recruited athlete trying to decide

Athletic Recruits
1

Hey guys!
First time posting here, but I’m pretty conflicted right now and could use some help.
Here’s a little background:
Hispanic btw (hehe), homeschooled up until my junior year in high school, when I entered a private kinda-elite HS. Junior year classes were AP Calc BC, AP Chem, AP Lang, APUSH, and Spanish 3. A’s and A-'s in everything except for calc because my first semester was super rough. Ended up with a GPA of 3.7 for that year only (yes, calc was t h a t bad). This year I’m taking multivariate calc & linear algebra, APCSA, AP Physics C, AP Lit, Microecon, and Spanish 4A (All A’s so far in everything after first quarter).
Stats: 1530 SAT single test (790 Math, 740 Reading); 800 Math 2, 720 Physics subject tests.

My EC’s are decent, I did work at a lab over the past summer and had an internship with a large company focused towards engineering, my intended field of study. Most of my time is taken up by swimming however, and I’ve been able to talk to a lot of DIII coaches and figure out what schools I like best. I was looking at the best academic schools where I could also be on a fairly good team, and before I retook my subject tests, I had decided between Johns Hopkins and Harvey Mudd. Only a little while ago, I decided that I was a better fit at Mudd, but I had been in contact with the MIT coach and he told me that my new subject scores could be competitive with the rest of my application (which honestly I kinda doubt).

If I ED to Harvey Mudd, nothing is guaranteed but the chances I’ll be accepted with swimming is very high. After talking to the coaches about admissions, I’m pretty confident that I’ll be accepted ED1. On the other hand, MIT coaches have very little say in admissions. The coach told me that out of 40 recruits who applied EA last year, only 22 were accepted. I’m pretty sure that if I applied, I wouldn’t get in, and honestly at this point I don’t know if I’d prefer MIT over Mudd. Also, I can’t ED to Mudd and EA to MIT and have both coach’s support in admissions, so I have to choose one or the other.

tl;dr: Realistically, what are my chances at MIT, and should I even consider giving up basically guaranteed admissions at Harvey Mudd for that?

Thanks for taking the time to read! :slight_smile:

2

If you would be perfectly happy at Mudd with no regrets for not trying MIT, I’d do that. If you don’t get in Mudd, the MIT coach might still be able to support you RD unless he’s used up all his bullets.

3

I agree. My knowledge of Mudd athletic recruiting is second hand but my impression, like yours, is that admission is much more predictable for athletic recruits than at MIT. Unless you have some reason for strongly preferring MIT, that seems like a risky path. You have a great application but MIT is one of the few spots where the low Calc grade and the physics score could be red flags. And most recruits there are looking at, at best, a 50/50 chance. That’d be well worth taking a risk if you didn’t have an alternative option like Mudd, which some folks would prefer to MIT. Having said that, your application would be competitive at a lot of places so you’d probably have some options if neither of these work out, although perhaps not at such selective schools with such generous financial aid. If you’re worried about academic reputation or opportunities, Mudd is very hard to beat.

4

FWIW, when we toured MIT, the then head coach (who later left for Ca) told us that subject SATs need to be in the >= 770 range (her experience that her supports who got in vs. those who didn’t).
Good luck. As others had stated, all great schools.

5

D19 was recruited by MIT but made the decision to ED as a non-recruit to another school because of the uncertainty with MIT admissions. For her sport, the coach told us Bs in math/science courses could be an issue (she had some Bs early in high school and just one during junior year). It was a risk D19 wasn’t willing to take. Mudd is a fantastic option though and if you were my kid, I would tell you to take it. Best of luck to you.

6

It sounds like Mudd is the better choice given the coach support… My understanding is that the vibe of these 2 schools is quite different. Was that your impression and did you have a strong preference for one?

7

I didn’t get the chance to visit MIT, but I went on an official visit to Harvey Mudd. I really loved the school as a whole, and from the students I met, I got a great feel of the campus. If I’m being honest with myself, I fell in love there, but I’m still a little stuck on the whole “school prestige” thing even though I know Mudd is (maybe almost) equally as strong as MIT in the fields I want to go into.

8

I get where you are coming from. It sounds like you have the Cindarella fit in Mudd. It can be easy to lose sight of how hard it is for an athlete to find a school that is an academic and athletic fit. Personally, I’d embrace this. Where it matters, people will recognize the prestige of Mudd. It seems reckless to gamble with that for a school that may not be as good a fit.

9

FWIW it doesn’t sound like MIT is your match. You know you are happy with Mudd. Why are you still shopping?

10

I happened to run across an interview with the MIT track coach, Halston Taylor, on TrackYack. I thought I’d post it as it might help clarify the academic picture for this or future recruits. Note his mention of the volume approach to recruiting. This is track, not swimming, but here’s how he describes recruiting and academic requirements:

“ We have no picks, slots, or likely letter possibilities. We do not even have legacy options. With that said, admissions does try to help, but only when the academic criteria is met. No, a 3.5 and 1350 would have a zero chance of admission. The minimum standards I will successfully recruit are 3.9 unweighted with all A’s in math and science while taking at least AP Calc and AP Physics and the most rigorous curriculum available. Scores would have to be 770 or higher for math and 720 or higher for reading/writing with subject test scores of 780 or higher for math and 760 or higher for science. Because we have no early reads and no slots we have to recruit high volume to hope and get a reasonable number when all is said and done. Hundreds of emails, texts and at least 200 phone calls a month are what it takes to get the job done, and I am not sure that is enough. We still lose quite a few to the Ivies with their early likely letters.”