Anybody knows the realities of MIT recruiting process?

Athletic Recruits
1

<p>I JUST visited the MIT Track & Field department. And I am confused about the recruiting process of it after I have read all the comments on CC regarding to this specific matter.</p>

<p>When I visited there, everything was going smooth. The coach I met was welcoming me outside his office and gave me a lot of compliments(?) and advice at the same time.</p>

<p>Yes, he said that he has a limited influence over the admission committee. In fact, only 37% of the supported recruits got in eventually, according to what he said. And he said that I already committed myself to come to MIT if I get in here because I filled out the questionnaire form? I was bewildered and felt like I was cheated. But, I would have committed anyways. So, I cared not.</p>

<p>Well, here are the topics we talked about:
1) my stats
2) my chances?
3) advice on my application</p>

<p>My stats are:</p>

<p>SAT(1st try. will be re-taken on may 1st)
CR: 560 M:710 WR: 670 (w/ 11 score on essay)
Total: 1940</p>

<p>(note: I have been in the US only for three years now. So, the coach said that adcom will take account of this matter?!)</p>

<p>SAT II
Math level 2 760
Bio 670
I said that I will be taking Chem at the end of this year.</p>

<p>GPA: 97.5/100</p>

<p>School rank: 1/18 (I know..haha)</p>

<p>4 on AP Bio
4 on AP Econ
(these two ap tests were taken without taking classes because of my limited circumstances at my school. And he was pretty impressed about this)</p>

<hr>

<p>So, he said that "you have to grade as a top 5% student, which means I have to be a valedictorian no matter what. haha</p>

<p>And about my SAT score, he said that my math score is competitive, which I was surprised about. And reading section is average. And writing score is competitive. </p>

<p>My GPA is good. </p>

<p>Most importantly, he said that "you have to show your academic initiatives to the admission committee to convince them that you are a qualified one. So he suggested that I need to take classes at a community college. </p>

<p>Also, he said that I need to take an internship at a business firm since my intended major is business. </p>

<p>And I was urged to do lots of activities related to business. (I am a treasurer assistant and blah blah.)</p>

<p>He said, I wouldn't be rejected at least if I apply as an early applicant. And I went like Wow in my head.</p>

<p>He said, my application will be highlighted just to show the adcom that I am an athlete. </p>

<p>He said, MIT really puts strong emphasis on math section on SAT. And not so much on reading, which I don't believe.</p>

<p>He said, as soon as the app opens, start it with finding a MIT alum in my area for the interview. </p>

<p>Just for your note, he has been at MIT for 2 years now. </p>

<hr>

<p>So, people who have experience with this,
Do you agree with all the things he said?
And do you guys have any opinions on this situation and advice for my app?</p>

<p>Please just throw yourself into this thread for I needed every advice I can get.</p>

2

<p>My D2 was being recruited by MIT a few years ago. Our experience was that the coach can write a letter on your behalf which will allow your folder to be flagged. Beyond that, the coach has no real influence. D2 sent in her application to MIT EA - she was deferred to regular decision. She committed elsewhere during ED.</p>

<p>You can not commit to MIT because they can not commit to you. If you get in great, but it wonā€™t really be because of your sport. Filling out a questionnaire does not commit you to go to a particular school. Your stats are low for MIT. Do not hold out for admission there - itā€™s a long shot. Remember 37% acceptance means 63% rejection.</p>

<p>There are some on CC who will tell you that they know people who got into MIT as recruited athletes. Probably not really true. The student got in for other reasons and being an athlete was a bonus to MIT.</p>

1 Like
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<p>We just went through this with MIT. Had a good visit with the coach who offered his strong support. Also asked son for a commitment to attend in exchange for his support, which son gave. Coach asked him to apply EA and he did. Deferred EA then rejected in RD. His scores and stats were at least average for MIT.</p>

<p>Agree with everything ShesOnHerWay said. </p>

<p>MIT does care about your CR, but they do not consider the Writing portion of SAT. I would suggest trying to bring your SAT scores up as they are low for MIT.</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>Not rejected is not the same as accepted. This year for EA, they accepted 10%, deferred 70% and rejected 20%. </p>

<p>Overall acceptance rate for males was about 5%, I believe. About 3x that for females. So overall, given 10% acceptance, 37% acceptance for athletes is pretty good. But, that is probably historical data and may have gone down this year, along with all the other rates.</p>

