MIT DIII versus UPenn DI swimming (mens)

limdelbarton
Tue, 26 Jul 2011 21:44:46 +0000

Hi all, I’m a rising senior. I’ve been in contact with a couple swim coaches in the past year and I narrowed my top choices to Penn (Wharton) and MIT (Sloan). I’m applying to both schools early (ED for Penn, EA for MIT), so both coaches are willing to write me a letter of recommendation/push my application. I’ve met with the MIT coach on campus. I visited Penn’s campus before my Junior year ended but it was during their Spring Break and the coach was not there to meet me. He has recently contacted me by phone however, and has said that he is going to be at my championship meet ending this season in about 10 days, and will talk with me then.

The word so far from the Penn coach is that I’m definitely in his sights for recruiting, but he gets only 8-9 slots so I wouldn’t know if I get recruited/get a likely letter until mid-October. Early applications are due Nov 1st, so this really isn’t too reassuring. He has said however, that the least I can expect from him is a letter to the admissions office, and as of now, he’s already forwarded them my academic/school profile before I’ve even applied. Penn has to have their recruits average an Academic Index score (based on GPA/Tests) of 209, and my score is 235. So one primary reason they’re looking at me is because if they recruit me, they can get pretty much anyone they want. And I could also make some impact for the team. In the Penn coach’s words, I’m not Michael Phelps but they’d love to have me.

The MIT coach wants me on the team because I would be one of their best swimmers as a Freshman, but as a DIII coach, she obviously has a lot less pull than the Penn coach. She’s also told me she will write a letter to admissions, but after reading the threads on CC about DIII and especially MIT recruiting, I have no idea how much weight that has, if it has any at all.

My question is, given my academic background (see below), both coaches said I’m clearly well-qualified to excel at either school. It sounds good, but I know that that doesn’t necessarily mean I’ll get in. Would merely a letter to admissions from the coach at either school have any bearing on me as an applicant, if I don’t end up being one of the 8 recruits for Penn? My mother’s logic is that if the admission sees that I’m wanted by the coach, and they have no reason not to accept me because of my academics/scores, then they will accept me. Is this just an overly-optimistic way of thinking? What the coaches haven’t told me is just how many letters they can write. Does anybody here have experience with this, where they were a borderline/unsure DI Ivy recruit but maybe didn’t end up being officially recruited but just ended up receiving a push-letter from the coach?

(Oh yeah, also, I’m an Asian-American (Chinese). I’ve been hearing so many varied opinions on this that I’d like a clarification. So what I heard is that it’s harder for Asians to get into colleges since colleges compare Asian applications with other Asians’. Then the college coaches, and my guidance counselor, said that this wasn’t true. Then some of the just-graduating seniors told me that it is true for the most part, but because I pay 30 grand a year to go to a primarily White Roman-Catholic private school that has good relations with most Ivy League schools and other top schools, it doesn’t really apply to me. Anybody else here have any more definitive thoughts on this? It has nothing to do with recruiting but I’m just curious.)

Anyways, here’s my Academic Background:

GPA (out of 12.0):

1) 9th Grade: 11.238
2) 10th Grade: 11.513
3) 11th Grade: 11.750
4) 12th Grade: (Tentative)
5) Cumulative: 11.496

*NOTE: An A is an 11.0, so my cumulative meant averaging between A and A+'s on every course. I don’t know why our school uses such a weird scale, but that’s the explanation and apparently the guidance counselors say that the colleges “will know what this scale is.”

Course Placement:

1) 10th Grade: AP European History (5), AP Calculus AB (5)
2) 11th Grade: AP American History (5), AP Calculus BC (5), AP English Language (5), AP Physics B (5)
3) 12th Grade: AP Macroeconomics, Linear Algebra, AP English Literature, AP Vergil, AP Art History, AP Statistics (Self-study)

Standardized Testing:

1) PSAT: 227 (Critical Reading: 76, Mathematics: 80, Writing: 71)
2) SAT: 2310 (Critical Reading: 740, Mathematics: 780, Writing: 790 (11 Essay))
3) SAT Subject Tests: (Mathematics Level II: 800, American History: 780, Physics: 780)

Bunch of extracurriculars: Debate, Economics Club, Math League, Social Justice Committee, Students Against Destructive Decisions, Community Service, etc etc etc. There are a lot to list, but I have plenty of good ones.

Thanks!