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High school junior Chloe Kim from Glen Rock, in northern New Jersey, has announced on social media her verbal commitment to the application process* at Princeton University. (Scroll to the second photo for a shot of Kim at DeNunzio Pool.)
“I am so honored to announce my verbal commitment to the admissions process at Princeton University! Thank you to my family, friends, teammates, and coaches for supporting me throughout this process. A special thank you to coach Abby for giving me this incredible opportunity. GO TIGERS!! 🐅🐅”
Kim will make the 90-minute trek south to Princeton in the fall of 2025 to join fellow commits Sophia Sunwoo and Sophie Segerson from Washington state; Californians Delaney Herr and Sydney Willson; and Savannah Skow from New Mexico.
Kim swims year-round with Scarlet Aquatics and specializes in the 400/500 range, but she’s also been as fast as 16:16 in the mile and has solid times in the 200 free, back, and IM. We ranked her #10 on our Way Too Early List of top recruits from the high school class of 2025.
At Winter Juniors East last December, she went her second-best mile time, 16:25.35, to place 4th. It’s a time that would have scored 4th by 6 seconds at 2024 Ivy League Championships in February. She had a big program at Winter Juniors, also competing in the 200/500 free, 200 back, 200 fly, and 200/400 IM. She clocked a PB in the 500 free (4:45.95), which would have made the A final at Ivies. A month earlier, she had clocked a lifetime best in the 400 IM (4:11.49) at the SwimMAC November Invitational.
Kim had a huge showing at Summer Junior Nationals in 2022, where she won the 400 IM (4:43.45), was runner-up in the 1500 free (16:28.77), was 4th in the 800 free (8:44.88), and came in 7th in the 400 free (4:16.59). She also competed in the 200 free, 200 back, 200 fly, and 200 IM. Last summer, while she was off those times at Summer Juniors, she did improve her LCM times in the 200 IM (2:18.79), 100 back (1:04.96), 100 fly (1:02.74), and 200 fly (2:16.59) during the season.
Best Times:
- 1650 free – 16:16.21
- 1000 free – 9:42.69
- 500 free – 4:45.95
- 200 free – 1:48.70
- 400 IM – 4:11.49
- 200 IM – 2:00.01
- 200 back – 1:57.22
- 200 fly – 1:59.10
- 200 breast – 2:16.12
*Note: A verbal commitment between an Ivy League coach and a prospective student-athlete is not an offer of admission, as only the Admission Office has that authority. The coach can only commit his or her support in the admission process. Ivy League Admission Offices do not issue “Likely Letters” before October 1 of the prospective student-athlete’s senior year of high school. The Likely Letter, while issued after an initial read of the student’s application, is not an offer of admission to the university.
If you have a commitment to report, please send an email with a photo (landscape, or horizontal, looks best) and a quote to [email protected].
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Great for Princeton! Great for Chloe! Congratulations, cannot wait to see what you do at Princeton.
Congrats, Chloe! Great choice to continue your swimming and academic career. I’d like to think from the picture your included that it was preordained. Either way, You and Princeton make a great match!
Side note, but does anyone else find it crazy how early recruiting happens in the US? Chloe is the last top swimmer to commit, but it’s still 18 months (!) until she’ll be stepping onto campus.
No doubt the schools are happy to get recruits as early as they can, and scholarship money gets allocated quickly… but as a swimmer I think I’d rather wait until a bit later before making such a big decision.
Congrats to Chloe (and love the pics!). Good luck at Old Nassau!
On your point, true – we also see an increased number of kids de-committing, or the coach who recruited them moves on before they matriculate, or a kid has a huge time drops (or adds) in the two years after they commit.
It also throws off kids aiming for schools with tough academic standards, where you have to pass up athletic scholarships until you have a better idea where you can get admitted.
The NCAA used to be a bit stricter on recruiting – seems it’s in each individual’s interest to jump the gun, but everyone could be better off if everyone waited.
Yes. It’s terrible. Especially for boys – who are more likely to be developing later. But unless the NCAA changes the calendar, we’re stuck with this.
Awesome
Quite Impressive from Chloe winning gold at Winter Olympics and might make Summer Olympics in swimming. They are 2 different skillsets snowboarding half pipe and long distance swimming require different set of skills, If she medals in the Summer Olympics will she be the first to medal in summer and winter olympics?
Same name. Different person. Best comment I’ve read all day though!
Your taking it a bit too far. Just honest mistake by “Greeny”, not many athletes from same country have same name. People are too sensitive
Good one Greeny
I just looked it up and it seems that the snowboarder Chloe Kim actually went to Princeton as well. Looks like she matriculated in 2019.
Is that asterisk supposed to lead somewhere? What does committing to the application process mean?
Ivy League schools tend to have lower acceptance rates. However, athletes do tend to get a thumb on the scale depending on how much the coach wants them. But your application can’t be an absolute disaster.
do you actually know how the IVY League schools handle admissions for athletes or are you speculating?
Genuinely curious on this, too. From what I’ve heard, at these “top” academic schools, if the coaches want you, you’re in.
There are academic requirements, the coach can fight for you, but it is the AO who makes the final decision.
I can only speak to how it works at Princeton. Each coach has a certain amount of recruiting spots that they are given each year. That does not mean that they can just take anyone. The admissions department screens them and lets the coaches know early in the process if a recruit is likely to be admitted, and the coaches probably have a pretty good sense of what academic numbers will get in. The recruit will get a likely letter early in the fall letting them know that they are likely to be admitted (all the Ivies do that). Once a coach gives a recruit that spot, they don’t get another spot if the recruit decides to go somewhere else.… Read more »
Actually, not quite true. Aside from the ~5% admission rate, the Ivy schools agree to allocate ~8 admission spots/class/gender to swimming/diving teams as long as the applicants meet the academic admission standards for all applicants and are able to manage the financial obligations as well. Beyond that, the team’s GPA is expected/required to exceed the school’s average GPA and are ranked against the other Ivy swim/dive teams. Negative performance affects the coach’s reviews each year.
So, while it suggests the coach can get someone/anyone they want, the candidate better be able to excel academically to meet the standards agreed to by the schools. Bringing in a team member who is sub-par academically significantly negatively affects the team and, therefore, is… Read more »
Just adding that these schools in my experience are need blind so they don’t consider your ability to pay, they’ll cover whatever demonstrated financial need you have just like any other student. These schools are very generous with grants (less often loans).
# of spots is also variable year to year. At my school and the schools where I was recruited, the athletic department as a whole had a certain # of spots but the number of swimming likely letters varied from year to year depending on how many the bigger sports needed (though it did usually average out to ~8).
I also know of several confirmed cases (though awhile ago) of someone verbally committing to these schools on the premise that they would likely be admitted, but the Admissions Office came back and didn’t clear them so they very quietly re-committed elsewhere. Usually still need an ACT 32+ or SAT mid-1400s.
Interviewed and visited multiple. Attended one as a swimmer.
It’s a footnote. It means more info is available at the bottom of the article – it’s an academic thing.