<p>I know I am lucky to have this dilemma but it is real to me. I want to study engineering or computer science and have to decide between Brown/Columbia/MIT. The athletic experience is totally different at each so put that aside. I have 2100 SATs and 8 APs but don't walk on water. I am concerned about handling MIT's rigor on top of year round sports commitments. How would you contrast the engineering/CS programs? Any info on how other athletic recruits have navigated their challenges appreciated. (Admitted early action MIT)</p>
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<p>Every athlete I’ve ever talked to about this has said that the commitment of a varsity sport has actually made them better students, in that they are forced to organize their time in a way that they generally don’t in the off seasons.</p>
<p>Students at MIT - whether they be geniuses, people with very strong backgrounds, or people with very weak backgrounds, etc - generally don’t lock themselves in their rooms and study every waking moment. They generally handle commitments and are deeply involved with things outside their classes. Striking that balance is a pretty awesome learning experience for everyone, and definitely possible with a sport :)</p>
<p>I am in a similar situation, right now I am between MIT, Brown, and Amherst. A challenge is a challenge and it’ll only make you stronger. You’ve probably heard this multiple times, but you wouldn’t have been admitted if you couldn’t handle the work. I feel the same way about one school, I have been scared about it, because it seems like everybody’s a genius, and that might be true, but it doesn’t mean that you can’t work a little harder, and party hard at the same time. Life is a game of balance just find the balance that works. Like you I was admitted to MIT early, coach Taylor is kinda scary, but he seems cool, Brown has a new coach, and my official deterred me, also it is a great school for science, but the stigma is that it filled with underachievers. As for Columbia, I couldn’t do it, immersed in the city, and even though they have a great team, the facilities are 100 blocks above the campus. Also, Columbia engineering and Brown for that matter does not compare well to the likes of MIT, MIT has a great name, but at the same time it is focused on engineering, and respected for engineering so it brings in fantastic faculty and students every year. </p>
<p>About two weeks ago I had the same fear, MIT is the hardest school in America, sure but so is any Ivy or good school for that matter. If its to hard to take a few classes at Harvard, but also, and probably most importantly, go with your gut, if you really like one school and struggle finding fault with it, go to that one.</p>
<p>Obviously I would like you to go to MIT, because I feel like it’ll be my home for the next four years. So, good luck with your decision.</p>
<p>There are people who can do both sports and MIT engineering well. I think probably the sport itself has to be refreshing to you. Like it’s probably bad if you feel like you have to veg out for a couple of hours after practice because you’re exhausted rather than do something productive. </p>
<p>Bottom line is that it takes time to absorb new material–no matter how smart you are. I knew a guy who went to Amherst for undergrad and then MIT grad school for physics. He said he was a big jock and had a 4 min. mile in high school, but he said he had to quit the cross-country team at Amherst after a semester because it was cutting into his study time. In fact, he said he was shocked at how much homework we were assigned at MIT. He said he knew guys with perfect SAT’s who didn’t quit who ended up getting B’s in their physics classes. It’s true people don’t study 24/7, but some people need some relaxing time to let problems ferment in their brain. Do you know what I mean? Others are not like that. Exercise is always good, but for some people 2-3 hrs a day is too much. </p>
<p>Time management is a big buzzword, and sometimes it is just not feasible. It depends on the person, and it’s hard to say in advance who will be able to do it.</p>
<p>MIT readlly does understand this. Unusually for any university, some 20% of the undergraduate body competes in some form of intercollegiate sport. Beyond that, some 80% of the student body competes in the extensive intramural program. Being involved in sport at MIT is not going to isolate you as some strange weirdo amongst the robot geniuses on campus. Rather it is going to mean that you fit right in.</p>
<p>The MIT admissions office almost never makes mistakes. If you were admitted early, you can do the work, you can succeed at MIT and play a sport. And don’t worry about being unable to walk on water, that’s usually covered sophhomore year at the alumni pool (grin).</p>
