Division 1 swimming is exactly where the best of the best are. Everyone I have met in D1 has been amazing, dedicated and talented swimmers. I, however, am a Division 2 swimmer. When juniors and seniors begin to look at colleges, most of the time D2 takes a back seat to D1. It sure did for me.
I was at a place during my senior year where I only wanted to go to a D1 swimming program. To tell everyone in my school that I was signed to a school like Tennessee, South Carolina, Auburn, or NC State was going to be the ultimate bragging right. If I had heard anything about D2, I wasn't interested. Looking back on it, I should have known my 1:02 breaststroke wasn't going to get me signed to an SEC school.
If you're looking at swimming in college or participating in any college athletics, here are some reasons you should not rule out a D2 opportunity. I didn't and I am forever thankful I went where I did.
If you're someone that will make a huge impact in a D1 school, absolutely go for it! I want to talk mostly to the people who are on the border of D1 and D2 times. If you want to go somewhere and make a big impact, D2 is the place to do it.
If I had attended a D1 program with the times that I had in high school, I would not be competing at the level that I am. At D1 schools, you have to fight for a spot to swim at meets. If you hate training but love competing, D1 might leave you stuck only training rather than getting to put your hard work to the test. In D2 you will get to travel and compete against other swimmers at your level and better.
Attending a D1 school may give you fewer scholarships than you would receive at a D2 school because of the amount you can contribute to their program. Going to a D1 school at the bottom of the pack can leave you with a smaller offer than what a D2 could potentially provide to you.
There's more you can accomplish in D2 than you could in D1. I personally could not set records at any of the D1 schools I was considering. Even though I wasn't as fast as the records at my current school, Carson-Newman, They were still goals I could strive for. Because they were faster than I was as an incoming freshman, it pushed me harder to make a name for myself at CN. If I went to a D1 school I would probably just say I swam there, but because I chose to go to CN, I can now say that I have held a total of 5 records at Carson-Newman. Even in events I didn't think I could.
I definitely would not be a nationally ranked swimmer in D1 like I am in D2. I now get to say that I have been to two consecutive national championships and headed to my third and final nationals. These are opportunities I would not have gotten if attended a D1 school.
I have known a lot of people over the years who have stopped competing in the sport they loved because it was "D1 or nothing!" Do not stop doing your passion just because you got turned down by the Stanfords, Dukes, and other colleges of the US that you dreamed of competing at.
People ask me why I didn't transfer to a D1 school after I had achieved more and improved so much (which by the way, it is possible to improve 10 seconds in your 200 IM at a D2 school). I fell in love with an environment where I felt like I was making an impact and was looked up to by my teammates and my classmates.
Below I have dropped the time standards for the D2 2020 National Championships. Look and see how competitive D2 still is and begin to consider schools at a D2 level. They could be the perfect fit for you.
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