Swim Test Stands Between MIT Students & Their Degrees
MIT's 2006 acceptance rate of 13 per cent makes it one of the hardest undergraduate schools to get into in the country. Its swimming skills requirement may make it, for some students, even more difficult to graduate from.
MIT has required undergrads to pass a swim test since the late 1940s as part of the University's General Institute Requirements. Students can fulfill the requirement either by passing a 100-yard swimming test or by taking a swimming class.
The swim test is offered as part of Orientation for incoming students. About 700 students have reported for the test in recent years. The event is “a fun time for froshes to kick off and challenge themselves,” Carrie Moore, Director of Physical Education, told the MIT Tech.
MIT holds a women-only and men-only sessions of the swim test every other year. It will also schedule private test sessions for students who request them. (Presumably, the University's non-discriminatory policies would mean it is willing to alter or drop the swimming requirement for students who are physically unable to swim.)
The Tech reports that failure to fulfill the swimming requirement can and has forced seniors to postpone graduation. This year, with about five weeks to go before Commencement Day, there are over two dozen seniors who still need to pass the swim test.
Other colleges and universities where students have to demonstrate swimming skills to graduate include Bryn Mawr, Cornell, Columbia, Swarthmore, Dartmouth, the University of Chicago, and Notre Dame.
MIT has required undergrads to pass a swim test since the late 1940s as part of the University's General Institute Requirements. Students can fulfill the requirement either by passing a 100-yard swimming test or by taking a swimming class.
The swim test is offered as part of Orientation for incoming students. About 700 students have reported for the test in recent years. The event is “a fun time for froshes to kick off and challenge themselves,” Carrie Moore, Director of Physical Education, told the MIT Tech.
MIT holds a women-only and men-only sessions of the swim test every other year. It will also schedule private test sessions for students who request them. (Presumably, the University's non-discriminatory policies would mean it is willing to alter or drop the swimming requirement for students who are physically unable to swim.)
The Tech reports that failure to fulfill the swimming requirement can and has forced seniors to postpone graduation. This year, with about five weeks to go before Commencement Day, there are over two dozen seniors who still need to pass the swim test.
Other colleges and universities where students have to demonstrate swimming skills to graduate include Bryn Mawr, Cornell, Columbia, Swarthmore, Dartmouth, the University of Chicago, and Notre Dame.
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