<p>Can I get a "letter of support" for walking on? How many can coaches give?</p>
<p>Any information on Badminton?</p>
<p>I know MIT has several courts, and I know their captain. But I was wondering if it's just a club or an actual sport with a coach. </p>
<p>Also, Spartan Pho3nix, how does the letter of support thing work? Did you have to contact him and ask?</p>
<p>The team website is [here[/url</a>], although it looks a little out of date.</p>
<p>A little info on the athletic terminology at MIT -- Varsity sports are NCAA-recognized (and hence, I think, have to be from a certain list of eligible intercollegiate sports), and they practice something like 2 hours a day (although often there are optional-but-probably-not-really open gyms and free practice hours for members of the teams). We have an "activities period" from 5pm to 7pm each night, when no class activities can be held, and many varsity sports practice then. Varsity sports are open only to undergraduates.</p>
<p>Club sports are often a little more unusual than varsity sports (figure skating, synchronized swimming, martial arts), and are usually open to both graduate students and undergraduates. Still, some club sports (including the badminton club, it appears) do have actual coaches, compete in actual competitions, and are really "actual" sports for all intents and purposes. They're just not NCAA-recognized, and they don't have to practice as much (cheerleading, which is a club sport, practices 6 hours a week rather than the 10 that a varsity sport would practice).</p>
<p>Intramural sports are also big at MIT, for anybody who likes playing football/basketball/dodgeball/roller hockey but who isn't particularly enthused about committing to joining a varsity team. There are four leagues for most IM sports, from A league, which is almost varsity-quality, to D league, which is... well, for people with a little less talent. (I played D-league basketball my freshman year for my living group. It was super-fun, but I would never characterize myself as a good, or even mediocre, basketball player.)</p>
<p>It's only possible to contact coaches for letters of support for varsity sports -- there's a [url=<a href="http://web.mit.edu/athletics/www/varsity/recruit-me.html%5D%22recruit">http://web.mit.edu/athletics/www/varsity/recruit-me.html]"recruit</a> me" form](<a href="http://web.mit.edu/%7Emitbac/www/%5Dhere%5B/url">http://web.mit.edu/~mitbac/www/) on the Department</a> of Athletics website. You're free to contact club sport coaches or presidents, but as a former president of a club sport, I can tell you honestly that we would have no idea how to contact admissions on your behalf, and even if we could, I'm not sure it would mean that much.</p>
<p>Another question, are athletic events, especially football and basketball widely attended?</p>
<p>Mollie:
Thanks for the detailed response. Based on your reasons, I probably won't request one. After all, the main incentive to "recruiting" is to build a better team that will garner more public recognition. With intermural and club-based sports, there isn't much public awareness.</p>
<p>I guess I have something simillar to a letter of support in one of my supplemental recommendations from a junior college teacher who had taught at MIT for four years. It sort of fits the general theme of a letter of support, speaking of how I match MIT's student body. I just hope it works :S. </p>
<p>Also, Mollie, in what team sport where you president?</p>
<p>Coach Smith will get back to everyone. Mollie was right, he was on break. And at least for me, MIT football takes up MUCH less time than high school. I guess it depends on where you're from, but that seems to be the general consensus of the team as well.</p>
<p>Yeah, coming from South Florida, our practices were pretty long and intense. For freshman, it was 3 hours a day. How hot is it during the fall? It won't hit the 90s every day, will it?</p>
<p>Not hot at all. It might have grazed 80 once during camp.</p>
<p>I was captain of the cheerleading squad last year, and cheerleading's a club sport, so I was officially president of the squad so far as MIT Athletics is concerned.</p>
<p>Athletic attendance varies... usually there's a decent crowd for football games, but one day it rained and nobody (except the cheerleaders) came. :) I think more people attend basketball games, just because they're inside. And warmer. It's not like a DI school's games, though -- most of the school doesn't show up at games.</p>