"It is with so much excitement and pride that I announce my verbal commitment to Stanford University! It has been my dream to swim and study at Stanford since I was 10 years old," Smith announced on Instagram in 2019. But despite being excited about starting college at Stanford, Smith decided to defer her acceptance and take a gap year in 2020-2021 to focus on training for the Olympics.
"This was a really, really hard decision to make. Especially because I felt so firm for so long about going off to school this fall," Smith told SwimSwam in July 2020. "I'm really disappointed and sad, but I know that this will probably be the best for me. I think this will give me the best chance to have a strong year at home with some more consistent training, and then hopefully be able to have a more normal freshman year next year."
