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American College Connection

A Reality Check on Grades…Are You Affordable?

“College coaches will look at your times first to see if you can help them and then immediately look at your grades…”

  18 Comments

College Recruits Beware, Coaches Review Social Media Accounts

“Coaches and schools are investing a lot of money in a recruit’s education. You can bet that they are going to get to know everything they can about the person they want to recruit.”

  54 Comments

DII College Recruiting Rules in Plain English

Nearly every school in the country has a compliance department to help coaches stay compliant with NCAA rules. The NCAA rule book is inches thick and seems to be written by attorneys. Here are the DII Recruiting Rules in plain English.

  24 Comments

4 Questions To Ask Prior to Signing Your National Letter of Intent

What questions should swimmers ask before they put their “John Hancock” on the National Letter of Intent?

  10 Comments

A Parent’s Role in the College Recruiting Process

Your swimmer is about to make one of the most important decisions of their life, selecting the right college. They need your help now more than ever.

  13 Comments

College Recruiting, It’s a Business

Like it or not, college recruiting is a business. One of the primary jobs of a college coach is to sign the best swimmers for the least amount of money. Yes they are looking for strong students and good people, but they also need to put together the fastest team within their scholarship limitations.

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Verbal Commitment? Letter of Intent? Dead Period? What Does It All Mean?

Contributor, Rick Paine, is an expert on college swimming and the college recruiting process. He is also the Director of Swimming at American College Connection.

  18 Comments

How to handle deadlines and the Pressure to Commit to a College

Hopefully most of you seniors are starting to feel some pressure to pick a school. Pressure can be a good thing because it means that you have options.

  8 Comments

7 Tips for Swim Parents with kids leaving for college

Your child is ready to start his/her next chapter hundreds of miles away from you. What do you have to show for the last two decades of parenthood? A scrapbook and an empty bedroom down the hall? Not to worry, your child’s college career also starts the next chapter in your life.

  1 Comment

College Recruiting: What to Do if You Don’t Get Phone Calls on July 1

You are a high school senior and it is the evening of July 1 and the phone hasn’t been ringing, what do you do?

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Two Secrets of College Recruiting: Shoe Size and Kicking Ability

College swim coaches are all strapped for time. Only a handful of programs have big staffs with recruiting coordinators. The rest of the coaches have to do everything themselves, maybe with help from a grad assistant.

  31 Comments

Three Secrets of College Recruiting

#3 Update the coaches as you progress!

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Former Indiana Associate Head Coach Donny Brush to Join American College Connection

Rick Paine, American College Connection Director: “I am very happy to have Donny Brush join us at American College Connection. Donny replaces Jessica Berkowitz-Minier as Assistant Director of Swimming and joins our other Assistant Director, Paul Stearns.”

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