Not at MIT, no.
My child was a recruited athlete at MIT and was invited to stay for a weekend.
The coach stressed to my child that the coach has âsomeâ influence on the admissions process during the EA round, and that the coach would âsupportâ my child during said round. So, my child applied early to MIT, forgoing another institution which does not allow early applicants to apply elsewhere.
My childâs SAT/AP/grade profile is above average even for MIT standards, so we were pretty hopeful that with âsupportâ there was actually a decent chance at admission.
After my child was deferred from EA, the coach told my child that the coach actually submits a ranking list to the admissions committee, and that my child was well down the list - so far down that had we known the ranking, we would have pushed our child to apply elsewhere.
For this particular sport, 100% of the coachâs top X (Iâll withhold this for privacy) recruits got in. 0% of the rest of the list got in.
I knew that college sports was deceptive at times, but I thought Division III and especially MIT would be different. I thought wrong.
People hear what they want to hear. I havenât found any coaches at the top schools to be deceptive in any way.
I think youâre hearing what you want to hear.
Probably not. As a scientist, I am accustomed to seeing and hearing what is stated and examining it from as many angles as possible in order to get a sense of what it actually is.
Hopefully as a matter of practice, you then actually examine the data as presented, rather than throwing out some banal generalities. I am not aware of a definition of âsupportâ, scientific or otherwise, that includes ârelatively low placement on a list relative to oneâs competitionâ. Just to be clear, the word âsupportâ was used unambiguously in email, so regardless of what anyone wanted to hear, it is what was typed and read.
@InvestedParent Itâs pretty simple. âSupportâ means âon the listâ. Unsupported means âNOT on the listâ.
Hope that helps.
Actually, in this case, âsupportâ meant âno chanceâ.
See: admissions rates for top x âon the listâ and everyone else.
We were actually given a different definition of support (again, in email, to the child and the H.S. coach) before the EA deadline. But hey, thanks for the âhelpâ. Very âsupportiveâ.
@InvestedParent:
Disappointment understandable. Bitterness perhaps not.
The MIT coach doesnât know beforehand how many on his list will be accepted. That fact that your sonâs name was even on that list that the coach gave to the MIT adcoms was definitely âsupportâ. Once itâs given to the adcoms, it out of the coaches control.
Unfortunately, learning the realities of the athletic recruitment process after the fact is always tough. Be careful with any unwarranted blame.
1 Like
@jpm50 - thank you for the reasoned response. Point taken. Believe it or not, the primary purpose for the post was to hopefully educate others regarding the realities of the athletic recruitment process (even at MIT). My child learned some lessons which he or she will never be able to apply. Bottom line: regardless of the âsupportâ that is promised, tough, uncomfortable questions should be asked by the child of the adult coach before and throughout the process.
âtough uncomfortable questionsâ?
Do you mean like âI know you have a list and I demand that you tell me WHERE my child will appearâ?
Are people becoming so lazy that they need a guarantee of tit for tat before they will do or risk anything?
Wouldnât the best plan have been to apply where your child had the best chance of getting in, academically speaking and leave everything else to âa reachâ?
Questions like the following would make sense and shouldnât be too uncomfortable to ask:
Approximately how many athletes are on the âlistâ you send to Admissions?
Approximately how many are eventually admitted that are on the list?
Is the list ranked?
Do you know where I would rank on the list?
@justonedad - no. But apparently some people are becoming so lazy that:
*they donât read the part about the child asking the questions, not the parent; and
*they lazily somehow reach the conclusion that a request for more open disclosure is somehow lazy.
Obviously the child was willing to take a risk, going all in for MIT.
I can partially understand your issue - 1900+ posts in a few short months means you are solving a lot of peopleâs problems on here. Congratulations.
These are great questions, of course, and I would encourage anyone applying to MIT as an athlete to ask these questions during the recruitment process.
