College swimming scholarship?

[Micheal]

Im an 18 year old swimmer from the UK and I'm interested in applying for a scholarship to the US. I read that nationally ranked swimmers have a good chance of obtaining a scholarship. I am ranked 5th in the UK for 50m freestyle, 6th for 50m backstroke, and 8th for 50m butterfly.

My times:
50m free - 23:96
50m butterfly - 26:02
50m backstroke - 28:17
(ALL LONG COURSE)

am i good enough for a scholarship? And if so, how to i go about getting one?
thanks

[BT]

yes

[academicjoq]

In the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the pools are 25 yards long (SCY). Your times converted from LCM (Long Course Meters) are as follows:

50m free - 23:96 = 20.85
50m butterfly - 26:02 = 22.77
50m backstroke - 28:17 = 24.00

There are three divisions of the NCAA. Division One (D1) and D2 offer scholarships. D3 does not.

To get a full ride a swimmer usually is what is called "walk on points" which means they are starting on the team and are already close to going fast enough to score at the NCAA championship meet, the top 16 in the country in the NCAA. To get any sort of scholarship, you would need to be close to qualifying for the NCAA Championships. Swimmers coming out of high school who are close to being Championship qualifiers get partial scholarships which might be 25% up to 90%. All scholarships are for one year only.

To go to college in the US, you'll need to get an appointment at the US CONSULATE and fill out a bunch of forms. Call first.

With hope, you are already registered with the NCAA as Go to ncaa.com
look near the bottom of the page. under NCAA Sites you'll see
Eligibility Center ... click on this and follow the instructions.

WARNING: The whole purpose of the questions you answer is to give information to the NCAA so they can determine if you are an amateur or not. When you answer the questions, if there can be any interpretation of your answer that would indicate that you've taken or received anything (a meal or a T-shirt) for your swimming skills, answer NO.

To compete your freshman year, you must have completed 16 core classes (algebra, geom, bio, chem, physics, English (4 times), US history, civics ... those college prep classes) with a 2.0 or better.

You must score 820 on the SAT test.

Be certain the school offers majors you want and a student life you'd like. Do you want a big, medium or small school? Do you want to be in a highly populated region or a lower populated area?

You should, in case you end up going to another school, be certain to register (this is free) with recruiting web sites. When I coached in the NCAA (I coached at a D2 school - I retired after over 30 years of coaching), I liked "berecruited.com". There are others you can find on google. Another I liked was "NCOC.com" (I think that was the site).

One more FINAL thing ... CONTACT coaches at schools you'd like to attend. The NCAA recruiting rules for coaches are VERY strict. A coach may not call you more than once per week until you've applied to the school. That 'once per week' total includes your family and friends ... one call per recruit per week. Coaches may not use social websites like FACEBOOK. The coaches may, however, email you as much as they like and you may call the coach as much as you like.

Do the best you can to visit the campus. If you go on an unofficial visit, you pay for everything and you may make as many unofficial visits as you want. On an official visit (you're allowed a total of 5 official visits, one to each of 5 different schools), the coach/school may pay for your meals and you may stay in the dorm for one night. The coach/school may also pay for YOUR transportation to the school and back home. The coach/school may not pay for anyone else's expenses (except one meal for parents).