<p>@Payne no offense but I doubt that your friend was a 12 sport varsity athlete.</p>
<p>^Maybe some of those 12 sports are track and field events.</p>
<p>oops …12 varsity letters
3 varsity sports per year X 4 years = 12
our school was small and 7th & 8th graders where invited to run track so its possible to do earn 14 letters.
he did soccer 4 years, indoor track 4 years and outdoor track 4 years. it was common … 12 different sports is a little tough but 3 sports over 4 years is common</p>
<p>@Payne: oh, that’s exactly the 3 varsity sports I am in!</p>
<p>You claim to have a 2300+ SAT, but the writing you display here is hardly consistent with that claim. It is full of comma splices, dangling modifiers, and oversimple vocabulary choices. You also claim to not be narcissistic, but everything in this thread points that conclusion. We cannot get you out of that bubble.</p>
<p>Ask yourself - why do you need to get into MIT so badly? Or the profounder philosophical question - can you justify why you care about your own future well-being in particular? Just a starting point. Open your mind a little.</p>
<p>@Mikethechimp I have other things to do then care about grammar on a forum. Also the reason that I want to go to MIT is the people here. I am interning at MIT this summer. So far, each and every person I have met is absolutely brilliant. Everyone here cares about their research and are enthusiastic about everything they do. I want to spend the next four years of my life (maybe my whole life) in an environment where it isn’t frowned upon to do something just because I want to. As for being narcissistic, I just don’t know how to not come across narcissistic when trying to sell yourself. I have always had a problem with selling myself, and eventually my coach and a couple teachers told me it is alright in certain situations, this being one of those situations. Also I don’t think these chance threads can be accurate. I thought maybe if I gave more info it wouldn’t fall into what Chris said, but there is no way to really give the right impression without giving specific details and an interview. Also I can’t guess what my recommendations would look like. In general, the CC forms tend to be very number driven. For top colleges I don’t believe that is the case.</p>
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<p>Hm…I think we should all care about their own future well-being.</p>
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<p>Most top colleges only consider holistic factors if you are in a certain number range; however, that range is obviously expanded for athletic recruits. And it’s hard to make up for deficits in record by showing that you are smart outside of class. They in general aren’t going for intellectuals; they want people who are smart and saavy enough to be able to get the “smart box” checked on any further points in their career. Also, admins want people who will give the future customers/bosses what they want so that they will navigate to positions of power and influence. They are less interested in whether you could split the atom are hold your own in a debate with Aristotle. There are a few exceptions like U. of Chicago and a couple of others.</p>
<p>MIT is a little more flexible in terms of the numbers. They don’t care about the 3.1 GPA, but rather, the specific grades you got. We are making statements here about how an MIT admin would interpret a 3.1 GPA based on the likely permutations of these grades.</p>