<p>Coaches of two different sports at MIT have shown initial interst in my son. It is too early to know the level of that interest, but does anyone have indformation as to whether recruited athletes are afforded some degree of different treatment in the admissions process? Several of the selective LA schools such as Williams, Amherst, Bowdoin and Middlebury do so even though they are DIII. My Son's scores are at the top level although he is not in the top 10 percent of his class. Thanks for any insights.</p>
<p>It helps to be a recruited athlete at MIT, but not to any greater degree than it helps to be excellent at any other EC.</p>
<p>If your son is competitive in the applicant pool already, the coach's recommendation could provide that extra tip factor for acceptance. But MIT doesn't accept athletes who aren't already outstanding in the applicant pool.</p>
<p>Try to find out whether the coaches will support your son's application with requests to admisssions to admit him. And, then try to find out how high he is on the coaches' respective lists of recruits. They probably won't directly answer the second Q, but you might get a sense.</p>
<p>Again, MIT does not have athletic recruiting in the sense implied by mia. </p>
<p>Coaches don't have a list of reserved spots for recruits that are largely auto-admits. They can't make a request to admit a student. At best they can support an application just as any other recommender. You first have to be admissible by standard academic criteria, then athletics may help provide an edge, but no greater than for a musician, mountain climber or an artist and generally much less than somebody who has won academic awards or participated successfully in math/science competitions. There is no such thing as an SAT or GPA allowance for athletes. They are afforded no special treatment unlike at Ivy League schools or LACs such as Williams or Amherst.</p>
<p>As a recruited athlete myself, I can say that I'm 99% sure cellardweller's right. </p>
<p>Quick overview, as far as I know:
A coach has a list he/she can submit to admissions of recruits. These recruits have their folders tagged (forget where I heard this... CC? My coach?). From there, as everyone here has said, it's merely another facet of your application to be considered. It will NOT be the one thing that gets you in, though it will help. You better be right up there with the normal applicant pool if you want a shot.</p>
<p>Consider it this way: It's merely further verification that you're good at a sport. So it pretty much just boosts that specific activity by giving it a bit more credibility and some more context into how you'd continue it at MIT.</p>
<p>It's called a "request to admit" and, no I did not "imply" that the coaches dictate to admissions. That is an erroneous "inference" on your part and says more about your mindset than mine. It is exactly what the name suggests, a "request" from the coaching staff to admissions. You can argue over the impact of such a request on the admissions process, if you want, but to deny that it has any impact is fairly ridiculous. They flag the athletic recruits' files for a reason and for that same reason the coaches prioritize their recruits. Can a coach's support result in the admission of an "unqualified" recuit? No. At the D3 level, it doesn't even rise to the level of recruiting in the Ivy league, much less at the bowl eligible schools. Does it help? Yep. MIT seems to be upgrading its athletics and that's all for the good. It's time to abandon the ignorant conceit that if you **** at sport you are somehow more intelligent. And, let's be honest, there are plenty of people out there who are capable of doing the work at MIT. Some of them can do sports too. The school's academic reputation won't suffer if it wins a basketball game against harvard some day and who knows the student body and alums might actually enjoy it .</p>
<p>I know someone who didn't get in to MIT, but a classmate with similar ECs and grades/scores was accepted. He seems to think that this person got in because a coach said he'd talk to the admissions staff or something. I was skeptical about that having much of an effect.</p>
<p>Mia, do you have any connection to MIT at all? Because first of all, you are flat out wrong, and second of all, at least part of your argument is based off the idea that MIT students and alums give a you-know-what if our sports teams win.</p>
<p>They don't.</p>
<p>I'm a varsity athlete, during every single one of our home games, the visiting team has more fans than we do. Obviously the athletes want to win, and their friends and family support them, but on the larger scale? not a chance.</p>
<p>Mia, you obviously inserted yourself in a discussion where you have absolutely no competency to answer and are just misleading applicants.</p>
<p>MIT has no plans to upgrade its athletic programs. It is doing just fine as it is with first rate facilities, more varsity sports and greater participation than virtually any of its peers. Building a stronger basketball (baseball or football...) team is NOT on its radar screen. </p>
