A Step-by-Step Guide to Showcasing Your Talent, Personality, and Potential
Jamie Bailey | Sep 4, 2025
Click on the image above to see a screenshot of a completed, example profile.
Introduction
College coaches and NIL brand sponsors are constantly looking for athletes who stand out. Your SwimIntel student-athlete profile is the place to present your full story, both in the pool and beyond. It’s where you can bring together your athletic milestones, academic success, leadership experiences, and personal journey.
Think of it as a LinkedIn made for swimming recruits. You have the ability to update your times, show time drops, check your rankings, add highlight videos, display awards, and write a short bio that reflects your personality and potential. This guide walks you through the features of your SwimIntel profile and offers practical tips to help you build a strong student-athlete resume that captures attention.
Go to https://app.swimintel.ai/ and search for your name in the “Recruit Name” search box. Click on your name from the search results list to open up your profile.
To claim a profile:
Register for any SwimIntel account (free or paid) at SwimIntel.com.
Login to the app with your credentials.
Click the “Claim profile” button while logged in.
Only the student-athlete or a legal guardian is allowed to claim an sathlete’s SwimIntel profile. You will need to provide a mobile number to complete the profile claiming process. Only one account can be claimed per account.
Help! I cannot find my profile! If you cannot find your profile, here are some reasons why:
Only swimmers that are 14-18 will have profiles created automatically.
Only swimmers with SCY meets will have profiles created automatically.
International swimmers are unlikely to have a profile unless they have swam in the USA at short-course meets.
Make sure you search using your formal name (e.g. “Abigail”) as well as any nicknames that you might have used at meets (e.g. “Abby”).
If you cannot find a SwimIntel profile, email us at support@swimintel.com to have a profile created for you.
Step 2: Edit My Info
Once you have successfully claimed your profile, it is time to start building your resume. Click on the “Edit My Info” Button underneath the header. Fill out all fields including Class year, Club, Birthday, Height, Shoe Size, Club, Contact Info, Academics, Media, etc. If academics aren’t your strong suit and you aren’t ready to share that information with coaches yet, leave it blank for now (but understand that you will have to eventually share this info with coaches). *Only verified college coaches and NIL brand sponsors will be able to view your contact info and only if you opt-in to sharing this with them. Academic information is only viewable by verified college coaches.
Make sure your club is the correct club specified under “My Info”. Some swimmers are mapped to the wrong clubs when their profiles were created. Also make sure that class year is set and correct. Rankings will only be displayed if your class year is specified.
Step 3: Edit My Times
While we do our best to find your best times when we create your profile, it can be difficult to get 100% accurate data across all LSCs. Click the “Edit My Times” button to set your best times. These should be USA Swimming official times. Do not use relay splits (unless you were leading off). Any time you want hidden from coaches can be done so by clicking the eyeball icon beside the time. This will also remove that time from any rankings. At least three times must be specified for a valid Impact Rating and 5-star ranking to be calculated.
What if I am an international swimmer and do not have any short course times? International swimmers can convert their short course meters times to short course yards and use those converted times for their best times. Long course meters to short course yards conversions are not allowed as that conversion is far too inaccurate to use for college swimming recruiting.
Can I update my times in the middle of a meet? Yes! As soon as you enter an updated time, rankings are automatically updated.
What if I lie and enter best times that aren’t real? You can also lie on your job resume and your college application too, but it is not recommended as the consequences can be severe. SwimIntel routinely audits best times. College coaches can look you up on USA Swimming to verify your times (along with other publicly available websites). Anyone caught entering in invalid times will have their profiles removed.
Step 4: Edit Time Drops
Click on the “Edit Time Drops” button to choose which time drops you want to showcase. College coaches are always interested in your progression. This is your opportunity to highlight your improvements.
Only time drops from consecutive seasons can be entered.
Only time drops from either last season or this season can be entered.
Only use USA Swimming offical times.
Up to 5 time drops can be displayed.
You need to look up and fill out your times as best times from previous seasons won’t auto-populate.
Once you enter in your time drops, a new card will appear on your profile to highlight those drops.
Step 5: Edit Awards
Click on the “Edit Awards” button to select athletic, academic, and/or leadership awards that you have won. After choosing at least one award, a new card will appear on your profile that displays each award selected. You can re-order the awards in the “Edit Awards” dialog box. This gives you an opportunity to showcase some of the things that you have accomplished outside of the pool.
I can’t find one of the awards I won. Can you add it? We are constantly adding new awards. You can request an award be added by emailing us at support@swimintel.com.
