MIT Athletic Recruit (Swimming)

@aimshooter :
Do you have a reason to try to skip high school? You are a freshman. You have technically 3 more years of high school unless you graduate early.
It’s been estimated that <= 10% of the incoming class somehow skipped a grade (usually in primary/elementary school, less often in high school) and thus are 15 when applying and 16 or 17 on the first day of class.
It’s extremely rare to run into someone who is 2 years younger.

It’s not just the academics (although some people who enter MIT at a younger age as academic super-stars, like Benjamin Gunby (see: https://mangoprism.com/2014/01/26/the-last-contest-hanging-with-the-big-dogs-at-the-2013-putnam-math-competition/ ) “who placed 14th in the world in the International Mathematics Olympiad. He would have likely competed the next year too, but he left high school after his junior year to attend MIT.” (or Mitchell Lee.)

It’s also emotional maturity.

I hate to be Captain Obvious, but usually older students accomplish more (i.e., all things being equal, a junior is going to have a lot more accomplishments than a freshman).

Consider also: http://mitadmissions.org/apply/process/match

Do not TELL me MIT Admissions you are a good match. Figure out how to demonstrate you are a good match.

I am not graduating early. I will be graduating high school as class 2021. My questions is if I want to apply MIT and get recruited as swimmer, when is the earliest time I can contact the coach? Some said in junior year but some said as early as freshman year.

@aimshooter

Wait until your junior year. You want to have the following times to be considered in the top half of the recruiting list:

50 Back ~23
100 Back ~50
50 Free ~21
100 Free ~45-46

Does MIT take walk-on swimmers? If a student can get admitted on their own and is not yet likely to score at NEWMAC conference meet, but has potential (i.e. a swimmer that is super experienced but just grew towards the end of his junior year of high school,) will the coaches consider letting him walk on? Thoughts or any prior knowledge about this?

@ncinterested Yeah they do (if you’re fast enough… feel free to post your times and I can assess), but it won’t help you with getting in. That was exactly me – been swimming since I was six, was a late bloomer and hit a growth spurt when I was 15-16ish.

Hello,

I emailed the MIT coach and got a list of the NEWMAC conference meet times. It says that most freshmen have 3-4 of the top 10 times. I don’t have 3-4 of the top 10 times but I’m fairly close in 3-4 events so I am looking to improve between now and November. Does anyone know if those are time standards to be considered or just guidelines?

Also @CCThunderfin did you end up getting into MIT and if so how much did swimming help?

(I have a 4:52 500 free from early this year and the top 10 time for that is 4:45. I’m also going to go for the 1000 and 1650, my academic stats are 3.80 UW, 4.5 W, 1560 SAT, 800 Math Level 2, 800 Physics)

Appreciate the help!

@vrjmath I got that email too, I think it’s automated. Those are time standards and you’ll likely have to be a bit faster to have a legitimate chance of being “recruited”.

I can message more over PM, but no, I didn’t end up even applying to MIT. It helps considerably if you’re at the top of the recruit list.

Get that GPA up, the standardized tests all look good. Aim for sub 4:40 in the 500. All the best!

@ncinterested
MIT sports take walk-ons. Why would a coach turn away an athlete who is good enough to make the team? He needs as many strong members as he can get because sports isn’t a top priority at the school. Students are busy studying which means a few are likely to miss events so having backup members is important.

@CCThunderfin Is the 4:40 500 Free for Men or Women? When I checked the Men’s Top 10 for NEWMAC, it seems like 4:36 is the cutoff?

@CCThunderfin Wondering if you have any updates on the recruiting process? Are you happy with your decision? Thanks in advance!

@PeaceGrass Men’s 500.
@Wombat921 I’m at one of the Claremont colleges now.

@CCThunderfin Good luck to you at CMS. You may have been on the same recruit trip as my DS. Did you do ED2 at CMS?

@PeaceGrass I didn’t actually go on a recruiting trip, and no I did ED1.

@CCThunderfin Good luck at CMS. My DS really liked the Mudd, we will find out next week