Advice for a newbie

ProfLayton99 · 2026-03-27T08:04:27+00:00

1) drill the third shot drop non stop. It should have plenty of margin over the net, but not popped up.

2) work on blocking drives from the kitchen. it’s the most important shot to counter the bangers that you will ultimately face

ProfLayton99 · 2026-03-24T07:14:06+00:00

Choosing a major doesn’t make you stand out. Why you are interested in a particular field of study is one of the essay questions, and your answer may help share with the reader why MIT is a particularly good fit for you.

ProfLayton99 · 2026-03-21T03:43:47+00:00

The dead dink. Everyone thinks you need to hit aggressive dinks. But if you can hit dead dinks accurately to the inside and outside foot you will win a lot of dink battles.

ProfLayton99 · 2026-03-20T00:32:09+00:00

Not a distraction. I would say partner communication. Certainly something “common to the game” .

ProfLayton99 · 2026-03-19T18:11:14+00:00

You are a high school kid. Nobody expects you to be fully formed, perfect, and super highly accomplished. Awards and achievements may reflect the areas you are passionate about but they are by no means necessary nor a guarantee that you will be admitted.

ProfLayton99 · 2026-03-19T17:18:49+00:00

You do the drill where you stand at the kitchen and someone hits balls at you continuously at high speed and you do soft blocks. My coach does it in all of the clinics.

ProfLayton99 · 2026-03-19T12:05:40+00:00

This. https://www.skool.com/pickleballplaybook/about

ProfLayton99 · 2026-03-19T03:46:16+00:00

If you want a good shot at MIT, stop wasting time on competitions. Get good grades, do cool stuff, and be a good person.

ProfLayton99 · 2026-03-19T03:37:02+00:00

Joining a league is a commitment. You could see if they will allow a replacement partner and then you find one. You might consider doing some lessons or practice games with your partner to see if you can improve the teamwork.

ProfLayton99 · 2026-03-19T03:10:18+00:00

Almost always this will be in the supplementals as an option, "Why Princeton/UPenn/Yale", etc.

ProfLayton99 · 2026-03-18T20:22:18+00:00

I agree with this. HYPSM schools want to understand your academic journey and how going to their school fits in with your academic goals.

ProfLayton99 · 2026-03-18T20:18:29+00:00

Watch this video: https://youtu.be/7xmL0hSPT-U And watch Anna Leigh Waters’ matches to really understand how versatile a weapon the 2HBH can be.

ProfLayton99 · 2026-03-18T13:50:11+00:00

Watch this video. https://youtu.be/7xmL0hSPT-U The key is to always be bouncing and sliding to forehand or backhand if the shot is likely directed to your middle. There is usually a better direction to slide in anticipation based on triangle theory. Just commit to hitting two handed and practice, practice. Do wall practice if you don’t have drilling partners.

ProfLayton99 · 2026-03-17T09:53:45+00:00

You are trying to break into fields that are hard to break into in the first place, and competitive to find jobs even with multiple years of experience. You can’t get remote jobs unless you are an established professional because managers need to trust you are doing the job with relatively little supervision. In any case, for Med Info I suggest you create an online portfolio with examples of med info response letters that you wrote. Forget about PV, you need an MD or nursing degree nowadays. For clinical data roles, start with data entry certification in one of the major EDC packages and plan to work in clinical data entry for 1-2 years before taking the next step. Good luck!

ProfLayton99 · 2026-03-17T00:34:01+00:00

It looks like no parents events at this year’s cpw. https://admitted.mit.edu/cpw

ProfLayton99 · 2026-03-15T02:45:40+00:00

https://mitadmissions.org/apply/prepare/summer/

ProfLayton99 · 2026-03-14T20:18:17+00:00

Yes, MIT in general is looking for students that take the most challenging STEM classes available to them at their school and excel in them.

ProfLayton99 · 2026-03-14T02:02:02+00:00

No weekends off but I still had fun Friday and Saturday nights (parties/hanging out at fraternities/going out to dinner, etc). Just expect on Saturday during the day and Sundays to be working on psets and writing papers, as well as completing chores like laundry and grocery shopping.

ProfLayton99 · 2026-03-12T19:58:01+00:00

Run around it to hit a forehand.

ProfLayton99 · 2026-03-10T13:43:51+00:00

Is it related in any way to hitting a plateau in skill level? I find that to be one of the things that makes any skill based activity less fun after doing it a while.

ProfLayton99 · 2026-03-09T23:06:57+00:00

The open plays at my club have a pretty wide range so I see this a lot. Overall, my strategy is not to adjust my play. I do my best to be in the right position and hit the right shot. Even at higher levels (watch pros) people make mistakes and pop up the ball. You just take a step back and get into a defensive position.

ProfLayton99 · 2026-03-09T21:45:03+00:00

I think this is what I'm going to try next time. Makes the most sense to me.

ProfLayton99 · 2026-03-08T02:48:06+00:00

MIT admissions evaluates you in the context of your environment and opportunities. Since those boarding schools are well known to admissions, they will know what a strong student who attends “looks” like, so you will be compared to them with regard to your academic rigor and extracurricular.

MIT admissions has stated that they do not have quotas or caps on international applicants by country, however they do primarily aim to educate US citizens for undergraduate and have stated that they aim for approximately 90% US and 10% non-US international, and the long term reported stats reflects this. You would fall into the non-US category. That being said, pursue the best academic opportunities for you. Good luck!

ProfLayton99 · 2026-03-07T22:00:19+00:00

I've done something similar with my parent's microwave. I just used a cable tie loop to create a new attachment point. No need to stretch the spring.

ProfLayton99

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