<p>Most MIT athletic recruits on CC were deferred in EA and rejected in RD. I think I only saw one that was admitted. So, put in your best app, but have plan B in place, and good luck. Once you have put in part 1 of your app, they will assign you an interviewer in your area.</p>

<p>There is a fair amount of MIT info on the ā€œSchools where recruiting doesnā€™t countā€ thread</p>

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<p>While you clearly have to be an excellent student to be admitted to MIT even as an athlete, the claim that athletics does not count substantially in the MIT admissions process defies belief. One need only compare their basketball team with the Cal Tech basketball team to prove the point.</p>

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<p>EMM1, it counts to the extent that admission rate increases from 10% to 37% (according to OPā€™s info, I donā€™t have verification of that). Nearly 400% increase, or more, if you consider these white/ORM males would otherwise have admit rates in the low single digits. So nothing to sneeze at, but nothing to hang your hat on either.</p>

<p>Caltech has 1000 vs 5000 undergrads at MIT and tends to choose students less likely to have any athletic background. They do, however, also track their ā€˜recruited athletesā€™ through the admission process and keep the coach informed, I was surprised to see.</p>

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<p>The claim was that. ā€œIf you get in great, but it wonā€™t really be because of your sport.ā€ The only plausible connotation of this statement is that being a recruited athlete is not a VERY significant plus in the admissions processā€“that no athlete is admitted who would not have a strong possibility of admission without sports. The facts do not bear this out; it would not be possible to run a high level DIII program on that basis. The numbers simply donā€™t work.</p>

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<p>^EMM1 - Being a recruited athlete is NOT a VERY significant plus for MIT admission. But that doesnā€™t mean that an excellent athlete is not a good fit for MIT nor that the athlete couldnā€™t get admitted to MIT without being a recruited athlete. My D2ā€™s stats were well in line with MIT admitted stats. Her athletic ability was not her only attribute. She had extensive volunteer ECs, very high GPA and SAT/ACTs. She was very competitive in the MIT applicant pool even without her sport. </p>

<p>There are plenty of excellent students who happen to be athletes. Why is it surprising that those with MIT level stats and athletics would apply to MIT? They could (and do) easily field a high level program with these student-athletes.</p>

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<p>I am in no way trying to demean your daughterā€™s accomplishments, which are obviously extraordinarily impressive. And you can elieve what you want. The reality is that in some sports (notably football and basketball) people who are high level DIII athletes and would otherwise be competitive for admission to MIT (virtually all Aā€™s and spectacular in Math and Science) for all intents and purposes do not exist. And all of them who do exist do not want to come to MIT, which is a very special place in any number of ways.</p>

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<p>Anybody wants to give advice to my stats or chances?</p>

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<p>Your stats are not good enough, especially your standardized tests. Your math should be better, if the fact you havenā€™t been in the US very long is the only reason for your scores-not slamming them, just being realistic about MIT.</p>

<p>I recommend you look at CMU, they are excellent in engineering but slightly easier to get into.</p>

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<p>Thank you for your advice.
Any other school that I might be interested in besides MIT?
I want to major in business management. And that is why I wanted to
apply to MIT because of its reputable program.</p>

<p>So the question becomes, any other schools that I might be interest in for a reputable business program? Anybody? (Especially, I want to know what my chances are at other DIII schools(LAC and big univ.)!</p>

<p>Thanks! Iā€™m waiting for the response!</p>

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<p>Babson comes to mind, if you are certain you want a business degree.</p>

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<p>My D had a similiar situation at MIT. She was ā€œcourtedā€ by the coach for months and received her support through the application process, which basically is a letter to the Admission committee. She did tell us there are no guarantees. On March 14, my D was rejected and quite disappointed. The coach was great and said that she was hoping to get 8 through even though last year she got 6. Well, she ended up with 5. She told us that the 5 she got all had above 2250 in SAT. Weā€™ve moved on and she is going to BC.</p>

