1. Option 2 is correct

2. While all of these things are great to include in an initial email to a college coach, the 4th option (why specific aspects of the program in question interest you) is the best one to include in an email to a college coach. Including a section about why specific aspects of a program interests you shows coaches that you care as a recruit. Why? Because you've done your research. This tiny detail added into an email immediately makes a recruit stand out above the rest.

3. Every resource except option 3 (Hiring a recruiting company to help you get noticed) are great resources to explore throughout the recruiting process. College swimming (swimcloud.com) is great because it allows you to see stats on college programs, where you fit on a team, as well as seeing which programs are interested in you. Creating an account is free (we highly recommend creating one), but there are also premium plans that include extra features that an athlete can purchase if they feel that they are necessary. Creating a separate email account is also beneficial. You'll be having a lot of email conversations throughout the recruiting process, and an extra email account helps keep content organized and more manageable than it merely being jumbled with your personal emails. College academic ranking lists are great for what they suggest in the name... exploring academic opportunities! After all, you're going to college for a degree, so you might as well see which school is the best for what you want to study. As previously discussed, a personal lists of wants and needs is also a great resource to have. However, a resource that isn't so great are recruiting companies. While they no doubt provide great advice and counseling to those who need it, an athlete's best advocate is themself. Also, getting counseling from club coaches or teammates / former college athletes often provides many of the same benefits that recruiting companies advertise or ask extreme amounts of money for. So save yourself some money and tackle recruiting on your own and with the help of family, friends, or club coaches!

4. FALSE! The wording in this question is key. For Division 1 schools, an athlete is in fact limited to 5 official (paid for by the school) visits. For Division 2 and Division 3 however, there is no limit to the amount of official visits that an athlete can take. Regardless of Division, there is never a limit on the amount of unofficial visits (paid for by a recruit and their family) allowed to be taken.

5. Option four is correct. A recruit should consider an even mix of all three of the aforementioned types of schools. Reach schools are great to have because you never know how you can improve as an athlete. Who knows... maybe after a great race you'll be able to get a scholarship for that dream school of yours! Best fit schools are great because they ideally are going to check most of your boxes in the pool and in the classroom. Lastly, safety schools are great to have in case anything goes wrong. Remember: It's always better to have too many options than too few when it comes time to make a decision. Be careful who you say no to!

Wow! You made it through the July Discussion Corner! This was no doubt a lot of information, but it is important nonetheless. As an AEC, we're happy to provide you, the athletes, with resources that will help you succeed in and out of the pool. There is one section left to this discussion corner... good luck!