Everyone in the Pool!
A blog post on a site called College Explorations that is written by an independent counselor, Nancy Griesemer, is bound to interest Washington and Lee graduates (and current and future students, too). As Nancy explains in the blog, she toured W&L recently and heard the tour guide refer to the University’s swimming requirement. The guide said that W&L is one of eight colleges that have such a requirement, which is what an Associated Press story indicated back in 2006 when the University of North Carolina abandoned its requirement. But Nancy’s research, which was reported in that blog post, showed that nine institutions (not including the service academies) still have such a test, and she provided her list:
- Bryn Mawr College
- Columbia University
- Cornell University
- Dartmouth University
- Hamilton College
- MIT
- Notre Dame University
- Swarthmore College
- Washington and Lee University
Several people responded to the blog that VMI (state-supported institution and thus not a service academy) has a requirement. But in checking with VMI, it’s not quite that simple. Cadets are required to take a swimming course. Those who can’t swim take a basic course, and a swim test is part of the course. But beyond that there is no swim test required for graduation. (Some ROTC students at VMI have requirements but for ROTC, not VMI.) Lest anyone has forgotten, W&L men’s swimming coach Joel Shinofield reminds that the test requires 50 yards (up and back in the Cy Twombly Pool) in under one minute followed by five minutes of treading water.
