<p>If you are a recriuted athlete, your chances for admisssion increase substantially. Have you been in contact with the XC coaches at the schools you are interested in? Have you been invited for any Official Visits? OVs take place in September and early October. You really need to get moving to secure these. Most recruited athletes have had substantial contact with coaches by now and made unofficial visits to campuses to meet coaches.</p>
<p>Without a major hook (e.g. recruited athlete, URM) your chances of admission to the very top schools on your list -HYPS - are about 1 in 10 at best. After HYPS have filled their quotas for athletes, URMs and students with special talents, the competition is very, very fierce for those applicants who are “unhooked”. This said, your chances for acceptance at one of these schools - Duke, Chicago, Northwestern and Vanderbilt is quite good. MIT is a special case because they don’t recruit athletes per se. If you are very interested in MIT, consider applying EA.</p>