<p>MIT really only “recruits” for one sport: rowing. Whatever they are saying above, ^^^^^^^, MIT really does recruit for rowing. By “recruit,” I mean you still have to be a A student, etc. etc., but MIT rejects boatloads of A students. If you are an A student and you row, you stand a much better chance. My observations are based on personal experience of kids who got in, even with discipline problems, but could . . . ROW!</p>
<p>Anecdotes =/= data.</p>
<p>If you apply EA, at least you’ll have time to work on back up plans in the event of an unsuccessful result. </p>
<p>If you want deeper information on athletic recruiting, post in the athletic recruit forum. You’ll get some detailed responses from people who have gone through the process, including baseball recruiting.</p>
<p>I was a “recruited athlete” for MIT. Being recruited certainly is a plus, but it is by no means a guarantee for admission. Your grades, test scores, and academic material basically have to be up to par with non-recruited applicants. For example, for my sport this year, we had over 20 potential recruited athletes, with some being in the top 200 nationally in the sport in their graduating class. Only 1 recruit got in EA and 0 got in RA. My year there were two recruits (both EA) and a couple walk ons. Most years, we get 1-2 recruits and maybe a couple walk ons. I feel that at least for my sport, if you’re on the coach’s list, you make a visit to the campus, and you’re a top player in your class, your chances are improved. All the recruited players on the team were in the top 250 nationally in the sport in their graduating class. Most of them had offers from both D3 and D1 schools, such as Columbia and Harvard and Princeton. Also, I feel like applying EA as a recruited athlete demonstrates your interest in MIT and possibly gives you a slight benefit. </p>
<p>For me, I applied EA and was accepted. I was in the top 250 nationally in my sport in my graduating class. The coach wrote me a letter of support, and I visited MIT early in the fall while I was applying. I was also recruited at most top D3 schools for my sport (Amherst, Case Western, Swarthmore, Pomona, Wash U, Chicago, CMS). If I had wanted, I probably would have been able to commit to any one of these schools. My stats were: 4.45 GPA (around 5/300 at a top high school); 36 ACT; 2320 SAT; 800s in Math 2, Chem, US History; 14 5s; standard stuff like volunteering, academic teams, etc; research paper that was published in a journal, that I presented at a national meeting, and that was recognized as a semifinalist in a smaller national competition (not Intel or Siemens); National Chem Olympiad Semis.</p>
<p>I’d say definitely apply, but don’t get your hopes up. When I was about to check my decision, I was sure I had been deferred based on stats of accepted vs. deferred people. I didn’t get my hopes up, and everything turned out great (same can’t be said for a couple other schools I applied to haha). Good luck!</p>
<p>Great to hear your story lolz99! Thanks so much for sharing!</p>