Over the years I’ve gotten a lot of questions from athletes and parents about what it’s like to do synchro in college and since I was a student-athlete at Stanford University for four years, I thought I would share a few of them here. Collegiate synchro is a great option if you want to keep swimming after high school but don’t want to take the National Team route. I did both, which of course is much more challenging but was well-worth it for me.

HOW DO I GET RECRUITED TO SWIM AT A UNIVERSITY?

The rules regarding when and how coaches can contact their potential student-athletes have changed in the last few years. Whereas previously collegiate coaches had to wait until the summer of the athlete’s junior year of high school, they may now initiate contact on July 1 following the completion of the athlete’s sophomore year. Coaches are not allowed to have any contact with the recruits until this point, which means no unofficial visits and no correspondence. They can’t even respond to interested athletes or parents over email or phone.

In my case, I was approached by three schools after my junior year of high school. Luckily, now you can start the conversation with collegiate coaches an entire year earlier, but just be aware that they won’t be able to talk to you at all before the end of your sophomore year. If you’re thinking about collegiate synchro, I’d recommend talking with the coaches as soon as you are allowed to. They’ll advise you what kind of grades and test scores you need and if you need to add more AP classes to boost your transcript. And the more you know early on, the better!

This page on the USA Synchro website has the contact info for all collegiate programs.

WHAT GPA DO I NEED TO GET INTO A SCHOOL LIKE STANFORD?

I can’t give you exact numbers because I actually don’t know and don’t want to give out the wrong information, so this is a question for your conversation with the collegiate coaches. I will say this - many people think that just because they come from a big club or are good at synchro, they’ll be able to get into Stanford regardless of what their grades are. This is definitely not true. I won’t speak for other schools, but for Stanford you still need to have a high GPA, test scores, and a good amount of AP classes to even be considered as a viable applicant. But again, ask the coach.

HOW MANY RECRUIT TRIPS SHOULD I GO ON?

I went on two recruit trips - to Stanford and to Ohio State. I’d go on as many as you can if it’s feasible for your schedule. I think it’s important to go on recruit trips because you can experience the vibe of the school and the team and it’ll help you decide whether you can see yourself joining that team. A lot of times we may have preconceived ideas of what a school is like, but you won’t know if you like it or not until you go there and experience it in person. My recruit trips made me SO excited for college.

HOW MUCH DOES A COLLEGIATE TEAM TRAIN?

At Stanford, we followed NCAA rules and only trained 20 hours a week, which included water practice, weight/land training, and team meetings - pretty much anything that was considered mandatory. Coming from the Walnut Creek Aquanuts, I was definitely training less at Stanford than what I was used to because at the Aquanuts I was doing 4.5 hours every weekday plus more on Saturdays. But because the collegiate competition season starts much earlier than club (sometimes as early as January), you have to get things done much quicker so the practices will be faster paced than probably what you’ve experienced at your club.

During school breaks like Thanksgiving and winter break you may have training camps where the practice hours will be much longer. During those camps though, you don’t need to worry about studying and can just focus on training. Usually the camps are meant to get a bulk of the choreography done, again because there are a lot of routines to write and the first competition comes up pretty soon after the holidays. At Stanford we had several fun traditions of things we would do during these training camps, but we like to keep those a secret :)

HOW DO YOU BALANCE TRAINING AND CLASSES?

I graduated from Stanford with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communication and a minor in Modern Languages.

Because you get to choose the classes you take in college, you’re actually not in class as much as you are in high school. So you have a lot more free time but you have to be able to manage that time so that your work gets done on time. Prepare yourself to spend a lot more time on homework than what you’re used to - the classes you’ll be taking will be challenging but that’s part of the college experience! I suggest reading my post on time management to get some good tips.

Like anything in life, I truly believe that if something is important to you, you’ll make it happen. It was important to me to not just float through Stanford with average grades but to excel. I also wanted to go to the Olympics. And I wanted to have a social life. Did I do it all perfectly? Absolutely not. I made mistakes, learned along the way and did the best that I could at juggling life as a student-athlete.

WHAT’S COLLEGIATE NATIONALS LIKE?

Before I came to Stanford, a lot people told me that Collegiate Nationals was a much different competition than the regular national championships and I didn’t really understand this until I actually experienced it for myself. The big difference is that at Collegiates, the High Point Award is the coveted title everyone is going after, so you’re not hoping to win just team or just duet, but rather the entire championship. Everything is based on a point system, so you get a certain number of points for every placement in each event. You not only want your duet or trio to do well, but you also want every other routine from your school to do well so that you rack up the most points.

Winning the Collegiate National Championship in 2013 (my senior year) in our home pool was pretty incredible.

Because of this, there is much more team and school pride and camaraderie. When you swim for a club, you’re representing only that club, and of course you’re proud of that but you feel it a lot more when you’re representing your entire university, a school you’re so proud to attend. As a student-athlete, you are looked at with respect when you walk around campus, and when you get to Collegiates you feel that much more school pride and you want to represent your university in the best way. This makes the competition to be more spirited and passionate, which is really fun! Of course, it’s also really fun to win because you get recognized by your university and athletic department, but we all know that winning isn’t everything, and the Collegiates experience itself is still very much worth it.

DID YOU PARTICIPATE IN ANY ACTIVITIES/GROUPS OUTSIDE OF SYNCHRO?

My teammates Megan, Michelle and I are Tridelta sisters. I loved being able to share the sorority experience with them.

Yes, I was in a sorority (Delta Delta Delta). This really depends on the culture of the school, but at Stanford it’s very common for student-athletes to also participate in Greek life. I know that at many other schools you do one or the other, but I really liked the fact that at Stanford it was common to do both. Of course it was harder to balance my time between Stanford synchro, National Team, Tridelt, and school, but I really wanted to get the experience of being in a sorority. A few of my teammates were also Tridelts and it made me that much closer to them because we were “sisters” (so cheesy, I know!) in and out of the pool.

It was a great way to have a friend group outside of the synchro team and to build a network that comes in handy when you’re looking for internships, housing, or jobs after college. When it comes to scheduling, synchro always took priority over Tridelt events, but I still feel like I got to participate in a lot of sorority activities and got to experience Greek life to the fullest.

DO YOU HAVE ANY TIPS FOR GOING INTO COLLEGE AS A STUDENT-ATHLETE?

My biggest tip would be to go into college (regardless of what school you go to) being open-minded and ready to explore different interests. Take classes in different departments and try to take at least one class in every area of study just to see what you’re drawn to. Sometimes you go into college thinking you want to study one thing but then take one class and realize you’re actually interested in something else! My freshman year I had no idea what classes to take so I took THE most random classes but it ultimately helped me discover what I wanted to major in.

“Most importantly, ENJOY this time in your life. Your years in college will be some of your favorite memories to look back on, so make them count!”

Even though you’ll be busy with training and classes, try to join a club or interest group or do research with a professor. College is the time for you to expand your knowledge and build your network, so get out there and meet new people as much as you can and try new things. I wish I would have done this more at Stanford but my time was already maxed out because I was doing a little thing called trying to make it to the Olympics…

Most importantly, ENJOY this time in your life. Your years in college will be some of your favorite memories to look back on, so make them count! Manage your stress, ask for help, and nurture your relationships because the friends you make in college are the ones who will stay with you for the rest of your life.

If you have any other questions about collegiate synchro or Stanford specifically, feel free to shoot me a message below!