<p>Not sure what division the other schools are but MIT is division 3. D3 sports are still competitive but not nearly as much as D1 sports. I played varsity sports at MIT and was very grateful that I did. I was one of those whose participation in varsity athletics forced me to organize my time. Practice also got rid of any excess energy and I was ready to sit down to study (and not move sometimes). My grades were actually better in season than out of season. </p>
<p>My practices were either early morning or evening, outside of normal class times. Games would sometimes cut into my school day, but not very often as we were usually playing local opponents (typical of D3 programs). </p>
<p>My son was looking to play D1 sports and opted not to as the practices were 2 pm to 5 pm every day in season. He did not feel he could take that much time out of his school day and still keep up in an engineering program. He had talked to several of his older friends that dropped out out of D1 level sports for that very reason (and maybe other reasons not said) while pursuing an engineering degree.</p>
<p>So, IMHO, MIT offers a good blend of academics and athletics.</p>
<p>^Not all sports have the same time requirement or carry with it the level of exhaustion. For instance, the rowing team has at least 3 hours of practice a day. While it’s true that rowing is a D1 sport at MIT, I suspect that for some other sports, like running, it may require the same level of commitment. Something like fencing or tennis isn’t going to be as physically draining as cross-country or rowing, so that’s something to consider. I don’t want to discourage people from MIT, but I do want to inject some level of sobriety. Again, everyone’s different. I am someone that can enjoy hardcore training for a sport, but I found I didn’t like mixing it with academics at the college level. I found it oppressive, like I didn’t have time to let material settle in my mind, but was rather running back and forth. Other people really need 2-3 hours a day of hardcore athletic training and/or are have a different style of learning–i.e., like to concentrate on problem sets for a period of time and then not think about them at all.</p>
<p>One compromise is to wait a year or two to start your sport. For some of the more intensive majors (e.g., chem E), a sport may be easier to handle when you get the major core classes under your belt.</p>
<p>Just for reference, I rowed crew for a season on the freshman team. I dropped out of crew when I broke my foot playing hockey. Hockey being the other varsity sport I played. I was on the varsity hockey team (which was dropped to club status recently) for three years.</p>
<p>Crew team would practice on the water for two hours in the EARLY morning, before class. You would then have some additional individual workouts that I would do at the end of the school day, usually running or on the rowing machines. I believe the D1, D2 and D3 designations weren’t used for crew as I don’t remember them.</p>
<p>Hockey team practice was from 5pm to 6:30pm with the ice available for the team at 4:30. The coach, who was also a professor in Civil Engineering (I am dating myself) didn’t get on the ice until 5pm and expected everyone to be all stetched out and warmed up ready to go. So I was usually on the ice right at 4:30. They did use the division designations for hockey and we were definitely D3.</p>
<p>BTW: My ID is “Hockey Puck 35” shortened to “HPuck35”. I still play twice a week.</p>
<p>Yes in accordance with D3 rules, a D3 school can only have one D1 sport. MIT is definitely D1 crew. </p>
<p>I roomed with a rower one term, and when I was on the MIT campus, I did a lot of theatre (an evening activity if ever there was one). So my roommate would get up at stupidly early o’clock to get onto the water while it was still and then on to classes, and he would leave while I would be asleep, then I would get home from the theatre at stupidly late o’clock, and he was asleep. We lived together in the same room, but tended only to see each other awake on weekends.</p>
<p>My runner selected Columbia last week. He had reservations but it took a while to articulate them. He has a somewhat rigid approach to studying (by focusing till he understands completely) and competition (by giving his body the sleep and diet it needs for recovery) and he knew he be required to adjust his style immediately at MIT to survive given the uncommon amount of homework MIT (like CalTech and Harvey Mudd) requires. Running is a three season sport and he would expect to be a contributing team member year round.</p>
<p>Our high schooler talked to current students from our high school, a freshman advisor and current team members and made an informed choice. We really liked the coach a lot (Coach Taylor was a plus to our runner since he doesn’t need warm and fuzzy), welcoming team, and approach to academics, but you need to go with your gut so we support his choice.</p>
<p>NWRunner, what is the major that the student plans to study at Columbia?</p>
<p>From the OP…</p>
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