<p>The coaches of a couple top D3 schools are interested in me for tennis, and I was wondering how much of an impact a coach can have on admission in D3 schools like JHU, MIT, or Chicago. Thanks</p>
<p>more than if you were applying without it :P sry dont know bout D3</p>
<p>For MIT, the coach's recommendation is nice, but it does not carry much weight. Athletic talent is not considered more valuable at MIT than other types of talent.</p>
<p>If you are not competitive for MIT admission without the coach's recommendation, you will not be admitted with it.</p>
<p>Yup, for MIT, there's only one way in, and that's the hard way ;D</p>
<p>Depending where you stand on that coaches list depends on how much it will help you</p>
<p>what is the lowest gpa you can have to be "competitive" at MIT or the other schools i mentioned. I know you can't have a 3.3, but is 3.8+ competitive and if you had a strong backing by the coach, couldnt that push you over?</p>
<p>There really isn't a "lowest" GPA. Admissions is done by a holistic approach. They look at every aspect of your application and sports will definitely be one part of that. Everything has to fit to be admitted to MIT. The admissions officers work hard to make sure 1)You can handle the work there, 2)You are a good fit for the school (you'll be happy and so will they) and 3) You have a personality and have done other things outside of class. That's why there is only one way inside of MIT, the hard way. The look at everything TOGETHER. Having sports isn't THE answer, it's just part of the solution.</p>
<p>Have you seen some of the sports teams at MIT? I think I read an article about MIT's basketball team finishing the season without a single win.</p>
<p>Haha. Well, we do have a better pistol team than the military schools.</p>
<p>ABSOLUTELY ZERO.</p>
<p>D3 is given nearly zero weight in admissions. Advantage wise, its not like a tipping factor, nor does it matter much in admisions.</p>
<p>Not true that it counts for absolutely zero across all of D3.</p>
<p>It depends completely on the school and how significant a part athletics is in the school's character, traditions, etc. Even in D3.</p>
<p>It really varies. My guess (and it's just a guess) is that it would matter very little at MIT and UChicago, maybe a smidge more at JHU.</p>
<p>I read an article about weight of D3 schools and its relative impact on admissions. Since D3 is essentially an extension of varsity highschool sport, virtually anyone that is qualified can play on a D3 team. Its nothing special really. I mean, you can talk to the coaches and they can put in a good word for you. Coaches do have lists on potential recruits, but the level of standard they reduce is virutally nill compared to the low level of standard for acceptance for D1 players. OMG, its actually kinda sad how low D1 player's SAT scores are. Simple fact that they get accepted is just evidence of the amount of impact the coaches list can play especially at the D1 level. D3 is not as important.</p>
<p>My roommate, 3.9 GPA, below average SAT scores, played three varsity sports in HS and contacted the coach at JHU to run for D3 track. Of course, he is in, Contacting the coach may have helped him, in each case, it varies.</p>
<p>Its definitely no overriding factor.</p>
<p>It depends on the sport and the school. If a coach at a DIII school wants you, it will be a big help in admissions. I have to disagree with Phead above - DIII is <em>not</em> like high school; you'll find many top athletes at DIII schools, so much so that there is no room for the average high school player/swimmer/runner. For example, the "average" swimmer would not be able to participate teams at Denison or Kenyon, two of the top-ranked DIII swim teams in the country. The "average" lacrosse player would not be able to play at Middlebury, another DIII athletic powerhouse.</p>
<p>Again, it depends on the sport and the school, but at a DIII school where athletics are considered an important part of college life, the coach will have a voice in the admissions process.</p>
<p>
[quote]
I think I read an article about MIT's basketball team finishing the season without a single win.
[/quote]
That was Caltech's basketball team. </p>
<p>MIT's basketball team is a fairly good team in its conference, which tends to be true of most MIT teams -- MIT's not an athletic powerhouse, but the teams do well in the conference they're in. The athletic department said once (although I cannot verify this) that MIT has more varsity sports than any other school in the country other than Harvard.</p>
<p>
[quote]
what is the lowest gpa you can have to be "competitive" at MIT or the other schools i mentioned. I know you can't have a 3.3, but is 3.8+ competitive and if you had a strong backing by the coach, couldnt that push you over?
[/quote]
We can't give you an estimate based only on GPA (or any other single factor in the application). At any rate, rank is probably more important than GPA for MIT -- about 97% of admits were in the top 10% of their high school class.</p>
<p>If you want to see the kinds of profiles that get students into MIT, check out last years [url=<a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/massachusetts-institute-technology/432869-official-mit-class-2012-early-action-decisions-thread.html%5DEA%5B/url">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/massachusetts-institute-technology/432869-official-mit-class-2012-early-action-decisions-thread.html]EA[/url</a>] and [url=<a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/massachusetts-institute-technology/473605-official-mit-class-2012-regular-action-decisions-thread.html%5DRD%5B/url">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/massachusetts-institute-technology/473605-official-mit-class-2012-regular-action-decisions-thread.html]RD[/url</a>] decisions threads from the MIT subforum of CC.</p>
<p>I agree with flatlander, it all depends on the school. On my kids D3 basketball team, every player is at least All County with many being All State. The average HS varsity player would not stand a chance of making the team. </p>
<p>That being said, admissions standards are maintined for athletes. If there is a choice between two kids, athletics will give the edge to a candidate. The team also has 5 HS vals. The school is one of the top academic institutions, but it also has won multiple D3 national championships. It is almost always in the post season NCAA tournaments and prides itself on also having a top athletic program.</p>
<p>The athletes I know at Chicago are at the same intelligence level as everybody else.</p>
<p>But I am sure that (at least for Chicago, probably for other D3 schools as well) athletes don't just grow on trees. Chicago needs students who want to be athletes but also want to be students too. The same goes for all the schools in our league: Carnegie Mellon, Emory, Rochester, NYU, Case, Brandeis, and Wash U. While our sports teams are not all that competitive, you also just can't leave it up to chance that some of your applicants are going to join your varsity sports teams.</p>
<p>To get a better sense of where you stand academically, I think it makes sense to share your GPA/SAT scores with us. JHU, MIT, and Chicago are all quite reachy, but some of the other schools I just listed in Chicago's conference are Chicago-esque and JHU-esque, and slightly less selective.</p>
<p>D3 schools say that they accept applicants not based on their athletic talent, but it's also pretty known that if you have the support of a coach then it can help. This just means that your athletic abilities are counted when considering your value to the school, but you will not be offered an athletic scholarship.</p>
<p>unalove - I agree with you - my kid plays in the same conference. I know several kids on the Chicago basketball team and they are top notch academically. It is a great conference and the athletes are truly student athletes.</p>
<p>I know a few of my friends who were accepted to top tier schools based upon coaches' recommendations. My friends were not academically amazing, but nonetheless still competitive for those schools. I think the coach's recommendation will most likely be the tipping factor separating your child from the regular competitive applicants much like what others have already said here.</p>
<p>aabbcc1789 - There are two key parts to your post. The first is "but nonetheless still competetive for their schools". In top D3 programs this is absolutely manadatory. The second is "coach's recommendation" which means that the applicant has to be a top athlete - not just a good or average HS player.</p>
<p>There is no doubt that athletics helps with admission, but a lot also depends on the level of the athlete.</p>