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Re: How much does shooting matter to a school like MIT?

Posted: Thu May 21, 2015 3:19 pm
by conradin
Where are you from? Perhaps you can visit the campus and talk to the faculty first.

Re: How much does shooting matter to a school like MIT?

Posted: Thu May 21, 2015 7:57 pm
by william
conradin wrote:Where are you from? Perhaps you can visit the campus and talk to the faculty first.
I'm sure they're all sitting on their hands waiting for this kid to show up to interview them.

Re: How much does shooting matter to a school like MIT?

Posted: Fri May 22, 2015 5:31 am
by Ketchup
conradin wrote:Where are you from? Perhaps you can visit the campus and talk to the faculty first.
Unfortunately I can't do that because I'm living in Tehran. I think I'll just contact the coach via email.

Re: How much does shooting matter to a school like MIT?

Posted: Fri May 22, 2015 10:25 pm
by sparky
Ketchup wrote:
conradin wrote:Where are you from? Perhaps you can visit the campus and talk to the faculty first.
Unfortunately I can't do that because I'm living in Tehran. I think I'll just contact the coach via email.
Tehran? How hard is it to get into the shooting sports over there? What competitive disciplines do they have over there?

Re: How much does shooting matter to a school like MIT?

Posted: Fri May 22, 2015 10:55 pm
by john bickar
Ketchup wrote:My 'dream school' has always been MIT and I desperately want to get accepted there.
There are other schools in Cambridge, you know.

:)

Re: How much does shooting matter to a school like MIT?

Posted: Sat May 23, 2015 6:48 am
by Will Hart
Yes, John, there are. But, THE other school chooses to use its shooting range as a book repository.

:'(

Re: How much does shooting matter to a school like MIT?

Posted: Sat May 23, 2015 7:41 am
by Hap Rocketto
Will,

A young undergraduate enters a store selling electronics in Cambridge and wishes to purchase a new device listed at $100 because it is advertised as 20% off list price.

The undergraduate asks the salesman what will be the cost after the discount is applied on the $100. The salesman replies , "I guess you go to either MIT or Harvard."

"Why, yes." is the reply, "How did you know?"

"Because you don't know the final price. If you can't do the arithmetic you must go to Harvard. If you can't read the sign you must be at MIT."

Best,

Hap

Re: How much does shooting matter to a school like MIT?

Posted: Sat May 23, 2015 9:15 am
by shaky hands
This joke does not add up: the guy obviously was at least able to read that there was some discount.

The original MIT-Harvard joke was about a guy who pushed a shopping cart full of stuff to a checkout counter with the "10 item or less" sign.

Re: How much does shooting matter to a school like MIT?

Posted: Sat May 23, 2015 9:39 am
by Hap Rocketto
Shaky,
I guess it was, then, a tale, told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.
Perhaps that is why I was not accepted for matriculation by either Cambridge institution?
Hap

Re: How much does shooting matter to a school like MIT?

Posted: Sat May 23, 2015 10:04 am
by shaky hands
No, the joke wasn't by Shakespeare either. Are you sure you applied?

Re: How much does shooting matter to a school like MIT?

Posted: Sat May 23, 2015 4:42 pm
by john bickar
Will Hart wrote:Yes, John, there are. But, THE other school chooses to use its shooting range as a book repository.

:'(
Well it's not my fault they have misplaced priorities.

Re: How much does shooting matter to a school like MIT?

Posted: Sat May 23, 2015 10:01 pm
by seamaster
"Ten items or less?"

Harvard kid will tell MIT kid, " No wonder we are here, and they are there"

"It is ten items or FEWER"

Re: How much does shooting matter to a school like MIT?

Posted: Sat May 23, 2015 11:52 pm
by shaky hands
Ah, that debate is at least as long and important as the egg war between little endians and big endians.

http://www.npr.org/2014/12/06/368712564 ... age-debate

Re: How much does shooting matter to a school like MIT?