Step 6: Edit About Me
Click on the “Edit About Me” button to write a short bio about yourself. The purpose of this section is to show off your personality and potential, what makes you unique. You are more as a recruit than just your times. This is your story and college coaches want to know it. A typical about me bio will be 5 to 10 sentences (use your own discretion as to length but do not write an essay that is so long that a coach decides it is tldr;). Only verified college coaches and NIL brand sponsors will be able to view your About Me. Here are some ideas for this section:
Significant time drops
Multi-sport athlete
Height
Wingspan
Late growth spurt
Your athletic achievements
Parents/siblings athletic achievements
Your academic achievements
A quote from your coach about your work ethic
How your training has changed and will make you faster
Challenges/injuries you have overcome
Specific swimming strengths (e.g. underwaters, kicking)
Late entry into swimming
Geographic challenges (e.g. I live 2 hours from my pool)
Click on the “Edit My Priorities” button to select up to three of your top priorities when it comes to choosing a college. Once you select your top college priorities, a new card will appear on your profile that shows those priorities. Only verified college coaches can view your college priorities. This section helps college coaches find student-athletes that have priorities that match their program’s strengths.
One of my top priorities is not listed here. Can I add it? We are constantly adding new priorities based on requests. You can request a college priority be added by emailing us at support@swimintel.com.
Adding a Video to My Profile
You can add a video to your profile as a card by clicking on the “Edit My Info” button and filling out the “Swimming Video URL” field. Use either YouTube or Vimeo share URLs as these are public unlike videos uploaded to other sport-specific sites which may require login/payment to view.
Badges (Sectionals, Futures, …)
Badges indicating the number of cuts you have at Sectionals, Futures, Winter Junior Nationals, Summer Junior Nationals, US Open, and USA Nationals will automatically appear in your profile header based on your best short course times. Clicking on the badge will bring up a list of each of your events/times for that qualify you for that meet. The times listed here are your times, not the meet standards.
I just got a new cut. When will a new badge / updated count appear on my profile? As soon as your times are updated either automatically by SwimIntel or manually by you, the badge will immediately appear on your profile.
I have NCSA cuts (or state cuts). Are there badges for these meets? Not currently. We only display badges at this time for Sectionals, Futures, Winter JRs, Summer JRs, US Open, and USA Nationals as these are the official USA Swimming championship meets.
Impact Rating Details/Bar Graph
Clicking on your Impact Rating in the header of your profile (underneath your club name) will bring up the details for your Impact Rating calculation. You will see your top three events/times and each respective Impact Rating. Your total Impact Rating is the average of these three. The bar graph shows you the average Impact Rating for recruits (when they were seniors in high school) that went to various D1 conferences. This gives you a quick view of where your current Impact Rating stands in comparison to each conference’s average recruit.
Announcing My College Commitment
You can announce your college commitment by clicking on the “Edit My Info” button and selecting your college in the “Committed To” section. A new card will appear on your profile that shows your commitment. That commitment will also show in any search or rankings view.
Sharing My Profile
Click on the “Share” button to have a shareable URL copied to your clipboard. This will generate a short URL customized to your profile and name (e.g. https://swim.mr/gracen-bailey). You can paste this URL into an email, text message, your Instagram bio, recruiting questionnaires, etc. for anyone to view. Regardless of who you share this with, only verified college coaches and NIL brand sponsors will be able to see your contact info, about me, college priorities, academics, etc.
Instagram Post Builder
You can build an Instagram post showcasing the highlights of your student-athlete profile. Click on the “Build IG Post” button underneath your profile header to load the post builder. Select what you want to show in your post and either download the image or share it directly to Instagram.
How the Five-Star Ranking System Works
Recruits are automatically assigned a star rank based on their Impact Rating (more info). Impact Rating is calculated from your best times in your three best short course events. The cutoffs are as follows (*note the cutoffs are different between male and female recruits):
5⭐️ Female: 99.0
5⭐️ Male: 98.0
4⭐️ Female: 95.0
4⭐️ Male: 94.0
3⭐️ Female: 90.0
3⭐️ Male: 88.5
2⭐️ Female: 86.0
2⭐️ Male: 84.5
What do the stars mean?
5⭐️: Can’t miss, blue-chip recruit. Very likely to be a point scorer at NCAA D1 championships.
4⭐️: A clear Power 4 level recruit. Very likely to be a point scorer at any conference championship.
3⭐️: Mid-major D1, high-end D2/D3/NAIA, or stretch Power 4 recruit.
2⭐️: D2/D3/NAIA or stretch D1 recruit.
Am I locked into one of the classifications above because of my star ranking? No! How coaches view your potential makes a HUGE difference in how you will be perceived as a recruit. You will see many 3⭐️ athletes commit to Power 4 schools. You will see several 4⭐️ athletes commiting to D2/D3/NAIA schools. What matters the most is finding a college, coach, and team that fits you regardless of your ranking.
When does my ⭐️ ranking update? Whenever your Impact Rating changes, your ⭐️ ranking will automatically update if your rating crosses one of the thresholds above. You can udpate your times in the middle of a meet and your ⭐️ ranking will instantly update.
