Anyone Swim in College?

I've always said what you get out of your college experience is what you put into it. I swam D1 on a scholarship for about a year and a half. I trained with people on olympic and national teams, met LOTS of people, traveled around the country and had a great time. However, I had severe knee problems so I had to "retire" right before our winter training trip my soph. year. I stayed active with the team and lived with swimmers and divers all 4 years I was there. Even when I retired, I was still in the top school in the state and in the top 10 in the country for my major. I had a wonderful experience. Being on a team gives you an automatic pool of friends which is nice (no pun intended), especially in a big school. It makes it feel that much smaller. You also will usually have people that share your major to help you out, or at least someone in a similar major. If I had a chance to do it over (and I had great knees) I would have done it all 4 years. I don't think twice about it. If you child wants to swim, don't deter them. Just make sure they are picking the school for the ACADEMICS, not athletics. If they both happen to be good, then all the better. They have to look in the long run - what is going to sustain them through adulthood? I seriously doubt they will make a living with their swimming career. If they do it for a year or two and retire, so what? They still had a great experience and learned a lot. Plus, it saved you some money. No complaints there.

Amen, Geek. Tulane University, New Orleans. Three majors over 5 years. Depravity to the max:drink::drink::drink::drink::drink:then begin again:D Who knows what they want to major in as a junior or senior and who actually sticks with that major? I say pick the best party school that you can find in your GPA/SAT range cause that will definitely stick with you all 4,5 or 6 years, and life beyond.

I agree with Jeff, if you can go to a program like Texas (where my brother swam 81-84), they treat all the athletes excellent and make sure you excel academically (orthopedic surgeon now). Another brother swam for Berkeley (?81-83) and was treated like crap because he was not the best. I think he bailed on his senior year to concentrate on academics (he became a high falutin' orthopedic surgeon). I swam for a mediocre team (BYU) and would not have traded anything for the lessons learned and the level of discipline achieved in combining academics and college level swimming (although it is hard to give your best to both). It was great to get an education and to travel the world (to such exotic places as Las Cruces, NM) and have somebody else pay for it all. It also matters if your child is a male or a female. You can say whatever you want (and I am sure this is a sensitive button to all those who think the man has kept them down for so many years--e.g. Nancy Hogshead, et. al) but title IX is blatantly unfair to males that are not football players. Most schools have half the number (or less) of scholarships for men's swimming v. female. There is absolutely no way to make it fair as programs try to "make-up" for 80 football scholarships. Also, as some have pointed out, it does matter where you graduate. My sister went to Yale law school and she could pretty much go where ever she wanted for a job. Bottom line: if your kid is good enough to go to a reputable school, definitely do it. Otherwise, if you can afford it, send he/she to the best school money can buy (there is always time after education and career making that he/she can become like all of us on this thread--washed up wannabe athletes).

I currently swim D2 at a college. While I don't regret choosing to swim in college-I regret choosing my college based on the swimming program and the scholarship offers. I wish I had looked at campus' more than pools, teachers more than coaches. I don't really have a problem with grades and finding time to get my work done during swimming--though that is just how I've always been--we've lost some good swimmers to academic ineligibility and had a lot of swimmers who've had to stay on extra semesters after having a bad semester here or there. But that's bound to happen to some people whether they swim or not. And I've NEVER had a problem with a teacher regarding missing class due to a meet. Some things to consider: my swim program isn't hugely competitive--and my coach is not completely motivated to creating a demanding program, but regardless I spend around 20 hours a week at the pool (between swimming, dryland, weightlifting)--not including meet weekends which obviously up that time, and for the month or so that we are doing doubles that time goes up to about 30hours a week. Additionally, have him consider the length of the season (August-February/March) and the fact that you lose your Christmas break. Ironically, out of my entire High School team, I am the ONLY one still swimming in college. And we are talking girls with tons of potential to go on to NCAA championships and most on scholarships. When i've talked to them about deciding to quit they all said that it wasn't worth the time and stress on top of their course loads. I'm still shocked that these girls--all of whom were much more dedicated and invested in the sport back in HS then I was, gave it up. Make sure he really looks at the teams for the colleges he is considering---maybe go to a meet, have him do an overnight (I know all that means for our guys team is that they get the recruit drunk out of his mind and act like...hmm....college boys--so make sure he's careful!) and maybe watch a practice or two. I know in my case, my coach is a great sweet talker and he really had me believing everything he said about his coaching, the team, and how much I would improve. I was let down greatly. Theres a lot of great things about being a college athlete, but he should really look at all the avenues, because theres also many opportunities for it to be a suffocating situation.

