Twoboys posted:My 2017 also looked at MIT at Coach Carroll's request. Son had a 35 ACT and ok grades but nowhere near 4.0 but at a well known private rigorous school. He is liberal arts focused and NOT STEM. That was actually a boost too. We were told the coaching staff presents a list to Admissions. I remember hearing the year before they had 10 boys on the list and 6 got in. That was a 60% admissions rate which is significantly higher than the 5% for the general public. But of course 4 of those boys the year before, who applied EA, did not get in, so it is a risk.
I do recall that when I was looking at colleges > 30 years ago, MIT said it was actively seeking non-STEM majors (although they also had to be able to complete a more demanding set of math and science requirements than would be necessary for a History or English degree at most schools). My son is interested in STEM fields, so that won't help him; but if you have a kid who is good at math and science, but wants to go in another direction, then this could be a useful point.