[sb959]

Congratulations! Exciting times.

I had two college athletes, both swimmers and both strong academically. One was in a D1 program and one was D3. They both chose to swim in college without any pressure from their parents and neither one received scholarship money for being on the swim team. That was actually a blessing as it meant less pressure to perform -- they could quit at any time without question. COVID interrupted their 2020-2021 academic year and my son stopped after his third year. My daughter swam all four years.

There are definitely pros and cons. It's a huge time commitment and between practices and school work there's not much time for anything else. The flipside is they have to be very disciplined and it keeps them out of trouble!

There is enormous camaraderie being on a college athletic team. The freshman kids have an instant friend group the day they start college. With luck everyone gets along because they become the focal point for the social experience as long as they're on the team. Perhaps this is irrelevant and too much of a generalization (I'm sure it varies) but we've seen that athletes tend to hang out with and date other athletes, not necessarily from the same sport. Also know that it's hard to be in a fraternity/sorority and I know some coaches discourage (or prohibit) student athletes from participating in Greek life, if that's important to your daughter.

Important to note that the head coach and other athletic staff and their coaching style are critical to your daughter's experience. Spend as much time as you are able getting comfortable that the particular program will be a good fit for her.

My advice is to focus first and foremost on choosing a school where she would be happy and achieve her educational goals. Best to know that if she quits, for whatever reason, she'll complete her degree and have a great college experience (with or without the sport).

My two cents, FWIW. Wishing you and your daughter all the best in her search.