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<p>

hmm ā€¦ I do not think I agree with this about basketball. A few thoughts. First, I do agree about football where a schools needs A LOT pf players to field a very strong team. Second, the opposite is true fro basketball ā€¦ they need to find about 1 extraordinary bball-student combo student per year (that would give the team 4 studs) to get to the top of the bball pile ā€¦ that is much more doable (while football would need more like 10 per year). Finallly, when I see higher admit rates for athletes (or other groups such as legacies or URMs) my first thought is not the school let in a bunch of less qualified applicants but rather Iā€™d guess for most of those folks their extra hook (athlete, URM, legacy, etc) was a great tie-breaker. I think of applicants in 4 groups ā€¦ 1) top notch virtual auto-admits (not tons of these) ā€¦ 2) well qualified for the school (and there are tons of these; multiples of the freshman class size) ā€¦ 3) qualified enought to handle the school but wouldnā€™t get in without a major hook (major athletic recruit or developmental admit) (very very few of these) ā€¦ 4) no way they will get admitted (if we believe admissions folks less than 25% of applicants or less). So how does that tie to MIT hoops ā€¦ the new coach focused on recruiting and found the 1 stud per year with the academic chops to be at least in the second group; a solid MIT applicant whose tie-breaker attribute to separate themselves is they are a bball stud (as opposed to what is separating others from the qualified set ā€¦ from Wyoming. first generation college, etc). To me bball is quite doable ā€¦ football much tougher.</p>

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<p>For business in DIII take a look at the UAA. Consider Carnegie Mellon-Tepper, NYU-Stern, Emory-Goizueta, and to a lesser extent, Case Western U. </p>

<p>Also an Economics degree from a highly reputable university will open up many doors (investment banking) and in many cases more so than a BA in Business-Finance would. For this major also take a look at the UAA: UChicago, WashU both are very, very strong in the field. </p>

<p>The UAA conference is by most considered the best (or 2nd to the WIAC) conference for Cross Country in DIII, so if distance is your focus, you will have excellent competition. Similarily the track programs as a whole are also among the most competitive.</p>

<p>As an added benefit I would almost guarantee that athletic recruiting plays a much stronger role at the above schools than at MIT.</p>

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<p>I agree with Kafka-good advise.</p>

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<p>OP
Know this is a bit lateā€“
however
know of a scholar-athlete who was recruited to MITā€“got in EAā€¦
Had the whole package, grdes, scores, leadership, and sport.</p>

<p>andā€¦
turned it down for a full ride somewhere elseā€¦</p>

<p>I kow, I knowā€¦
shocked us allā€¦
however canā€™t argue with a full ride to a great school somewhere else.</p>

<p>anyway
sport only helps support, not get you in at MIT</p>

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<p>My son was recruited to play on the tennis team. He is waiting to hear if he gets in off the waiting list. Butā€¦ Even if he gets in, he will be attending Berkeley. He felt MIT didnā€™t provide the undergrad experience he was looking for. Talk about a shock?? Big surprise to us, but I have to admit, I think he made the right decision. He is a nationally ranked tennis player but will only be playing club tennis next year. He wants to be able to focus 100% on his schoolwork and tennis, for the first time ever, will be played just for fun.</p>

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<p>Good for your son, momfirst, that he knows what his priorities are for the college experience. How lucky he is, that you support his decisions.</p>

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<p>Thanks, fauve. The thing was my son has worked so darn hard for so long, that I felt the experience was most important. All through high school, all I ever heard him say was ā€œI canā€™t. I have to study, or I canā€™t. I have a tournament.ā€ Many national tournaments are held over the summer and breaks, so he never had a real vacation where tennis was not involved. Donā€™t get me wrong. He loves to play tennis but he would have liked to be able to take a break. You just canā€™t skip national tournaments and keep your ranking up and to be highly ranked in So Cal, you have to play just about every weekend. Not to mention, with his schedule he had summer work every year. He seriously has had no time off for four years. This was a very difficult decision for him. He has been playing tennis since he was 4, and leaving tennis behind was not easy for him. He had offers to play at two universities (Harvey Mudd and UCSD), but it just didnā€™t feel right to him. MIT and Berkeley are #1 and #2 in Engineering so the quality of education wasnā€™t the problem. He wanted football games, a large and vibrant school atmosphere, San Francisco, a highly regarded club team (Berkeley just won the national championships) and to be on the west coast. I visited Cal with him and I could totally see him there. I know he will be happy. I believe he will do well no matter where he goes, but I wanted him to be excited and happy about his decision. I want him to have a top notch education but I want him to have some fun. Berkeley was the best fit. Go Bears!</p>