<p>From what I understand athletic recruiting is basically only a consideration given that you have the grades. (the recruiting form looks more like a college application than a sports questionnaire). Yet MIT fields 19 IM and 36 vars. sports. Most of which are fairly successful How does MIT field more teams than many DIV I schools and still maintain academic excellence? That's A LOT of kids playing sports, and I've always had the impression that MIT was a 'nerdy' school. Disprove my ignorance!</p>
<p>MIT does not have any athletic recruiting in the traditional meaning of reserved spots for certain sports. Outside of rowing which is DIV I, all other others sports are DIV III, which allows MIT to keep the same admission standards for athletes as all other students. Sports is seen as just another EC and since MIT favors depth over breadth in its applicants, excellence in athletics will be a definite plus. "Nerdy" at MIT does not mean "unfit". If anything MIT students are more of the hyperactive type and tend to get involved in lots of activities beyond their studies. Many dorms have gyms and the new "Z" Sports & Fitness Center is recognized as one of the best in the country relative to the student body size.
<a href="http://web.mit.edu/zcenter/%5B/url%5D">http://web.mit.edu/zcenter/</a></p>
<p>pretty impressive facilities for 4,000 undergrads. My brother goes to UMICH with six times as many undergrads, and their facilities don't even come close to that. (what is available to students anyways)</p>
<p>Just to give you some perspective, out of 45 guys who tried out for the crew team my freshman year, exactly one had rowed before. So I think it's fair to say that unless things have drastically changed, there is no athletic recruiting.</p>
<p>Years ago I walked on to the women's tennis team, having never played an
organized tennis match in my life. I think the sports at MIT are better
now, but enthusiasm will get you a long way if you are decently fit already.</p>
<p>MIT is pretty bad at sports that are based on your genetic (football, bball), but they are amazing at sports that are more practice-based (pistol, archery, fencing, etc.) That makes sense though, considering that MIT kids are so dedicated. Thanks for input.</p>
<h2>That's A LOT of kids playing sports, and I've always had the impression that MIT was a 'nerdy' school.</h2>
<p>In my freshman class, at least 1/3 of the people (could have been 2/3, I don't remember exactly) had played varsity sports. It's just that most weren't that good at them. Even if they were good, the vast majority weren't good enough to be recruited. </p>
<p>It really doesn't hurt your academic performance to participate in a sport at least once. (There is also data that says physical activity may help cognitive abilities.) Even the guy I know who was made MOSP and made the 5-person U.S. physics team had played varsity soccer in high school.</p>
<p>Don't forget that there are also a lot of club sports, too!</p>
<p>Although many of MIT's sports teams are quite good, there's still a very MIT culture about the teams -- in general, the coaches are reasonably understanding if athletes miss practice because of schoolwork. I was on the (club) cheerleading squad all four years, and although we had a good time and did competitions, our biggest challenge was getting everybody to come to practice. MIT's athletes are students first and athletes second.</p>
<p>The statistics I've seen suggest that about 20% of the student body plays sports at MIT (although many more probably did a sport in high school, as collegealum suggests), and about 80% play IM sports at some point.</p>
<p>EDIT: And there are some good-enough-to-be-recruited athletes at MIT, although not often in the big-money college sports. My fiance was one of the top several freestyle skiiers in the country when he came to MIT, but he kind of saw the writing on the wall and realized it was going to be much better for his future to get a course 16 degree from MIT than to try and ski professionally. ;)</p>
<p>that's excellent to hear. All of the Div I ivies are so competitive that it's athletics first, school second. I see athletics as a tool that I enjoy doing to get into college. Students at top 10 universities are not going there to be a professional athlete, they're there for academics first.</p>
<p>^^Yeah, there's a few guys that are good enough to be recruited. There was one guy a couple of years ahead of me that got a scholarship to play football at University of Virginia but turned it down to play for MIT. He graduated with a 5.0 GPA in Chem E and won the Marshall Scholarship.</p>
<p>There was another guy I heard of that was invited to play in some special national all-star game for high school football and he ended up going to MIT. </p>
<p>But those guys are pretty rare.</p>
<p>True enough, but the MIT culture does encourage sport. From the university motto ("mind and hands") to the fact that MIT is one of the few elite universities to still have a physical education requirement to graduate. From the bulletin:</p>
<p>To satisfy the Physical Education Requirement undergraduates must take four physical education classes (for 8 points) and pass a swimming test or complete a beginning swimming class. In addition to taking classes, students may earn physical education credit in the following ways.</p>
<p>Varsity sports: Four points are awarded to players in their major season of competition.