Posted: Sun May 24, 2015 12:00 pm
by Ketchup
sparky wrote:
Tehran? How hard is it to get into the shooting sports over there? What competitive disciplines do they have over there?
It's quite easily actually. My parents signed me up for a sports camp when I was 12. We had to choose three sports and cycled between them throughout the day. Like a fair, there were little stations with posters and things of the such advertising their sport. I chose paint-ball, taekwondo and golf. On the first day, I got hit with a paint-ball in the thigh and I decided paint-ball wasn't the 'sport' for me. I switched to shooting and I instantly fell in love with it. That's how I got in.

In Iran, trap and 10m air (both pistol and rifle) are popular. I'm not sure about trap but 10m air is pretty cheap; a gun (FWB 600) and 60 pellets cost (very bad pellets albeit) about $2.50. It costs the same if you come with your own rifle and pellets. Rifles and competition pellets are obviously imported but face heavy restrictions. Although 4.5 cal air rifles are unregulated in Iran, custom officers are often misinformed and lock your gun up for inspection; it can take up to a month to get it back. And on top of that, since Iran makes air guns, they impose a 100% 'super-luxury' tax on your gun. In my club it is usually avoided the coach talking to someone on the national team and having them bring it in with their gear if they're coming back from an international completion. The shooting community is relatively small. Most shooting suits I come across are made in Iran. There's a factory in Mashhad that makes them. A tailor made suit costs about $600 while the standard sized ones cost around $300 (really good quality by the way, my coach says they're better than Kurt Thune)

Small-bore on the other hand is extremely expensive. Rounds can cost up to $70 (according to my coach) and you have to go through an immense bureaucracy just to shoot with a small-bore rifle, let alone own one. Same goes rapid-fire pistol and all other type of live round competition. There are about four air rifle ranges in Tehran and one range for live round events. It's located in Tehran's Asian Olympics stadium.

Hope I answered your question!

Re: How much does shooting matter to a school like MIT?

Posted: Sun May 24, 2015 12:44 pm
by seamaster
How come your English is so good?

Do you go to an "American" school?

Re: How much does shooting matter to a school like MIT?

Posted: Sun May 24, 2015 2:07 pm
by Ketchup
seamaster wrote:How come your English is so good?

Do you go to an "American" school?
Thanks! I grew up in Vancouver but then moved to Tehran. I highly prefer American schools. My first choice is obviously MIT because I really love that school but I still prefer American schools to Canadian schools. Good Canadian schools are huge and I hate that. I want to go to a small(er) college since I think I'd really like tight-knit community feel.

Re: How much does shooting matter to a school like MIT?

Posted: Sun May 24, 2015 5:31 pm
by conradin
Are you Canadian? Would MIT be willing or allowed to take in a foreign Iranian student consider there is, at this moment still, no official diplomatic relationship between the USA and Iran?

Re: How much does shooting matter to a school like MIT?

Posted: Sun May 24, 2015 7:13 pm
by Ketchup
conradin wrote:Are you Canadian? Would MIT be willing or allowed to take in a foreign Iranian student consider there is, at this moment still, no official diplomatic relationship between the USA and Iran?
Yea, I'm Canadian and I'll apply as a Canadian. MIT does though take a lot of students from Iran. On average, they take about one for undergrad and about 40 for grad school http://web.mit.edu/registrar/stats/geo/. There's this college in Iran called Sharif University of Technology and although ranking wise, it sucks, it's a really good school in reality. The last Fields Medal winner was from Sharif and Stanford's head of electrical engineering department has said that the best trained electrical engineers are from there.

Re: How much does shooting matter to a school like MIT?

Posted: Sun May 24, 2015 9:33 pm
by john bickar
Are you considering Stanford also?

MIT does not have palm trees.

Re: How much does shooting matter to a school like MIT?

Posted: Sun May 24, 2015 10:20 pm
by Ketchup
john bickar wrote:Are you considering Stanford also?

MIT does not have palm trees.
I'll definitely apply to Stanford but I have just really fell in love with MIT. I mean the only thing that can get my mind off of MIT is shooting. Every thing I read about MIT makes me love it move. Everything about MIT is just perfect. I know how stupid it is to get your heart set on a school you haven't been admitted to, especially if that school has an acceptance rate of 3% (international), but I can't control it anymore.

CalTech is also a cool school with palm trees, my second favorite school in fact. It's not MIT, but still a fun school to be at.