When Ryan Serbia arrived at George Mason University, he had already done something most students never consider, finishing high school at 16. Arriving on campus on a swimming scholarship, the electrical engineering major was ready to get his swimming career started, but two weeks after coming to Fairfax, a scooter had other ideas for him. He hit a patch of gravel, went down, and broke his right arm, requiring surgery. “I tell people to stay away from those things,” he said sardonically.
His parents had to drive 1,500 miles from his hometown of Lawton, Oklahoma, to sign the paperwork authorizing medical attention, since he was still a minor. For a freshman recruited to swim Division I, it was a tough start. He redshirted the entire season, keeping his scholarship but watching meets from the pool deck. “It was a good experience being there,” he said. “But it stung. I wanted to be competing.”
Swimming has shaped much of his life, though it did not begin in the typical way. He grew up in a military family and switched to online homeschooling in sixth grade after moving from North Carolina to Oklahoma. The online program allowed him to advance quickly and after a placement test, he skipped ahead to eighth grade and then went back to public schools.
He started swimming at 11, later than many elite competitors. At first, he struggled; at his first tryout, coaches told him to come back a week later because he was too slow for the team. By the time he was 14, however, something shifted. At a state meet, he earned a qualifying time for a regional championship by one one hundredth of a second.
“That kind of started my journey,” he said. From there, his times began to drop. He switched club programs after disagreements about training and saw major improvements. By 16, he had earned Futures and Junior National cuts and was competing against swimmers several years older.
He chose George Mason because the East Coast location appealed to him, along with the university’s strong engineering reputation and proximity to Washington, D.C. His father, now a systems engineer with Boeing after 20 years in the Army, encouraged him to look at schools with strong research connections.
He chose electrical engineering as his major, knowing it would be demanding alongside Division I athletics. “It’s probably the hardest thing I’ve ever done besides swimming,” he said. “But when it clicks, it’s really satisfying.”
During the season, his schedule includes early morning weightlifting, afternoon practices, classes, and study sessions. Managing time is the biggest challenge. “You get to the end of the day and it’s six o’clock, and that’s when you can study, but your body’s exhausted,” he said. Even so, he has earned a spot on the Provost’s Student-Athlete List with a GPA above 3.8.
Now healthy and competing, he has balance in his routine. Outside the pool and classroom, he appreciates the university’s walkable campus and the cooler Mid-Atlantic climate compared to Oklahoma’s heat.
Looking ahead, he is considering graduate study, possibly in quantum information or another research-intensive field. For now, he is focused on continuing to improve in the 200 breaststroke and building the foundation for both an engineering career and the next stage of competition.
For students considering the same path, his advice is simple: “Be ready to manage your time.”