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This thread is going off the original topic and I'll continue that trend.
MIT has a lot of "varsity" sports. You do have to interpret the word “varsity”. The NCAA has listed 19 men’s sports and 20 women’s sports on their web site.
Some might consider only those sports for which compete in the NCAA to be varsity. That would leave out, for example, men’s crew (ie. Rowing) which, as a sport, has chosen not to join the NCAA. It instead has organized into various rowing associations. Women’s rowing, however, is part of the NCAA.
MIT, as the article that molliebatmit provided the link for, listed men’s ice hockey as a varsity sport back in 2009. The men’s hockey team, at that time, did not participate in either NCAA D1 or D3 but was in the American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA) division 2. The ACHA is a club league so calling it “varsity” might not be technically correct. MIT, however, for many years did fund the men’s ice hockey team as though it were a varsity team. It was MIT's best players out playing for the school which is what college athletics is about. That it was not truly a varsity team was one of the reasons it was dropped as a “varsity” sport by MIT a few years back. It still exists, just has to come up with it's own money. (A further matter of history: MIT did have a NCAA varsity hockey team thru the 74-75 season. It wasn’t real competitive at the end and moved to the club league with the understanding that it would be funded and recognized by the school as their “varsity” team. I was a member of the team at that time.)
But all this “varsity” verses “not varsity” doesn’t really matter that much. Back in my day and with the MIT athletes I’ve met recently, there is a dedication to their sport, their teammates and themselves that would rival any NCAA D1 school. It is those personality traits that make them good athletes that matter in the long run in their lives and their professions. It is those personality traits that should be evident in their college applications.
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