College Swimming Recruiting

College Swimming Recruiting June 21, 2012 In college swimming recruiting, you best be honest about your times. It is so very easy to verify them online! Not to mention, its the only right thing to do (photo credit: Karen Blaha from Columbia, MO). In every aspect of the college admissions process (and in life), it is important to be honest. On your activity sheet, dont cite that you volunteer at your local church for 22 hours a week if you really only volunteer for 8 hours a week. During your college interviews, dont claim to love reading when you cant cite a book that youve read for pleasure (that means outside of the required reading for English classes) in the last five years. Oy vey. And if youre an athletic recruit (especially if youre a runner or swimmer), that means not lying about your times! Do students really think that theyll be able to get away with lying about their times in college swimming recruiting? With websites like swimmingtimes.com that records swimmers times, its not just wrong to lie about your timesyou wont get away with it. Its too easy to check. Too easy to verify. Too easy to realize that the times a swimmer has given to a coach dont match up with the times the coach has found online. And coaches do indeed check their recruits times online. Of course they do! Do you really think that they would waste a spot on a recruit who wont actually be able to contribute to the team over the next four years? Has it happened in the past? You bet. And when that recruit shows up on the first day of school and its easily apparent that he/she lied about his/her times, that coach is going to be quite mad. That can lead the coach to even contact the admissions office. Maybe theyll do something about it. Maybe they wont. Maybe the coach will be too embarrassed that they didnt verify the swimmers times with his/her coach or online. But, these days, it doesnt get to this. Its hard to dupe a college swimming or track coach with all of the information that is out there online. So if youre even considering fudging those times by even a little, think again. Dont do it. Even if you get in, your admission could be revoked. Youll be mortified when all of your fellow swimmers and runners think of you as a liar and a cheat. And itll start you off on the completely wrong foot in college. Be honest in the college admissions process. Always and on everything.