Just looking at the Caltech and MIT tennis team, I see that I could easily be one of the better players on the team. However, my question is would my ability to play on the team really help my chances of getting in? Assuming I contact the coach, and they wanted me for their team, would they pull me through admissions?
If you get recruited that’s a huge boost
Of course you still have to have nice stats
Not really- let’s just say you wouldn’t get in over another athlete because you were “recruited”. Their coaches have no say in the admissions process. MIT’s sports (besides rowing, I think) are DIII, so you would be held to the same standard as all the other applicants/students. It’s not like a big sports state school or an Ivy where recruited athletes often have markedly different admissions standards.
A kid who goes to my school got recruited for football by MIT (he has a huge build and is a pretty good linebacker). They contacted him first. He then applied EA with a 4.0, a rigorous schedule (Full IB candidate), lots of ECs (athletics + robotics + community service), and a 31 on the ACT (only took it once, was the only apparent weakness of his application) and was… DEFERRED. So I suppose the lesson is that being both a recruited athlete and a competitive applicant doesn’t guarantee 100% admission odds.
My friend (who, of course, is very intelligent and an all-around overachiever) talked to the coach and maintained contact throughout the year, and was accepted into CalTech. I doubt that it was much of a factor in admissions, especially since their teams are not competitive at all, but I can’t imagine it hurting. I say go ahead and contact the coach.
There may be sports recruiting at MIT (though I’m not sure how much your athletic abilities matter outside crew).
Your athletic abilities have zero impact on your admissions chances to Caltech (they give no boost to athletes).
Which is probably why their tennis teams are so unimpressive.
If you want an admissions boost, look at Ivies, NESCAC LACs, etc.
Caltech has 0 impact at all?
@Defuze Neither of these schools are known for their athletics…they’re known for top-notch research and brilliant students.
Obviously, but they still need athletes to fill the teams. If athletes had no pull, I doubt that MIT wouldn’t even have the half decent team they have
If you don’t want to just walk on after you’re accepted, you need to talk to the coach. What has appeared to happen with us is that he goes over and sees if you are viable for admissions and then comes back and talks more.
What do you mean by comes back and then talks more
Defuse: unless you have amazing stats to go along with your sports abilities, it aint gonna happen. My son is a freshman and attends caltech. He did very well as a varsity tennis player, but he’s not on the tennis team at Caltech.
If he can’t make the tennis team at caltech, I’m sorry but your son is REALLY, REALLY, RESLLY, REALLY BAD at tennis. And doing well in varsity means absolutely nothing. Colleges recruit through USTA AND TENNIS RECRUITING. NOT VARSITY TENNIS