Intercollegiate for club sports that have intercollegiate, interstate leagues and national tournaments?

[deleted555445]

I'm wondering whether the "intercollegiate" activity tag on AMCAS is seen as restricted to NCAA sports, or if it can be used for club sports that do intercollegiate play. The sport in question has NCAA teams, but, for whatever reason, very few in the midwest, so almost all schools in that region have club as their highest level of play. We practiced 2x per week, played regional and national tournaments, and traveled probably every other weekend for a 12 (maybe? its been a few years) week season. We were middle-of-the-road in our league.

Obviously not as big a commitment as a varsity sport, so the hours and description will reflect that, but I'm wondering if thats the right tag of if it should just be "extracurricular" so it doesn't look like I'm trying to portray it as more than it was.

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[JimKimSlim]

Don’t overthink this. I’d put it down as intercollegiate. However, Your sports experience likely will not affect your chances of admission , unless you select it meaningful and connect it to medicine, like teamwork or something.

 

[deleted555445]

Don’t overthink this. I’d put it down as intercollegiate. However, Your sports experience likely will not affect your chances of admission , unless you select it meaningful and connect it to medicine, like teamwork or something.

Agreed, just wondering what people’s opinions were on this.

 

[candbgirl]

Of course include it. It shows ADCOMS that you are more than one dimensional, that you are a team player, can compete successfully, etc.

 

[KnightDoc]

Of course include it. It shows ADCOMS that you are more than one dimensional, that you are a team player, can compete successfully, etc.

Yeah, I don't think the question was about including it or not. Everything you said about participating in a team activity applies.

The question is whether a club sport falls into the definition of "intercollegiate" just because the club competes against clubs at other schools. And, I agree with OP's gut that this could be perceived as misleading, since intercollegiate sports are generally thought to refer to formal, NCAA sanctioned leagues rather than anything involving more than one school.

OP can convey all the positive attributes about the activity and his participation without labeling it "intercollegiate" and risk offending an adcom who might have participated in a NCAA sport and doesn't think club sports are the same, because they aren't -- in terms of time, commitment, prestige, funding, level of competition, scholarship eligibility, etc.

 

[TelemarketingEnigma]

intercollegiate sounds like a perfectly accurate description of what you were doing, and you can describe it more clearly in the activity description. You don't have to be NCAA div I all american to put something on your app

(FWIW I was technically an NCAA athlete and I wouldn't be offended, but I was a lowly DIII athlete 😛 )

 

[deleted555445]

Thanks for the responses everyone. I know its not a huge deal but there didn't really seem to be a consensus on this question. I think I'll leave it as intercollegiate because I feel like that most accurately describes it, but make it clear that it was not NCAA and the time commitment was much lower. I'll even throw "club" in the name itself.

 

[TelemarketingEnigma]

Thanks for the responses everyone. I know its not a huge deal but there didn't really seem to be a consensus on this question. I think I'll leave it as intercollegiate because I feel like that most accurately describes it, but make it clear that it was not NCAA and the time commitment was much lower. I'll even throw "club" in the name itself.

I wouldn't write something like "this was not an NCAA sport/time commitment" in the description - just describe it accurately as you did here, as a club sport which competed at the regional/national level, plus some more specifics about the exact activities and any leadership roles you may have had on the team. Be honest but don't undermine your app in your own activity description! People who know sports will understand and people who don't know sports probably won't care anyway. Using the term "club" is usually enough to signal the level of involvement IMO.

 

[LizzyM]

If I google your name and the name of the sport and the name of the school, would I get a roster with your name on it? Is there anywhere (like a school newspaper) that documents competition with other schools? That's good enough for me. YMMV

 

[deleted555445]

If I google your name and the name of the sport and the name of the school, would I get a roster with your name on it? Is there anywhere (like a school newspaper) that documents competition with other schools? That's good enough for me. YMMV

Just tried that out and unfortunately nothing. It looks like the league website scrubs rosters each season and I can't find a historic listing of rosters (would need to go back 4 or 5 years). It looks like my school newspaper only covers the women's team for this sport since its varsity, I don't see any covering of our dumb club team lol. It would probably require reaching out to my contact to verify participation, there's no internet presence that I can see, and I've got a fairly unique name.

 

[LizzyM]

Just tried that out and unfortunately nothing. It looks like the league website scrubs rosters each season and I can't find a historic listing of rosters (would need to go back 4 or 5 years). It looks like my school newspaper only covers the women's team for this sport since its varsity, I don't see any covering of our dumb club team lol. It would probably require reaching out to my contact to verify participation, there's no internet presence that I can see, and I've got a fairly unique name.

Is there a category for athletics that is not "intercollegiate athletics"? Otherwise, hobby/advocation might be the best tag.