<p>Is anyone doing some sports at MIT?
crew???</p>
<p>are you saying for incoming freshmen or for rising seniors? or just a vague question about anyone?</p>
<p>I am trying to get recruited for the lightweight crew team. </p>
<p>Does anyone have any thoughts or experiences on how much being recruited helps? Especially for crew</p>
<p>It cannot hurt. Keep in mind that Stuart Schmill the Dean of Admissions for MIT was previously the coach of the varsity crew squad. That being said, every year Stuart has to disappoint many of the coaches who wish him to admit a particular student. Clearly being a recruited athlete is a significant hook, and for a candidate near the border, that can tip the scales in favour of admittance. That being said, if the rest of the application is not good enough, then being a recruited athlete is not enough to get you in.</p>
<p>it says “anyone” that means future or current students. honestly, its not so hard to understand tho.</p>
<p>I participated in a club sport at MIT – does that count?</p>
<p>Sorry, I thought that the OP wasn’t looking for a serious answer. Some 80% of the MIT student body participates in sports. 20% join a varsity sports team, 75% of the students participate in the MIT Intramural program, and roughly 10% including Molliebatmit participate in a club sport.</p>
<p>Honestly, practically everyone participates in sports if you’re going to be so vague about it.</p>
<p>Does that answer your question? Given that people usually ask for clarification because they’re trying to be helpful and want to figure out what you’re actually asking so they can give you a targeted answer for it, there’s no need to be rude to them about it.</p>
<p>I did (women’s) lightweight crew as a frosh. Most of the crewbies (including me) were walk-ons who had never even seen a crew shell before other than maybe on TV during the Olympics. A lot had high school athletic experience in some other sport, but a couple had never played a sport seriously before.</p>
<p>So, I’m not sure how many recruited crewbies there are (and I assume that the ones that were there weren’t on the novice team, but the main team also seemed to be made up largely of former novice team members). But Mikalye has the right idea when discussing how much being recruited helps.</p>
<p>I think I might apply for crew (female, heavyweight–I miss lightweight by 5 pounds…maybe I should lose some weight for this?) on my application, though I’ve never tried it before. I have four years of slalom canoeing and kayaking though, so maybe that qualifies me somewhat?</p>
<p>slalom canoeing? that’s crazy.</p>
<p>My feeling on recruiting is that having an athletic talent is no bigger an asset in admissions than if MIT didn’t have a team. In other words, MIT is not trying to win games or fill spots on a team through admissions (unlike the ivies). Athletics, to a certain degree, correlate with having a lot of energy and also with leadership ability. Also, athletic involvement means you were smart enough to achieve a top academic record. These reasons are why it is a plus to have an athletic record.</p>
<p>I think it’d be a plus to apply for a varsity sport on your freshman application since it shows that you’re committed to contributing to the MIT community should you get accepted, and that you aren’t planning on sitting in your dorm room all day long.</p>
<p>Slalom canoeing is the awesomest sport in the Universe. 
Unfortunately I don’t think there’s much whitewater in the Boston area, which is why I’ll probably end up switching to crew if I get accepted. I can’t see life without paddling of some sort. :(</p>
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<p>If you head up to New Hampshire, I think there’s some whitewater up there.</p>
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<p>When I did it, they would let you on the lightweight team if you were within five pounds - you just had to drop the weight for the actual competitions.</p>