Women’s Division 2 Swimming Colleges

At Division 2 swimming colleges, athletes will see an abundance of talent and many swimmers with the ability to final at the NCAA Division 1 Swimming Championships. This level simply offers a better balance between academics, athletics and the social aspects of college. The benefits and other factors that convince many women to swim D2 are:

• D2 swimming colleges usually have a less demanding training schedule than their D1 counterparts. This extra time can be spent enjoying the social parts of college or even taking up new hobbies.
• Students will have many different types of campuses to look at with D2 colleges. 51 percent of these universities have less than 2,500 students, which sometimes be a nice change of pace to those coming from a high school with a larger student population.

For those women wanting to compete at a high level while maintaining great life balance, checking out D2 colleges could bring clarity to the college selection process. Swimming will be a large part of a student-athlete’s life at a D2 school, but it will not be all they have time to do. 

How many Division 2 colleges with women’s swimming are there?

According to NCSA’s most recent data, there are 77 women’s Division 2 swimming colleges. The scholarship number is only 8.1,  compared to 14 offered in Division 1 as the limit per team. Smaller team sizes are common, with most athletes not receiving a full scholarship unless they are a transcendent talent.

Women’s Division 2 swimming rankings

The college selection process can be difficult if the only data an athlete has is whether a swim team is fast or not. This does not incorporate other factors that make the college experience a positive one. For these reasons NCSA puts together best colleges for women’s D2 swimming to help make a college choice one that is more informed. We use a variety of college rankings along with cost, student life on campus, athletics and the value of the education at an institution.

Best Division 2 women’s swimming colleges:

1. University of California – San Diego
2. Bentley University
3. Truman State University
4. Colorado School of Mines
5. Rollins College
6. Grand Valley State University
7. Hillsdale College
8. Assumption College
9. University of Tampa
10. Augustana University – South Dakota

NCAA rankings based solely on performance are available here.