No matter what any coach at MIT may imply (and I think many of them are quite skilled at implication, not to their credit), the coach cannot offer a guarantee of admission, or even a wink-and-nod âlikelyâ.
âI havenât found any coaches at the top schools to be deceptive in any way.â
Since you are a scientist, @JustOneDadâ, are you certain you know enough âcoaches at the top schoolsâ to make such a blanket statement?
I appreciate @InvestedParentâ sharing their experience. It has definitely given us something to think about and questions for my child to ask as the application process approaches next year.
I believe that statement can stand on itâs own merit. It quite clearly states my experience without making any âblanket statementsâ outside of my experience.
1 Like
In case this helps any future MIT athletes, my application this year was heavily supported by a coach at MIT for my sport. I was luckily wait listed while others at my school were rejected. I have an SAT 2300+(800 Math), 800 Math 2, 800 Physics, 790 Bio, ~4.8 GPA (4.0 unweighted), and will have taken 13 AP classes through senior year (six 5s and one 4 on World History).
I can say honestly that without athletic support, I would have been rejected alongside all the other Asian Males at my school (who are all incredibly smart, loving people with similar if not better scores), and that I am very lucky to still have a chance to play at my dream school if the wait list works out.
I realize now where I might have went wrong in my application: I was very set on playing soccer at MIT, and I didnât really show my passion for physics, biology, and engineering that brought me to the school in the first place. If you want to be recruited and admitted to MIT, you need more than just high scores and significant achievement in your athletics, you kind of need to publish papers and compete in STEM competitions. For me, I have competed in some STEM competitions, and while I really enjoyed myself and had a great time (I did medal often), I simply did not have the time while pursuing my sport simultaneously during high school.
Other than that, I thought I was a fantastic candidate for the school, and I hope the coach will push me through in May (if there are openings).
P.S. I think some people are mislead by the idea of MIT recruiting. There may or may not be a âlistâ of people, but being on a âlistâ of every person who plays a sport means, well, absolutely nothing to the AOs. If you want to be recruited, call the coach and actually talk to him, and if he personally advocates on your behalf to the AOs, that will actually mean something. I was told I was one of a few people supported this way, and I believe this is why I was wait listed and not rejected.
Good luck to anyone in the future, and wish me luck as well!
Disappointment is always huge after every college athletic recruiting/admissions season. Itâs true at numerous schools.
This MIT forum has some great (lengthy) discussions on the topic, easily found with a search. Unfortunately all too many families learn the realities of the process after they go through it rather than beforehand.
Ummmm⊠No. You definitely do not need to publish papers and compete in STEM competitions. Most of the admitted class has never published a paper nor competed in anything beyond a school-level STEM competition. That is absolutely not required. That being said, the test that the admissions committee considers is the serious injury test. Supposing that the student suffers a serious injury in the summer prior to their freshman year, and can never play their sport again. Is MIT still the correct match for that student? If the answer to that question is yes, then being on a coaches list, almost regardless of position, helps a fair bit. If the answer to that question is no, then being first on a coaches list will not get you admitted. Therefore, while you do not need to publish papers or compete in STEM competitions, you have to ask yourself if your application stands on its own if you were to disregard the sport. That is hard to do. I interviewed an admitted candidate last year who really was realistically set on Rio 2016, who had been playing for his country for some time, and whose sporting accomplishments were hugely significant. However, without the sport, he was still awesome.
I find this discussion very helpful but not sure how I should advise my son. The MIT coach told my son he will do all he can to support the application in admissions. The coach also told my son he was one of his top recruits. MIT is my sonâs second choice, and he wonât get recruited at his top choice but has been recruited by his 3rd and 4th choices who are pressuring him for a commitment. My sonâs unweighted GPA is 4.0, a dozen APs, 800s on all subject tests and in the middle of the mid range for his SAT. If he applies early to MIT he will not be permitted to apply early to the other three schools on his list. Any recommendation?