@jmtabb Fully understood but >4% is better than average already. 
Seriously, I also heard that some sports has better chances than others. Any truth to it? BTW, is your son swimming at MIT?
@PeaceGrass regarding OV’s. I think if your kid gets an OV invite it is likely the coach is really interested and will probably attach a note to the kid’s application file. That’s about it. No guarantee. They have to over recruit at MIT because of their low admission rate. So I’d take the invite and go. It can’t hurt. But it’s not a slam dunk either. I would certainly keep all of the other options open for your kid, and pan for the worst case scenario.
For example, my kid kid really liked it there. But his scores are not at the tip top level. The coaches like him, and he would help them a lot. My kid knows his chances are very slim there, but he does offer a lot of the other things the MIT admissions staff likes. If he applied to MIT without any sort of coach support I doubt he’d get a whiff from admissions. But with a letter from the coach, it might push him into the “acceptable” range and who knows, maybe he’d get in. Still very low chance. This is what hurts MIT recruiting, they can’t offer likely letters or really do " pre-reads" with admissions like a Nescac school or other top institutions. So the kids with very good talent look to lock in somewhere else via ED round, and MIT misses out on getting that talented kid to their school. This definitely frustrates the coaches there, but that’s just the way they do it there at MIT. My kid will probably apply somewhere ED, but if it falls through Id let him apply to MIT just to see what might happen.
Note: my experience is limited to non team sports at MIT so maybe things work differently with those teams, but I still think it’s quite hard to get in a recruited athlete regardless. I do find it hard to believe they can field an entire football team with over the top crazy smart kids, but maybe I’m just ignorant and wrong. And I’m not demeaning the football guys in a any way, I’m sure they are very good students and excellent athletes.
@RightCoaster
Good luck with your DS’ applications and thank you for your inputs. I was told ED does not improve kids’ odds at MIT, is that why your DS is not EDing MIT? MIT coach didn’t ask him to ED?
@RightCoaster Thanks for the insight
@jmtabb Good luck to your DD
@makemesmart MIT doesn’t have ED, just EA. So if he applies somewhere ED he can’t apply there EA. If things don’t work out in ED round, then he would probably apply RD there in Jan.
There is no advantage EA to MIT from what I’ve been told too, but the coaches like the kids to apply EA because that means they know the kid did not apply ED somewhere else and that they still have a chance to get the kid to MIT.
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@RightCoaster I think most ED schools doesn’t prevent kids from EA somewhere else, since it is binding decision for them. MIT is one of those EA schools that is not single choice. So technically your son should be able to apply ED to a school (most) and also EA to MIT. It is just that your son’s chance of being admitted to his ED school is very high thus the EA to MIT won’t make a difference.
@whataboutcollege there are different forms of ED like SCEA/REA where you can only apply to that school and public schools, but no other privates. Sorry for the confusion. So my son might apply somewhere REA/SCEA or he might not and just apply ED somewhere and then he would consider adding MIT to the mix for EA consideration. But since applying EA to MIT offers little bonus I think he’d just wait to RD anyways so he can work on his essays and maybe take SAT once more or something.
I would say my son’s chances at ED are pretty good based on what coaches have told him so far.
Best of luck to those with kids applying EA and hoping to make a sports team at MIT!! It’s a great school.
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I would say my son’s chances at ED are pretty good based on what coaches have told him so far.
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Please be careful, especially if your son is being led to believe this.
Just read through the numerous MIT athletic discussions over the years, and you’ll see many who also felt overly assured by the coaches comments. It ends well for some, but not for all.
One mother was so furious she created a very angry thread about the way MIT’s coaches led her son on. That thread got a lot of activity, but now looks like it’s been deleted.
@jpm50 What I meant is my kid has a decent chance somewhere else via ED and about ZERO chance of getting into MIT with or without any level of coach support. I am pretty realistic about the chances at MIT, hence why I posted a lot of info earlier in this thread, so parents and kids would know what they are up against.
@RightCoaster: Thank you for that clarification. It makes sense.