Athletics and Med School

[scooter31]

Wondering if anyone could answer this-

I was a baseball player throughout college, and had one year of pro experience, and was wondering where this plays into my application. Does it help? Does it hinder in any way? Can it be a reasonable explanation for my sub-par GPA (3.2 overall) ? Thanks for any feeback!!!!

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[bustinbooty]

I believe that any life experiences that portray you as a 3-dimensional and well-rounded person can only help. As far as admissions committees go, I really don't think being highly involved in sports would hinder your application, like them assuming you were a jock or something.
I would be prepared to be grilled on your motivations for medicine, however, and your past clinical experieces.
We have a minor league hockey player in our class who used that to his advantage during his interview.
Good luck!!!!

 

[Dr JPH]

It will most certainly look good on an application.

I wouldn't try to use it as an excuse, though, if you can help it. Now, it is really WAS baseball that caused you to get poor grades, OK then. Be honest.

 

[scooter31]

Thanks for the input guys... as far as the impression of athletics being an excuse for sub par grades- I was trying to ask if the fact that athletics is such a huge undertaking on top of the other things a premed tries to accomplish during their undegrad that this would be taken into consideration when looking at GPA's. Sorry if that was mistook as looking to use sports as a crutch for a low GPA....... Hopefully after my postbac/grad work, there won't be any doubts as far as grades are concerned......

 

[Monkey]

Maybe this'll help--(I'm at KCOM, sludging thru the end of the quarter)

I was a college football player and had similar concerns about how that would be viewed by the admissions committee. I hoped they would understand how demanding college sports is (both during season AND in the off-season) without my having to bring it up and risk looking like it was an excuse.

I was happy to discover that more than one individual on multiple interviewing occasions noted "how tough it is to be a college athlete" or something similar to that sentiment--and they brought it up w/o my mentioning football at all.

In my experience, being an athlete was definitely viewed positively and very fairly--in fact, I think it helps an applicant. Shows dedication, etc. and more importantly, it provides interesting interview conversation.

So good luck.

Where'd you play pro ball?

 

[scooter31]

Hey thanks monkey, nice to hear ex athletes making the transition from student/athlete to med student successfully. To answer your question, I played a year of pro ball in England and afterwards had the option of playing in Holland under a 2 year contract or signing as a non drafted free agent back here in the US with St Louis (my boyhood team). Needless to say, I STRUGGLED with the decision to pursue a career in medicine, but as you well know you gotta hang up the cleats someday! Best of luck to you.....