How does Admissions view unaffiliated athletes vs D1 athletes?

[swim97]

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Hey guys.

I'm pretty big into Marathon and Triathlon, have participated and plan on continuing to participate in big name events, i.e New York, Boston, and others around country. I put in a significant amount of time, but I am not considered a "student-athlete" because my sport is independent. How do my experiences compare with other pre-med athletes that are affiliated with first-div NCAA?

Thanks.

 

[lalalallala]

Playing a D1 sport in college requires great time management, resilience, mental strength, ability to work on a team, etc. It can also explain why maybe an applicant didn't spend 15 hours a week working in a lab and instead did research over the summer or things like that. I think you should put your marathons/triathlons down as a hobby and express the amount of time you put into it and the length of time you have been doing it as well as any awards or anything. Unfortunately, despite the tremendous amount of time I am sure you put into it I doubt it will get quite the recognition that D1 athletes get. Nothing you can do about that though

 

[907914]

Just a thought off the top of my head is to make this a theme in your PS opening with Marathon, talking about school, EC, study, becoming a doctor are all part of a marathon

That seems like a major cliche. At least that was the feedback I got on my first PS draft comparing my path to medicine with my activity of mountain climbing...

 

[Goro]

Hey guys.

I'm pretty big into Marathon and Triathlon, have participated and plan on continuing to participate in big name events, i.e New York, Boston, and others around country. I put in a significant amount of time, but I am not considered a "student-athlete" because my sport is independent. How do my experiences compare with other pre-med athletes that are affiliated with first-div NCAA?

Thanks.

I rank it at the level of an interesting hobby.

 

[TelemarketingEnigma]

I think it would depend how knowledgeable your readers/interviewers are about running/triathlon. As a former track athlete/having done a few (sprint) tris, I'd be very impressed by a Boston level marathoner, since I know the level of competition and the kind of training required. How close I'd rank it to D1 athletics probably depends on how many races you do each year - one or two marathons a year, while a big and impressive commitment, I wouldn't rank quite as high as someone who competes on a high level team year round. If you're running multiple big-name events each year and placing well or at least hitting impressive times, I'd probably personally put on a similar level to D1 athletics. But you can't bank on your readers knowing anything about running unfortunately

 

[Goro]

if they are a ranked in triathlon or in known/big competitions I think it may be worth more than hobby

Other than the NY or Boston Marathon, how many "known/big competitions" are actually known to Adcom members? So someone saying that they competed in the "Ft Myers Ironman" wouldn't many anything to me.

 

[lalalallala]

Other than the NY or Boston Marathon, how many "known/big competitions" are actually known to Adcom members? So someone saying that they competed in the "Ft Myers Ironman" wouldn't many anything to me.

It is unfortunate for OP that running 26.2 miles, biking 112 miles, and swimming 2.4 miles wouldn't mean anything when clearly the determination required to finish such a feat is incredible. But so it goes

 

[Peter Pan.]

I’m a serious Xbox gamer, very good at UNO, and was a big time Pokémon go player back when it was popular but unfortunately Med schools will only see us as people that have hobbies.

 

[Kpw101]

I’m a serious Xbox gamer, very good at UNO, and was a big time Pokémon go player back when it was popular but unfortunately Med schools will only see us as people that have hobbies.

Unless you're a top professional Xbox player, you're seriously undermining the effort it takes to run a marathon at a highly competitive level. In this case while an independent sport is less likely to turn heads than a D1 athlete, it's definitely more head-turning than a recreational gamer.

 

[dr_kateb]

Unless you're a top professional Xbox player, you're seriously undermining the effort it takes to run a marathon at a highly competitive level. In this case while an independent sport is less likely to turn heads than a D1 athlete, it's definitely more head-turning than a recreational gamer.

Hey gaming takes effort too. I have almost 2000 hours on GTA V and I truly believe that it has helped me develop as a person and adds value to a med school class.

 

[Kpw101]

Hey gaming takes effort too. I have almost 2000 hours on GTA V and I truly believe that it has helped me develop as a person and adds value to a med school class.

If only I could've written in my KDA instead of my GPA.

 

[sweetfragrance]

just my 2 cents on cliche PS themes. In med school, when people get ready to write their PS for residency application, they are told that your experiences don't have to be unique, but they sure will be personal. I think this applies somewhat to med school applications too. What you write about probably won't be unique due to the sheer number of people applying each year, year after year, but how you write about these experiences and how you interpret these things are highy personal. I think that's what you have to keep in mind when you write your PS. If I were you, I'd definitely talk about marathon and how it influenced your exposure to and underatanding of medicine.

 

[bdc17]

AdComs certainly value long term commitments to certain crafts. I wrote one of my AMCAS activities as a Hobby and put down that I ran several half-marathons. I had that activity come up several times during conversations at about half my interviews (5-6 times). Some of the adcom members I interviewed with were high level athletes running half’s, fulls, tris, and irons so we had really great discussions about discipline and hard work

 

[Peter Pan.]

Unless you're a top professional Xbox player, you're seriously undermining the effort it takes to run a marathon at a highly competitive level. In this case while an independent sport is less likely to turn heads than a D1 athlete, it's definitely more head-turning than a recreational gamer.

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