At one time we had three swimmers on our team. The school has had an All American who now teaches and coaches. Why woudl anyone go to a college where they sit in lecture halls bored? Knox college is the greatest. Yeah Flunk Day!

Don't overlook the social benefits of being on a team. I learned a lot in college swimming with regard to people skills that I feel have greatly benefitted me in my career today. These experiences were essential to me and I would recommend it to anyone who has the opportunity to join an athletic team. On the other hand, my brother was also a college athlete and had a hard time balancing "partying" with good grades. He would have been better off turning down the scholarship. To join a college team is a question that must be uniquely judjed by the indvidual. It requires a lot of discipline to balance everything, but if you can do it successfully you will be better prepared than most other college graduates for wherever your career takes you. Just my two cents.

I am the parent of a high school senior who wants to swim in college. He is good but not fast enough for Auburn, Cal, Stanford, etc. He might be a walkon for one of the not-so-fast Div 1 schools or perhaps some scholarship money to a Div II or Div III school. Our guidance to him has been to choose the school for education first, and if swimming works, we'll support it. Earning 1/10 or 1/4 of a scholarship isn't particularly meaningful for the money unless he goes out of state or to a private school with much higher costs. My son is smart, a solid but not outstanding student, and has very good test scores. He seems to understand that a degree from Rice with no swimming will do him more good in life than a degree from a far lesser school that offers him a swimming scholarship. I think swimming would be good for him - especially early on in college. I'd rather he have a group to belong to that isn't a fraternity.

I did, and regret going to the school that offered me the best scholarship, rather than going to a better school. If swimming is an important part of their lives, you want to go to a school where not only will they be able to do well scholastically, but also be able to thrive athletically. I do admit I got alot more out of college than a non athelete (having several such roomates).

I did as well, until I was injured. I went to a very academically demanding school, and was happier not swimming. However, I was also suffering severe burnout from a mega-yardage youth, so had probably had enough competitive swimming at that juncture. It is very difficult to combine a sport as demanding as swimming with academic excellence, but I have seen people successfully do it. It depends on the student, the program, etc. Personally, my college decision was based entirely on academics, not athletics. It worked out fine, and I have never regretted it. In fact, it has positively helped me in life. So has swimming, of course.

Spud, I didn't swim in college, though I did masters throughout my schooling. While I can't speak for those who did swim NCAA, I wish I had been able to. I don't doubt that athletes spend a lot more time training than studying, but swimmers in general are pretty smart kids. The extra training may lead to an extra semester or two, but in the end, I think that the value of the experience would have been a benefit to my schooling. If your son does earn a scholarship and decides to choose a time-consuming major, he'll probably end up kicking his aquatic career to the curb midway through. We all know that since we're not Michael Phelps, we're not going to make a living on swimming, so that degree (and learning on the way to it) is our mealticket. If he understands the time committment before and after arriving on campus, and is willing to work hard in the pool AND in the classroom, he will not fail. You can be creative with incentives too... If you're still willing to pay for his college, if he gets the scholarship and needs a 5th year to wrap up, your contribution might help take some of the pressure off him, and will also give him a bit more leeway into finding a non-basketweaving major.