ROTC Programs (Air Force, Army, Navy): Two points are awarded per year of ROTC participation up to a maximum of four units.</p>
<p>How does it work exactly for crew (rowing)? Does the coach telling someone (after reviewing academic and test records, and meeting in person) that he will support his admission application 1.) mean anything, and 2.) have any weight in the admissions office? Is that support given the same weight as at Ivy schools? Thanks.</p>
<p>tborr123, i have been emailing with MIT's rowing coach (i'm a coxswain, trying to cox for MIT.) He told me that about 50% of their supported athletes get accepted, a much higher percentage than the overall admission rate. Of course, with MIT's recruiting there is no chance of an athletic scholarship, but support is just as valuable with admissions being so competitive.</p>
<p>It's an interesting irony. </p>
<p>Schools that lots of people associate with college sports ... the big-time DI football and basketball schools have among the smallest number of varsity sports among colleges ... they often have 12-15 varsity teams ... spread among tens of thousands of students. They seem to focus on revenue and publicity.</p>
<p>A lot of DII schools, on the other hand, have 30+ varsity teams in a much smaller student pool ... these schools seem to want lots of students involved without ... without worrying about publicity or making money as much as the "big boys".</p>
<p>
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He told me that about 50% of their supported athletes get accepted, a much higher percentage than the overall admission rate.
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<p>That is probably inflated and certainly unverifiable. A recommendation by the coach could be a possible tip factor when the applicant is already academically qualified, but it will NOT compensate for a lesser academic record. It could also be that crew typically attracts more academic types than football or basketball and who would therefore qualify for admission even without the support from the coach. </p>
<p>At my D's high school one girl was recruited by MIT for rowing, but she was already in the top 2% and had a 2250+ SAT score. Rowing was her main EC and she was pretty good at it.</p>
<p>An MIT coach wouldn't be stupid enough to recruit someone not academically eligible in the first place, that statistic sounds pretty standard as compared to other high academic institutions' recruiting.</p>
<p>Yeah, but MIT doesn't recruit like other "high academic institutions" do.</p>
<p>I, too, would be very surprised if the coach weren't engaging in a bit of hyperbole.</p>
<p>I'm being recruited by MIT, and it's basically the same thing as being recruited by other top schools, such as NYU, CMU, Williams, Amherst, etc. Obviously this recruitment is contingent on my continued academic performance, but there's an implication of a 'push' in the application process.</p>
<p>You are wrong. It is definitely NOT the same as being recruited by other top schools. There are simply no reserved slots of any kind. Don't bet on any "push" from an athletic coach doing very much beyond highlighting dedication to a non-academic activity as any other teacher's recommendation might do or you may be very disappointed in the spring. A rower has just the same shot at admission as a watercolor painter, a circus acrobat (one was admitted this year) or even a cow breeder (also a 2011 admit).</p>
<p>To mwninth: the coach quoted 40% acceptance rate for those supported, but that may reflect the difference between males and females. I think they are looking for more females to attend the school. </p>
<p>I appreciate there may not be guaranteed spots, and that the coaches would not support someone whose academic and testing credentials are below the range that the school would accept, but if the 40-50% acceptance rates are true, what besides the coach's support would explain it? Not sure there is something so different about crew rowers that would make them that much more academically or otherwise attractive to the school.</p>