Does MIT consider legacy, sports or summer programs?

MMIT's admissions officers have spoken on the record for years about the side entrances families assume every selective college keeps, and their answers are unusually firm. Elsewhere, children of alumni can get a second look, recruited athletes can get reserved places, and a famous summer program is often treated as a preview of admission. Families plan whole summers, and sometimes whole high school careers, around one of those doors.

Before a family spends that time, it is worth knowing which doors at MIT are open and which are not, because the answer changes where the next year should go.