College Sports?

[JMDC2011]

Howdy everyone,

I am currently a sophomore at a small division 3 school, Balwin Wallace College. The school has a pretty good academic reputation. I was just wondering is that all my life, I've played football, from grade school and now here at Baldwin Wallace College. I'm doing well in football and I do enjoy the game itself, even without all the glory and praise that higher divisions have.

My main question is, I'm basically just an "ok" student-athlete, trying to balance collegiate athletics and a pre-med schedule. My grades aren't super great, GPA about a 3.1 after one year of college course work....I know I have to do whatever it takes to bring my GPA up.

My main goal here is medical school, and getting admitted. I personally am in a bind about what I should do when it comes to athletics now. BAldwin Wallace is a pretty good institution, but I feel that Ohio State offers more opportunities and is a better university for pre-med students.

Do I try to keep balancing varsity football, which i love (which consumes about 20 hours a week) and academics, hoping that I can try and improve my GPA, even though courses only get harder from here? I would only stay at BW if I was playing football. and i know athletics would be a plus to an application...

Or do I make the switch to OSU, focus on being a complete pre med student and forget about the game which i grew up loving? I just feel that if i quit, i would have to do a walk of shame back to my family and friends, knowing that i couldnt hack it. I don't know what to do, but im open for advice from anyone.

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[RySerr21]

Howdy everyone,

I am currently a sophomore at a small division 3 school, Balwin Wallace College. The school has a pretty good academic reputation. I was just wondering is that all my life, I've played football, from grade school and now here at Baldwin Wallace College. I'm doing well in football and I do enjoy the game itself, even without all the glory and praise that higher divisions have.

My main question is, I'm basically just an "ok" student-athlete, trying to balance collegiate athletics and a pre-med schedule. My grades aren't super great, GPA about a 3.1 after one year of college course work....I know I have to do whatever it takes to bring my GPA up.

My main goal here is medical school, and getting admitted. I personally am in a bind about what I should do when it comes to athletics now. BAldwin Wallace is a pretty good institution, but I feel that Ohio State offers more opportunities and is a better university for pre-med students.

Do I try to keep balancing varsity football, which i love (which consumes about 20 hours a week) and academics, hoping that I can try and improve my GPA, even though courses only get harder from here? I would only stay at BW if I was playing football. and i know athletics would be a plus to an application...

Or do I make the switch to OSU, focus on being a complete pre med student and forget about the game which i grew up loving? I just feel that if i quit, i would have to do a walk of shame back to my family and friends, knowing that i couldnt hack it. I don't know what to do, but im open for advice from anyone.

I was in a similar situation as you (sort of). I attend a small liberal arts college and I too played D3 football my freshman year on a top 10 ranked team. I did well my first semester, but it was really tough with such a huge commitment to football. As you, I love the game and it was a tough decision to make. I'm a pretty small guy (5'7 and 155) and I knew that I had to choose: do i dedicated my time getting bigger, better, stronger, faster, for my D3 football team...or do I dedicate the time to my school work knowing that my end goal is to gain acceptance in to medical school? I ended up choosing to focus on my school work. Yea, it sucked to walk away, but I feel i made the right decision. This is where my situation is a little different than yours. I never considered transferring to another school. I stayed involved with the football team (became an athletic trainer and now work with the football team almost every day, and my roomate and best friends still play football). On top of that, I got in to other sports taht were just as fun but had less of a time commitment. This is now my 4th year of playing DII collegiate level rugby. The time commitment isnt' nearly as demanding and I found a new group of guys and a new sport that I love. And I was able to stay on top of my studies.

Part of being a "complete pre med student" is doing things outside the realm of medicine. So, if you do choose to give up football, I recommend that you find somethign else (like another sport) that you love doing. Playing rugby has been such a huge part of my college career, and it has also been an interesting point of dicussion in almost all of my interviews. Its that little something different that most other pepole dont have, and schools like that.

You do need to work hard on raising that GPA, and the good news is that you plenty of time to do it. Whether you think you can do it or not while playing football is somethign you are going to have to think long and hard about. Even if you do quit football, you might wanna consider staying at BW if you enjoy your education thus far...it may allow you to be involved with sports that you might not have the chance to be involved with at a school like OSU.

As far as the "walk of shame," I konw its hard not to think of it like that, but you also need to keep in mind that your parents, freinds, and family will support any decision that you choose to make and no one is going to judge you for it. Its not a walk of shame, you are making a mature decision based on your future goals to become a physician. You do what you gotta do.

If you have any specifica questions, feel free to PM me. Good luck!