking for one(I couldbn't with my level of swimminf anyways) but I am just really curious ...And then how "bad" a swimmer can you be and still get a scholarship ... again, just curious :-)
As for the second part of your question “how "bad" a swimmer can you be and still get a scholarship” Consider that Division I schools are limited by the NCAA to 9.9 men’s swimming scholarships, Division II schools are limited to 8.1 men’s scholarships and Division III schools are not permitted to offer athletic scholarships. There are 142 division 1 and 50 division 2 colleges that offer swimming scholarships to Men. That's a maximum of 1,810.8 swimming and diving scholarships for men in the NCAA.
Assuming that these are evenly divided amongst the Freshmen to Senior classes, this leaves about 450 scholarships for any incoming class. For most programs partial scholarships are doled out to the top 1 or 2 swimmers in each event. I’d suggest you check the swim times of the schools of interest to you to see where you stack-up. If you are looking at one of the top 20 to 30 major colleges you had better have senior national or Olympic cut times.
As for the second part of your question “how "bad" a swimmer can you be and still get a scholarship” Consider that Division I schools are limited by the NCAA to 9.9 men’s swimming scholarships, Division II schools are limited to 8.1 men’s scholarships and Division III schools are not permitted to offer athletic scholarships. There are 142 division 1 and 50 division 2 colleges that offer swimming scholarships to Men. That's a maximum of 1,810.8 swimming and diving scholarships for men in the NCAA.
Assuming that these are evenly divided amongst the Freshmen to Senior classes, this leaves about 450 scholarships for any incoming class. For most programs partial scholarships are doled out to the top 1 or 2 swimmers in each event. I’d suggest you check the swim times of the schools of interest to you to see where you stack-up. If you are looking at one of the top 20 to 30 major colleges you had better have senior national or Olympic cut times.
