Amanda Bieler

About Me:

I swam competitively for 17 years, finishing my career as the Captain of Boston College (BC) Swimming & Diving and competing in the ACC Conference. I swam the 200, 500, and 1650 Freestyle for BC, and had the amazing opportunity to represent the team at the ACC Conference Championship in 2015 and 2016 as an underclassman.

I was also the Secretary and Team Representative of Boston College’s Student Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC), and an ACC Scholar Athlete all four years in college.

Prior to BC, I played lacrosse and swam for Darien High School in Connecticut. Ultimately I choose to prioritize swimming with college recruiting.

I was the Captain of Darien High School Swimming & Diving. I had the great opportunity to be an All American consideration for two years straight on the 400 Freestyle Relay team for Darien. In 2012, 2013, and 2014 I competed at YMCA Nationals.

Currently I live in New York City, and have recently found a new passion for running. I finished the 2018 NYC Marathon on Team JDRF. At the 2018 NYC marathon, I qualified for the 2020 Boston Marathon.

Do It For You

As a high school senior, college recruiting consumed most of my mental and physical time and energy, starting on July 1st prior to my senior year, when NCAA D1 coaches were allowed to start offering recruiting trips. The NCAA limits athletes to attending five weekend trips, but my high school coach had a strict rule on three trips, as the fall season was a crucial training period for our team. My top two choices were Colgate and Boston College, and I attended trips to both universities. After completing my official 48 hour visits, personal reflection, and several conversations with my parents, I was firm on committing to Colgate, despite the fact that my parents pushing me to choose Boston College (BC). 75% of me loved Colgate for the swim program and 25% of me loved that it was not what my parents chose. I gave a verbal commitment to the coach and sent in my application for Early Decision.

On December 16th of my senior year I got a small envelope in the mail from Colgate. My application had been deferred and I had not heard from the Colgate coach for a few weeks regarding my spot on the team. I reached out to the coach at the time, he was not confident he could completely offer me a spot as they had a ton of recruiting interest that fall. Scrambling and nervous for my future, I applied to six additional universities over Christmas break, all of which I could swim at and restarted conversations with those coaches.

I planned a trip to Tulane and Villanova for January. I scheduled phone calls with Georgetown, Richmond, Boston University, and Denison. Mid-February, my high school coach received a phone call from the coach at Colgate notifying me that I definitely had a spot on the team and asked my verbal commitment, again by the end of the day. My application was still pending, and I was ecstatic. If I said yes, I was told I would receive a National Letter of Intent to sign in the mail by the end of the week. I told the coach yes, and that night my family and I celebrated.

In mid-March I got a large envelope containing an acceptance letter from Boston College, my heart sank. I still had the paperwork from Colgate sitting at my desk; I could not get myself to sign it, something was holding me back. I stared at the acceptance letter from BC, reading it over and over again that night. The next day, I made one of my hardest life decisions. I called the Colgate coach and revoked my verbal commitment (I had also received my acceptance letter from Colgate that week, but it was no longer binding since I was deferred from the ED pool). I told the coach my heart was no longer in the Colgate program, and I think I was slightly still bothered that my spot was not guaranteed after the fall recruiting trip, when I was given the impression by the coaches that it was guaranteed.

Boston had more excitement to it; I would have a bigger team to practice with and I would be more of a stand-out contributor. I was also admitted to the business school, BC’s football, basketball, and hockey teams were nationally televised, and Boston is a great college town. However, all of those factors that made me choose BC did not make my phone call with the Colgate coach any easier. I was extremely nervous. However, when I hung up the phone, I was confident I made the right decision. By the time I graduated high school, that spring, I found out that the Colgate coaching staff was changing and the head coach left the University – I would not have even swam for the coach that recruited me had I stayed!

I was so afraid to go back on my word to the Colgate coach, but learned that in life, no one will look out for you more than yourself. The coach was a perfect example; he got a better opportunity, so he took it. The opportunity to attend Boston College was invaluable and one of the best life decisions I have ever made.