Originally Posted by mithawk
MIT and CalTech will certainly take those kids. But an acquaintance of mine knows a few people in MIT admissions. He says what MIT would really welcome is the talented athlete that is also strong academically. Few of those kids apply to MIT, but many apply to Stanford.
Because if you want to play sports at university you don't aim to go to MIT. Why would you? Yes MIT does have sports but it's not what people think of about their university. You go because it has a research labs like almost no other university. CalTech plays in NCAA Division III and only has a few teams vs. Stanford playing at NCAA Division I. Sure both CalTech & MIT love a top student who's also an athlete. But if your a top athlete who wants to go somewhere in hour sport your not looking at these schools.