<p>Academics and sports already coexist very successfully at MIT. The rowing team which competes in Div-I also happens to have one of the highest GPA averages of any student group on campus. No academic sacrifices were required to recruit these athletes. </p>
<p>For the same reason it does not favor legacies, MIT does not favor athletes over other applicants. As an EC for MIT, I advise applicants with strong athletic backgrounds that sports success can help demonstrate passion for an activity and that will always be viewed positively in an application to MIT. It provides a means to stand out in a pool of equally qualified applicants.</p>
<p>Thank you for the responses. It sounds like the coaches' influence is not as great as at some other D III schools where athletics are a bit more of the social scene. That is good info for us to have. Thanks.</p>
<p>I'm an alumni and an EC also - athletics do matter to fellow teammates and even alumni. Athletes show teamwork, commitment, and other attributes that make for a good community member and all things being equal a coaches flag will help. An exceptional athlete should contact the coach - being able to do the work at MIT is important - adding to the community on a sports team is a bonus. The admission people will consider this in context - but I'm sure it helps at least as much as any other extra curricular activity.</p>
<p>I would also add on to ssfa's comment that athletics does matter because MIT has committed to fielding the largest NCAA program in the nation (~41 sports). Certainly, you need not be the star of your HS team to be successful in D3 any more than you need a 2400 to get into MIT. But it doesn't mean that you're going to waltz into MIT with a 2.5 GPA and 1800 SAT either. The academic strength absolutely has to be evident from the start, but a recommendation from a coach can certainly give an application another look and/or push a borderline case over the edge. MIT's programs in swimming, track, and shooting are particularly strong.</p>
<p>"I would also add on to ssfa's comment that athletics does matter because MIT has committed to fielding the largest NCAA program in the nation (~41 sports). "</p>
<p>This is very misleading. MIT is not looking to fill spots on athletic teams. Many elite students were also varsity athletes, and so it's not hard to fill spots on their teams.</p>
<p>Certainly MIT does not explicitly admit students based upon some accounting logic of "two tennis players graduated so two tennis players must be admitted." And, yes many elite and qualified students apply to MIT, but they obviously all don't get in on their academic merits alone just as there are many students who would have been admitted regardless of their athletic record. But it silly to think that there have not been borderline cases where the deciding factor was a coach's recommendation. A university doesn't devote the resources to field and support 41 varsity teams based upon an informal recruitment system befitting a club or intramural sport. Does demonstrated competitive athletic ability influence admission decisions? Absolutely. Does it predetermine admission outcomes? Absolutely not.</p>
<p>This is all your speculation and is not based on fact. MIT has always had the #1 or #2 number of varsity programs, but they were generally not that good. What you are describing is closer to Harvard's approach than MIT's.</p>
<p>This is the link to the recruit site - click on football - or any sport - to see what's they're looking for.
MIT</a> - DAPER - Welcome</p>
<p>This the link showing MIT as a power school in 2008 NCAA rankings - great division 3 teams - D1 in crew.
MIT</a> Ranks Seventh Among All NCAA Institutions in 2008 NCSA Collegiate Power Rankings :: NCSA's Exclusive Rankings System Assesses Academics, Athletics and Student-Athlete Graduation Rates at Four-Year Colleges</p>
<p>say what you will - I recommend any athlete that's good should be proud of their accomplishments - and if MIT is a possibility for them then go ahead contact the coach - regardless of the naysayers it will only help... and not hurt you. It actually boggles my mind that someone wouldn't encourage this as helpful advice.</p>
<p>No one is saying that it will hurt you. It's just that it's misleading to imply that it has much sway on the admissions process. It is as valuable as student government or community service. It's a good way to show you are well-rounded. It could be a tip factor. But there isn't recruitment like there is for other division 3 schools.</p>
<p>You name crew as the one division I sport. Out of about 50 people who went out for crew my freshman year, exactly one had done it before. So obviously you can see that recruitment is very different than at ivy leagues. </p>
<p>BTW, big surprise that MIT's athletes are strong academically grade-wise and in terms of their graduation rate. I'm not sure what that proves.</p>