Do colleges really look at Swimcloud?

[Anonymous]

I was told to pay for a Swimcloud account for my high school freshman. That this is a tool used to get into colleges. Is this true? How does it work?

[Anonymous]

It’s helpful on the swimmer’s end to see what teams may be realistic for their times. Little to no recruiting communication within the account in my D1 swimmer’s experience.

It’s a one time fee, $29 I think. Not a major investment.

Their times are loaded in whether you have the paid account or not. This doesn’t happen automatically until later in freshman year if I remember correctly.

[Anonymous]

Yes, coaches use it to identify potential recruits. But you don't need to register until sophomore year since they can't be recruited until June after 10th grade.

[Anonymous]

Is your child looking to swim in college? I think college coaches us it, but admissions staff don’t.

[Anonymous]

Yes it is helpful to know where your ranks. The coaches care more about times, not ranking. I find swim cloud rankings favor distance events -

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes it is helpful to know where your ranks. The coaches care more about times, not ranking. I find swim cloud rankings favor distance events -

Not really, and it even favored them less with the latest update made over the summer.

OP, coaches don’t necessarily use SC. Some do, some don’t. Ultimately they are looking at meet results and times posted on the USA swimming website. It’s more for swimmers to see how their times compare to current swimmers on each college team. Kids going through or about to enter the recruiting process can see whether they could earn points (top 16) during champs meets.

If your kid’s times are better than their current swimmers, college coaches will find them. If they are cuspy swimmers then have your swimmer fill out the recruiting questionnaire on each school’s athletic website. Do this after your kid’s March champs meet of their sophomore year. D1 coaches can’t contact recruits until 6/15 but it’s good to get on their radar early, especially if you have a kid with great academics.

[Anonymous]

A little…and I know that bc:

We can see which colleges are following my kid’s swim cloud account. Service (all) academies use it.

The VA Tech swim coach said he uses for a quick overview.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes it is helpful to know where your ranks. The coaches care more about times, not ranking. I find swim cloud rankings favor distance events -

Not really, and it even favored them less with the latest update made over the summer.

OP, coaches don’t necessarily use SC. Some do, some don’t. Ultimately they are looking at meet results and times posted on the USA swimming website. It’s more for swimmers to see how their times compare to current swimmers on each college team. Kids going through or about to enter the recruiting process can see whether they could earn points (top 16) during champs meets.

If your kid’s times are better than their current swimmers, college coaches will find them. If they are cuspy swimmers then have your swimmer fill out the recruiting questionnaire on each school’s athletic website. Do this after your kid’s March champs meet of their sophomore year. D1 coaches can’t contact recruits until 6/15 but it’s good to get on their radar early, especially if you have a kid with great academics.

What updates were made?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes it is helpful to know where your ranks. The coaches care more about times, not ranking. I find swim cloud rankings favor distance events -

Not really, and it even favored them less with the latest update made over the summer.

OP, coaches don’t necessarily use SC. Some do, some don’t. Ultimately they are looking at meet results and times posted on the USA swimming website. It’s more for swimmers to see how their times compare to current swimmers on each college team. Kids going through or about to enter the recruiting process can see whether they could earn points (top 16) during champs meets.

If your kid’s times are better than their current swimmers, college coaches will find them. If they are cuspy swimmers then have your swimmer fill out the recruiting questionnaire on each school’s athletic website. Do this after your kid’s March champs meet of their sophomore year. D1 coaches can’t contact recruits until 6/15 but it’s good to get on their radar early, especially if you have a kid with great academics.

What updates were made?

New formula to determine what they call power points.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes it is helpful to know where your ranks. The coaches care more about times, not ranking. I find swim cloud rankings favor distance events -

I have actually found the opposite to be true for me personally (high school freshman). I am a distance swimmer, and none of my distance times are right after February from last year. My sprint times, however, are all correct

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes it is helpful to know where your ranks. The coaches care more about times, not ranking. I find swim cloud rankings favor distance events -

I have actually found the opposite to be true for me personally (high school freshman). I am a distance swimmer, and none of my distance times are right after February from last year. My sprint times, however, are all correct

Resubmit your meet results to them.

[e-mail]

[Anonymous]

Yes- a coach pulled up my kid’s times on swimcloud both before (according to the coach) the in person meeting and during (which my kid saw).

[Anonymous]

Yes, sone coaches use it but most aren’t focused on the power ranking number the way the kids think they are. For your own tool, I’d also look at swimintel. Very useful reports there