Jake Foster is not quite ready to call it a career.
Despite getting accepted into Dell Medical School, Foster has deferred his enrollment in order to pursue his goals in the pool for the coming year.
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Swimming has been an integral part of my life, and I’m excited to announce that I’m not done yet! Although I have recently been accepted to Dell Medical School, I was granted a one year deferral of enrollment in order to pursue some of my final swimming goals. Becoming a physician is my ultimate dream, but I’m so thankful to the wonderful staff and administrators of @dellmedschool for granting me this opportunity to further grow as a competitor, teammate, and beyond. I’m excited for what the future holds!
The 22-year-old is coming off a successful senior year at the University of Texas, scoring 28 individual points at the NCAA Championships to wrap up a four-year career that saw him become an eight-time All-American and two-time individual Big 12 champion.
This past fall, Foster told SwimSwam that he was fairly certain he would not use his fifth year of NCAA eligibility, and if he did continue swimming, he would do so as a professional in 2023-24.
He confirmed that to be the case, telling SwimSwam that his priority for this extra year of swimming is to try and represent the U.S. on the international stage.
The one-year enrollment deferral will allow Foster to take a run at making the 2024 U.S. Olympic team.
Last year, he placed third in the men’s 200 breaststroke at the International Team Trials in Greensboro, clocking a time of 2:09.73, and saw significant improvement a few months later at U.S. Nationals, producing a personal best of 2:09.00.
That performance not only ranked him 15th in the world for the year, but he was also fourth among Americans and within 16 one-hundredths of what Nic Fink and Charlie Swanson went to tie for first at the World Trials in late April (2:08.84). Additionally, neither Fink nor Swanson went sub-2:09 at Worlds, and Matt Fallon (2:07.91 at U.S. Nationals) is the only clear-cut swimmer currently ahead of Foster in the pecking order domestically in the event.
Foster could also be in the mix in the 400 IM, having placed fifth at the 2022 Trials in a time of 4:13.76, ranking sixth among Americans for the year. That result ultimately earned him a spot on the U.S. team at the 2022 Short Course World Championship (by virtue of making the U.S. National Team) in December, where he placed sixth in a time of 4:02.51.
His younger brother, Carson Foster, who won silver in the 400 IM at SC Worlds as the two uniquely got the opportunity to race head-to-head in a World Championship final, is set to enter his senior year at Texas.
J. Foster was also seventh-fastest among U.S. swimmers last year in the 200 IM, recording a lifetime best of 1:58.64 at the U.S. Trials to finish sixth.
Next year’s U.S. Olympic Trials would be the third of Foster’s career, having raced at the 2016 event as a 15-year-old, placing 42nd in the 200 breast, and then in 2021, he was fifth in the 400 IM, sixth in the 200 breast and 10th in the 200 IM.
Dell Medical School is located at the University of Texas in Austin. Foster has previously said that once he enrolls in med school, his competitive swimming career will come to an end.
Many swimmers are smart and highly educated.
It’s great to see Jake have significant plans outside of sports.
Sometimes you see athletes that act dumb and have no aspirations outside sports.
That’s not Jakes case.
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Hats of to Jake for this one. Now knowing that he has spent his college years pursuing a position at a highly competitive medical school makes his accomplishments in the pool that much more impressive. Way to set the standard for being a great student athlete. Wishing him best of luck in his athletic, academic, and professional endeavors!
Good for him. Deferring med school a year won’t make a difference to his career. Even if he doesn’t make the Olympics, at least he won’t spend the rest of his life wondering if he would have.
Gonna go crazy at pan ams😈😈🥶
Under what circumstances does the medical school grant deferrals? Was this a special exception, or is it not uncommon?
Couldn’t find anything for Dell specifically, but here’s what McGovern says. I assume it’s similar. Just case-by-case. Not *common* but not something they only do for athletes either.
I feel like med school deferments aren’t super uncommon. I know my sister took one back in the day. Not for athletics
They aren’t, but that’s because most med school students have had a singular track on ‘getting to med school’ for years.
The most common places I’ve seen it is if someone wants to go into research and wants to spend a year doing research stuff, if someone wants to go abroad and do some kind of humanitarian or peace corps work, or if personal stuff comes up (mental health, eating disorders, death in the family).
They’re not super common, but I will be taking one. It depends on the circumstances, but generally it has to do with extenuating family circumstances, unique opportunities to pursue before medical school (i.e. Rhodes Scholarship, Fulbright, pursuing the Olympics, etc.), or probably some other scenarios they might deem acceptable.
Good decision. He has the rest of his life to work.
Heard he was coming back so he could do one more twister set