College Swimming Scholarships and Recruiting
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How do I get a college swimming scholarship? Competition for swimming scholarships is an international affair. It takes more than swimming good times in your best events to earn a swimming scholarship. Coaches have a vast pool of athletes to choose from so you must gain an advantage over others by following these steps to impress coaches. |
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How do I get a college swimming coach to see me? The more attractive you are as a candidate the better chance you have of a coach coming to watch you swim. Generally coaches will only go to the big meets, and if you want to be seen you will need to be swimming there. To get the most out of your time in front of coaches use this guide. |
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How do I improve my chances of earning a swimming scholarship? Unless you possess an Olympic development time, you will not be offered a scholarship purely based on your swimming capabilities. You need to be careful to not give coaches a reason to stop recruiting you. Here are more tips for how to achieve your end goal of being offered a scholarship. |
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How do I get recruited for a swimming scholarship? College swimming coaches are looking for athletes who work just as hard in the classroom as they do in the pool. The swimming recruiting process is about being able to show improvement over the course of your high school career with clear potential. In order to show coaches who you are you need to contact them first; here is how our athletes do it. |
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What are the academic requirements to be eligible for a swimming scholarship? Coaches want to make sure that once you are at their school that you will help the team keep a high GPA. To measure this potential, coaches will look for you to have much higher qualifications than the NCAA and NAIA minimums. |
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What are the athletic requirements to receive a swimming scholarship? These are the general guidelines for what coaches look for in a swimmer. If you don’t have the times yet it doesn’t mean you can’t swim at that level only that these are the averages. If you want to know if you are good enough to swim at a specific college, check their team website to see what times their swimmers are posting at meets.The following times are short course times and in yardsMen’s Swimming
Women’s Swimming
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How many swimming scholarships are available and what schools offer them? The number of scholarships available varies by division level. Finding the right fit for you comes down to looking at scholarship opportunities and where your abilities fit.Number of scholarships offered per team, per year, by Division: Not all colleges that are eligible to offer scholarships will choose to do so. For example, Ivy League schools choose not to offer athletic scholarships.Swimming is an equivalency sport which means all scholarships are NOT full scholarships, and coaches may divide the total number of scholarships allotted to them between as many athletes as they wish.Swimming and diving share scholarship money which means that they have to divide up the scholarship amounts in both sports between them. Some swim teams choose not to have a diving team so that they can focus their scholarship money on swimmers. Men’s Swimming NCAA DI: 9.9 Women’s Swimming NCAA DI: 14 The number of swimming programs at each division level: Men’s Swimming NCAA DI: 134 Women’s Swimming NCAA DI: 192 *NCAA Division 3 schools do not offer athletic scholarships, but do offer other forms of financial aid. |
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Who are the top college swimming programs in each division? Finding the right program is the most important part of the recruiting process. By visiting different schools websites and looking at the times their swimmers swim you can get a sense for what level you should expect to compete.Men’s Swimming NCAA D1:Texas, California, Stanford, Florida, Arizona, Michigan, Auburn, Ohio State, North Carolina, Indiana, Virginia, Georgia, Minnesota, USC, Tennessee, Alabama, UNLV, Texas A&M NCAA D2:Ashland, Missouri S&T, Grand Valley State, Drury, Incarnate Word, Wayne Street, UC San Diego, Nova Southeastern, Ouachita Baptist, Wingate, Florida Southern, Indianapolis, Queens, Grand Canyon, Tampa NCAA D3:Kenyon, Denison, Emory, Kalamazoo, Johns Hopkins, Washington- St. Louis, Stevens, MIT, Williams, Amherst, TCNJ, DePauw, Carnegie Mellon, Washington and Lee, Hope, Middlebury NAIA: California Baptist University, Fresno Pacific Sunbirds, Concordia University, Simon Fraser University, Illinois Tech, Lindenwood University, University of the Cumberlands, Biola University Union College, Asbury College, Milligan College, Morningside College, Soka University Women’s Swimming NCAA D1: Stanford, Georgia, Texas, Florida, California, USC, Arizona, Texas A&M, Virginia, Auburn, Tennessee, North Carolina, Michigan, Indiana, Wisconsin, Arkansas, SMU, Purdue, Louisville, Ohio State, LSU, San Diego State, UCLA NCAA D2: Grand Valley State, Ashland, UC San Diego, Drury, Incarnate Word, Ouachita Baptist, California (Pennsylvania), Truman, Indianapolis, Tampa, CW Post, Indiana (Pennsylvania), Wingate, West Chester NCAA D3: Emory, Denison, Kenyon, Williams, Claremont, Johns Hopkins, Amherst, MIT, Wisconsin Stevens Point, Washington – St. Louis, Carthage, Stevens, Wisconsin – La Crosse, Grove City, Chicago, Carnegie Mellon, Hope, Calvin, Ithaca NAIA: California Baptist University, Simon Fraser University, Fresno Pacific Sunbirds, University of the Cumberlands, Concordia University, Azusa Pacific University, Lindenwood University, Asbury College, Illinois Tech, Biola University, Union College, Soka University, Berea College, California State East Bay |
IMPORTANT: NAIA Rule Changes. You must now register with the NAIA Clearinghouse.
Attending a college summer swimming camp could be the best recruiting move you ever made.
