Think. Swim. College.

In terms of recruiting, right now coaches are the freest to talk to you. They are handling paperwork for their incoming freshman athletes, planning the season, budgeting, etc. Office type of stuff. Which means now is a good time for you to get to know them. Schedule phone calls and skype calls, ask questions and understand what they expect of you. The more of a personal relationship you develop with the coach, the more likely he is to vouch for you whether it be admissions or scholarships. If you are a rising senior in high school, start on your college applications. Study for SATs if you are taking them again. Just because you're not in school doesn't mean you get to slack. The grind never ends.

JULY between your junior and senior year in high school. At this time, Division I & II schools can reach out to you, and you can have PHONE conversations.  Read more here about eligibility dates .

The main difference is that Division I and Division II schools can offer recruits athletic scholarships whereas Division III schools cannot. Technically, DIII schools only offer academic scholarships. However, there are ways to get an "athletic" scholarship masked as an academic scholarship. Check out the Helpful Resources page. There are other distinctions between DI, DII, and DIII schools you can read about here .

If you have chosen a school and signed the National Letter of Intent (NLI), congratulations!!! You have now joined the ranks of collegiate athletes. The respectful thing to do is to let the other schools know that you are no longer on the market. Send out an email to all the coaches that you have been talking to. Let them know that you have committed to a team.

I am currently a sophomore chemical engineering major at Howard University. I am also on the swim team. I also pay about $200 dollars in fees every semester (that's it). I received a full ride at Howard through hard work, dedication and strategy. I started swimming on a club team when I was nine. Which is kind of late considering many people started at five. I was raised by a single mom. She's extremely smart and resourceful. That's where I got my drive from. By the time I was in middle school I was excelling at math and science. Around that time is when you start to learn about college and all the different specialties. I decided on engineering by the time I reached high school. Somewhere in there, I chose chemical engineering. By my senior year I was actively talking to eleven universities, nine of which I was being recruited for. Both Division I and Division III. I applied to all eleven. Accepted into ten of those schools. I received four academic scholarships....