MIT Swim Test: Everything You Need to Know

[Nerd10]

I just had a interview yesterday and found that every student must pass the swim test once they get into MIT, is this true? Is the swim test hard? What if I don't know how to swim at all? What should I do then?

 

[R136a1]

What should I do then?

Learn how to swim.

It might save your life one day.

 

[Nerd10]

HAHAHA, that sounds great.

 

[Jozape]

I just had a interview yesterday and found that every student must pass the swim test once they get into MIT, is this true? Is the swim test hard? What if I don't know how to swim at all? What should I do then?

Swimming should be the least of your worries if you get into MIT.

 

[Student100]

If you look online, you just have to tread water for 100 yards. Seems kind of awkward to me, but MIT is a strange school.

 

[Vanadium 50]

If you can't swim, you can meet the requirement by taking beginning swimming. (And this took Google 0.15 seconds to find this information. This is something else you will need to do if you want to survive MIT)

 

[atyy]

If you look online, you just have to tread water for 100 yards. Seems kind of awkward to me, but MIT is a strange school.

Nonsense.

 

[jesse73]

You can also waive it in extenuating circumstances but you just need to register for beginning swimming and it is done.

It has something to do with an old alum donating money with the condition of having that requirement.

 

[Student100]

Nonsense.

How so?

 

[WannabeNewton]

My school has the same exact requirement.

 

[Student100]

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424127887324352004578137330732319310

This is pretty interesting, talks about the schools that still have the requirement and debunks the donor myth.

 

[Nerd10]

Thanks, guys.

 

[SteamKing]

I guess it's OK that I was turned down by MIT after I applied. I couldn't swim then and I can't swim now.

I don't know how such requirements survive in these days of the Americans with Disabilities Act and Title IX.

As for the argument that such requirements are necessary because "Anything that prevents people from dying needlessly is a valuable skill", I wonder how many institutions would require that one be able to put 10 rounds through a target from say twenty paces? That seems to be a more valuable skill these days than being able to tread water or do a breast stroke (no pun intended).

 

[Student100]

I guess it's OK that I was turned down by MIT after I applied. I couldn't swim then and I can't swim now.

I don't know how such requirements survive in these days of the Americans with Disabilities Act and Title IX.

As for the argument that such requirements are necessary because "Anything that prevents people from dying needlessly is a valuable skill", I wonder how many institutions would require that one be able to put 10 rounds through a target from say twenty paces? That seems to be a more valuable skill these days than being able to tread water or do a breast stroke (no pun intended).

MIT might, they still offer pirate certifications don't they?

Yeah, but how these requirements haven't been challenged as racist or discriminatory is a mystery to me.

 

[AlephZero]

I don't know how such requirements survive in these days of the Americans with Disabilities Act and Title IX.

I'm not sure what your point is, considering that a quadruple amputee has swum the English Channel (21 miles in 13.5 hours). http://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/sep/19/quadruple-amputee-swims-channel

 

[Vanadium 50]

I wonder how many institutions would require that one be able to put 10 rounds through a target from say twenty paces?

I took pistol at MIT. One of the best classes I ever took.

 

[jesse73]

I'm not sure what your point is, considering that a quadruple amputee has swum the English Channel (21 miles in 13.5 hours). http://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/sep/19/quadruple-amputee-swims-channel

Stephen Hawking?

 

[jesse73]

I guess it's OK that I was turned down by MIT after I applied. I couldn't swim then and I can't swim now.

I don't know how such requirements survive in these days of the Americans with Disabilities Act and Title IX.

As for the argument that such requirements are necessary because "Anything that prevents people from dying needlessly is a valuable skill", I wonder how many institutions would require that one be able to put 10 rounds through a target from say twenty paces? That seems to be a more valuable skill these days than being able to tread water or do a breast stroke (no pun intended).

There isn't an extra cost for the swimming classes outside of the tuition required to be enrolled as a student in the first.

 

[Student100]

I took pistol at MIT. One of the best classes I ever took.

Did you become a certified pirate Val?