<p>My son has done his college visits and MIT is at the top of his list because of the vibe of the place; awesome, funny, kingdom of nerds heaven. But he is just an average straight A public school student, with no amazing science extra-curriculars; his weighted GPA is 4.73 and SAT 2100 (1st time) SATIIs in the mid 700s, and his resume includes Varsity wrestling, Math Team, and ASR. He thinks his major will be biology with a minor in business, as his dream is to direct his own science-related company, and we think he will interview well, but all parents think that. </p>
<p>My question is, how much pull do the coaches have at MIT for admissions? My son's big hook is that he is a top national sailor and any college sailing team would love to add him to their roster. He's raced all over the US and internationally, and other members of his training program have been recruited/admitted to Stanford, Dartmouth, Harvard, Brown, and Yale. If the coaches send a list to Admissions, he'd be on it but I'm not sure his school record will be on par with other applicants, and I think he should only do EA with MIT if he has a real chance. Any thoughts?</p>
<p>In my experience, MIT is academics first, and sports last. I was heavily recruited for soccer, but I still got waitlisted → rejected. That being said, I was not nationally ranked or internationally competitive. I feel like that would be a hook in itself, so I think your son’s athletics will push him further.</p>
<p>There is no advantage for your son or anyone for that matter to apply early action to MIT. Have your son apply to one of the single choice early action schools first. If he gets accepted or not he can then apply to MIT for regular decision. Absolutely don’t discourage your son from applying to the school of his dreams. MIT will not accept your son because a coach wants him on a team, but they might look at the attributes that made your son be able to compete on such a high level as qualities that will make him a success at MIT.</p>
<p>I would suggest that your son try to find ways to prove to MIT that he is very interested in biology it will make his application stronger. Then let him work hard on his essays to help MIT get a feel for why he thinks they are a perfect match. If they agree then your son my be pleasantly surprised with an acceptance.</p>
<p>As the others have said, coaches have no pull with the MIT admissions office. In my sport, the coaches complained about this regularly (usually after they had just met with a great prospect). However, I think they also enjoyed putting together a team with “pure” student-athletes.</p>
<p>That said, MIT does very well in Division 3 sports and it seems apparent that the admissions office values athletes (just not at the expense of academics).</p>
<p>It’s hard to predict who will be admitted, but your son should definitely apply. As the others have said, there doesn’t appear to be an advantage to applying early to MIT as there is with some other schools.</p>
<p>It’s not true that coaches at MIT have no pull with the admissions office. If you meet the admissions office standards and the coach puts you on his or her list, then your chances for admission have certainly increased.</p>
<p>I was a “recruited athlete.” Basically the coach for my sport wrote me a letter of support and I visited MIT in the fall when I was applying. The coach’s support definitely helps, especially if you visit campus, but there are definitely no guarantees. MIT still stresses academics over athletics. I was super afraid I’d get deferred since I had looked at stats from people who got deferred in the past couple years, but I got in EA. I had strong stats (4.45 GPA (around 5/300 in a top ranked high school), 36 ACT, 2320 SAT, 3 800s for SAT IIs, 14 5s, published research paper, National Chem Olympiad Semis, etc) and I was pretty good at my sport (top 250 in the nation, recruited heavily by other top D3 teams such as Amherst, CMS, Chicago, Wash U, etc.). My team is doing really well this year in our sport, having only lost one match. I don’t even start for my sport, too.</p>
<p>I’d say if your son really wants to come to MIT, apply EA, visit campus, and talk with the coach and team members. One of the EA recruits for my sport this year did that and got in (with strong stats, of course). EA also shows that you’re truly interested in MIT and gives the recruit status more influence. For my sport this year, we had 1 EA admit and 0 RA admits. Last year, we had 2 EA admits and 0 RA admits. Most of the team’s recruited players were admitted EA.</p>
<p>Thank you very much for your replies. It’s very helpful and gives us more to think upon. He wasn’t born into a science-oriented family and in hindsight we should have looked harder for more research opportunities for him. Well, it can’t be helped now. Maybe his science research project will turn out golden this summer, and he will try to emphasize on his application how his many other qualities would be a good addition to the student body. (I hope MIT really means it when they say they like creative people.)</p>
<p>He has talked with the MIT coaches and the team captain (everyone was really nice and very down to earth) and he’ll do an overnight in the fall. </p>
<p>I don’t really know anything about Divisions I, II or III. Sailing is different as any college that wants to can put together a team and sail in the ICSA. If nothing turns up for my son in this ultra-competitive era of admissions, (I’m not sure $60,000 year for a private non-science oriented college with a sailing team is a wise use of our money) I like to tell him he can always sail with the 6 member team at SUNY Stony Brook!</p>
<p>That thread was started by (now crushed and hurt) parents of an applicant who thought MIT’s athletic coaches had pull in the admissions office. </p>
<p>It’s filled with many valuable replies. Though the latter replies are off on a tangent.</p>
<p>The first time that I introduced myself to the coach was at a camp and the first question asked was, “What are your test scores?”. I shared my scores, and then performed well throughout the camp. I made visits to campus last summer, and last fall where I had an opportunity to spend the weekend in dorm with future teammates, and my parents were able to speak directly with the coaching staff.</p>
<p>Bottom line is that you do need to have the ability to balance high academics and extra-curricular schedule for any consideration. Coaches do meet with admissions prior to EA and RA deadlines. Most recruited athletes do not get accepted during EA - so don’t get your hopes up on that like I did. RA announcement was amazing on Pi Day. </p>
<p>I do think that my athletics was a slight advantage in the end regarding admissions. The Mid-Year report is very important in providing updates per your fall semester. Have a passion for something with a vision of being a force for good in the world.</p>
<p>DS is going for EA. He turned down the offer of a likely letter from an Ivy, because he preferred MIT. Needless to say, we are not happy about this. We are trying to be supportive, but turning down a top school that otherwise fulfills all of DS personal requirements in a college is pretty aggravating to say the least.</p>
<p>^^your son is a lot wiser than you give him credit for…not ALL ivys are created equal and many of them are not as strong in the STEM fields as MIT is…only a few in that "athletic league would come close to what MIT can offer in what he may be interested in pursuing…</p>
<p>…high school students and even many of today’s highly educated parents are becoming a lot more SOPHISTICATED about picking the right schools in their field of interest than blindly going to a school just because it is part of an athletic league…so please…give your son a break…it sounds like he knows exactly what he is doing!</p>