Athletics and academics

[drillandphil]

Hey all,

I need your help in making one of the harder decisions I've faced so far. I am a student athlete at a DI school, with one of the top programs in the nation. I am trying to decide on what I want to major in. On one hand, I could do biochemistry which would fulfill most of my predental requirements and still allow me to continue with athletics. On the other hand I could drop athletics and pursue bioengineering. I've spent a lot of time in putting myself in a place to bioengineering, but I've also put countless hours into making myself the best athlete I can be, and the results for both have been paying off.

Also, it's important to note that my team has very close ties, where most of us are really good friends and going to practice is quite fun, even though it's exhausting. My current GPA is a 3.6, which shows I can balance athletics and academics quite well, but may not be able to do so with bioengineering.

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[xbite]

Hey all,

I need your help in making one of the harder decisions I've faced so far. I am a student athlete at a DI school, with one of the top programs in the nation. I am trying to decide on what I want to major in. On one hand, I could do biochemistry which would fulfill most of my predental requirements and still allow me to continue with athletics. On the other hand I could drop athletics and pursue bioengineering. I've spent a lot of time in putting myself in a place to bioengineering, but I've also put countless hours into making myself the best athlete I can be, and the results for both have been paying off.

Also, it's important to note that my team has very close ties, where most of us are really good friends and going to practice is quite fun, even though it's exhausting. My current GPA is a 3.6, which shows I can balance athletics and academics quite well, but may not be able to do so with bioengineering.

Biochemistry is definitely a better preparatory major for dental school. Bioengineering is great for courses like Implants, dental materials, etc., but for the most part, it won't prepare you as well as the courses you'll need for a biochemistry major. We have several D1 athletes in our class who handled varsity sports and tough majors. I don't think you need to sacrifice one for the other. You can always switch majors, if you find you don't have enough time for school/sports. Also, some dental schools have dual degrees with Bioengineering - you can always pursue that later on in grad school, if you like.

 

[wcombs]

Continue to play your sport and major in biochem. You'll never have the opportunity to be a D1 athlete again, make the most of it!

 

[IsaacYankem]

Continue to play your sport and major in biochem. You'll never have the opportunity to be a D1 athlete again, make the most of it!

Indeed, this.

 

[tillerybass]

Another DI athlete here. I know it can be incredibly tough to balance everything. The worst part is I don't believe admissions realizes how much goes into being a DI athlete at a top program. I am fortunate enough to be on scholarship and don't really have a choice. Stick with athletics. You'll be glad you did

 

[drillandphil]

Thank you for the replies. It's interesting that the consensus is on biochemistry. I don't think I find it as interesting right now, but I bet it would get more interesting as I get into the major more (I've yet to start ochem). What are your opinions on research? I would like to pursue a DDS/PhD because I've always wanted to do research.

In regards to the schools not recognizing sports, I think where I'm at they will given our sports reputation. I have a meeting with someone from the dental school next month and I'm going to discuss this further with them.

 

[UCSFx2017]

For whatever it's worth...

"Rank of the medical school and faculty interview weakly correlated with faculty rating. Having excelled in a team sport correlated with higher faculty rating."

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22911295

I say stick with the sport.

 

[user101]

Definitely stick with your sport!

I was on a full-ride athletic scholarship also and majored in biochemistry (3.73 gpa).
I'm not sure how much you're getting but do not give it up!!!!!!
Besides the $ it's an honor to be competing and you'd miss it

 

[cs5910]

Another D1 athlete here at a big school. Stick with your sport! AND succeed in your major. Interviewers loved seeing an applicant who succeeded in both, at least in my experience at Vet Med interviews. Being a D1 athlete and a bio major made me stick out. Adcoms will see that you can balance a tough schedule, be part of a team, have excellent time management skills, and that you have more to offer than just great grades and an entrance exam score. i.e. You are well rounded.

 

[drillandphil]

Another D1 athlete here at a big school. Stick with your sport! AND succeed in your major. Interviewers loved seeing an applicant who succeeded in both, at least in my experience at Vet Med interviews. Being a D1 athlete and a bio major made me stick out. Adcoms will see that you can balance a tough schedule, be part of a team, have excellent time management skills, and that you have more to offer than just great grades and an entrance exam score. i.e. You are well rounded.

Yea, part of what defines me is trying to find a balance in everything I do. I'm considering doing molecular, cell, and developmental biology. Do you think biology prepared you well for vet school? I think it's a little more interesting for me than biochem, and it shouldn't be too hard to get the classes I need around practice because of the size of the whole major (not sure about the focus).

 

[JAWSSS]

Major in whatever you want as long as you can stay on top of your sport and your grades.

 

[cs5910]

Yea, part of what defines me is trying to find a balance in everything I do. I'm considering doing molecular, cell, and developmental biology. Do you think biology prepared you well for vet school? I think it's a little more interesting for me than biochem, and it shouldn't be too hard to get the classes I need around practice because of the size of the whole major (not sure about the focus).

Well I start this fall, so I can't give you an exact answer as to how well it prepared me for vet school, but our schooling is pretty equivalent to the med school curriculum (just with more species to study) and my friends in med school say that biology prepared them well.

What I can say, is that a BS in Biology helped me apply to vet med schools as cheaply as I could without having to pay for extra classes because the pre-reqs were all part of my degree. I believe D-school has the same pre-reqs as vet med (bio 1,2/chem 1,2/orgo 1,2/biochem/stats/calc/microbio and upper level bios), so I would look at a bio degree in terms of saving money.

I would highly consider NOT quitting your sport. All of my interviewers spent a large portion of the time discussing my athletics and leadership (Captain) and I believe it really helped me. I got into 5 schools, so I am really happy I decided not to quit... Which I had considered at one point.

 

[V3NOM]

Biochemistry route without a doubt. Why have 1 when you can have 2 things you actually like to do.

 

[drillandphil]

Hmm tough decisions. I figured out a way to do the bioengineering and continue with sports for at least another 2 years. It will take an extra year, which I think I'd have to do anyways if I wanted to do the pre reqs for dentistry with the major.

 

[Erhatstil]

honestly, unless adcoms were d1 athletes themselves i don't think they know how much work it is. i remember being in undergrad tanking o-chem and physics exams because of all the games and travel across the country. so make sure you fill out the "hours spent" appropriately on your application. i think i put like 10,000 over 4 years.

keep playing your sport, you'll never get that opportunity again

 

[drillandphil]

Could you guys tell me what you think about this: http://www.biology.washington.edu/sites/washington.edu.dept/files/pdf/UG/BS-MCD-2012.doc

I find the courses really interesting and I think it would translate well into dental school. I'd also be able to compete for four years and finish in 4 years (instead of 5 for BioE).

 

[cs5910]

honestly, unless adcoms were d1 athletes themselves i don't think they know how much work it is. i remember being in undergrad tanking o-chem and physics exams because of all the games and travel across the country. so make sure you fill out the "hours spent" appropriately on your application. i think i put like 10,000 over 4 years.

keep playing your sport, you'll never get that opportunity again

I agree with this to an extent. ALL of my interviewers started off the interviews saying that they knew how much time it required to partake in my sport, let alone at a D1 collegiate level. Obviously it depends on where you interview. I felt as if huge athletic powerhouse universities that I interviewed at, had a way better idea of what it took to be a D1 student athlete. Regardless, you really need to emphasis, in person, how hard you worked/your time commitment/your dedication/balance between school and sports etc, during your interviews.