I never questioned the reality of MIT’s swim test requirement for graduation, as I knew first-hand of its existence from friends who had to take it. But most people give me skeptical looks when I try to convince them that swimming was part of the physical education requirement at MIT. Well, turns out there’s a reason for the skepticism as there are urban legends connected to college swim test requirements. The detailed story concerns a female student whose rich parents donated a swimming pool to the college after she drowned. The condition for the donation was that the school must have a swimming requirement for all students. This isn’t the only urban legend built on odd benefactor requests, but it is one that is at least based on some truth, which is that many colleges used to have swimming requirements, and a few still do.